Bloomberg article
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Jason shared article without paywall
Redfall, from Xbox's well-respected Arkane Studios, is one of the year's worst-reviewed games. What happened? It's a story of unclear direction, a severely understaffed team, and a game that many devs didn't actually want to make.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) June 1, 2023
My latest investigation: https://t.co/R4iHzuHfx9
Arkane was always understaffed, but on Redfall, attrition also became a significant problem. By the end of Redfall's development, a whopping 70% of the Arkane Austin developers who worked on Prey were no longer there, according to people familiar as well as a Bloomberg analysis.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) June 1, 2023
Quote
The acquisition gave some staff at Arkane hope that Microsoft might cancel Redfall or, better yet, let them reboot it as a single-player game, according to sources familiar with the production. Instead, Microsoft maintained a hands-off approach. Aside from canceling a version of Redfall that had been planned for rival Sony Corp.'s PlayStation, Microsoft allowed ZeniMax to continue operating as it had before, with great autonomy. Microsoft's Spencer would later say in the Kinda Funny interview that Xbox "didn't do a good job early in engaging Arkane Austin."