After Microsoft paid $7.5B for ZeniMax in 2020, sources detail development issues for Redfall, one of the worst-reviewed games in 2023 and Xbox's latest misfire
Over the years, Microsoft Corp.-owned video-game developer Arkane Studios has cultivated a reputation for releasing games …
Bloomberg Jason Schreier
Related Coverage
- Report: Arkane Hoped Microsoft Would Cancel Or Reboot ‘Redfall’ Forbes · Paul Tassi
- Redfall devs reportedly hoped it would be cancelled or rebooted by Microsoft Video Games Chronicle · Tom Ivan
- Redfall devs reportedly didn't actually want to make the game Dexerto · Patrick Dane
- What went wrong with Redfall. The Verge · Jon Porter
- Arkane Staff Reportedly Hoped Microsoft Would Cancel Redfall TheGamer · George Foster
- Report: Xbox Exclusive Redfall Suffered From Few Resources, Poor Direction Kotaku · Ethan Gach
- Redfall Development Was Reportedly Plagued by Understaffing and Confusing Direction Wccftech · Alessio Palumbo
- Redfall Faced “Unclear Direction,” Significant Departures During Development - Rumor GamingBolt · Ravi Sinha
- Making games is hard. It's a hits driven entertainment business with all of the typical challenges of software development. This is why despite spending billions to acquire ZeniMax, Microsoft wants to spend 10x that amount to acquire Activision. — All this to tread water versus Sony's PlayStation. … @carnage4life@mas.to · Dare Obasanjo
Discussion
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Pure Xbox
Ben Kerry
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Report: Redfall Playtesters ‘Shocked’ At How Little The Game Changed During Development
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@jasonschreier
Jason Schreier
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Redfall, from Xbox's well-respected Arkane Studios, is one of the year's worst-reviewed games. What happened? It's a story of unclear direction, a severely understaffed team, and a game that many devs didn't actually want to make. My latest investigation: https://www.bloomberg.co…
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@jasonschreier
Jason Schreier
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Redfall started development in 2018. Arkane's Prey had been a flop, ZeniMax demanded microtransactions, and management wanted to make a game with broad appeal. It was pitched as a “multiplayer Arkane game” — but it was never clear what that would mean, or how it would work.
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@jasonschreier
Jason Schreier
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Arkane was always understaffed, but on Redfall, attrition also became a significant problem. By the end of Redfall's development, a whopping 70% of the Arkane Austin developers who worked on Prey were no longer there, according to people familiar as well as a Bloomberg analysis.
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@nobleism577396
@nobleism577396
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@peterovo5
PeterOvo
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Jason Schrier (Bloomberg): 70% of the Arkane staff who worked on Prey left because they were not interest in making a multiplayer game. Most of this was done under Zenimax before Xbox acquired them. So don't go galloping with this. https://www.bloomberg.com/... [image]
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@deeketweak
Derek Strickland
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Arkane Austin knew there were problems with Redfall and a few devs hoped Microsoft would cancel the game. Instead, Microsoft only cancelled the PlayStation version of Redfall and then took a largely hands-off approach. This is a must read for gamers: https://www.bloomberg.com/...