Redfall has promised to be one of this year’s big releases, but developers Arkane have now confirmed that at launch, only a 30-frame-per-second “quality” mode will be available for Xbox players.
Arkane has said that Redfall will be their most-supported game post-launch, and it looks like it’s going to need that support, because 60fps won’t be available for Xbox players until after the game drops.
Instead, Arkane has promised that a 60fps “performance mode” will be added sometime via an update after launch, though they haven’t given it a specific date or time.
Redfall is launching on Xbox consoles with Quality mode only:Xbox Series X: 4K 30 FPSXbox Series S: 1440p 30 FPS60 FPS Performance mode will be added via game update at a later date. pic.twitter.com/NLaGsMbwdW
— Redfall (@playRedfall) April 12, 2023
Xbox players react to Redfall running worse than trailers on launch
The promise of bringing 60fps to the game later has done little to reassure fans, who quickly let their opinions be heard.
To make matters worse, players compared the news to previous promises made by the Xbox team that 60fps would be “the standard output” for all their games.
One commenter said: “The game looks like it’s made of clay. How did you not manage to even get 4k 60? Performance should easily be able to do 1440 at 120. What is using up so many resources you couldn’t do this?”
60fps will be the standard output, but the architecture allows us to support up to 120fps.
— Aaron Greenberg 🙅🏼♂️💚U (@aarongreenberg) May 7, 2020
Another said: “Nobody wants to game at 30 FPS my guys. Nobody. I would take 1080 60FPS over 4K 30FPS 100% of the time.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Players also pointed out that the original trailers for the game, which feature the Xbox branding prominently, are all in 60 frames per second.
Several people even said that they’d prefer the game to be delayed instead of releasing it without proper tech, with one commenter stating: “Delay it again. This isn’t acceptable for first party to have 30 fps as the only option on the “worlds most powerful console”, and this is from a genuine Xbox gamer that wants better from the platform.”
Another player demanded: “Delay the launch till the 60fps performance mode is ready. Ridiculous to not launch with it in my opinion.”
Something wicked next month comes. pic.twitter.com/P7wq8g70Eh
— Redfall (@playRedfall) April 4, 2023
Arkane is no stranger to troubled launches. Both Dishonored 2 and Deathloop faced several challenges getting off the ground, and it may be the case that Arkane and Xbox want a smoother ride for what they hope to be a big hit.
But it’s clear that the community backlash is larger than they anticipated, and the hype for Redfall will definitely suffer as a result.
For more news and updates on Redfall, check out our preview of the game here.