Redfall Was Reportedly Understaffed & Lacked Direction
Redfall was criticized heavily upon its release in early May, which is not something Arkane Studios games usually go through. A new report has shed some light on these issues, alleging that development did not go smoothly.
Redfall reportedly had plenty of issues during development
According to Bloomberg, Redfall suffered from “unclear direction, frequent attrition, and a perennial lack of staff” according to more than a dozen sources from the team. While not an outright mandate, Zenimax was encouraging studios to develop games that could make money beyond their initial sales and was “strongly urging” teams to add in microtransactions. Fallout 76, Wolfenstein Youngblood, and Doom Eternal were three such games that followed that lead in different ways.
And since 2017’s Prey wasn’t commercially successful (something people from the staff blamed on Bethesda’s subpar marketing), the leadership at Arkane wanted to make a more broadly appealing game. A title where players shoot vampires and “perhaps pay for occasional cosmetic upgrades” was what came out from those parameters. This switch meant some on the team were confused since that wasn’t what Arkane was known for after developing immersive sims like Dishonored.
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Arkane was seeking applicants who had worked on multiplayer shooters, but many who had applied were looking to make immersive sims. Co-directors Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare were reportedly excited about the project, but said excitement did not trickle down to everyone and some noted that the two didn’t provide a “clear direction.” The team was also allegedly understaffed at less than 100 people and morale took a hit, prompting 70% of the staff who had worked Prey to leave.
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The Microsoft acquisition gave some developers hope that the console maker would allow the studio to reboot it as a single-player game and something more akin to what Arkane is known for. However, Microsoft did not intervene aside from canceling a PlayStation 5 port. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer loosely gave credence to this notion of Microsoft’s hands-off approach during his interview with Kinda Funny.
The game didn’t get better from there, as those who had reportedly played Redfall in 2021 said it hadn’t change much in 2023. It was also apparently going to have a store during that time, but player disdain toward microtransactions in general made the team scrap that section. Smith said he fended off the idea of an in-game store when prompted by executives, but Bloomberg’s sources indicated that Redfall had a “significant microtransaction plan in place” for years.
Neither Arkane nor Bethesda Softworks have responded to the report. The game also has yet to receive any big post-launch updates.
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