Xbox head Phil Spencer promises a better Redfall in future updates

Phil Spencer, CEO of Xbox Game Studios, said he’s surprised and disappointed by Redfall’s lackluster reception, but promised a brighter future for the FPS game. Spencer made the comments while speaking on the Kinda Funny Games show, though he didn’t indicate what kind of updates Arkane Austin has planned for Redfall outside the 60fps patch.

“The team at Arkane is taking the near-term feedback,” Spencer said. “We’re still working on the 60fps update. We have a good timeline for that [and] we’re gonna continue to work the game. We’ve shown a commitment to games like Sea of Thieves and Grounded to continue to go and build games. But I also know these games are $70, and I’m gonna take full responsibility for launching a game that needs to be great.”

Spencer said the team expected aggregate review scores to be “double digits” higher than they were. Redfall has a 57 aggregate score on PC, where it faced the worst performance issues, and 62 for Xbox. However, he doesn’t believe performance troubles are what caused the game’s poor reception.

“When I look at the review scores of this game it’s [about] did we have enough creative differentiation in our core idea and did we realize that creative ambition?” Spencer said. “I’m a huge supporter of Arkane Austin. Their track record is awesome, [and] I love a lot of the great games that they’ve built. This is one where the team didn’t hit their own internal goals.”

Arkane hasn’t issued a statement since Redfall launched, so whether the team feels the same way about failing to meet its own creative goals is unclear.

Redfall is on Xbox Game Pass for console and PC, so if you wanted to give it a try without shelling out $70 for it, that might be the best option.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF