Enotria: The Last Song Xbox Series version no longer planned

Here is a message from Jyamma Games CEO Jacky Greco regarding the release date announcement and canceled Xbox Series release:

“I’m proud of the work that the entire team has accomplished, especially when considering that we are an indie company team of just 60 people, in contrast to the numerous Soulslike games that have been recently developed by teams, including outsourcing assistance, numbering over 700 individuals.

“During the transition from Unreal 4 to Unreal 5, we managed to expand the game and elevate it in terms of content and quality going beyond the expected AA standards. Presently, the game offers three main regions with over 40 hours of gameplay, more than 100 different enemies, supported by a robust RPG system.

“We focused extensively on aspects beloved by souls-like players, particularly the diversity of builds and weaponry.

“Our Skill Tree and Mask-switch systems promise to revolutionize the souls-like genre with unprecedented build diversification.

“Currently, we offer 68 skills and 30 masks, resulting in over 150 million possible combinations. This, coupled with over 120 available weapons, 30 aspects (stats modifiers), and more than 45 spells, expands the possibilities beyond anything seen before.

“We are eagerly anticipating the freedom players will have within our game.

“A demo will soon be released on PlayStation 5, Steam, and Epic store, affording potential buyers the opportunity to experience the game before making a purchase. We are confident they will be enamored with it, and this will also provide us with valuable feedback from players worldwide.

“Regarding the release on Xbox, we have decided, in the interest of ensuring a superior experience for PC and PlayStation 5 players, to reassess the possibility of an Xbox release post-launch.”

[darthv72]

Curious if this is a Baulder's Gate situation or a Stellar Blade one? If it's the former, then MS is obviously available to assist. If its the later then.... that's that.

[jznrpg]

It seems to be a business decision. Going where people buy games

[DarXyde]

Really, who knows? To me, the statement about their staff kind of suggests they've got limited manpower. To that end, they're building a game on x86 architecture across the board. The only thing that makes sense to me is the challenge with the Series S. The disparity between it and other hardware is palpable in both power and configuration.

Maybe it comes later, but I think in terms of getting it out there, they'd rather release the other versions and evaluate the viability on Xbox and if they want to commit to producing an Xbox version.

What might happen is they make it popular on other platforms then launch into game pass some time later after the game receives (hopefully) critical and commercial success. You may have a point in saying they are concerned about sales on Xbox, and making it popular beforehand could be a strategy for a XGP release. I'm sure there are people who buy it on Xbox, but the concern is whether it is enough. I recall some company saying they were worried they couldn't crack like 10K sales on Xbox, which is genuinely astonishing.

[StormSnooper]

That instal base difference has ramifications.

[DarXyde]

StormSnooper,

Honestly, 20M+ is nothing to sneeze at, but you will need a larger proportion of the install base to buy it than, say, a console with 50M+ in homes.

The issue I see is that such a large proportion of consoles sold for Xbox is the Series S, and I totally see why Microsoft can't ignore it.

I admit, in the beginning, I thought it was a good strategy from Microsoft to release two consoles for market penetration. Turns out it's got a lot of problems once you transition to current gen only.

I don't think it's going to start missing a ton of games or anything, but what it does imply is that smaller studios are going to be more cautious.

Even if Microsoft is willing to help, you have to wonder if devs believe it to be worth the hassle of the back and forth when they're concerned about sales and perhaps don't want to put it on game pass to stand a chance on uptake.

I really don't know what to make of it.