Microsoft plans to release the coming installment of the "Call of Duty" videogame to its subscription service, in a departure from its longtime practice of only selling the title independently, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Xbox is Giving Up on Redfall
07.05.2024 - 16:21 / gamerant.com / Phil Spencer / Arkane Austin / Xbox Game Pass / Arkane Studios / Marco DAlelio
In an announcement made on May 7, Xbox stated that it is ending all development on Redfall. In the same memo, Xbox also announced the closure of Arkane Austin, the developer of the game. Redfall’s developer wasn’t the only studio shut down, as several others are also shutting their doors.
Redfall has had a tumultuous existence since its launch, with critics and players complaining about broken AI and the quality of cutscenes. The player count for the game has been extremely low since its launch, with Steam numbers for Redfall as low as 36 after a big update.
In an internal email shared by IGN, head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty announced that several Microsoft-owned studios were shutting down, following a concerning trend of closures and layoffs throughout the industry. Included in those closures was Arkane Austin, the studio in charge of Redfall’s development. Booty put the blame on the cuts for a “reprioritization of titles and resources.” “Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game,” stated Booty. All planned DLC content for Redfall has been canceled. Those who paid for the Hero DLC, which was included in the $99.99 “Bite Back Edition” of the game, will be getting “make good offers,” as mentioned by Booty. What those offers are, however, is yet to be known.
On Steam, Redfall has been averaging around 36 players a day. Booty mentioned that “The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy.” in the internal email. The game was released on May 1, 2023, with a peak player count on Steam of 1,560. In June 2023, Booty claimed that Redfall was getting “good play” on Xbox Game Pass, but the exact numbers are not known to the public. “It was a miss, but how much of a miss? I want to support them to be able to keep working to deliver the game they had in mind,” Booty claimed. “I feel accountable that we could have done a better job with Arkane,” said Booty, echoing comments made by Xbox CEO Phil Spencer regarding Redfall.
Over 9,500 games industry jobs were lost in 2024, from January to May, with over 10,000 lost in 2023. Several studios have already had layoffs, with Relic Entertainment being another recent example of jobs being cut.
Redfall is a new single-player and multiplayer first-person shooter from Arkane Studios and Bethesda. The premise sees players battling against vampires, supernatural entities, and other humans in the town of Redfall, Massachusettes. The game features an open world but is also story-driven.
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