The internet has been very angry at Xbox this week, sinceRedfalllaunched to mixed reviews.The game is Arkane’s lowest-rated ever,has terrible AI,is filled to the brim with a shocking number of bugs, and was received so poorly that evenXbox CEO Phil Spencer said he was disappointed. Fellow Features Editor Eric Switzer has written extensive coverage of Redfall as well as acomprehensive review, all of which you should check out.
Many have seen Redfall as a death knell for Xbox, an indication that even the strength of Game Pass can only carry the console so far without good flagship exclusives. I disagree that a single bad game can spell the death of a giant corporation, but like many of my colleagues, I recognise there is already a pattern of Xbox-exclusive games flopping for a range of reasons. I agree withLead Features Editor Jade Kingthat Redfall’s failure after a number of Game Pass exclusives receiving lukewarm reception indicates that Xbox needs to reexamine its strategy, especially if it intends to keep using Game Pass exclusives as a selling point.
Related:It’s Time To Start Worrying About Starfield
When I decided, very recently, to upgrade to a current-gen console, I got an Xbox Series X because of Game Pass. There are a lot of games I missed in the last decade because I was lacking funds to buy them, but as is usually the case, I now have money and not enough time to play them. A lot of those games are on Game Pass, giving me hundreds of hours of play to slowly chip away at, and old favourites like Skyrim to dip into – I haven’t played it since I was a teenager, on my Xbox 360.
Another big issue in this is thatGame Pass is constantly removing titles, and replacing them with games with relatively low demand. Ideally, Game Pass would be ever-expanding, but realistically, that’s not possible because of licensing agreements and other legal issues. Unfortunately, they have a habit of removing games with just two weeks of warning, and there’s no seeming reason why these particular games are being removed – even Xbox exclusives don’t stay forever. Xbox does replace these games, usually adding more than they take away, but it still hurts, especially in weaker months when they don’t put anything good on Game Pass. I just found out while researching this piece that Danganronpa 2, which I haven’t gotten around to playing, is being removed in a matter of days. Xbox, please give me a break.
