2023-06-03 00:34:10
It’s a surprise for no one, even Phil Spencer wanted to apologize for the chaotic results of Redfall which is published by Bethesda. He “takes full responsibility for making available a game that should have been very good”
As a reminder, Redfall was released on May 2, 2023 and was very poorly received by many critics. Moreover at the time when I write these lines, it has the bad mark of 56/100. Which is a “significantly lower” rating than Microsoft’s “internal ratings” as Phil points out.
But for the creators of Redfall, the lackluster reception was no big surprise. Indeed, their project suffered from horrible management, frequent attrition, and a constant understaffing, according to more than a dozen people who worked on the game.
Inspired Beginnings
To contextualize all this, remember that the development of Redfall began in 2018. At the time, ZeniMax – the parent company of Bethesda Softworks – was looking for a buyout. Behind the scenes, the company was encouraging its studios to develop games that might generate revenue on top of initial sales, a popular trend known as “games as a service” or “GaaS” that was taking off in the end of the 2010s thanks to lucrative successes like Overwatch, Fortnite or Apex Legends.
ZeniMax felt the vein and therefore made sure to integrate microtransactions into their games. This is when we were able to find online monetization in Fallout, Doom and Wolfenstein. Unfortunately, the specialty of Arkane studios (from Bethesda) remains the immersive Sim with games like Deathloop or Dishonored which are designed to be enjoyed alone. Thus, rooted in these habits, it was difficult for the developers to design a multiplayer adventure.
To top it off, Arkane was also perpetually understaffed according to inside sources. The studio’s Austin office employed less than 100 people! To give you an idea, behind Fortuite there are more than 700 employees. Finally, even additional support from ZeniMax’s Roundhouse Studios in Wisconsin and other outsourcing companies mightn’t fill the gaps.
A hope with redemption
The setbacks experienced by the studio were fatal. Veteran workers who weren’t interested in developing a multiplayer game left in droves. By the end of Redfall’s development, approximately 70% of the Austin staff who had worked on Prey as explained Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, on September 21, 2020, Microsoft bought ZeniMax for $7.5 billion. It was an ambitious move that gave Xbox control of lucrative franchises such as Doom and Fallout as well as the upcoming Starfield. (Besides, take your tickets to experience it live at the Champs-Elysées).
While adding Arkane to Microsoft’s excellent portfolio wasn’t the main focus, it was potentially a negligible little bonus for Xbox, especially if Redfall was very good! Moreover, this acquisition
The acquisition gave some Arkane employees hope that Microsoft might cancel Redfall or, better yet, let them reboot as a single-player game. Instead, Microsoft maintained a completely neutral approach. Besides canceling a PS5 version of Redfall, they let the development team free.
Postponements for little efficiency
Unfortunately, in all these adventures, between the demotivation of the teams, the time that the studios understand that there is a multiplayer game to create, it wasted a lot of time and money at Bethesda. The takeover didn’t really help, see worse, Microsoft fooled the game as if it was going to be the return of the firm’s big AAAs! Moreover Redfall is the first game from Microsoft to exceed the $80 mark in normal edition.
Very disappointed with the results, the only option was to postpone the release date of the title or to cancel it… except that this last option was not possible for the American giant… Finally, the title was released in pain, both for fans only for the studios behind… Knowing that part of Arkane is “doomed” to improve Redfall and add a 60 FPS mode in the more or less near future on Xbox Series X.
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#chaotic #story #Redfalls #failure
