It’s a tough year for Xbox: the Microsoft-Activision deal has fallen through for now in the UK, and Arkane Austin’s AAA Xbox exclusive Redfall has been received overwhelmingly negatively by critics and gamers alike. In a new interview, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has admitted that Redfall reviews have been “double digits” below what the title scored in mock internal reviews prior to launch, though he reassures fans that Arkane is “taking the near-term feedback” and working on actively improving the game.
Speaking on the latest Kinda Funny Games videocast, Spencer spoke at length about the UK CMA’s decision to block the Microsoft-Activision deal as well as Redfall’s failure to live up to fans’ expectations at launch. Asked about the game’s negative reception as well as Xbox’s ongoing commitment to the title, the Microsoft Gaming CEO admitted that Redfall reviews are significantly below what the developers thought they would be; however, Xbox will remain “committed to the game:”
As anybody in the industry, we’ve all seen downs. On the score, we do mock reviews for every game that we launch, and (Redfall’s review scores are) double digits lower than we thought (they) would be […] through our mock reviews. […] We would never strive to launch a game that we thought was going to review in the low 60s. […] If you look at our review scores over the last year, I think the teams have done a much better job in upping the level of quality of the games that we’ve shipped. Some of those games first shipped on PlayStation, but still. […] This game was significantly below our internal metrics in terms of where it actually reviewed. But that’s not on anybody but us. We have to own that.
In terms of our commitment to the game, absolutely, the team at Arkane is on taking the near-term feedback. We’re still working on the 60 frames per second; we have a good timeline for that. We’re committed to getting that done, and we’re going to continue to work the game. I think we’ve shown a commitment to games like Sea of Thieves and Grounded, to continue to go and build games, but I also know that these games are 70 dollars, […] and I’m going to take full responsibility for launching a game that needs to be great. […] We will remain committed to the game and the players as long as the players want to go play games. That’s my commitment to the community; I’m kind of at a low point right now in terms of my delivery on that commitment, […] but it very much stays.
In the same interview, Spencer also admitted that he had disappointed the Xbox community, and regretted not making good on the 60fps-at-launch commitment. Redfall is currently sitting at a 62 on Metacritic, and has a “Weak” rating on OpenCritic. If you’re curious as to why the game has done so poorly, read our review of the title in which we found the co-op zombie FPS a “a misfire that may tarnish the reputation of one of the most creative and exciting development outfits.”