The head of Xbox has admitted he’s disappointed with the launch of Redfall, as he hints at new game reveals next month.
It has not been an easy couple of weeks for Microsoft and while you may have no sympathy for them when it comes to the Activision acquistion or even their console sales, everyone puts out bad games now and then and it was clear from the start that the internet was grossly overexaggerating how bad Redfall really is.
Since it was never particularly anticipated, Microsoft will no doubt be keen to pull a veil over it as quickly as possible but boss Phil Spencer has talked publicly about the failure for the first time, and his own personal regrets at how things turned out.
‘There’s nothing that’s more difficult for me than disappointing the Xbox community and just to watch the community lose confidence, be disappointed… I’m disappointed. I’m upset with myself,’ he said.
‘We’ll revisit our process, back to the announcement of 60fps and then we weren’t shipping 60 fps… that was our punch in the chin, rightfully, a couple weeks ago. The critical response was not what we wanted. I’ll pick myself up, what can we learn? How can we do better?’ he said on the Kinda Funny Xcast.
The 60fps controversy he’s referring to is when the game was initially advertised as 60fps but was reduced to 30fps only in the last few months – with some physical copies still shipping with 60fps advertised on the box.
It didn’t make any major difference to how Redfall played – it’s not aiming to be Call Of Duty – but it immediately put some Xbox owners on the offensive, creating a negative vibe that the game never shock off.
‘There’s clearly quality and execution things we can do but one thing I won’t do is push against creative aspirations of our teams. I’m a huge supporter of Arkane Austin, their track record is awesome; I love a lot of their games that they’ve built,’ said Spencer.
‘We didn’t do a good job in engaging with Arkane Austin, to really help them understand what it meant to be part of Xbox and part of first party, and use some of our internal resources to help them and move along that journey,’ he added.
He does seem to be underplaying the fact that most people just thought it wasn’t a very good game but at least he’s admitting the failings publicly, while also hinting at the accusations of poor management that have dogged Microsoft for years now.
Spencer confirmed that the game will be getting a 60fps patch and also implied that it may receive additional updates beyond that, comparing it to live service game Sea Of Thieves. Although it seems unlikely it’ll receive, or people will be interested in, that level of support.
Comparing Redfall to fellow Bethesda game Starfield, which is the next major Xbox exclusive to be released this year, Spencer insists that ‘we did a better job.’
Apparently, Microsoft was able to get involved earlier in Starfield’s production, and so help out more, which should at least mean better performance and less bugs.
Spencer also implied that the Xbox summer showcase in June will be worth waiting for, after admitting that last year’s had not really delivered.
‘I’m very enthusiastic about Showcase. We’re going to announce some things that people haven’t seen, some new games. We’re going to give updates to some of the things that were on your list.’
That list included obvious titles such as Fable and Avowed but Spencer seems to be implying brand new games as well, that have never previously been announced.
Email [email protected], leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.
MORE : New Game Pass trial for PC is the cheapest way to play Redfall says Xbox
MORE : Xbox deflects Redfall controversy by announcing Starfield showcase date
MORE : Forza Motorsport reboot due for summer shadow drop hints Xbox
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at [email protected]
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
![GameCentral Newsletter](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/client-mu-plugins/metro-newsletters/signups/images/gamecentral-signup-logo.png)
Sign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.
Share this with