Arkane Austin was working on a big Redfall update for May before Microsoft abandoned the game and shut down the studio

The now-discontinued Redfall had a support roadmap that was actively being worked on before Microsoft abandoned all development and shut down its developer, IGN can reveal.

Arkane Austin was working on DLC and updates for the game with hopes of releasing them until very recently, according to IGN, suggesting that Microsoft’s internal announcement today that it was shutting down the developer as well as the Hi-Fi studio Rush Tango Gameworks was a shock to staff.

IGN has been informed that the now-canceled Hero Pass content, which was set to add two new characters to the vampire co-op shooter, was scheduled to release this Halloween. If it had released then, the Hero Pass would have released a year and a half after Redfall suffered a disastrous launch and with a shrinking player base.

Contacted by IGN, representatives for Xbox and Bethesda declined to comment.

In an email sent to staff today, May 7, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty blamed the cuts on a “re-prioritization of titles and resources.” The email, verified by IGN, includes confirmation that Redfall’s servers will remain online.

However, there are now fears that Redfall, still online, could become unplayable if and when Microsoft shuts down its servers. In March of last year, ahead of Redfall’s release, Arkane Austin said he was working on a patch that would reverse Redfall’s online permanence requirement, an aspect that sparked backlash when it was first announced .

In an interview with Eurogamer, game director Harvey Smith said: “We are listening. And we have already started working to resolve this issue in the future. We need to do some things like encrypt your backups and do some UI work to support them. And so we are studying – I’m not supposed to promise anything – but we are actively studying and working to resolve this issue in the future.

However, offline mode could not come to fruition. IGN understands that Redfall’s May update would have added the ability to play offline, which would have helped keep the game alive in the future. Unfortunately for players, it will never see the light of day.

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–Arkane Studios (@ArkaneStudios) May 7, 2024

Redfall is one of the most publicized disasters in Xbox history. The game was widely criticized by critics and players upon launch and would have experienced a deeply troubled development. Redfall’s launch difficulties ultimately resulted in executives like Phil Spencer And Matt Booty issuing statements about Xbox’s own role in its weak version. Last year, Pete Hines, then-chief publishing officer of Bethesda Softworks reassured players that Arkane would not abandon Redfallinsisting that he was confident it would be a good game that people would want to play on Game Pass in 10 years.

But it took more than a month for Arkane to come out his first big patch for Redfall although the launch was criticized for its bland missions, unengaging combat, poor AI enemies, harsh performance, myriad of bugs, requirement to always be online, and more.

It then took five months for the Xbox Series X version to be available. Support for 60 frames per secondand Arkane shocked fans again the following month when its third patch was titled a new sniper rifle instead of highly requested features like offline mode. And those were the last fans heard from.

In our opinion 4/10IGN said, “Redfall is an incredibly bad time on every level. Plagued by bland missions, idiotic enemies, and repeated technical glitches, Redfall just wasn’t ready to come to light in this state.”

Microsoft’s budget cuts, which it has yet to publicly comment on, appear to have surprised many Bethesda employees. Booty’s email to staff is riddled with errors, including studio and DLC names, and today’s Xbox blog post about the new Fire Vapor Special Edition controller originally included the tagline: “Feel the Burn Today.” Microsoft later removed it. Some also criticized Microsoft’s late-night announcement that Japanese studio Tango Gameworks was closing in Japan.

In a series of tweets, the boss of Arkane Lyon, Dinga Bakaba, denounced these budget cuts, describing them as “absolutely terrible”. “To any executive reading this, a friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment and cultural industry and that your business as a company is to take care of your artists/artists and help them create value for you,” Bakaba continued.

Redfall game director Harvey Smith also commented: “I just want to say that I love all the people at Arkane Austin so much. Great times, hard times, we’ve been through so much together. Of course, today’s news is terrible, for us All your talent will rise up, and I will do everything I can to help you.