Redfall Hasn’t Caused Microsoft To Lose Faith In Arkane Austin

Following the miserable launch of Redfall earlier this year, one of Xbox’s highly anticipated exclusives, Arkane Austin has been in a rough spot. Speaking with Axios, Xbox Game Studios chief, Matt Booty, when asked about the vampire-themed first-person shooter explained how it impacts Arkane Austin’s future. Booty stated that he wants to help the developers in delivering the game they had in mind.

When asked what they think about fans of Arkane Austin who are unsure if the studio will stay open despite the game’s initial reception, Matt Booty went on to explain that the studio is currently focusing on updates and more content for Redfall. Taking that into consideration, Microsoft will not be pulling the plug on Arkane Austin and “that’s the plan“ for now.

I want to support them to be able to keep working to deliver the game they had in mind. That is the plan right now. They are hard at work on updates and continued content for Redfall.”

Despite Redfall’s launch going south, it’s been getting a good influx of players on Xbox Game Pass. But maybe it’s that fact causing the influx itself. Being on the service allows players to experience the game since they don’t have to buy it at full price and can enjoy it with their friends. However, it doesn’t necessarily imply that the vampire shooter simulator is good because it’s not and the launch itself was riddled with problems.

It’s worth noting that Arkane Austin is working to deliver the experience they had initially planned or something close to it. Furthermore, Matt Booty accepts that Redfall was a miss but posed a question that is definitely on the minds of a lot of people—how much of a miss was it? The game has lost all of its playerbase on Steam but the Game Pass factor is alive and it does support the argument of a redemption arc.

While the future is and always will be uncertain, for now, it’s safe to say that Arkane Austin will continue its operations instead of seeing the curtains fall. Redfall had a great game somewhere within but the potential could not be realized within the development cycle. While it can’t be rebuilt from scratch, it may yet become half of the game it was initially meant to be.

Redfall is available on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox Game Pass, and PC.