Microsoft Said "No PS5" After Buying Redfall Studio, Dev Says
Developer Arkane has commented on what changed with its vampire game Redfall after Microsoft bought studio owner ZeniMax. Speaking to IGN France (via IGN), director Harvey Smith said there was a «huge sea change» for Redfall after Microsoft bought the company, and this included a decision to not bring the game to PlayStation 5.
«They said, 'No PlayStation 5. Now we're gonna do Game Pass, Xbox, and PC,'» Smith said.
Microsoft announced its intent to buy ZeniMax in September 2020 and completed the buyout in March 2021. Some are suggesting that Arkane was working on a PS5 edition of Redfall and canceled it after the buyout, but Smith did not say this outright. GameSpot has contacted Microsoft in an attempt to get more details on the situation.
Development on Redfall began before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, prior to Microsoft's buyout of ZeniMax, so it seems possible that a PS5 edition of Redfall could have been in development. But that is not confirmed.
In any event, some are saying this is a bad look for Microsoft amid its proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard because it shows that Microsoft is taking a formerly multiplatform game developer and assigning them to a single console platform, in this case Xbox. A judge has agreed with the suggestion that Microsoft does not always keep to its public promises, but this isn't necessarily enough to make a legal case. And for what it's worth, Microsoft never said it would keep Bethesda games multiplatform following the buyout.
In a separate interview, Smith used the same «sea change» comment about what happened with Redfall after Microsoft bought ZeniMax. Smith said Microsoft buying the studio allowed Arkane to focus on fewer platforms because PlayStation was no longer in
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