Xbox was reportedly largely hands-off with the development of Redfall. Xbox is one of the biggest companies in all of gaming and a large part of that has come to the amount of money it has at its disposal, courtesy of parent company Microsoft. These deep pockets have allowed Xbox the ability to purchase other major video game companies such as ZeniMax, an umbrella that holds developers like Bethesda, Arkane, and many other wonderful developers. Many Xbox fans were excited to see these giants join force, as these developers would then have access to Microsoft’s resources and reap a lot of benefits.
However, the first major first-party game as part of this acquisition (Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo released on PS5 first), Redfall, has been a bit of a disaster. The game is filled with bugs, it is generally quite dull, and it lacks the polish one would hope for from a premium Xbox release. With that said, many have looked to Xbox as the problem as they’ve struggled with their first-party releases in recent years. According to Windows Central, Xbox itself may not be as much of the problem as some thought. Although Redfall has likely been in development for many years, the bulk of which seemingly happened under Xbox, the platform holder was reportedly fairly hands off with the development. Instead, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty focuses more on overseeing “internal” Xbox games like Halo, Forza, and Gears. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer oversees the entirety of the brand, which extends beyond just the games being made. Essentially, ZeniMax is responsible for managing itself while Microsoft will assist with things like marketing and lending technology.
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As of right now, it remains to be seen if this will stay this way going forward. Microsoft is pushing Starfield extremely hard, which suggests it may have a more direct involvement, something that probably isn’t surprising given the scope and scale of that title. Either way, the report notes that this does reflect back on Xbox since it happened under them, but it’s unclear if this will change the way they all operate.
How do you think Xbox has been handling its games like Redfall? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
