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Microsoft claims Arkane Austin is not currently in danger of closing following Redfall

Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty said Microsoft still currently supports Arkane's efforts to fix and patch up Redfall following its disappointing launch.

TJ Denzer

June 16, 2023 7:45 AM

Image via Bethesda

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In this current age of gaming, a flub like Arkane Austin’s Redfall is cause for alarm. It was a misstep that left many worried that Arkane could be on the chopping block under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella. It’s a valid concern, but Xbox leads have come out to say that Arkane is in no danger of being closed right now. Instead, the publisher is supporting Arkane as it works to fix Redfall up into a quality experience.

This sentiment was shared by Xbox Game Studios lead Matt Booty in a conversation with Axios. When asked about how Xbox and Microsoft were feeling about Arkane, and whether or not the studio was in peril, Booty dismissed the notion and claimed he felt some of the responsibility for Redfall’s launch fell on him.

“I feel accountable that we could have done a better job with Arkane,” Booty said before going on to say he felt the game could be salvaged. “It was a miss, but how much of a miss? I want to support them to be able to keep working to deliver the game they had in mind.”

When asked if that meant Arkane Austin would stay open for the foreseeable future, Booty added that there was seemingly no danger of the studio closing anytime soon.

“That is the plan right now,” Booty concluded. “They are hard at work on updates and continued content for Redfall.”

Redfall was more than disappointing for a lot of people, which includes our own Bill Lavoy in our Shacknews review. Moreover, it would come out after the fact that Redfall was seemingly a project pushed by ZeniMax with confounding management direction as the company was looking to spin up live-service games before its acquisition by Xbox. When the acquisition happened, Arkane allegedly hoped Microsoft would cancel the game, but Xbox management were hands-off instead about the project.

Nonetheless, Xbox leadership still seems to believe that Redfall can be salvaged into something respectable. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen, but at least we don’t seem to be looking at Arkane Austin closing anytime soon. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.