The "console wars," thankfully, aren't really too much of a thing anymore. While gamers will still have their preferred system, the animosity between those on PlayStation and those on Xbox isn't nearly as common as it was about a decade ago. But there's still a divide between fans of the two platforms, and a lot of that comes down to the first-party exclusives offered on each. But while PlayStation has been knocking it out of the park for years with games like God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, Horizon Forbidden West, and Ghost of Tsushima, Xbox doesn't have quite the line-up, but Redfall was meant to be the start of new era.
Being developed by Arkane Studios Austin, the same team behind Prey, Redfall is an upcoming four-player co-op vampire shooter. Ever since its announcement in June 2021, Xbox has put Redfall at the very forefront of its marketing, heralding it as the start of a brand new age of first-party exclusives for the console. But with the news that Redfall will be locked to 30 frames-per-second on launch, the game actively goes against Xbox's core marketing message.
Redfall's FPS Limitation Doesn't Fit With Xbox's Marketing Image
For over five years now, Xbox has aimed to be the most technologically advanced console on the market, and technically, it's succeeded in that. The Xbox One X was the most powerful console of its generation, beating out the PS4 Pro by quite a bit, and now the Xbox Series X is technically more impressive than the PlayStation 5, but Xbox's first-party exclusives haven't really backed up that marketing.
The Xbox Series X has had just a handful of first-party exclusives since its launch back in November 2020, and though there have been some great releases, none of them have really pushed the console to its technical limits. Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite were both impressive games with high frame rates and top-notch visuals, but they were both held back from reaching their true potential by needing to run on Xbox One as well. And while Obsidian's Pentiment had a gorgeously unique art style, it wasn't exactly working the Xbox Series X too hard.
But as the industry starts to move away from the last generation of consoles, Xbox has primed an upcoming slate filled with first-party exclusives that have apparently been designed solely for next-generation hardware. In its recent Developer Direct showcase, Xbox spent a lot of time showcasing Forza Motorsport's impressive next-gen features, from its ray-tracing and lighting to its real-time weather effects and color shaders. And with Starfield, another highly ambitious RPG from Bethesda that is releasing in September, it seems as though Xbox could finally be ready to prove that it is the most powerful console on the market. But Redfall might have just driven a stake through that.
Releasing in just a few weeks, Redfall is Xbox's first big blockbuster first-party release of 2023, Hi-Fi Rush not withstanding. And being the first up, Redfall was meant to set the tone for Xbox's next-generation future. It's a shame, then, that Redfall will apparently be locked to 30FPS on launch. Though a performance update will apparently come in the future, Redfall's low FPS doesn't really paint Xbox in the best light. Since launch, the PlayStation 5 has managed to ensure that all of its first-party games hit 60FPS on launch, and for many, that's the bare minimum for what a true next-generation AAA game should do. Redfall was already fighting an uphill battle, and limitations like this can severely harm its pre-release reception.
Redfall launches on May 2 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.