Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer recently appeared on the Kinda Funny Xcast to discuss the state of Arkane Austin’s Redfall. The first-person shooter launched earlier this week to middling critical response, as many faced issues with the controls, bugs, overall design, and lack of polish. That it’s selling for $70 didn’t help either, Game Pass availability or not.
Regarding the disappointing release, Spencer said, “There’s nothing more difficult for me than disappointing the Xbox community. To watch the community lose confidence and be disappointed, I’m disappointed. I’m upset with myself.” He talked about revisiting the company’s process (which is interesting since Microsoft reportedly had no involvement in the game), and the backlash to the lack of 60 FPS at launch, calling it a “punch in the chin” that was “rightfully” deserved.
“The critical response was not what we wanted. Kind of pick myself up. What can we learn? How can we get better?” Regarding what went wrong, Spencer said, “Clearly, quality and execution – things we can do – but one thing I won’t do is push against creative aspirations of our teams.
“I’m a huge supporter of Arkane Austin. Their track record is awesome. I love a lot of the great games they’ve built. This is one where the team didn’t hit their own internal goals when it launched. I think it’s maybe a little simplistic to just say, ‘Hey, maybe if you just delayed it three months, the core creative would have delivered on something different than what it was.'”
In the meantime, Arkane Austin is taking near-term feedback and working on the 60 FPS mode, which has a “good timeline.” “We’re gonna continue to work on the game. We’ve shown a commitment to games like Sea of Thieves, and Grounded, to continue to go and build games. But I also know these games are $70, and I’m gonna take full responsibility for launching a game that needs to be great.”
Arkane Austin has already stated that Redfall will be its most supported game post-launch, though how that will materialize in terms of new content and updates remains to be seen. Check out our official review for our thoughts and our feature here on what possibly went wrong.