Redfall Developers Looking to Reverse Controversial Always-Online Requirement

By Logan Moore

Developers at Arkane Studios have made clear that they're looking to change course when it comes to Redfall's controversial requirement to always be connected to the internet in order to be played. A little more than a month ago, Xbox fans were disappointed to see that Redfall would need to persistently be online to be experienced, even for those looking to play in a single-player capacity. And while there was hope that Arkane would end up running back this decision, that now seems to be exactly what is happening. 

In a new conversation with Eurogamer, Arkane director Harvey Smith responded to complaints that fans have had about Redfall needing to be perpetually connected to the internet in order to play. As a whole, Smith expressed sympathy for those who may not have great internet connections and said that he understand the criticism. Although Smith didn't outright promise that Arkane will be able to reverse this always-online requirement for Redfall, he did say that it's something the studio is actively working to alter at this moment. 

"There are people who live in places where there are outages or their broadband is sh**ty, or they're competing with their family members, because their mum's streaming a movie or their brother's on another device. And so I think it is a legitimate critique," Smith said of the backlash in regard to Redfall. "We do take it with a lot of empathy. We listen. And we have already started work to address this in the future. We have to do some things like encrypt your save games and do a bunch of UI work to support it. And so we are looking into – I'm not supposed to promise anything – but we're looking into and working actively toward fixing that in the future."

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It remains to be seen if Arkane will be able to finish this tweak with Redfall before its release, but we shouldn't have to wait much longer to find out. Redfall is set to launch in a little over a month May 2nd. When it does arrive, it will be playable on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, in addition to being downloadable on day-one via Xbox Game Pass. 

How do you feel about Arkane potentially looking to make this change with Redfall? And are you going to check the game out for yourself later this year? Let me know either down in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12. 

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