Redfall has been a big miss for Xbox and Microsoft, with the title currently standing at low critic scores and low player reviews, it’s not a question that Starfield is in a pretty bad position right now. In fact, Redfall’s release is a problem for Starfield.
Redfall and Starfield were both delayed past their release date for quite some time, and with both titles being published by Bethesda as exclusives for Xbox and PC, it’s no wonder that players had both set at high expectations. While PlayStation has released plenty of exclusives and has had major successes since the next-gen consoles released, Xbox has been lagging behind. Sure, Game Pass is something, but without exclusives, it’s been a rough patch for Xbox.
In fact, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, recently confirmed what most were thinking: Xbox isn’t going to be outselling PlayStation. In fact, it’s having a rough time in the console market.
Redfall Leaves a Big Gap for Starfield to Fill
Redfall was one Xbox exclusive that should’ve worked out for the company. Redfall was being developed by Arkane, the same developers behind Dishonored. While Dishonored is critically and fan-acclaimed as one of the most iconic video games to ever release, it doesn’t seem like Arkane Studios kept up that reputation with Redfall.
Redfall is an open-world first-person survival shooter set in Redfall, Massachusetts and is about a world overtaken by vampires. The premise seems safe, but the execution fell incredibly flat. Aside from the obvious performance issues, most players who touched Redfall can agree that the game is just boring. Most of the world feels flat and empty and the game isn’t really innovative at all. Nor does it present anything special. It’s quite bland, and it’s a bit of a shock that this game released in 2023. It just feels outdated.
Now, onto Starfield, the title is already set to release with a 30FPS cap on the Xbox Series consoles, which, frankly, makes no sense. With the next-gen consoles, most people purchasing new games from AAA companies expect that such games will be at least 60FPS when they release. Otherwise, why bother with new consoles? However, Redfall and Starfield are both capped out at 30FPS for their launches. It’s already a pretty bad thing for Starfield.
Additionally, since Redfall was such a big flop, Starfield needs to work extra-hard to ensure that its release is not a disaster either. But it can’t really stop there; no, Starfield needs to ensure that it’s a great game. Scrutiny will be high for it, and that’s not a very great ground to start with.
It seems like ever since Cyberpunk 2077 released, people have been extra-tough on AAA titles releasing. It’s no wonder, since Cyberpunk 2077 was such a hyped-up title that its disappointing launch really hit a lot of prospective players in the face. And since then, AAA titles have been falling flat big time. It’s not only Redfall, but Forspoken was another 2023 release and that was met with a lot of disdain. Plus, the recent Saints Row reboot was a big issue as well.
Starfield has the potential to be a fantastic game, but it has a big spot to fill and it needs to fill it right. Otherwise, I can’t say that it’ll spell anything positive for Xbox.
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Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
