Two developers are reporting issues with Xbox and Microsoft for their upcoming releases

A pair of different developers are reporting issues with both the Xbox S and Microsoft’s approval process, respectively.

The Dune Awakening developer cited the Xbox Series S as a challenge not found on PlayStation and PC when it comes to a cross-platform release:

“Well, it’s one of the reasons we’re coming out on PC first. There’s a lot of optimization we need to do before we release on Xbox. But yes, Xbox Series S is a challenge.” said head of product Scott Junior via VGC.

He says “we’re going to make it” when it comes to getting the game to run on lower-spec machines, but it’s far from the first time the Series S has been cited as an obstacle.

Then there’s a situation going on right now with the developer of Entoria: The Last Song, who posted an “indefinite delay” on Xbox citing “challenges” on the platform that delayed its release.

The message is diplomatic but in their community of Eristhings got a lot more immediate and hotter about Microsoft. And it’s not a Series S issue, where the game is reportedly ready for that system. And no secret Sony deal (yeah, yeah). Here’s CEO Jacky Greco citing Microsoft’s complete lack of communication about the release:

“You can ask Xbox why they haven’t responded to us in 2 months. They obviously don’t care about Enotria and they don’t care about you…The context is opening a store page and submitting [sic]we have the Xbox Series X|S version ready, but we can’t go ahead with submission and release, I spent a lot of money on porting and they decided to ignore us.”

All this comes in the wake of a controversial report by me, with me IGN citing informed sources that the high-profile Black Myth: Wukong was not delayed on Xbox for technical reasons, but due to an exclusivity deal, terms unknown, but clearly not involving marketing with Sony. This has been disputed by several insiders and leakers, but Sony, Game Science and Microsoft have not commented publicly following this report. Many observers believe that the delay is actually caused by the S series, although the Enotria situation shows that Microsoft can cope in other ways.

I’ve asked Microsoft for specific comment on the Dune and Enotria situations and will update if I hear back.

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