redfall, Arkane’s upcoming vampire shooter, won’t be available on Xbox and PC until later this year. However, this does not always seem to have been the case. A new interview has revealed that Arkane was working on a PlayStation 5 version of the game until Microsoft bought the studio’s parent company, Bethesda, and then preserved the port. Remember when Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft has no plans to “take games away from a different player base”? hmm
Due May 2, 2023, redfall is an online co-op shooter with a whole bunch of blood-sucking vampires. You play as a hunter who must use weapons, stakes, magic and stealth to defeat all vampires and save your little town before it’s too late. The game seems cool and it’s nice to hear that developer Arkane is try removing the previously advertised always online requirement. However, if you’re a PlayStation owner, you won’t be able to play Arkane’s next big title, although a PS5 port was in the works at one point.
Speak with IGN France (And translated by IGN), redfall Director Harvey Smith explained that things changed quickly after Bethesda was bought by Microsoft in 2020. “We were bought by Microsoft and that was a big change. They said, ‘No PlayStation 5. Now we’re doing Game Pass, Xbox and PC.’”
Smith said Arkane developed the game for all platforms before the buyout. And while it might suck for PlayStation owners, Smith wasn’t too upset about the PS5 port’s cancellation as the studio can now focus on “one less platform”, which should make development easier.
“And Game Pass has a lot of people who can play,” Smith said. “Because of the 30 million Game Pass, it could be our biggest game ever [members] or whatever that number is.”
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Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s past comments on exclusives
While Smith and Arkane might be happy with Microsoft’s decision to end the PS5 port and focus on the Game Pass and Xbox ecosystems, that seems to directly contradict previous statements Phil Spencer set to work my city in October 2020shortly after the proposed acquisition of Bethesda was first announced.
“This deal wasn’t made to take games away from another player base,” Spencer said. “Nowhere in the documentation we put together did it say, ‘How do we stop other players from playing these games?’ We want more people to be able to play games, not less people to be able to play games.”
my city contacted Xbox and Bethesda about it redfall‘s canceled PS5 version.
Canceling a PS5 port of a large game such as redfall seems to directly contradict this statement. And while I understand Microsoft wants its games to be Xbox exclusives, that’s not the message the company has been pushing in the last year or so as it’s been trying to convince courts and regulators around the world that it doesn’t work call of Duty an Xbox exclusive once she’s almost finalized her split $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard King.
Maybe it won’t monopolize call of Duty. But future Activision and Blizzard games, especially new IP coming from both companieswill probably end up like starfield And redfall: only available on Xbox and PC and will leave wannabe fans out in the cold on PlayStation.
