Redfall, the most critically panned game by an Xbox first-party developer in a long time, won"t be causing any studio shutdowns. Microsoft has confirmed that the Austin studio responsible for the controversial title will remain open. The publisher has been rather silent regarding the title recently, but this is good news for fans of the veteran studio.
In an interview with Axios, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty calmed fears by saying the studio will remain open and keep working on the game. "That is the plan right now," says Booty. "They are hard at work on updates and continued content for Redfall."
He also provided an update on how the vampire hunting co-op title is performing on Game Pass, saying it was getting "good play" in the subscription services. "It was a miss, but how much of a miss?" Booty adds. “I want to support them to be able to keep working to deliver the game they had in mind."
Xbox head Phil Spencer also shared his thoughts on the poorly received release in May, saying the company will revisit its processes to make sure studios receive enough support to avoid these kinds of launches. "We didn"t do a good job early on in engaging with Arkane Austin to really help them understand what it meant to be a part of Xbox and first party," said Spencer.
The Austin wing of Arkane previously developed Prey, the fan-favorite immersive sim from 2017. The ZeniMax Media-owned studio joined the Xbox Game Studios umbrella in 2021 as part of Microsoft"s acquisition of the group alongside Bethesda, id Software, and other heavy hitters.
Redfall"s first major bug fixing update landed earlier this week, with the studio saying that it is laying down the groundwork for more important changes coming later. Meanwhile, the other Arkane studio, Lyon, is yet to reveal what its next project will be. The developer released the Dishonored universe-set Deathloop in 2021.