What you need to know
- Redfall is a vampire slaying attacker from former Microsoft subsidiary Arkane Austin.
- The game was a commercial and critical failure, criticized for its overall lack of polish and uninspired gameplay.
- Roughly a year after its launch, Microsoft shut down the studio behind the game, Arkane Austin, which also created the criminally underrated Prey sim.
- Users who purchased Redfall’s Bite Back Edition were promised additional DLC, which ended up being canceled.
- Now, Microsoft has started issuing refunds to digital owners on Steam and Xbox.
Redfall was a 4-player shooter set in a fictional island community surrounded by vampires and other similar mutants. Developed by Arkane Austin of Prey fame, Redfall looked like it had some promise in its initial marketing cycle, but the full game unfortunately fell far short of expectations. A general lack of polish, coupled with uninspired playing, left Redfall struggling to get out to a busy crowd, and thus, unable to find an audience.
Microsoft bought the studio behind Redfall some time in the middle of development as part of the Bethesda / ZeniMax acquisition a few years ago. Roughly a year after Redfall’s disappointing launch, Microsoft shuttered Arkane Austin, along with Tango Gameworks and other Bethesda Studios, as part of restructuring efforts. Coincidentally, the promised Redfall DLC plans were scrapped, leaving users who had purchased season passes and content early on with the game’s “Bite Back” version in the dark. Now, it looks like Microsoft and Bethesda are trying to repair the damage.
I received advice this evening from users who purchased Redfall’s Bite Back Edition that they were receiving automatic refunds. The Bite Back Edition cost $26.99, and Microsoft appears to be issuing a full refund to users on Xbox and Steam.
The refunds appear to be rolling in in waves, with some already receiving one while others are currently pending. You should check your Junk Mail attached to your Steam or Xbox account in case it landed there. A user also informed me that they were able to work with Bethesda Customer Support to get a refund for the physical Redfall Bite Back Edition as well after submitting a ticket. Although if you go this route, be patient with the wait times as there may be plenty of other people trying to refund via this method as well.
The right thing to do for customers
Redfall had a strong concept behind it, considering we live in a world with a chronic lack of high-quality vampire games these days. Perhaps it’s the ongoing curse of the Twilight movies, but Redfall was sadly not destined for greatness. Redfall had received some solid post-launch updates, including a 60 FPS mode, but sadly it wasn’t enough.
The human cost of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and other studios shut down by Microsoft in recent years is still too raw to contemplate. But at the very least, it’s good to see Bethesda and Microsoft making things right for customers who bought the hosted content, only to not get it. If you received the Redfall Bite Back Edition, keep an eye on your inbox for a refund or drop Bethesda Customer Support a line if you own the physical version.
Arkane lives on under the Arkane Lyon branch, now working with Disney and Marvel on a game based on the similar vampiric Blade IP.