The Disaster of Redfall

[@GVMERS]

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[@MrSamadolfo]

😇🙏 Thanks guys for all your unique Documentaries throughout the years, God Bless you All 🙏

[@adamm2091]

Happy to support. I laugh that I'm the only person in that profile picture splash that doesn't have one, but you put the "A" in there anyway. I didn't even know you could profile pic on Patreon!

[@Retro_simone]

Heya! I subscribed to Patreon and sent you multiple DM there without answers, would love to get an answer. Thanks.

[@XxrazorxX21]

You guys do a good Job Hope you can do more with the channel

[@darknessviking]

this game is superfun i dont know why you all are saying its bad

[@Nikelaos_Khristianos]

This current cycle of buying new studios, milking them for a single “do or die” product and then closing them regardless of how well that product does - while the holding companies and publishers boast “record profits” - has to be one of the most disturbing and disgusting cycles I’ve ever seen.

[@karenpojar2514]

Microsoft is making an offer to buy Steam for $16B. We will see if Gaben can resist retirement.

[@homuraakemi493]

​@@karenpojar2514the west has fallen

[@wolfumz]

I did a turn at software developer who was serving a federal agency, delivering a major product for them. It worked basically the same way. You were hired for however long the length of the project had left, which might be eight years or eight weeks. When the final deliverable went out the door, they layed everyone off, dozens or even hundreds of engineers , they'd leave a skeleton crew to wrap up, and the management team. The firms would either do these crazy cycles of hiring and layoffs, ballooning up with huge hiring blitzes and furrows burning money... then letting all the air out, "rightsizing" for whatever work they have right now. Everything was very short term, everything was an emergency that was due yesterday. Sometimes these firms can't win another contract, and if they can't sustain on maintaining and upgrading their old projects they delivered, they are fold and sold. The either sell themselves to a competitor / equity firm.... or they wind themselves up, and a competitor buys the patent at bankruptcy. Its pretty brutal. And it's considered, like, the good life for software engineers. There's whole group of people who spend their whole careers doing this, going from project to project, company to company.

[@RuffWarl0ck]

It's a shame how this all transpired. A good chunk of the devs didn't even want to make this game and were hoping Microsoft would axe the project after they got bought out. Alas, the game continued development, and the whole studio paid the price in the end. What a loss.

[@mosermi443]

you say that but microsoft also canned the makers of hi-fi rush and that game was a hit

[@princegroove]

M$ is trash, ultimately:

[@applehazeva2739]

Arkane and Tango were literally Underdogs and Industry Darlings. Sad of what we lost.

[@thacoolest13]

@@mosermi443arcane makes sense to have been canned. Basically everyone that made that studio what they are left during redfall development

[@kamurotetsu4860]

@@thacoolest13 I think the point they are trying to make is that even if Redfall was good, Arkane Austin would have still been shut down eventually.

[@NothingHereForYou]

Those first trailers were real cringe. A vampire hunter drowning in students loans sounds like som Saints Row garbage writing. It’s “comedic” tone was a turn off after Prey

[@hwogrillo]

Blasphemy. You can ask any gamer, and they immediately identify with giant afro lady with crippling student debt. Why else would those tropes be so prevalent? I can think of no other reason!

[@JWalters388]

It is sad that Saints Row right now, turns into the student debt plot meme, considering that in the past series, they were actually cool.

[@ElAssoWipe-o]

They thought that ESG money would keep them afloat but it end up killing another studio.

[@Ol_Durty_Badger]

I remember reading that line in game and groaning and rolling my eyes so hard I’m now a blind man. If anyone finds my eyes rolling down a lonesome desert road please tell them to come home. Tell them Redfall is dead, and I’m tired of aiming a pee by echo location.

[@Ol_Durty_Badger]

Surprised they didn’t start talking about “Nachos”

[@SwiftyTheNinja]

"You will never see the sun again" As you fight a vampire in the sunniest day I've ever seen in a game.

[@lucascoval828]

Whoopsie.

[@ThwipThwipBoom]

Redfall was just so fucking bad. I'll miss Arcane though

[@pandyssianrat]

The sun gets eclipsed if you take 10 steps out of the ship...

[@kevynhansyn2902]

Well Egyptian and Japanese Vampires can handle the sun. But they may not me part of the lore of that fallen game.

[@d.d3670]

​@@ThwipThwipBoom Arcane wasn't shut down only the Austin studio of arcanw there's like 3 other studios

[@Cyynapse]

i cannot get over that Zenimax thought that making studios only known for singleplayer games, Bethesda, MachineGames, and Arkane, make online games completely at-odds with their previous work was a good idea.

[@kwisatzhaderach9591]

Maybe Arkane should have made Redfall about the capitalism in greedy ill managed game companies.

[@Kerosberous]

Zenimax just wanted the live service shooter aspect for mass appeal and revenue but the game also failed on every other front. Story, characters, barebones features like pausing, graphics/artstyle... I don't think you can blame all that on Zenimax, something was definitely wrong with Arkane's own creative team.

[@Rangernewb5550]

They pulled an EA and wanted in on that loot box money.

[@Retrofire-47]

Singleplayer games are passé, this was Zenimax -- or was it Microsoft -- doing a sink or swim for each of their former cherished studios you pass, you make a successful live-service game, you fail, we downscale and shutter you. Either it aligns with Microsoft's new initiative [hardware agnostic streamer/publisher]

[@Hugsloth]

FO76 was also foisted onto a studio Bethesda bought in Austin TX. Their only prior work had been the much-maligned multiplayer mode of Doom 2016. You know, that mode where Doomguy hits the griddy on the victory screen

[@user-Marrk]

The very first trailer to this game had serious Anthem vibs, without the cool looking suits. I was never confident of this game being any good.

[@jorge69696]

I got Saints Row 4 vibes with the quirky Marvel-style unfunny quips.

[@peterclarke7240]

Yep. I'm so sick of games designed by adults to be what they think is appealing to "the kids."

[@wyattgeorge9696]

I could tell right away that this game had no soul or direction

[@thelastremnantofevil]

I kinda wish I could say the same. I enjoyed back 4 blood despite how mediocre that game was and was excited for something similar. When redfall dropped I didn't even manage to get 5 hours in before I dropped it though.

[@steelbear2063]

I heavily suspected the game to flop because of that trailer, because of the narration. Like oh, vampires blocked out the sun and are slaughtering the population and this girl goes like "yeah we're gonna have fun while we demolish those SOBs" - I don't have a name for this, but I don't like that type of thing. What should we call it? Surely you know what's I'm talking about. Sure it can be fine, like Left 4 Dead 2 changed the dark gritty atmosphere to a clown fest, but the gameplay was great at least.

[@ShrimpGaslight]

I feel people have to REMEMBER, don't let it get memoryholed Matt Booty was the reason MIDWAY GAMES went bankrupt. He was the CEO of Midway then when it happened. He's doing the exact same thing again with Microsoft Games.

[@RSNTM3NT]

Never ask an Immersive Sim Studios to make a looter-shooters online game.

[@Puxi]

Yeah, but this is what we all get because you (I just blame you in this example) want online gaming pvp all the time. People ask me why I like singleplayer games? They think or you all think singleplayer games are just bot mode... Bro, you make microtransactions en mass and then you complain.

[@redfin382]

The video game industry makes more money than any other entertainment sector but they treat the people who make games like trash. Devs put years into a game and when it launches and the money is made, they lay off employees so they can have a bigger profit and get a bonus. No company should be allowed to give executive bonuses if they laid off workers within the last 12 months.

[@TheTanelChannel]

Its not about asking its about agreeing to do this and the studio was full on to blame here.

[@jonathankabasele985]

@@Puxiredflop is truly an abysmal game no one should support😢

[@Puxi]

@@jonathankabasele985 ah ok wouldn't figure that out on my own.

[@MarcusPacheco-ep8kk]

The Prey IP got killed off twice.

[@blinkin78]

To be fair the original was absolutely woeful

[@metpach]

​@@blinkin78Arkane was never a good studio. I'm tired of people pretending they were.

[@jakefoley9539]

​@@blinkin78 Arkane has never made a good game. Cope more.

[@davidt3563]

Hehe, it got prey'd on.

[@Moji55a]

@@metpach Spoken by someone who never played Arkane games lol.

[@GaudiaCertaminisGaming]

Even the pitch makes me feel tired. It’s anti-fun.

[@Gurumeierhans]

I dont understand, how some games are greenlighted... Redfall, Hyenas, that ubisoft looter-shooter before the finals, dodge city and so many others

[@jordanwhite352]

It's the same reason why during the early and mid-2000s that were all of these horrible Grand theft Auto clones. It's just like the movie industry fortnite with its super colorful team friendly backpack. Dance stupidity is incredibly insanely popular, so all this studios are copying literally xeroxing in this game without actually understanding why the game has been successful in the first place which is never copied over.

[@josephhelgersonjoseph6115]

Ah, Redfall. A video game that is quite literally designed by committee.

[@judgedrekk2981]

and somewhere in the background some chick yells "I AM NOT A COIMMITTEE!!!"

[@lamikal2515]

@@judgedrekk2981 Yet she is, as she needs 5 seats of her own.

[@ElAssoWipe-o]

"Capitalist vampires" LMAO

[@brkbtjunkie]

@@ElAssoWipe-o red fall 2 feat. Communist werewolves!

[@unnamed715]

@@ElAssoWipe-o When I heard that I _INSTANTLY_ knew what type of people made this game 😅

[@roolaing]

Would just like to say - the video you put out asking for help really helped to communicate to your subscribers just how small a team you are. Seeing your four faces and hearing a little of your story immediately made you more human, when previously I assumed you were a “big” team and studio. Please take this as a compliment, as the quality of your work suggested this was the case!

[@L0vac]

This breaks my heart; Dishonored 1/2 and Prey are my favorite post SS2/DeusEx games.

[@juansebastiansanchez7484]

So the capitalistic vampires won 😮

[@barbarbar3084]

nah, microsoft lost

[@SoullessAIMusic]

I am surprised they did not mention this week baby Incorporated controversy. Then again by the statement that they ended the video with, felt like a subtle Veil jab at those who might believe that sweet baby Inc is worthy of defense.

[@MadderR3d]

9:30 a part of Arcane Studios themselves disliked the game and had fingers crossed the publisher would axe the whole thing? well, the final product sure reflected this mentality in the end.

[@spacewolfgaming555]

14:12 I swear he says "Co-op shitter" which is still completely accurate.

[@danielhathaway8817]

ROFL He DID!! Good catch!!

[@fluffywolfo3663]

On the one hand, maybe that's his accent. On the other hand, it's funnier if he did say shitter so I'll just go with it.

[@DeanBiddler]

I heard, can confirm

[@elkston]

Lol. I heard that and came straight to the comments to see if anyone else did...

[@_zoinks2554]

The entire industry needs to realize the boom is over. There's a glut of bad games,prices are high and people are poor. Gamers are tired of "the message" being beaten over their head too.

[@jordanwhite352]

What's "the message"?

[@adnanasif9538]

​@@jordanwhite352 western liberal point of views/ideology or something. It's always these things whenever "the message" is mentioned online.

[@BatkoNashBandera774]

@@jordanwhite352 the notion of continually showcasing political opinions FIRST AND FOREMOST in a gaming title above all other systems/assets in the game.

[@ocoolwow]

​@@BatkoNashBandera774 the irony is palpable

[@bovinleephann]

@@BatkoNashBandera774 when a game dares to feature a black person

[@winj3r]

To think that Arkane Austin went from making Prey and Dishonored to crap like this, it's one of the most tragic tales in videogame history. Zenimax and then Microsoft, managed to destroy one of the most talented studios that ever existed in the industry.

[@Coffees_Corner]

yeah but most of the devs who worked on those game left including the founder of arkane. its easy to put a company name in the spotlight but often it is the team who make the games we love not the company brand. when we lose some of those members it is only the same team in studio name alone. arkane was not the most talented studio the moment it lost key memebers

[@Berssange55]

Zinemax was pushing shit MP games like 76, Youngblood and Redfall was victim of this direction

[@winj3r]

@@Coffees_Corner But those people left, when Zenimax started start push for GaaS. The studio was losing talent, because of bad management. And even Microsoft didn't do enough to stem the bleeding.

[@natandjai]

Nu Prey was kind of crap it was just a system shock clone with a bad ending

[@l0rdfr3nchy7]

"one of the most tragic tales in videogame history"? ever heard of Squaresoft, Ubisoft, Lionhead, Raven, Sierra, Looking Glass?

[@ThommyofThenn]

16:20 "We released crap, we knew it was crap as we worked on it yet still tossed it out despite the realisation that even three months more work wouldn't make it acceptable. I'm surprised people gave bad reviews!" Seriously? With dolts like this in charge I guess it's a minour miracle the game came out at all. Game execs are often mocked for being distressingly clueless about gaming and their audience, and in this case, it's REALLY easy to say they deserve it.

[@KenKaneki.]

This game derserves its hate

[@lutherheggs451]

Its hilarious that the Xbots still line up to suck off Microsoft and white knight them. Its not like Phildo Sphincter said several times out loud that he oversaw the game before it launched but they needed WelfarePass content and couldn't delay it any further.

[@DubElementMusic]

nothing deserves hate, but this game.... ah yea, and mosquitos, they suck.

[@Moji55a]

U mean Zenimax? the one who forced them in the 1st place?

[@ricardomeijer7164]

In a few months we'll be seeing 'The downfall of suicide squad'

[@nagiaoe2434]

No. They were tasked to make a game, it was in them it sucked​@@Moji55a

[@TheForever206]

The absolute delusion in Redfalls subreddit was always hilarious to read. 😂

[@cyphaborg6598]

I really wondered if they were playing the same game that I did lol.

[@slinkbradshaw8674]

Pure copium, one of the worst epidemics I've ever seen

[@SYLRMHA]

Its called sunk cost fallacy

[@lawray8368]

Reddit is a giant marketing and propaganda bot site. Good chance it was mostly marketing accounts

[@anon2427]

@@SYLRMHAthat describes some of the desperation behind the people who cling to the ideology behind Redfall as well, although not the bulk of it

[@punk_rock_music_teacher]

I want this man to read my Eulogy at my funeral

[@PorkotylerClips]

THIS is the RISE and FALL...of @punk_rock_music_teacher **cue intro music** Sponsored by Nord VPN

[@mr.kwamid-86_43]

@@PorkotylerClips LOL

[@mr.kwamid-86_43]

@@PorkotylerClips Thank you for your support during this difficult time (not the funeral but our channel battling KZbin lol). Now lets get back to the eulogy... 🤣🤣

[@punk_rock_music_teacher]

@@mr.kwamid-86_43 about to crowd fund my own funeral costs. But seriously glad GVMERS is here to stay a while

[@AC-hj9tv]

​@@PorkotylerClipslolool

[@lexion8152]

I'm so tired of "quirky" characters and developers and writers believing twitter accounts for 99% of all gamers.

[@wyattgeorge9696]

I don't understand why they keep on doing it, despite knowing it won't sell well. Must be because they know DEI investments will make up for the losses.

[@Senumunu]

the modern devs are literally caricature twitter accounts you can check yourself they dont give a shit about what you say or want. they are making what they want. which is gay, ugly and corporate.

[@Retrofire-47]

you misunderstand. it's institutional propaganda. This is not coming from grassroots ideology, if it were, and i believed that, i'd have no issue with its prolific nature in media today. But i work at a convenience store in a normal town, i know the common person and there is a dissonance

[@jorelplay8738]

The money comes from Blackrock, which mandates consultance from "diversity firms" like Sweet baby Inc. Sweet baby boasts on their website that Sony and Microsoft are amoknth their clients.

[@GameBacardi]

Go woke, get broke

[@ScaerieTale]

Publishers never mandate their studios do anything. They just heavily imply that if they don't, they'll be replaced with someone else (be it crunch, or the flavor of the month game type)

[@bigblue344]

If something is well received the devs say they are the ones who came up with the idea, if the idea is hated the devs just say the publisher made them do it.

[@TheBloopers30]

@@bigblue344 To be fair. It's rare that a publisher gets credit for an actual good decision they make that we simply don't know about.

[@peterclarke7240]

They should've let us play as the vampires versus a town full of humans. At least that would have been vaguely original.

[@jasonavery8247]

Hell I would've settled for Vampire vs Vampire & Hunters.

[@setcheck67]

I would of settled for protagonists I want to play as. It feels like so many companies think that we want protagonists that are flamboyant and there has been absolutely no data to support this. They're just looking at how wacky Fortnite is and assuming that is now ideal protagonist even though it's blatantly obvious Fortnite is wacky solely so they can have children shooting each other without a Teen or Mature rating.

[@itwsntme]

Bloodrayne.

[@peterclarke7240]

@@setcheck67 Yep. it's the Fortnitification of cutesy and the Marvelisation of humour: keep talking quickly in the hope something funny happens. It's depressing and unamusing, and clearly designed by psychologists to appeal to children with limited concepts of what is actually funny. Even the obnoxious colour palette is deliberately designed to hack children's brains.

[@Seoul_Soldier]

@@Cha4k That pitch you described is the most unappealing idea for a game I have ever heard. Buy Indie games, folks. Just buy Indies.

[@Texelion]

They were so scared of Ross Scott going after them that they added an offline mode.

[@dcghoul101]

10:21 - Relying on "Arkane Magic" is as bad as relying on "Bioware Magic".

[@amharbinger]

When the developers said they hoped Microsoft would ax it, you know things are bad. They would rather see all that work go down the toliet than release it to the public.

[@GeremyG]

I could tell Redfall was going to be bad from the first trailer

[@wyattgeorge9696]

Yea it looked like they just threw shit at the wall and hoped it stuck

[@anonymouseovermouse1960]

Pathetic how many of these "live service" games either end up pumping out no content, or even less content than the DLC pack model of games like Call of Duty just 10 years ago did. Which brings me to my point: an actual "live service" isn't what devs say, it's what devs do. If new content and updates actually end up being perpetual, then it's a live service game. We've had those since online updates have been a thing. WoW. CS:GO. The works. But just making a pinky promise that they'll keep updating the game usually results in sudden closures and undelivered promises, or underwhelming plans unworthy of the "live service" title. Like the recent Payday 3 or Suicide Squad, or Redfall, or a thousand other games i don't really need to mention here.

[@mikeclarke3990]

The service will only stay live if it's making money, it's all business.

[@anonymouseovermouse1960]

@@mikeclarke3990 Yep. And then it's just a question of "are the developers willing to jnvest the resources and effort to support the game post-launch". Since a lot of live service games actually weren't all that popular at launch. What people miss very often is that actual live service games are a long-term investment, and that it's normal to be losing money for the first year or a few, especially if the launch is as trashy as is the case with many games today.

[@iratepirate3896]

It looked like slop from the very first reveal. Pure sh*te. Happy to see your channel is surviving!

[@franciscor390]

Slop indeed!

[@boofessor8668]

I am so glad you are able to still create content, GVMERS is some of the only good gaming journalists that still exist.

[@claireredfield7368]

My Thoughts exactly. May they never die.

[@anarchychef2216]

Success has a thousand fathers..but failure is an orphan

[@bigblue344]

Exactly. If this game did great then the devs would claim everything was their idea, even the cringe ones.

[@AC-hj9tv]

I feel bad for that mom's holes

[@BucklingSwashes]

This game's mere existence was a tragedy. Arkane Austin should never have been pushed to do any sort of live service. I can see the idea of a cooperative immersive sim being an interesting idea (the coop mode of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory arguably being a great example), but Redfall is not an immersive sim and a far cry from what the studio that co-developed Dishonored and made Prey (2017) excelled at.

[@theunhingedgamer3762]

all I have to say to you is this is the fault of gamers for wanting online multiplayer to be more prevalent in games 20 years ago all gamers who wanted this are to blame along with the evolution of tech and philosophy of games as a service that game devs and publishers have adopted

[@jordanwhite352]

​@@theunhingedgamer3762It's more like they're trying to chase the OverWatch Call of Duty valent crowd without actually understanding why those games good or For worse work in the first place.

[@GabrielOnuris]

One of the reasons they couldn't make this offline was the lack of a proper save system. Saving and loading for Christ's sake, we had that in Doom back in 93. Looks like it's a lost technology by now.

[@anon2427]

Now you can enjoy cloud saving where it’s literally the same thing except you don’t get to pick when it happens and it’s saved on someone else’s computer😂

[@Vertigation]

While it sucks people lost their jobs, I'm really not even upset they got shut down because we really just lost the Studio in name only. Most of the staff that worked on Prey and DIshonored, games Arkane Austin is known for, had quit during Redfall's development. They might as well have just renamed the entire studio because the Arkane Austin that made up the studio we all know before was not the one that existed after Redfall. And that's what makes the games a studio is known for, not the name of it but the creative minds and talent inside of it. It's the same thing for Blizzard. People for some reason still expect good things out of them when what was left of the actual talent that built the company's reputation died with Overwatch. Now it's just drone devs continuing to re-use IPs made by those who came before them but failing half the time.

[@narutobroken]

This game was such a joke. I remember laughing at the E3 trailer with pre-rendered graphics

[@aegis7survivor98]

This dev was a joke too.

[@karenpojar2514]

​@@aegis7survivor98 point on the doll where Arkane hurt you.

[@youdonegoofed]

@@karenpojar2514 typical lib non-argument lmao

[@spartacus18954]

curious how as the CEO of xbox gaming and being a gamer, you don't play test some of your own companies games and be a volunteer QA tester lol. 10mins in and anyone could have told the game was broken af

[@matheusqc5405]

Honestly? Reason why I didn't buy was "diversity politics" being the face of the game. The more I thought about it, the more it looked like a game for twitter users and not the average gamer.

[@youdonegoofed]

Considering how a vocal minority went "if you don't like the game, you're a racist" when it flopped immediately, I'd say you're 100% correct.

[@Katosepe]

The idea that even some of the devs hoped their game would get cancelled after the buyout is just a helluva thing. This team deserved so much better.

[@jayfolk]

Microsoft MADE the studio make this game, MS didn't care because they were gonna can them and HiFi Rush which received no marketing budget whatsoever. MS has shuttered more studios they've bought then they have released games this year...

[@karenpojar2514]

The ESG funds are drying up. The free money is gone.

[@michalko93]

“Game for wider audiences” “game as service” “always online” - these are the problems of today gaming industry

[@itwsntme]

As much as I loved Dishonored, I never knew much about Redfall, not my type of game. But learning that the antagonists were "capitalist vampires" makes me happy. Happy that it sunk the studio. My eyes rolled so hard I ended up looking at my own brain.

[@AfroMan187]

I love how all the voices that pushed for microtransactions wished to remain anonymous. Everyone knows that subject is hot garbage, but nobody wants to own it when they push it.

[@TheUglyEvee]

Keep the videos coming thanks for the great work. Cant wait to see how far this channel goes

[@DrymouthCWW]

Can't wait to see how far the channel "goes". Just a little correction for ya there

[@Randomusername56782]

A shitty rushed game trying to shit on “MuH cApItAlIsM.” Is some of the most ironic shit ive seen.

[@Keasarr]

It wasn't a lie though. Capitalism did actually cause the game to become shit and then killed the studio.

[@modernmobster]

​@Keasarr No, corporate greed caused that. Capitalism is the best society, realistically. It's not perfect, but it's way better than anything else the world has seen.

[@Keasarr]

​@@modernmobster Greed is built into capitalism itself. Corporations who are not greedy will lose on the market when outperformed by others and then outcompeted entirely. And capitalism is the deadliest, most devastating socioeconomic system in the history of the human race. It was progressive in it's production capabilities for a time back in the 1800's but now it is a dying corpse who threatens to drag the rest of us down with it through ecological disasters, selfish wars fought for resources and greed, inefficencies that cause mass starvations every year across the globe and more. No, the system right now is working as intended and it needs to be dismantled.

[@aegis7survivor98]

Imagine working for Zenimax and spouting some bs about capitalism bad! Zero self awareness!

[@Chadjr2009]

@@modernmobsterNAH! Corporate Greed is one of recurring flaws of Capitalism, and history possibly… undeniably shows it to me.

[@matthew1882]

I knew this thing was going to be an absolute trashfire from the first bland and juvenile trailer. I take no joy in having been proved right.

[@Cloud121D]

The price increase segment reminded when the 360 launched in November 2005. Microsoft said that all first party titles would be $50, and all third party titles would be $60. Yeah, that only lasted maybe 6 months tops.

[@MarioGoatse]

We really need to ban millennial writers from gaming. This “minority drowning in student debt to joining the fight against evil capitalist vampires” is extremely cringe. Drop the virtue signaling

[@FromGroundToMud]

I remember seeing the trailer reveal, the first cinematic trailer, and saying outloud to my friends "This will fail hard, it makes no sense"

[@marcusclark1339]

that entire intro of explaining the story really cements how off the rails they were before they even started just so bad

[@jordanwhite352]

Jesus Christ a lot of gamergate 2.0 chuds in this reply section. The background part sounds fine. The actual problem was one the development of the game to making this a horrible live service title and then gutting it when they realize it was going. South and three Microsoft nut canning the project thus hurting their entire game's division and having to shut the developers down. As someone who used to work in video games, if you're going to complain about shit complain about the actual problem with game development and game design and not some fufu faux political shit that you're only expounding because your favorite KZbinr that says the n-word told you to repeat.

[@khaiwong728]

Can you please do a tragedy video on Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League. I would like to hear a video covering that disaster of a "live service" game.

[@JojoMonReturns91]

I cant wait until GVMERS makes a video talking about Suicide Squad and how it killed WB Games and Rocksteady because of how shitty the whole situation, the chaos and destruction of the companies that was surrounding the game, the Baby Inc. Controversy, and the death after David Zaslav threw in the towel after the game failed to meet expectations. Yeah the literal shitshow needs to be documented cause Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League like Marvel Avengers was doomed from the start. And it NEEDS to be shown.

[@kirigherkins]

I already forgot this game existed...

[@onhold1706]

Having finished the campaign around launch last year and looking back on it now, Redfall just makes me sad. A bunch of talented developers had an idea with a really cool concept, wedged between Zenimax management that wanted a quick and dirty multiplayer title for easy revenue, and a Microsoft acquisition where they left them out to hang and didn't give them a chance to fix what was wrong.

[@thacoolest13]

The Microsoft acquisition gave them hope the project would be canceled. The devs didn’t even want to make the game which made hiring difficult. It was the wrong studio for a game like this

[@YurandX]

I have never heard of this game before. I wish 'Horse Armor' never happened, maybe today things would be different. Thanks GVMERS for another great video!

[@FlaccidFella]

This is one of the saddest stories I've ever heard in gaming. I liked Dishonored but I fell in love with Prey. One of my favorite games of all time. The story of Prey itself is pretty sad. Now we'll never get a proper sequel

[@padawanmage71]

Managers/Supervisors/CEOs: "It's never my fault!"

[@MrOverHeels]

It's crazy how the ability to pause a single player game need to be added in an update/patch

[@FarhadMahdian]

"The Rise and fall of Rocksteady" next please

[@projekt_tats]

i dont know whats worse, that we might never have another game quite like prey, or that this game literally became a spiritual sequel to blacksite area 51

[@masterblaster831]

Harvey Smith knows what a good game is, man knows deus ex, dishonored, and the supremely underated Prey personally. Redfall seemed like such a stupid fucking idea. And turns out it was. Breaks my heart

[@skycloud5695]

Another great video as always, but was just a bit surprised to hear no mention of Deathloop even once in this video. I always thought it felt a little 'live-servicey' in small ways and assumed you were gonna make mention of that being the start of arkane studios snowballing with redfall.

[@CNM3]

I think the whole games as a service model needs to go. It's horribly exploitative.

[@Bleedblxck]

The problem is these companies used to develop games that people loved and were willing to spend a little extra on cosmetics and DLC to continue playing longer. Currently the companies are designing stores and shops with some gameplay attached.

[@AT1972ASDF]

Man that story premise sounds rock solid... for a single player story-driven RPG. If only some studio with experience in that genre had been able to tackle it that way...

[@Vert_GreenHeart]

Redfall story is just one big sad turn of events, nobody asked for it and nobody wanted it.

[@ninjucca4585]

this game had such a great premise and potential... they REALLY dropped the ball on what could have been a very fun game.

[@Pers0n97]

The second the trailer for the game dropped, it was clear the game was DoA. The tone, the look, the character design, the game genre, EVERYTHING reeked of bad product made for bad reasons.

[@sk1ppman]

Arkane making a Looter/Shooter makes as much sense as id making a SimCity knockoff.

[@brianwest7344]

This game ticked all the diveristy tickboxes. I don't understand how it could fail? Thats all gamers want right?

[@lucascoval828]

🤣🤣🤣

[@jordanwhite352]

Yeah, the same way that there's a lot of TV and movies that check off of the conservative tick box and yet they're also horrible pieces of trash. Short when you write good characters with a good story, you make a good narrative who would have thought!? The problem is not. These characters are one political slant or the other. The problem is is that they're OneNote paper thin underwritten characters.

[@bugg6597]

That single player offline solution they promised before the game launch is only soon to be on its way now. May 23

[@MetalJesusRocks]

It sucks that Arkane was shutdown. I LOVED Dishonored 1 and 2…and I’d love to get a third at some point. 😢

[@johnwourden3893]

Arkane Lyon did the heavy lifting as far as the dishonored games. They very well could bring the series back or a similar game like the new Blade

[@Moji55a]

@@johnwourden3893 Wrong, Austin collaborated with Dishonored 1 and the major bulk of Dishonored 2 and DOTO is Lyon. Stop spreading false narrative lol.

[@jordanwhite352]

​@@johnwourden3893So here's the real nightmare part about the closure. While it's true that lion did a chunk of the work, they were very much empowered by Austin To use that synergy to make it these games. There have been multiple reports that when they were shut down, relying employees took a huge morale hit, which means that they're probably now developing on very shaky ground. That's the whole reason why. For example, during the Wii used failure that iwata and the executives decided to take a pay cut instead of firing employees and shutting down companies because as Iwata correctly stated if they started to lay off in fire people Then the more I let Nintendo would go down with the remaining studios which means that they would be likely to make a lot more mistakes which would then cause them to make bad games which would then cause more firings and this will keep going on until Nintendo turned into Sega. Right now that's exactly what's happening with Microsoft

[@johnwourden3893]

@@Moji55a I said literally the same thing you wrote

[@Moji55a]

@@johnwourden3893 You're forgetting Austin involvement in Dishonored 1 :( while yes they do all the heavy lifting for Dishonored series.

[@jordangomez3993]

The quality of your videos is always amazing! I'm glad to see more work for you guys!

[@ARIXANDRE]

Hope to see a Rise and Fall of Phil Spencer soon.

[@gloriouskatatsumuri]

The Cringe and Fall*

[@Meestermaan]

He's the poster boy for being promoted to your level of incompetence 👎

[@natandjai]

My god you are brain dead

[@CrNcHyFROG5]

Hands down the best gaming video essay channel on KZbin. Production quality better than most TV stations to be honest. Sad to see Redfall fail so miserably but hopefully it taught valuable lessons to Microsoft and the gaming industry in general. I had a few hours of moderately OK time with it, but man was it disappointing...

[@wrayday7149]

So they knew they couldn't do it.... couldn't afford to do it...... and their response to that was... hire more people they couldn't afford to do the thing they couldn't do. Then when they merged they never bothered asking around for support.

[@jordanwhite352]

If you know anything about Microsoft and they're unable to ask for support. Microsoft head on shows have complete say so they tell which studios what to do, not the other way around. You don't have that lateral cross communication that certain Sony divisions and Nintendo especially have.

[@wrayday7149]

@@jordanwhite352 Everyone knows how poorly Microsoft is run. Every new iteration of Windows is announced as great ideas.... then we see it's all copy and paste. The issue isn't Microsoft per say... this company started the project before they got bought out. This is on them to begin with.

[@jordanwhite352]

@@wrayday7149 No it was Bethesda who started this bullshit but Microsoft was giving the decision over Bethesda to cancel the project once they got absorbed which is what the developers wanted. Microsoft didn't inquire to that because Microsoft also saw the live service potential revenue and with dollar signs in their eyes Halo in the dumps which would normally be there live service nickel and diming forever Pokémon game and also probably the lack of exclusives. They told them to continue despite how bad it was and wished it was paraded out to the shock of no one of being horrible. Exactly what Phil talked about when he said that they let Bethesda did their own thing and it bit them in the ass because there's another KZbinr pointed out. Microsoft does not want talent. They want IPS meaning they didn't buy Bethesda for the really awesome games and developers. They bought it to get fallout and elder scrolls. I would also add to that that they probably also wanted ID software because there's a huge rumor going around. That ID is currently helping Microsoft studios to make the actual graphical engine capabilities for upcoming Halo games since the Halo developers themselves are terrible at it.

[@Guyait]

I'm sure I've posted this before, but your narrator has SERIOUS 90's Sierra narrator vibes! (A GREAT thing, I might add)

[@Brother-Crow]

Redfall was created using AI 100%

[@XGlite015]

Both Microsoft and Arkane are at fault here. Microsoft didn't supervise the project closely while Arkane made a guarantee that it's only bug fixes they need to deal with. Saying that Arkane didn't want to do this kind of game being online sounded like an excuse because they should've been firm about it.

[@postblitz]

Nothing could've saved this game or Prey, regardless of technical prowess. The problem is the setting and aesthetic which are woefully disgusting and boring simultaneously. Prey relied heavily on "the black goo of unoriginality" while vampires and shooters rarely mix well. Make good, compelling enemies and people are interested. RE:Village wasn't much but it had interesting, sexy enemies that captured the imagination of the audience. Arkane consistently failed to deliver on that requirement.

[@lorddirt5532]

“Sexy enemies” Ok coomer lol

[@Senumunu]

100%

[@ThwipThwipBoom]

Awesome video guys! As someone who doesnt follow games closely this helped me a lot. Thanks!

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

@1:09 "...with capitalistic vampires as the antagonist" I think the developers were thinking about "you-know-who"

[@KischteBier]

Games are not designed for you to play them. It‘s all designed for streaming on twitch and brought to you by influencers, wasting your time and spoonfeeding you with consumerism and politics. I‘ve resorted to playing farming simulator while listening to podcasts making n-jokes or shopping mall Muzak from the 60s. It helped me regain a state of relaxation that I had not experienced for many years. I‘m just so fed up with the current stuff. Look who is in charge at large publishers - there are military officers at Activision, psychologists and spooks. This sh** is meant to crush and brainwash you.

[@lucascoval828]

Based.

[@NewMateo]

Whoever took the Prey and Dishonored devs and mandated this monstrosity should never be involved in gaming.

[@calahad]

Just upped my tier on Patreon. Thank you for the countless hours of entertainment.

[@Retrofire-47]

"capitalistic vampires" -- irony, anyone?

[@hashirevyt]

Honestly surprised anyone was even able to play day-1. My friend and I attempted, and had to wait, at least 2 days before we were about to play due to sever issues. The immense disappointed we had when we realized just how *bad* Redfall is.

[@CommanderLongJohn]

I truly miss the time when video games were rightfully gatekept and specifically designed for the core fanbase of said games, aka white and Asian kids/young guys, and quite often and specifically nerds who had no problem pouring hundreds of hours into one single video game. When video games were for "nerds in their mom's basement" or "kids," gaming was literally never better, same with EVERYTHING else that has been geared towards a "WiDeR aUdiEnCe" over the last 10yrs. Especially shooters, and especially rated M shooters at that which actually used to warrant that rated M rating, whereas games like COD or "Back 4 Blood" or basically any other "rated M" coming out, mine as well be rated T at best. Games used to be designed for a specific fanbase, they used to be designed with the games rating kept in mind, kids playing them was simply an inadvertent by-product of video games existing, whereas now they're full fledged designed for children and adults just happen to play them too . . .

[@foristrothbert568]

You're right on the money. There's also the fact that now it's believed "games are for everyone," or rather that "all games are for everyone," which is why so many games are made as generic as possible, having a little bit of everything but being okay to shit at each aspect - the AssCreed Syndrome, if you will. Every game has to be a visual spectacle and push The Message, while the actual gameplay is way down on the list of priorities. Everyone keeps saying that indies are driving all the innovation and are the best games, but everyone keeps buying the current so-called AAA slop regardless.

[@Chadjr2009]

Oh, nice unironic copypasta??? But, seriously, any race can be gamer. Rather, being exclusive and less stereotypical???

[@foristrothbert568]

@@Chadjr2009 It's true that any race or either gender CAN be a gamer, but not all of them ARE. People have different tastes and interests - we're not simply blank slates where the only reason we like the things we like is because "society programmed us," as if the only reason women aren't normally into games is because of social conditioning. Developers should make the games for the people who will actually play them, and should they get secondary customers, then more power to them.

[@itwsntme]

More critically, games used to be made by developers who used to be that kid in the basement. They may not have gotten it right every time, but they were trying to make it fun. Today its substantially about activism, by people who proclaim themselves gamers but are actually activists first and foremost. Save for the odd outlier, the most entertainment to be had from these games these days is hearing of these train wrecks.

[@foristrothbert568]

@@itwsntme Very well said. That's a point that cannot be overstated. Developers used to be gamers themselves (whether video games or before that D&D and things like that), all of them just nerds who loved nerdy shit and wanted to share it with the world, and because they made good stuff, people were more than happy to give money for it. Now it's just a product.

[@apotheases]

Have you ever heard the tragedy of Redfall? No? I thought not, its not a story that Arkane Studios would tell you.

[@Giga__Chud]

21:20 no wonder the game sucked and the studio got shut down with people like that working there🙄

[@timogul]

The environments on this one actually looked really amazing. Shame they couldn't get a game together for it.

[@Defixio.]

"Capitalist vampires?" No wonder it failed

[@Keasarr]

How?

[@modernmobster]

​@@KeasarrBecause that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard

[@Keasarr]

@@modernmobster 'Capital is dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks. ' -Karl Marx He was right on the nose. Capitalists are nothing but the blood sucking priveliged parasites living on the labour of the working class to sustain their own greed and lavish lifestyles while contributing nothing. Like a vampire.

[@Keasarr]

​@@modernmobster 'Capital is dead labour which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labour, and lives the more, the more labour it sucks. ' -Karl Marx He was right on the nose. Capitalists are nothing but the bloodsucking, priveliged, upper class parasites who live on the surplus labour of the working class to fuel their own greed and lavish lifestyles while contributing nothing back to society of worth. They are but a dead weight on the masses who holds the rest back while demanding much in return. Like vampires.

[@natandjai]

​@@Keasarrbecause it is stupid modern moron crap

[@Barbaroossa]

I don't recall ever hearing about Arkane Austin having a hand in developing Dishonored. AFAIK, it's all Arkane Lyon, the French studio.

[@CMDR_Elizium51RA]

Fantastic video, as always. This is exactly why I became a Patreon member upon your call to action. Love what you do. Keep it up!

[@DubElementMusic]

F**k this I'm going to play Half Life2 for the 76th time

[@Elknkam]

What's bizarre even the weapon models look oversized for the characters.

[@lucascoval828]

Art-direction choice.

[@foristrothbert568]

I believe the phrase "capitalistic vampires" should have clued people in, to say nothing of the synopsis and main characters themselves. It sounds like a Netflix show.. Right after Dishonored, Arkane went incredibly woke, moreso than most game companies, no doubt helped greatly by Anita Sarkeesian being a consultant for the studio and putting what was left of Harvey Smith's masculinity in a testicle lockbox. All their following games were massive flops, with the quality of each decreasing and the amount of pushing The Message in each increasing with every title. As always, just looking at the protagonists and hearing their "quirky" dialogue told me everything I needed to know about Redfall.

[@Senumunu]

Arcane really is a caricature of the modern gave dev company but without the big hits Ubislop or EA have

[@afd19850]

This is the thing with Tango and AA. Both made good games that reviewed well, but those reviews didn’t translate to sales. Sadly Redfall was the nail in the coffin for AA.

[@intergalactickoala665]

Imagine playing as a vampire in a town like Redfall, with gameplay similar to Dishonored and Prey. You were turned, whether intentionally or not, and you can either use the vampire's own abilities against them or seek to further their goals. Other factiosn could appear. Vampire hunters. The remnants of the townsfolk as the game progresses. That could have been a fun, concise game.