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When No Rest for the Wicked showed up during Sony's latest State of Play and confirmed that it would be launching on PS5 this October, I was over the moon (no pun intended) to hear that it was finally happening.
But not long after the reveal, developer Moon Studios came out and clarified that the action RPG would be skipping Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 for the time being. In essence, its console release will be exclusive to PS5 until later down the line.
Naturally, this sparked suggestions that the team had signed some sort of exclusivity deal with Sony — but according to director Thomas Mahler, that's simply not the case.
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In fact, this period of exclusivity is down to the Xbox Series S, and Moon Studios having to optimise the game for what is now, five years into the console generation, a clearly underpowered piece of hardware.
Mahler wrote on Discord: "Series S is making [a simultaneous release] rough. We’ll ship it after in a good way once it’s optimised like crazy for Switch 2 and Xbox."
I'm assuming Switch 2 has been bundled into the equation because of similar technical limitations — but either way, it's a real shame for Xbox Series X players, who are forced to wait because of Microsoft's lesser machine.
This isn't the first time that a high profile title has been held back because of troubled Xbox-related development. Baldur's Gate 3 was perhaps the most infamous example of this.
Are you surprised that Microsoft is still mandating Xbox Series X and S parity? Are you looking forward to No Rest for the Wicked? Time those attacks in the comments section below.