Cancelling the PS5 version of Redfall proves that Microsoft’s only solution to resolve its Xbox-exclusive drought is to acquire previously independent development studios.
Redfall is an upcoming FPS that sits right along Starfield as one of the biggest Xbox exclusives set to release in 2023. Only… that wasn’t always the case. You see, back when Bethesda sat separately from Microsoft as its own independent publisher, it continued developing games for most modern platforms – such as PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC – with the intention of releasing its games as widely as possible. Redfall was one of them, before it was ripped away from PlayStation.
So says Harvey Smith, one of Arkane Studios’ most respected creative leads and co-director on Redfall, in a new interview with IGN France. “We were acquired by Microsoft and it was a change with capital C,” he said. “They came in and they said ‘No PS5, we're focusing on Xbox, PC and the [Xbox] Game Pass’”. He essentially confirms that Redfall was at one time intended as a multiplatform release (like most other Bethesda games before it) until Microsoft swooped in, bought Bethesda and cancelled the PS5 version.
