After Microsoft closed Arkane Austin, Redfall dev says the response to "the cleaned-up, final version" of the doomed FPS gave him "a burst of energy"

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"I'm looking forward to talking about what I'll be doing next"

Redfall
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Former Arkane Austin studio head Harvey Smith is energized by the positive reaction to Redfall's beefy final update, so much so that he's already teasing his next move.

Microsoft shut down Arkane Austin along with Hi-Fi Rush and Ghostwire: Tokyo studio Tango Gameworks and two other studios back in May, and with it came the end of the troubled FPS Redfall. As a sendoff, Arkane Austin dropped a genuinely great update that finally added the promised offline mode as well as "ReVamped" Neighborhood and Nest systems, and a pausing feature for single-player missions. Oh, and there was that banger of an Easter egg paying tribute to the studio's pedigree as a champion of the immersive sim genre. 

Apparently, people have been pleased with the update, which Smith refers to as the "final version" of the game.

"Hearing from the people playing the cleaned up, final version of Redfall is such a burst of energy," Smith said in a tweet on Friday. "I'm looking forward to talking about what I'll be doing next."

Smith has yet to reveal his next move after Arkane Austin's closure, or even whether he's staying at Microsoft under a different studio, but it sure sounds like it won't be long before he makes the announcement. With any luck, he'll be involved in some capacity with the development of a new immersive sim that benefits from his decades in the industry, having led development on Deus Ex: Invisible War, Dishonored, and Dishonored 2.

In the meantime, here are the best Xbox Series X games you can play right now.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.