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Phil Spencer is 'disappointed' by Redfall, too

In a new interview, Xbox's Phil Spencer expressed his frustrations with Redfall.

Donovan Erskine

May 4, 2023 8:00 AM

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Redfall’s release has been nothing short of a disaster for developer Arkane and publisher Bethesda. It’s also created quite a mess for Xbox, which was already looking for a win after the CMA blocked its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Fans of Arkane and Xbox have expressed their disappointment in Redfall, and they’re not alone. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has said that he’s also disappointed in the launch.

Phil Spencer was interviewed in the latest episode of Kinda Funny’s Xcast, a podcast dedicated to the Xbox brand and community, where he spoke at length about the current state of Xbox and particularly, Redfall. “There’s nothing that’s more difficult for me than disappointing the Xbox community,” Spencer said. “Just to kind of watch the community lose confidence, be disappointed, I’m disappointed.”

Spencer calls out the fact that Xbox showed Redfall running at 60 FPS in promotional videos, only for it to be capped at 30 FPS on consoles on release, calling it a “punch in the chin.” He also states that the critical response to Redfall was not what the team was expecting. The game currently has a rating of 62 on Metacritic. Later in the interview, Spencer confirmed that Xbox conducted mock reviews before releasing the game and that the reviews for Redfall were “double-digits lower” than what the team was anticipating.

In the interview, Phil Spencer reaffirms that Arkane will continue to work on and improve Redfall for players. He also says that there will be more transparency about what players can expect from games moving forward. Specifically, he confirms that accurate information about Starfield’s performance will be featured at the Starfield Direct, which is set for June 11. For more on Redfall as Xbox continues to navigate the negative response to its latest AAA release, stick with Shacknews.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_