According to Bloomberg’s report, even the team behind the Xbox exclusive game Redfall didn’t believe the game would be a success from the very beginning.
After Microsoft’s acquisition of Zenimax (Arkane’s parent company) for $7.5 billion in September 2020, some employees at Arkane said Microsoft would cancel the game, or better still re-develop it as a single-player game. They waited in hopes that he would allow it. Of course, as you know, this did not happen and the game was released in the past weeks.
It is said that a significant number of Arkane developers who have also worked on Prey do not want to deal with developing a multiplayer game. That’s why around 70% of Austin’s staff left the company before development of the game was finished.
According to the testimonies of departing employees, the concept of making a multiplayer game for Arkane was pointless from the very beginning. We only need to look at games like Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic to understand that Arkane is a studio that prioritizes single-player story-driven games. When the concept was explained, it sure caused a lot of confusion.
Arkane, the developer behind the Dishonored series, Deathloop, and Prey, is considered the gold standard for what we call immersive sim today. Redfall, on the other hand, has already taken its place in history as a complete disappointment. It is also very sad that it is referred to as one of the worst games of 2023.
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