The release of Redfall, the latest game from Arkane Austin and published by Microsoft, has not been the success that the company had hoped for. Despite high expectations, the game received disappointing reviews from critics and gamers alike. In a recent interview with Kinda Funny, Xbox boss Phil Spencer spoke about the game’s launch, and admitted that the company had let down a lot of people.
“We do mock reviews for every game we launch, and this is double digits lower than we thought we would be with this game,” Spencer said. “That’s one of the disappointing things. We would never strive to launch a game that we thought was going to review in the low-60s. It’s not part of our goals.”
The fact that Microsoft expected much better from Redfall reviews has raised eyebrows, including from those who are part of the video game consultancy process. “It’s certainly very strange,” video game consultant Nathan Brown, author of the Hit Points newsletter, told Eurogamer. “If we are to take Phil Spencer at his word, clearly Microsoft needs some new mock reviewers.”
However, Spencer also spoke at length on the reasons why Redfall would likely not have been improved by further delay, despite some issues with bugs at launch, and that Microsoft had been too hands-off with its development.
Specifically, the Xbox boss said Redfall had fallen short as it hadn’t delivered on Arkane Austin’s own creative vision. “A fundamental piece of feedback that we get [is] that the game isn’t realizing the creative vision it had for its players,” Spencer continued. “That doesn’t feel like a hey, just delay it. That feels like the game had a goal to do one thing and when players are actually playing they’re not feeling that thing, they’re not feeling the creative execution of the team.”
Redfall launched on May 2, and reviews for the game were embargoed right up until the day of its release. “Arkane’s vampire thriller is muddled and deeply compromised, but has moments of real charm,” Chris Donlan wrote in Eurogamer’s Redfall review.
What Went Wrong with Redfall?
Redfall’s rocky launch can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, it seems that the game was not reviewed properly by Microsoft’s mock review process. This process is standard practice in the industry, and is used to set internal expectations about how a game will be received by critics and consumers alike.
According to Phil Spencer, Microsoft expected Redfall to receive an average review score “double digits” higher than the one it actually got. “That’s one of the disappointing things. We would never strive to launch a game that we thought was going to review in the low-60s. It’s not part of our goals.”
This suggests that the company’s internal review process failed to pick up on the game’s flaws, which were apparent to critics and players alike. In particular, many have criticized Redfall for falling short of Arkane Austin’s creative vision.
“A fundamental piece of feedback that we get [is] that the game isn’t realizing the creative vision it had for its players,” Spencer said. “That doesn’t feel like a hey, just delay it. That feels like the game had a goal to do one thing and when players are actually playing they’re not feeling that thing, they’re not feeling the creative execution of the team.”
Another factor that may have contributed to Redfall’s poor reception is the fact that reviews for the game were embargoed until the day of its release. This is unusual in the industry, and can be seen as a red flag that a game is not expected to receive positive reviews.
