Microsoft killed Redfall right before Arkane could save it from online-only fate

While Redfall demands a constant internet connection even when playing it solo, developer Arkane Austin had intended to add an offline option. Its recent closure means that will never happen, but what’s worse is that the offline option was going to arrive later this month as part of a big update.

On May 7, it was reported Microsoft would be shutting down Arkane Austin, alongside three other ZeniMax Media subsidiaries, which Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty blamed on a “reprioritization of titles and resources.” With Arkane Austin’s closure, development on Redfall has ended, with no further updates planned. However, IGN has since revealed that a May update was on the cards and it would’ve included the aforementioned offline option.

There’s no mention of anything else the update would’ve included, but the timing is extremely unfortunate regardless. What’s more, Microsoft has effectively doomed Redfall to become unplayable in the future. While its servers will remain online for the time being, there’s no telling how much longer that’ll be the case. Redfall doesn’t exactly have the most active of player-bases; while there’s no telling what the player count on Xbox is like, SteamDB shows Redfall‘s PC player count dropped into the double digits a month after its May 2023 launch. Since then, it’s only occasionally managed to go into the triple digits, and even then the most it ever reached was 186 players.

Given these figures, it’s only a matter of time before Microsoft pulls the plug on Redfall‘s servers. Without an offline option, though, this means Redfall will become completely unplayable. This is hardly in keeping with Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s comments about game preservation. Back in 2021, he said, “I think in the end, if we said, ‘Hey, anybody should be able to buy any game, or own any game and continue to play,’ that seems like a great North Star for us as an industry.”

On a related note, Arkane Austin’s shutdown also means the promised Hero Pass DLC characters included with Redfall‘s Bite Back Edition will never see the light of day. IGN’s report says these two extra characters would’ve been added to the game as part of a Halloween update. Microsoft is at least planning to offer compensation to customers who paid for the Bite Back Edition or the Bite Back Upgrade, with this Tweet from Arkane Studios saying affected players “will be eligible to receive the value of the upgrade.”