It’s no secret that Redfall didn’t land the way that Xbox and Bethesda were probably hoping for back in May this year. Between some ill-advised design choices, discourse around a 30FPS lock on console and a general need of polish at launch it’s very quickly fallen by the wayside in an otherwise stacked year of banger games. According to Bethesda’s head of global Pete Hines though, there’s absolutely still life in these vampires.
In speaking to GamesIndsutry.biz around Starfield’s launch and the weight of expectation, the ill-received launch of the Bethesda-published Redfall was brought up. Hines takes a strong stance on Bethesda and developer Arkane’s ability to turn things around as well as the potential longevity of the game, especially with its place in the Game Pass library, saying:
“We are always in a process of learning, so that’s not new for us. We don’t like failing to meet our players’ expectations. At the same time, we are the same company that has had launches that didn’t go the way we wanted, and we don’t quit or abandon stuff just because it didn’t start right.
“The Elder Scrolls Online’s PC launch was not flawless but we stuck with it. Now it’s like this insanely popular multiplatform. It’s the same with Fallout 76. Redfall is no different for us. Okay, we didn’t get the start we wanted, but it’s still a fun game… and we’re going to keep working on it. We’re going to do 60fps. We’re going to get it to be a good game because we know, as a first-party studio, Game Pass lives forever. There will be people ten years from now who are going to join Game Pass, and Redfall will be there.”
"We don't like failing to meet our players' expectations. At the same time, we are the same company that has had launches that didn't go the way we wanted, and we don't quit or abandon stuff just because it didn't start right"
– Pete Hines, Bethesdahttps://t.co/UjxZMFKJeN— GamesIndustry (@GIBiz) September 4, 2023
Of course whether or not people will want to take a trip to the town of Redfall ten years in the future remains to be seen, let alone whether anyone is expecting the game to still be supported at that point. It’s certainly easier to think that something like Starfield will command that kind of staying power given how prevalent Skyrim still is to this day, but seeing Redfall turned around to that degree would definitely be a success story for the ages.
For what it’s worth, we scored Redfall a 6.5/10 in our original review, saying “Redfall is a gold dust-rare miss for what has been a very consistent deliverer of quality video games. If you are able to look beyond the game’s several questionable design choices, Redfall can serve up just a small bite of mindless fun beneath the island’s black hole sun.”
