Laid-Off Arkane Developers Returned to Xbox to Release Final Redfall Patch

Microsoft allowed several former Arkane Austin employees to sign the necessary paperwork and return to the office to finish the final update for Redfall after the studio was shut down.

Arkane Austin closed in May 2024 as part of a broad restructuring effort by Microsoft. At the time, Redfall held a 56 average score on Metacritic following a poor reception at launch. Bethesda had initially intended to continue post-launch support, with a full offline mode and other major improvements planned. The closure left the fate of those updates in question.

The update eventually launched on May 30, 2024. A small group of laid-off developers made the release possible.

In a new interview, Arkane veterans Harvey Smith and Ben Horne said the team had nearly finished version 1.4 before the studio closed. The patch addressed a large number of the game’s core issues. Following the layoffs, the developers contacted Microsoft to ask if they could complete the patch and deliver it to players.

Smith noted that even if Redfall had launched in that updated state, it would not have been a massive commercial hit, though he believes it would have received a significantly better critical reception.

Source: iXBT.games