Xbox boss says Redfall launch “let a lot of people down”

Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has spoken on the critical and fan response to this week’s release of co-op shooter Redfall, admitting its poor reception is “not what we wanted”.

Redfall’s release this week has been met with a mixed response from critics and fans, and though there were a number of positive leaning Redfall reviews such as ours, many have criticised the game for a myriad of reasons, including a lack of compelling content and many graphical and performance issues, including a lack of 60FPS option at launch on the Xbox Series X|S.

Spencer was asked about the criticism and response to the game on the latest episode of the Being Funny Xcast, to which he said “I’ll just say all up – there’s nothing that’s more difficult for me than disappointing the Xbox community. (…) Just to watch the community lose confidence, be disappointed – I’m disappointed. I’m upset with myself, I kind of… revisit our process, and I think back to our announcement of 60FPS and then we weren’t shipping 60FPS – that was kind of our punch in the chin, rightfully a couple of weeks ago. And then seeing the game come out and critical response was not what we wanted, and it’s disappointing.”

Phil continued “I’m a huge supporter of Arkane Austin – their track record is awesome, I love a lot of their great games that they’ve built. This is one where the team didn’t hit their own internal goals when it launched. I think it’s maybe a little simplistic to just say ‘Hey, if you would’ve just delayed it three months, the core creative of the game would have delivered on something that was different than what it was.”

Of course, Phil reassured fans that Arkane Austin or Xbox aren’t going to give up on the game at all – promising that fixes to address the major issues are on the way. “In terms of our commitment to the game – absolutely. The team at Arkane is on taking the near-term feedback. We’re still working on the 60FPS and we have a good timeline for that. We’re committed to getting that done, and we’re going to continue to work the game. I think we’ve shown a commitment to games like Sea of Thieves and like Grounded to continue to go and build games. But I also know these games are $70, and I’m going to take full responsibility for launching a game that needs to be great.”

We will remain committed to the game and the players, as long as the players want to play games. That’s my commitment to the community. (…) I want to support the team, I want to support the creative ambitions of the team, and I want to support the players. We let a lot of people down this week with the launch of the game, but we will continue to strive on.”

For more on the vampire shooter, check out some of our guides including our Redfall character guide and our guide on How to get Underboss skulls in Redfall. The game is available now on Xbox Series X|S and PC and is also available on Game Pass.

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