…to the makers of Redfall, the mediocre reception was no big surprise. The project suffered from unclear direction, frequent attrition and a perennial lack of staff, according to more than a dozen people who worked on the game.
Jason Schreier
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier spoke to several anonymous developers about Redfall, and what led to the disastrous launch.
A few notes:
- Redfall development began during a tumultuous time when Zenimax was looking to be acquired. Their games historically had been critically well received but failed to sell huge numbers. This lead to a mandated focus on more “service” type games and MTX oppotunities.
- Reportedly up to 70% of the developers that worked on Prey left the studio, and they then had difficulties hiring for a live service co-op game when the studio’s reputation was built on im-sim single player experiences.
- The game had microtransaction plans in place for its first three years of development; this was ultimately scrapped.
- Some working staff had privately hoped Microsoft would cancel the game, or allow for a full reboot.
Inside the making of Redfall, Xbox’s latest misfire [Bloomberg]