PlayStation narrowly lost out on one of the highest-rated games of 2023

PlayStation has narrowly lost out on one of the highest-rated and surprise games of 2023 so far, namely, Hi-Fi Rush.

During the recent Xbox Developer Direct event, we were treated to a plethora of new gameplay reveals from the likes of Forza Motorsport, Redfall, The Elder Scrolls Online and Minecraft Legends. However, we were also treated to the surprise announcement of Hi-Fi Rush.

Check out the trailer here to see what all of the hype is about:

Developed by Tango Gameworks, the studio behind The Evil Within and Ghostwire: Tokyo, not to mention the mind of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami, Hi-Fi Rush is a very different game indeed. Hi-Fi Rush is a super slick action-rhythm game with gorgeous cell-shaded visuals.

At its core, Hi-Fi Rush is a hack-and-slash platformer, however, it also encourages the player to mash those buttons to the rhythm of the in-game music for bonus rewards. It’s perhaps the result of what would happen if Sunset Overdrive, Jet Set Radio and Metal Hellsinger got together to have a baby.

What’s more, despite only being less than a week old, this Xbox Series X|S and PC exclusive is already proving to be a Game of the Year contender with players. For example on Metacritic, it has a very respectable critique score of 86 and a user score of 9.2.

However, while Xbox and PC players are enjoying the fruits of Tango Gameworks labour, it seems that PlayStation gamers came so close to seeing what all the fuss is about. As reported by MP1ST, Hi-Fi Rush game designer, John Johanas revealed that the game was in fact pitched to Bethesda in 2017, years before the company was acquired by Microsoft.

Hi-Fi Rush was John Johanas' dream game, he pitched the idea in 2017 after finishing work on The Evil Within 2.

The game was in the works even before Gamepass and the Microsoft acquisition! But it worked out very well in the end. pic.twitter.com/kj6wHulWLI

— Bring Peanut Butter (@Dreamboum) January 27, 2023

“It’s one of those dream games that I had like, way way back. I had finished working on The Evil Within 2, and we [Tango Gameworks] had just made two horror games in a row,” said Johanas.

“We knew that Ghostwire [Tokyo] was in production; it was the next title that we were going to make. And so I’m like, what if I pitch this? This is the most un-Bethesda game I could possibly imagine, and this is going to be a long shot, but I have this idea.”

Furthermore, Johanas then responded to the belief that Hi-Fi Rush only existed because of Xbox Game Pass. Johanas was quick to dismiss that particular rumour.

“This is like 2017. I know people were saying “Oh, you made this because of Game Pass,” but this is before [Microsoft acquired Bethesda],” said the game director.

So with that in mind, if Microsoft weren't to finalise the Bethesda acquisition in 2021, there was a very high chance that Hi-Fi Rush could have arrived on PlayStation.

Hi-Fi Rush is available now for PC and Xbox Series X|S and is also playable through Xbox Game Pass.