• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Jez Corden: "Xbox fans rally against Shift Up for 'Stellar Blade' — which is now exclusively NOT on Xbox Series X|S"

Either way, if Xbox fans make enough noise about it, I'm sure it'll happen down the line. Whether that's via an Xbox Game Pass deal or otherwise remains to be seen, but I would argue it's really on Microsoft to sort this one out.
Dear god, look at what you have done Asha 🤦‍♂️

Next they'll be demanding all phone apps must have a Windows Phone version
 
I couldnt care less about the Stellar Blade games.

How old is the main character btw? She looks like she is 14-15 years old? Gives me all the wrong vibes cos she is too young. I like to play a game and not feel like a paedo.
 
The problem with putting game on xbox is- microsoft themselfs trained their owners base to not buy games(at least not at launch and not full price), so allmost all games sell extremly terrible there.
Simply time to make a port and cash to fund it is not invested properly if sales are abysmall.
I think only way stellarblade lands on xbox is if microsoft gives shift up solid gamepass deal so devstudio gets warranty of profit.
 
The problem with putting game on xbox is- microsoft themselfs trained their owners base to not buy games(at least not at launch and not full price), so allmost all games sell extremly terrible there.
Simply time to make a port and cash to fund it is not invested properly if sales are abysmall.
I think only way stellarblade lands on xbox is if microsoft gives shift up solid gamepass deal so devstudio gets warranty of profit.
Are you expecting Jez to self-reflect ? I don't think he even has mirrors in his house
 
Please understand that thanks to Sony, Namco Bandai and Capcom have been saved and that otherwise these games would have never existed 🙃
There is a HUGE difference between Namco/Capcom and Shift Up (or what Shift Up was doing at the time with Stellar Blade which was their first Console/PC release, now they have made enough and are big enough to self publish)
 
You make it sound like that's because of sony/stellar blade.
Nikke made 100 million in its first month alone, before stellar blade released nikke had already made them half a billion dollars; currently it sits at over a billion.
No, I'm just saying they needed help when they made the first Stellar Blade (both financially and (especially) technically), now they don't.
 
So you are saying Sony cancelled the PS4 version, right OK.
How does Sony work. Very simple, it seems some people still don't get after 30 years.

When they have enough first party games to fill their release schedule, they don't give a fuck about third party games, and their shows are almost entirely centered (if not totally) on their first party games.

However, when first party games are lagging behind, they go to the third party super-market, and buy whichever game is in development and could be released at a time which suits them well to fill the blanks in their lineup. This doesn't mean that the game would not exist without Sony, actually it is the opposite : it most certainly already exists and is quite advanced in its development.

Stellar Blade was a good fit because it was a looker at a time when the PS5 lineup was quite empty. So they picked this game and turned it into an exclusive PS5 to boost their console lineup. Doing so, they cancelled all other versions.

It's not rocket science.
 
Last edited:
How does Sony work. Very simple, it seems some people still don't get after 30 years.

When they have enough first party games to fill their release schedule, they don't give a fuck about third party games, and their shows are almost entirely centered (if not totally) on their first party games.

However, when first party games are lagging behind, they go to the third party super-market, and buy whichever game is in development and could be released at a time which suits them well to fill the blanks in their lineup. This doesn't mean that the game would exist without Sony, actually it is the opposite : it most certainly already exists and is quite advanced in its development.

Stellar Blade was a good fit because it was a looker at a time when the PS5 lineup was quite empty. So they picked this game and turned it into an exclusive PS5 to boost their console. Doing so, they cancelled all other versions.

It's not rocket science.
They helped fund the game, the devs used that to make the game bigger and improve everything, which is why it isn't on PS4. It was never announced for Xbox Series consoles. (And of course if they helped with funding they wouldn't want it to be on the Xbox Series either).
It would run bad and probably look like shit on PS4. It'll be using DLSS on Switch 2.
 
Last edited:
So if Sony did make a deal, what's your point anyway? Nobody cares.

It's a direct response to the OP, it looks like some people care?

I dont understand your question? - If sony made a deal, we know why it isnt on Xbox. If the sequel gets announced it more or less confirms it and that Sony is specifically stopping games from launching on Xbox. It shows that Sonys anti consumer practice is still alive and well in 2026.
 
UbJMC9wmceEMzr0e.gif
Before you Attacking me, you must Admit it this shit is funny 🤣 Joel Was Right Joel Was Right
 
It's a direct response to the OP, it looks like some people care?

I dont understand your question? - If sony made a deal, we know why it isnt on Xbox. If the sequel gets announced it more or less confirms it and that Sony is specifically stopping games from launching on Xbox. It shows that Sonys anti consumer practice is still alive and well in 2026.
They helped with funding and published it, of course there's a deal.
 
How does Sony work. Very simple, it seems some people still don't get after 30 years.

When they have enough first party games to fill their release schedule, they don't give a fuck about third party games, and their shows are almost entirely centered (if not totally) on their first party games.

However, when first party games are lagging behind, they go to the third party super-market, and buy whichever game is in development and could be released at a time which suits them well to fill the blanks in their lineup. This doesn't mean that the game would exist without Sony, actually it is the opposite : it most certainly already exists and is quite advanced in its development.

Stellar Blade was a good fit because it was a looker at a time when the PS5 lineup was quite empty. So they picked this game and turned it into an exclusive PS5 to boost their console lineup. Doing so, they cancelled all other versions.

It's not rocket science.

Pretty common tale in the history of video games. Maybe not post-reveal, but otherwise, yeah. Titanfall never coming to PlayStation is another example. Typically these things are timed exclusives rather than permanent these days. Do we know if Sony bought full exclusivity for SB or Shift Up just isn't bothering?

Either way, I hate exclusivity deals. Really shitty practice.
 
So actually, you are in straight up denial of how Sony proceeds, and create a narrative about people you answer to.

The amount of money doesn't really matter. It is how it is used. Despite having a ton of money, MS rarely blocked exclusives that were previously multiplatform games. While this has been how Sony stormed the market, starting with Tomb Raider II and III, and continued to do this years later with, to name only a few, Street Fighter V, Final Fantasy games or Stellar Blade.

That's just how they proceed.
Temporary Xbox exclusives over the years

Lol
 
Last edited:
Do we know if Sony bought full exclusivity for SB or Shift Up just isn't bothering?
I mean even if it was the latter (which is probably the case), Jez and friends would still go "shady Sony deals" like they did for Baldur's Gate 3 (despite being initially a Stadia exclusive) and Black Myth Wukong (despite the dev saying they needed more time to polish Xbox version and that the Series S was terrible to work with).
 
Fans of games like Nier Automata and Devil May Cry will be readily familiar with Stellar Blade and its gameplay. You play as Eve in the first game, tasked with reclaiming a destroyed Earth from a mysterious and monstrous threat.

These types of experiences tend to do well on Xbox, given its audience's mature-skewing preferences. But for whatever reason Shift Up seems to have decided to skip Xbox for now. Xbox fans are rallying quite hard across Shift Up's social media presences as a result.

Ehmm .... They do well as long as the games are "free" on Gamepass. The buying audience for Asian action games on Xbox is close to non-existent. But that's something Jez Cordonblue will never admit.
 
Last edited:

It feels a bit like de ja vu in some ways. But we're back to a universe of games exclusively skipping Xbox.

This past week, fantastic action game Stellar Blade shed its PlayStation console exclusivity by announcing a Nintendo Switch 2 version, following the reveal of its sequel, Stellar Blade 2.

Stellar Blade was initially a PS5 exclusive before joining Windows PC last year to huge fanfare. Stellar Blade on PC rocked up with tens of thousands of concurrent players, proving beyond any doubt that Stellar Blade has huge franchise potential.

Developer Shift Up began signaling for some time that it wants to find Stellar Blade a bigger audience across more platforms. Many Xbox fans were hopeful that this would, of course, include Xbox. Unfortunately, for now, it seems it doesn't.

Fans of games like Nier Automata and Devil May Cry will be readily familiar with Stellar Blade and its gameplay. You play as Eve in the first game, tasked with reclaiming a destroyed Earth from a mysterious and monstrous threat.

These types of experiences tend to do well on Xbox, given its audience's mature-skewing preferences. But for whatever reason Shift Up seems to have decided to skip Xbox for now. Xbox fans are rallying quite hard across Shift Up's social media presences as a result.

I'm trying to find out details on whether or not Stellar Blade (or indeed, Stellar Blade 2 "Blood Rain") will hit Xbox. It's usually quite tough to find out exactly what's going on with ports, as they're subject to strict NDAs and contractual discussions at a higher level.

I don't see any particular downside for either Microsoft or Shift Up with regards to porting Stellar Blade. It could be that Shift Up is looking for Xbox Game Pass guarantees to offset risk on the port, and I would argue Xbox should absolutely oblige if that's the case. Stellar Blade would do incredibly well on Xbox Game Pass, and games like that typically come with Xbox Play Anywhere support on top. Stellar Blade is also a game that would perform well on Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Windows PC handhelds like the Xbox Ally X.

It could be that PlayStation has a specific deal in place to prevent an earlier Xbox port. PlayStation sees Xbox as its primary competition, and it was years before we saw games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Death Stranding hit Xbox.

It could also be a simple case of Shift Up being a comparatively smaller, and newer team. Back-porting games designed for 16GB RAM to the 8GB RAM Xbox Series S has been a challenge for some teams, not just technologically, but perhaps more importantly, financially. Microsoft presently requires developers to build S versions of their games, despite its smaller install base. Microsoft could (and should) step in to support studios struggling here, but it's unclear if Microsoft has any sort of relationship with Shift Up right now.

Either way, if Xbox fans make enough noise about it, I'm sure it'll happen down the line. Whether that's via an Xbox Game Pass deal or otherwise remains to be seen, but I would argue it's really on Microsoft to sort this one out.
Sad Eric Cartman GIF by South Park
 
It's a direct response to the OP, it looks like some people care?

I dont understand your question? - If sony made a deal, we know why it isnt on Xbox. If the sequel gets announced it more or less confirms it and that Sony is specifically stopping games from launching on Xbox. It shows that Sonys anti consumer practice is still alive and well in 2026.

hnrwNxwxBL1R58nQ.png

2026, alive and well.
 
This beggar mentality is so cringe.
"Please, launch your game for free on Xbox, your game will be successful if MS pays you to launch on gamepass"
I vote that we Encourage the rats to keep begging for games with attractive women who have the right parts. Eventually the AI will catch on, and we can finally be done with the age of Adam's Apples.
 
So actually, you are in straight up denial of how Sony proceeds, and create a narrative about people you answer to.

The amount of money doesn't really matter. It is how it is used. Despite having a ton of money, MS rarely blocked exclusives that were previously multiplatform games. While this has been how Sony stormed the market, starting with Tomb Raider II and III, and continued to do this years later with, to name only a few, Street Fighter V, Final Fantasy games or Stellar Blade.

That's just how they proceed.

Maybe MS should have used that 90B+ they eventually had to use to buy Bethesda and Activision to fight back instead of thinking a competitor would play fair and be nice to them.
 
So actually, you are in straight up denial of how Sony proceeds, and create a narrative about people you answer to.

The amount of money doesn't really matter. It is how it is used. Despite having a ton of money, MS rarely blocked exclusives that were previously multiplatform games. While this has been how Sony stormed the market, starting with Tomb Raider II and III, and continued to do this years later with, to name only a few, Street Fighter V, Final Fantasy games or Stellar Blade.

That's just how they proceed.
We get it. Microsoft is a very noble company. 😄
 
Last edited:
Pretty common tale in the history of video games. Maybe not post-reveal, but otherwise, yeah. Titanfall never coming to PlayStation is another example. Typically these things are timed exclusives rather than permanent these days. Do we know if Sony bought full exclusivity for SB or Shift Up just isn't bothering?

Either way, I hate exclusivity deals. Really shitty practice.
Thing is the game was never announced as multiplat in the first place. MS bought themselves some exclusives, but the only example I know from them of doing this on a multiplat series is Rise of the Tomb Raider.

While Sony have been doing this for multiplat series since like forever, and entered the market doing this. And Stellar Blade was previously announced as multiplat.

At least you agree the practice is shit, unlike others who are just going to defend it because "MS too" (even if the scale is largely smaller).
 
Last edited:
Despite having a ton of money, MS rarely blocked exclusives that were previously multiplatform games.
You're joking, right?

Microsoft pretty much started that whole buying titles/dlc...etc thing to make them exclusive and even started the whole timed exclusive thing. Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Skyrim DLC timed exclusive on Xbox, first on Xbox Call of Duty push... this was before Sony got those rights, Tomb Raider, GTA4 DLC, Bioshock, Mass Effect....etc.I could go on. These go as far back as 2007. Hell... even HALO was originally revealed at Macworld in 1999 as a multiplatform game, and MS just went in and acquired the IP/Bungie... prior to that, stuff like that wasn't even deemed possible.

Some of the games mentioned there were flat-out IPs established and recognized as PS IPs. MS started that whole exclusivity war properly, then started bitching when they were now losing it to Sony because Sony simply had a larger install base than them, which made it easier for Sony to secure such deals. Then MS took it a step further... they just outright went and bought publishers.

So pls, get your facts right.

to OP..... I suspect that some devs will feel that once releasing on PC, there is no need to still make an Xbox version of the game.
 
Last edited:
Thing is the game was never announced as multiplat in the first place. MS bought themselves some exclusives, but the only example I know from them of doing this on a multiplat series is Rise of the Tomb Raider.

While Sony have been doing this for multiplat series since like forever, and entered the market doing this. And Stellar Blade was previously announced as multiplat.

At least you agree the practice is shit, unlike others who are just going to defend it because "MS too" (even if the scale is largely smaller).
The practice isn't shit if the game being developed becomes a much better game due to a publisher putting more money and resources into the project. Stellar Blade IS a prime example of Sony publishing it and allowing that game to be much bigger than it was originally intended the caveat being that because Sony handled all the publishing of this game and added resources to it in the form of technical know-how that the game was then exclusive to them (at least for a period of time), you are either ignoring that fact deliberately or didn't know that's what occurred.

Stellar Blade (originally Project Eve) was small in scope originally:
In a recent interview, the developers from Shift Up, Director Hyung-Tae Kim and Technical Director Dongi Lee, talked to journalist Julien Chièze and discussed Stellar Blade and its development.

According to Shift Up, Sony approached them in 2021 after legendary Shuhei Yoshida showed interest in the game's prototype. The collaboration with Sony has been significant, with the company providing lots of support to the studio. This support includes full localization, marketing, testing, and sharing tools from internal PlayStation studios with the developers.

Thanks to Sony's help, Stellar Blade was localized in 22 languages. The demo version features voice acting in 9 languages and subtitles in 22. Initially planned as a small game, the partnership with Sony led to a substantial expansion of the project.
 
I couldnt care less about the Stellar Blade games.

How old is the main character btw? She looks like she is 14-15 years old? Gives me all the wrong vibes cos she is too young. I like to play a game and not feel like a paedo.
Are you talking about the first or the recently announced second ? Asking for curiosity.
 
I love the word rally, basically a couple of Xbox fans on twitter are angry that this game should be on Xbox and it should be on Gamepass so they can play it for 5 seconds, find out they have a skill issue and uninstall and play Blue Bird game.
 
Thing is the game was never announced as multiplat in the first place. MS bought themselves some exclusives, but the only example I know from them of doing this on a multiplat series is Rise of the Tomb Raider.

While Sony have been doing this for multiplat series since like forever, and entered the market doing this. And Stellar Blade was previously announced as multiplat.

At least you agree the practice is shit, unlike others who are just going to defend it because "MS too" (even if the scale is largely smaller).

Yeah, it is shitty no matter who does it. I'd say the scale is a result of buying power rather size of bank account. PlayStation's global market share vs Xbox's weak position has a big part to play in all of this. Paid exclusivity has to involve enough money to completely forego an entire platform. That's easier to do when the platform being skipped is Xbox vs PlayStation. Basically, Microsoft has more money, but they would have to pay a lot more than Sony to get the same exclusivity. Instead, Microsoft has opted for smaller timed exclusive deals for games like Stalker 2 and High on Life.
 
Last edited:
Thing is the game was never announced as multiplat in the first place. MS bought themselves some exclusives, but the only example I know from them of doing this on a multiplat series is Rise of the Tomb Raider.

While Sony have been doing this for multiplat series since like forever, and entered the market doing this. And Stellar Blade was previously announced as multiplat.

At least you agree the practice is shit, unlike others who are just going to defend it because "MS too" (even if the scale is largely smaller).
you are funny.
Stellar Blade had Xbox in the target systems in their Project Eve Trailer, but it also was very much in development back then, with actively advertising that they have open positions right inside that trailer. So the game was nowhere near finished, and no deals were drafted. Sony liked what they saw and or its reception, and put money and a contract on the table.
Agent was announced for PS. So was Bioshock for Vita. They never came out. Vaporware with some short term hype that turned into some form of false/premature advertising. boohoo.
Halo was announced as a MacOS exclusive. MS paid for it to become a tentpole Xbox title. A Mac version never happened. (unless you count strteaming which is afaik possible) boohoo.
Sony struggled the entire PS3 gen because the hw was not easy to master and many third parties barely bothered to even properly try. MS got quite a lot easy wins, because a lot of games sucked on PS3. They had a bright future right there and then. But they chose to look towards wii numbers and bet on Kinect. boohoo

Some trailers are no binding contract whatsoever.

If Shift Up has time they might do a port. With a bigger team the ability to queue different tasks gets easier and once they are done with Switch those people might be able to do Xbox. If the exclusivity deal covers solely Xbox as a non entity in perpetuity than bad luck. Helix will fix that though, right?... it being a PC. So porting might make hardly sense anymore because MS themselves is building towards Xbox as a console being obsolete.
 
If financially attractive alternatives existed for a developer, exclusivity wouldn't be on the table.

It is disingenuous to complain about not getting a game on your platform when you "tried nothing and were all out of ideas."

Besides, "it's on PC" which is windows, so according to some folks that is xbox…
 
hnrwNxwxBL1R58nQ.png

2026, alive and well.

Bro, its Microsoft and Xbox's game.

We knew there was a Ghost Of yotei port around 90 percent complete, and you know Saros and God of War / Wolverine would all be going to be on PC too. So, by your logic you should be a minimum 4 times as angry at Sony :messenger_grinning_sweat: :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Still love you though, Papito!
 
Last edited:
Absolutely no. I was disappointed that it doesn't play anything like Platinum's Games.

The character is a lot slower, you can see Soulslike influence.
I found her to be too slow indeed, then I read about how they limited the witch-time thing on purpose to avoid being juste a "parry/dodge" game
 
Not sure why anyone hangs on to Xbox at this point.
If you want Stellar Blade and all of the Xbox offerings - just get something else.
 
Bro, its Microsoft and Xbox's game.

We knew there was a Ghost Of yotei port around 90 percent complete, and you know Saros and God of War / Wolverine would all be going to be on PC too. So, by your logic you should be a minimum 4 times as angry at Sony :messenger_grinning_sweat: :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Still love you though, Papito!
And? The version was already made. So was the Starfield one. And Bioshock. And Mass Effect. And Eternal Sonata. And Lost Odyssey.


And Too Human. Well… nobody is salty about that one but still, you get the point. The only difference between MS and Sony is that Xbox can do it in the scale oh tens of billions, and that they are so stupid that even with that advantage they blasted themselves into oblivion. So when the Bioshock exclusivity ended it made sense to release the PS3 version because the console was actually selling very well. When the We Have Bayonetta At Home exclusivity ended Xbox wasn't bothering putting consoles in the shelves, there are between 30-50 million of them and their public has been carefully trimmed to be even cheaper then the PC one, because they are the kind of customer that paid 120€ to have 10 years of free games.

If that thing in 2027 ends up with a console SO expect the situation to be even more dire. Unless GTA saves them.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom