Chances are good that they had considered it at some point and decided against it. It’s important to remember that there’s both a money and a timing issue at work here. It’s no coincidence that it’s been almost 3 months exactly since the last round of Microsoft gaming layoffs. The accounting numbers don’t look so good this quarter and Microsoft must keep its shareholders happy, so they are looking to save money in some way, but they need to change those money numbers within a specific time frame in order for it to count.
Any number of possible results could have happened, but the general decision making criteria is to choose the solution that results in the most money saved within the time frame to help make the numbers look better. Perhaps they tried, but couldn’t find a buyer that was willing to commit. Maybe the prospective buyers didn’t offer enough. Maybe they found a buyer, but that buyer couldn’t get the money together fast enough and bailed. Maybe the studio leadership didn’t want the studio to be sold. Studio founder Shinji Mikami left Tango Gameworks about a year ago after shipping Hi Fi Rush; there may have been difficulty finding studio leadership to take over.
Ultimately, this is all just speculation. Only those within the affected parties are truly privy to the details and it is unlikely anyone with real knowledge is going to spill the beans on this. I feel a great deal of sympathy for those affected and hope they are able to find something new soon.
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