Earlier today, Redfall development studio Arkane Austin was closed by Xbox alongside Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Games. And it sounds like, before the shutdown, the team was working on new content and updates for the vampire-hunting shooter that, now, won’t ever be released.
Arriving last year, Redfall—an online-only Xbox and PC exclusive co-op game—launched to negative reviews and low player counts. After its release, the game received some small updates, including a 60fps patch on Xbox. But, following Tuesday’s closing of Arkane Austin, Redfall won’t be getting any more planned DLC. Instead, players who pre-purchased the planned content will be credited for the lack of new characters. But a new report claims that, up until very recently, developers at Arkane Austin were actively working on an offline mode and a Halloween content update, both of which will now never see the light of day.
In a May 7 report from IGN, the outlet says it was told that the now-cancelled Hero Pass DLC content was scheduled to land in October. It’s reported that two new characters were set to be added to the game on Halloween.
Additionally, IGN reports that a much-requested offline mode is also dead and won’t be happening. Prior to Redfall’s launch, many players were upset that the game would require an always-online connection, even when playing alone. In the new report, IGN says that the mode was in development, as previously confirmed by the game’s director, Harvey Smith, and was planned to arrive sometime this month.
It’s reported that Arkane Austin was working on this new content with the expectation that it would be released until very recently, which seems to indicate that Microsoft’s decision to shut down the studio likely caught many developers at Arkane Austin by surprise. This also contradicts previous statements from Bethesda and Xbox suggesting Microsoft wasn’t going to give up on the studio or Redfall.
Kotaku has reached out to Microsoft about the report.
Both the offline mode and the Halloween content drop are now unlikely to ever be finished or released. That’s a real shame, as it means that Redfall will likely be unplayable one day, when Xbox turns the servers off. Even if the game wasn’t great, it doesn’t deserve to one day be forgotten and left for dead.
