Redfall goes out on a whimper as Microsoft starts rolling out refunds

Redfall has gone through one sad lifespan, but if you thought that game couldn’t get buried any deeper, you were wrong. Microsoft has reportedly started rolling out Redfall refunds in waves, compensating players who purchased the Bite Back edition of the game.

The discourse surrounding Redfall has been so non-existent lately that it’s easy to forget the game is now over a year old. Unfortunately, this likely brief return to the headlines is once again shedding a negative light on Arkane Austin’s final product, but players who were optimistic enough to buy the Redfall Bite Back edition are surely happy to hear that after a solid year’s wait, refunds are starting to roll out at last.

Reports are in that Microsoft and Bethesda, the publishers behind Redfall, have started sending out refunds in waves to players who purchased either the Bite Back edition or the Bite Back upgrade for Redfall on Xbox or Steam. The refunded amount would be equivalent to the price you paid for the Bite Back upgrade itself, so if you bought the Redfall Bite Back edition at its $100 full price, you would receive $30 back, as the other $70 went toward purchasing the base game.

The first promise of refunds was made by the official Redfall X (formerly Twitter) account just one week after the game’s launch on May 2, 2023. Redfall’s disastrous launch quickly led to the cancellation of any future plans, most of which were scheduled to be included in the Bite Back upgrade package. Ever since then, owners of the non-existent expansion were eagerly waiting to get their money back, and over a year later, it appears this is finally becoming a reality. Everyone would have likely preferred to get a good expansion instead, but a refund is the best Bite Back owners can hope for these days.

This could be the final chapter in Redfall’s brief history, a history that sadly led to the closure of its development studio, Arkane Austin, in May 2024. The studio had previously won gamers’ hearts through beloved releases like Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop. We’re not entirely convinced Redfall being a better game would have made too much difference. Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks was another casualty in these same layoffs on the back of a critical darling, so perhaps Arkane Austin’s fate was sealed all along.