What does Redfall’s Failure Mean for Xbox?
This week has been a historically bad one for Xbox. With the UK blocking the Xbox-Activision deal and now the disastrous launch of Redfall, Xbox is in a difficult position. There was already a lot of criticism for the publisher last year where exactly 0 AAA exclusives were released on Xbox. However, the fact that the first huge game of the year with a big marketing push has bombed so hard has led to many losing whatever remaining faith they had in Xbox.
The two big AAA exclusives of 2023 both fall under the umbrella of Bethesda. With one of them already being deemed a disappointment, all eyes are on Starfield launching in September. Seeing how Xbox saw the buggy, laggy and story based mess of Redfall as acceptable, many people are wary as to what state Starfield could be launched in. Alternatively, this may lead to yet another delay seeing how this game will be the last chance for Xbox, who have been severely lacking in exclusives and reasons to buy a Series console this generation.
The most puzzling question is how this game could have been released in the state it has. While no concrete details on the development choices of Redfall have been revealed yet, most of the blame is being placed on Xbox’s ‘hands-off’ model with their developers. By letting their studios essentially do what they want without stepping in, unfinished and, simply put, games that aren’t fun, will continue to be released. With Arkane Studios having such a fantastic track record (even up until a couple of years ago with their last release, Deathloop), Refall is a complete disappointment for anyone who had hope for the project. The only upside here is that the game is on Game Pass, because if this was exclusively a £60 release, the discourse would be even more negative.
Whilst recent releases like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor have launched in unacceptable states, most reviewers and gamers agree that the product underneath all of those bugs is good. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Redfall. Despite having a 30fps cap on Xbox and having numerous bugs, even those who have experienced better performance on PC have echoed the sentiment of console players. With dull quests, awful enemy AI and an empty-feeling world, all of the core aspects that should make Redfall a fun single and multiplayer game are simply non-existent. Even when a 60fps patch is released and most of the bugs are patched, the unfinished shell of a game will remain underneath. That fact is unfortunately even more prevalent when you look at the Metacritic scores so far:
From the ‘cutscenes’ that are just still images to the lack of any recoil when shooting any type of gun, Redfall’s core mechanics feel underbaked and, simply put, unfinished. This videogame should not have been allowed to release in the way it has, and its unleashed a lot of worrying thoughts about the state of upcoming Xbox releases- Starfield especially. Redfall should serve as a harsh but necessary wake-up call for Xbox, who will only continue to fall behind its competitors if they continue on the same wavelength they have so far this generation. Refall isn’t just bad- it’s one of the most disappointing games of the decade.
