Redfall chaotic development is due to departures and lack of manpower
, by Thibaut
Redfall may not be the worst game of all time, but it remains one of the great disappointments in recent years. The quality of the final product is to blame on several factors… that have been investigated by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier.
Despite its undeniable qualities, Arkane Austin’s previous game, Prey, was a commercial flop. ZeniMax Media (the parent company of Bethesda Softworks) therefore asked the developers to design a game with a different business model in mind, i.e. with lots of microtransactions. The studio’s management wanted the teams to work on a title that would appeal to the general public. This is how the production of a “multiplayer game by Arkane” began.
But according to Bloomberg’s investigation, the vision for this game (which was to become Redfall) was never clear enough. What’s more, around 70% of Arkane Austin’s employees who worked on Prey decided to leave. Indeed, many of the teams simply didn’t want to work in a multiplayer production. As a result, development of Redfall was understaffed from start to finish.
Even more surprisingly, once the ZeniMax Media takeover was confirmed, some people hoped that Microsoft would cancel Redfall or let the teams reboot it as an exclusively single-player game. But in the end, the title was released (without microtransactions, though) as an Xbox Series and PC exclusive.
Source: bloomberg.com