Redfall: Microsoft's first $70 game couldn't hit 60fps or work offline
Redfall launched at $69.99 with a 30fps cap and required internet for solo play
The market's verdict: +1.0% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
Redfall was made by Arkane Austin, part of Bethesda, which Microsoft bought for 7.5 billion dollars in 2021, making this Microsoft's first 69.99 dollar first-party release. It arrived May 2, 2023 locked to 30fps on Series X, requiring an online connection even to play alone, with enemy AI that stopped functioning and a mid-50s review average. The 60fps mode promised for June slipped to October; offline play arrived in May 2024, in the game's final update, shortly before Microsoft closed Arkane Austin entirely. At the low point, three people were playing it concurrently on Steam. The studio that made Prey and Dishonored went out on this.
This one is well documented.
They did it more than once
Microsoft's first $70 game shipped broken; its studio closed within the year.
Links
↳ caused by Redfall launch (May 2023)
Timeline
- May 2, 2023 Confirmed First reports came in.
- May 30, 2024 Mitigated Final update added offline mode; the studio closed weeks earlier.