Microsoft has revealed that the release dates of Forza Motorsport and Redfall will be announced on the Xbox Developer_Direct Live event.
On the original announcement on America’s Xbox Wire, Microsoft had simply stated that they will be revealing more details on these games. However, the German Xbox Wire website stated directly that they would be providing the release dates for both.
Now, it is possible that only the release dates for Germany will be revealed. If that is the case, it would still be useful for gamers outside Germany. It would give us a better idea when these games would be finished production, and subsequently, we can guess when they will be published in other regions, or at least when they will be ready to be published.
As the next big game from Arkane Studios, speculation was rampant on when Redfall in particular would be released. The last official word from Microsoft has been that they expect Redfall to be released before Starfield, based on the progress they have had in development.
On the other hand, the most recent rumors corroborated by multiple sources, including Jez Corden from Windows Central, has been that Arkane Studios and Microsoft are targeting an early May 2023 release window for Redfall. Specifically, they are aiming to get it released on the first week of May 2023.
The vampire themed open world co-op shooter has a lot of ambition behind it, but also seems to have classic team shooter in its DNA, in the same mold as Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood, or possibly World War Z, switching around zombies for vampires.
Forza Motorsport has not received as much attention as either Redfall or Starfield. To be fair, this is likely because Forza is a reliable franchise for Microsoft, that has consistently released frequently for Xbox for the past 20+ years.
However, Forza Motorsport is also highly anticipated, primarily because it has also experienced quite the delay. It was actually revealed all the way back in 2020, but atypical for the franchise, we have not received much news in terms of the release, or even any updates on its progress.
To be clear, Forza Motorsport 7, the last game in the franchise before it apparently went through a number reset, was released all the way back in 2017. Some fans expected it to release the same year it was announced.
But today, Microsoft is touting Forza Motorsport as the “most technically advanced racing game ever made,” a claim they made a few months after the release of Gran Turismo 7 on the PlayStation 5. While Gran Turismo 7 is a sales and critical success, it was not entirely well received. At one point it took the “achievement” of the worst Metacritic score in the series’ history, with fans review bombing the game in large part because of launch issues, but also criticism for its aggressive microtransactions model.
So many fans may have forgotten about it already, but Forza Motorsport may just surprise us as one of the top games of this year when it releases. Keep reading GameRanx for updates on Forza Motorsport, Redfall, and the other games in the Xbox Developer_Direct Live.
Source: Video Games Chronicle