Moon Studios, the acclaimed developer behind the Ori series, has announced its strategy to prioritize the PlayStation 5 (and potentially Switch 2) for the console release of its upcoming PC title, No Rest for the Wicked. This decision is primarily driven by current market conditions, placing the Xbox Series X|S console port as a secondary focus.
While a release on Xbox Series X|S is not entirely ruled out, CEO Thomas Mahler explained that focusing on PS5 first makes the most sense for the studio. He elaborated in a message for No Rest for the Wicked`s community, stating that “given current market conditions, we might only release on PS5 and potentially Switch 2 for the time being. We`ll have to discuss things with Microsoft to see what makes sense for Xbox.”
Mahler further clarified on social media that Moon Studios ultimately aims to bring the game to all platforms. He noted that optimizing for PS5 is a less complex task compared to the Xbox Series X|S. As a relatively small indie studio, this approach is more economically viable.
Mahler stated, “We`ll first support the platform that has the most users purely out of resource reasons. We`re a comparatively small indie studio, so doing a console port at the quality level we want is not a small task. Porting to Xbox means porting to Xbox Series X and Series S, and that`ll take more time to optimize compared to porting to PS5 and PS5 Pro. So we`re most likely going to do PS5 and PS5 Pro first and launch there in order to make fans happy and supply other ports later. It`s just common sense with us having to make the right moves given the resources we have while making sure we give players what they want as fast as possible.”
Moon Studios is not unique in this strategy; many developers opt to launch on PS5 before Xbox Series X|S. Data from last year indicated that PS5 sales significantly outpaced Xbox Series X|S, by roughly a 2:1 margin. This gap might have widened, with Sony reporting 49 million monthly active PS5 users as of April 30, 2024.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has been less transparent with specific Xbox Series X|S sales figures. In recent months, the company has shifted towards a multiplatform “this is an Xbox” strategy, resulting in more of its former exclusives appearing on PS5. Additionally, Microsoft has collaborated with Asus to develop an Xbox-branded handheld gaming PC.