Microsoft has GamePass. They want continuous new releases. They didn’t release Redfall because they thought it was ready, they released it because they thought it was good enough to get with a GamePass subscription.
Even Microsoft wasn’t happy with Redfall - I don’t think it was like they decided to release it in that state because of Game Pass, it seems the whole project was a greed-driven disaster that started prior to the Microsoft acquisition.
Yeah, it sounded more like an Anthem situation, where for most of the project everybody was just fucking around wasting the company’s money, until the owner put the foot down and forced them to actually work on it and finish the game, quality be damned
Even Microsoft wasn’t happy with Redfall - I don’t think it was like they decided to release it in that state because of Game Pass
If Redfall was a one-off, I’d agree but a decline of quality is going on for years:
Crackdown 3: mediocre at best
Battletoads 2020: again, mediocre at best
Gears 5: merely “mostly positive” on Steam but hardly a gangbuster
Halo Infinite Campaign: “Mixed” on Steam
Deathloop: “mostly positive”
Those “mostly positive” games are exactly the 7/10 level of quality that can be farted out on a somewhat regular bases while being good enough to justify a GamePass subscription. Redfall with its “mostly negative” (33% are positive) on Steam isn’t that far off Halo Infinite’s “mixed” single player campaign (48% positive). Sure, Microsoft would have wanted Redfall to be better but I still read the releases, especially the hyped ones, more as a getting them out the door because GamePass situation.
Microsoft’s best releases (Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush) are smaller-scale efforts.
Microsoft has GamePass. They want continuous new releases. They didn’t release Redfall because they thought it was ready, they released it because they thought it was good enough to get with a GamePass subscription.
Even Microsoft wasn’t happy with Redfall - I don’t think it was like they decided to release it in that state because of Game Pass, it seems the whole project was a greed-driven disaster that started prior to the Microsoft acquisition.
Yeah, it sounded more like an Anthem situation, where for most of the project everybody was just fucking around wasting the company’s money, until the owner put the foot down and forced them to actually work on it and finish the game, quality be damned
If Redfall was a one-off, I’d agree but a decline of quality is going on for years:
Those “mostly positive” games are exactly the 7/10 level of quality that can be farted out on a somewhat regular bases while being good enough to justify a GamePass subscription. Redfall with its “mostly negative” (33% are positive) on Steam isn’t that far off Halo Infinite’s “mixed” single player campaign (48% positive). Sure, Microsoft would have wanted Redfall to be better but I still read the releases, especially the hyped ones, more as a getting them out the door because GamePass situation.
Microsoft’s best releases (Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush) are smaller-scale efforts.