Bethesda has released many popular titles over the years, but recent releases have been far behind its success in the past, especially the FPSRedfall. This game was released to absolutely brutal reviews, with its focus on simultaneous multiplayer and single-player content being received poorly by players. However, Bethesda still continues to push this game even two years later, but will likely fail to recapture an audience for it.
The lackluster sales ofStarfieldand the failure ofRedfallmark a difficult few years for the games Bethesda has published. Their most recent success has been withThe Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which faithfully re-created one of gaming’s most beloved RPG titles from the company. WithThe Elder Scrolls 6still having little information, it is unclear what direction Bethesda will take its next projects.
Redfall Was An Absolute Disaster For Bethesda
Too Many Negative Factors Created An Unfinished Game
Redfallis perhaps one of the biggest flops ever released by Bethesda, due to a number of different factors. Originally,Redfallwas touted to be a game with a strong multiplayer presence, seamlessly blending single-player adventure with four-player co-op against rising vampire evils in an open-world. This FPS was expected to be Bethesda’s biggest online title at the time, but its launch quickly became messy.
The unfortunate low sales ofRedfalllikely led to the closure of its development studio, Arkane Austin, a team who had made well-received titles likePrey,Dishonored, andDeathloop.
When it released,Redfallwas clearly in an incomplete state, with tons of bugs plaguing a game clearly pushed to an early launch date. Although it had been delayed multiple times already, the world ofRedfallwas still difficult for players to explore without running into several issues. These technical problems were even worse inRedfall’s core multiplayer elements, which turned the situation from bad to worse.
To go over the worst parts of the game, the content ofRedfallthat did work was simply not that interesting for many players. The story was very unoriginal, the world was much smaller than advertised, and even the interesting RPG elements were too straightforward for any real depth. It also committed the cardinal sin of any open-world game - making the map boring with nothing to really do.
In the end,multiple delays, negative reviews, technical problems, and bad word of mouth led toRedfallunderperformingby a huge margin. Based on estimates,Redfalllikely cost around $80 million to $150 million to make, but its sales would be lucky to exceed $3.5 million by this point. This was a huge blow to Bethesda, and is likely still the biggest loss the company has faced in quite some time.
Redfall Still Doesn’t Go On Steep Sales
Only Recent Cuts Have Made The Game’s Price Reflect Its Worth
Even long after the development team went silent and shut its doors afterRedfall, the game almost never went on sale. This baffling choice by Bethesda hasseen the game remain at $70-40 on Steam and other platforms for quite some time, asking a ridiculous price for the experience offered.
As of this time of writing,Redfallhas just gone on sale in Summer 2025 through a Special Promotion, now being sold for $19.99. However,Redfallis only on sale for a limited time, likely going back to its"reduced"price of $39.99 on Steam soon. Frankly, this is an insulting price for an open-world FPS, especially whenother games in Bethesda’s catalogof the same genre are much cheaper.
Fallout 4andFallout: New Vegas, two very strong FPS games with open-world and RPG elements, are both being offered on Steam as of this time of writing for less than $10, below half the priceRedfallcosts.
For a game likeRedfall, whose multiplayer lobbies are barren and experience remains lackluster, you would expect a price below $10.Discounts of only 50% on this title are far less than what you might expect, even if you’ve never played the game before. With the Special Promotion price ending on August 07, 2025, the price ofRedfallcould rise again, giving players even fewer reasons to buy it.
Without Big Discounts, Redfall Can Never Build A Community
Multiplayer Will Never Grow Unless A Game Is Easy To Get Into
The biggest shame that comes withRedfall’s lack of big discounts is that it provides far less incentive to grow a grassroots community.Expensive games will often be dismissed by playerswho won’t buy them on a whim. Despite the negativity surroundingRedfall, there is still content that can be enjoyed with friends, but if the game is too expensive, it’s hardly something that can be recommended to someone else.
Even though the story ofRedfallis predictable, there is enough content for a decent single-player experience. However, that experience might not be worth the price the game is currently set at.
Before even playingRedfall, players will still try a game even if it was considered"bad"years ago when it launched. Many games that were slammed with problems on release have seen huge resurgences of players, such asStar Wars: Battlefront II (2017)andNo Man’s Sky. These games started building their communities back up by offering free updates, reducing the game’s base price, and making it more accessible than ever.
Arkane Austin was no stranger to making games with satisfying combat, and that is reflected inRedfallto an extent. Although it may never gain a playerbase the size of other FPS games, the high price tag is holding it back from gaining any sort of audience at all.
Any game collapsing is a tragedy, as it reflects the work of many different developers, designers, and project managers putting countless hours into a product. Even ifthe game was not something players enjoyed when it released, Bethesda’s refusal to reduce its price reflects an unwillingness to learn from their mistakes. Ultimately, this will preventRedfallfrom ever connecting with players and remain a blight in the company’s history.
