Big in 2023: We speak with Arkane Studios' Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare to dive deep into Redfall, one of the most anticipated Xbox Series X exclusives of the year.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 developers discuss the huge success of Space Marine 2 and its effect on the series as a whole.
The latest game in BioWare’s fantasy role-playing series went through ten years of development turmoil
In early November, on the eve of the crucial holiday shopping season, staffers at the video-game studio BioWare were feeling optimistic. After an excruciating development cycle, they had finally released their latest game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and the early reception was largely positive. The role-playing game was topping sales charts on Steam, and solid, if not spectacular, reviews were rolling in.
Its easy they called the die hard fans people in their nerd caves who will buy anything and then went woke to reach modern audiences....insulting the nerds in their caves along the way showing utter contempt for their fan base. very hapy it failed and any company who insults their fan base and treat their customers with contempt and insults, in future, i also hope fail.
It’s disappointing but not surprising to see what's happening with Dragon Age: The Veilguard and the broader situation at BioWare. The layoffs are tragic — no one wants to see talented developers lose their jobs. But when studios repeatedly create games that alienate their own fanbase, outcomes like this become unfortunately predictable.
There’s a pattern we’re seeing far too often: beloved franchises are revived, only to be reshaped into something almost unrecognizable. Changes are made that no one asked for, often at the expense of what originally made these games special. Then, when long-time fans express concern or lose interest, they’re told, “This game might not be for you.” But when those same fans heed that advice and don’t buy the game, suddenly they're labeled as toxic, sexist, bigoted, or worse.
Let’s be clear: the overwhelming majority of gamers have no issue with diversity, LGBTQ+ representation, or strong female leads. In fact, some of the most iconic characters in gaming — like Aloy, Ellie, or FemShep — are proof that inclusivity and excellent storytelling can and do go hand in hand. The issue arises when diversity feels performative, forced, or disconnected from the narrative — when characters or themes are inserted not to serve the story, but to satisfy a corporate DEI checklist. Audiences can tell the difference.
When studios chase approval from a vocal minority that often doesn’t even buy games — while simultaneously dismissing loyal fans who actually do — they risk not just the success of individual titles, but the health of their entire studio. Telling your core customers “don’t buy it if you don’t like it” is not a viable business strategy. Because guess what? Many of us won’t. And when the game fails commercially, blaming those very fans for not supporting it is both unfair and self-defeating.
Gamers aren’t asking for less diversity or less progress. We’re asking for better writing, thoughtful character development, and a respect for the franchises we’ve supported for decades. When you give people great games that speak to them — whether they’re old fans or new players — they will show up. But if you keep making games for people who don’t play them, don’t be surprised when those who do stop showing up
I thought the writing and character development were fine. Sometimes things just dont resonate with people.
Sector sat down with Glen Schofield—creator of Dead Space and The Callisto Protocol—during the Game Developers Session (GDS) in Prague to discuss the evolution of the game industry, the current challenges of AAA development, and why it's become so hard to get original ideas off the ground in today’s risk-averse environment.
It’s easy enough to say that, but why? It feels weird to me when developers say this but common sense would tell you everything about the idea itself should work.
The idea of the concept seems like a winner at whichever angle you look at it so why would publishers not greenlight it?
… it’s almost as if the majority of publishers are massively incompetent at their jobs. But there’s no surprise to anyone there.
Looking better and better.
Wasn't interested in the game at first. From the videos, it looked similar to Left 4 Dead.
If it's spin on Far Cry, then I'm interested in the game. Need more gameplay videos to make up my mind...
Meaty interview. Here some new Redfall info:
- Redfall offers an unfathomably larger open-world space than Prey's Talos I
- home base where you can talk to NPCs, get side-quests. Or you can "haul ass" and do things on your own and discover the dynamic world. The director describe the game as "big ass open world"
- story-driven missions & freeroam
- gunplay crucial, hired FPS specialists, id Software helped.
- two distinct districts: a sprawling urban area, rural designed area
- Many of these aspects of Redfall aren't predefined activities, but part of the simulated space
- Day/night changes the feel of the game radically
- dynamic dialogue system of players talking to each other. There's heavy dialogue between the players characters and even have a buff called the "trust buff" the more they play each other the more your characters get to know each other.
The teams inspiration came from playing Diablo, Borderlands, left 4 Dead and Far Cry. In fact the game is heavily inspired by Far Cry in the open world sense.
I still can't find any info on whether this game has an offline mode or not. The last thing I want to see is articles saying "Redfall requires a constant connection even for single player".
That's what I got from it the more I saw.
But of course, you have those still claiming all Gamepass is going to offer is linear, repetitive GaaS titles.
Still waiting on that after a good few years now.