Xbox Head Phil Spencer Is “Disappointed” With Redfall
It’s somewhat hard to believe but Redfall only launched on Tuesday because it feels much longer than that. It’s possible to imagine that for Arkane’s developers it feels even longer as players have been picking apart the game’s faults, which are numerous. These include countless bugs and glitches, lack of matchmaking, and woeful enemy AI.
Meanwhile, head of Xbox Phil Spencer has weighed in on the poor reviews and player reactions as he joined the Kinda Funny podcast. “There’s nothing that’s more difficult for me than disappointing the Xbox community and just kind of watch the community lose confidence, be disappointed; I’m disappointed, I’m upset with myself”, Spencer told the Kinda Funny hosts.
Spencer went on to mention the debacle surrounding the game’s framerate, since Redfall had originally targeted 60fps but has launched with 30fps only, which he described as “our punch in the chin, rightfully”. The critical response was clearly not what the executive wanted. But Spencer seems to want to frame Redfall’s launch as a learning experience and asked rhetorically how they could get better (in the future).
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However, Spencer was not going to take all the criticism lying down and pushed back on some points. While noting the issues with quality and execution, Spencer remarked that the thing he wouldn’t do is “push against [the] creative aspirations of our teams”. Spencer said that he is a “huge supporter” of Arkane Austin and paid tribute to its track record of games. “This is one where the team didn’t hit their own internal goals when it launched,” Spencer said.
“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’ve delivered on something that was different than what it was'”, he continued. Arkane is taking on feedback, the Xbox boss said, and that they are working on the 60fps with a timeline on that established and that they’re “committed to getting that done” and that they will continue to “work the game” to mean that support and patches will be ongoing as other Xbox games have had, with Spencer referencing Sea of Thieves and Grounded.
But Spencer did seem to acknowledge his reponsibility as head of Xbox and that the platform should come with good exclusive games. “I also note that these games are $70 and I’m gonna take full responsibility for launching a game that needs to be great”, he admitted. Currently, Redfall is Arkane’s lowest rated game by some distance while its woes has fans concerned over Starfield’s prospects.
Source: www.thegamer.com
