"PS5 makes the most sense at the moment." Ori dev suggests 'No Rest for the Wicked' will skip Xbox (for launch) due to "market conditions."

Celebrated Ori and the Blind Forest developer Moon Studios has offered an update on the status of the Xbox version for their follow up — No Rest for the Wicked.

No Rest for the Wicked is a top-down action RPG with gorgeous visuals and tight combat. It takes cues from Diablo and weaves them with a higher skill ceiling, rewarding precision and patience, much like Ori before it. The game's dark hand-crafted setting and abundance of game mechanics and systems gives it some huge potential, as it continues to chart its future through Steam's Early Access program. No Rest for the Wicked is $39.99 on Steam for PC as of writing, and is already very excellent.

Xbox fans fond of Ori and the Blind Forest and Will of the Wisps might've been wondering when No Rest for the Wicked might show up on their preferred platform. If so, I have some potentially bad news.

In comments on No Rest for the Wicked's Discord, Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler offered an update on the console versions of the game, noting that Xbox is the lowest priority behind Switch 2 and PS5 for console versions. Mahler said he planned to "discuss things with [Microsoft] to see what makes sense for Xbox."

In a follow up post on X, Mahler clarified that No Rest for the Wicked will "ultimately" ship on all platforms, but likely "not at the same time," with PS5 making the "most sense" based on the numbers.

We'll be sure to update this section if any further clarifications appear on the old internets.

The opportunity on PlayStation is vast, but Xbox still has some tricks up its sleeve

No Rest for the Wicked - The Breach | Official Trailer - YouTube

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It's certainly true that PlayStation 5 boasts the largest console audience as of writing, although I would have expected No Rest for the Wicked to potentially over-index on Xbox due to the Moon Studios fandom therein. Xbox also has reported growth on PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming with Xbox Play Anywhere, Xbox Game Pass, and stream-your-own-game initiatives, although it's still likely smaller overall than the opportunity presented by PlayStation.

There has been a debate within the game dev community about sales opportunities on Xbox as a platform when it comes to games not included in Xbox Game Pass. Despite this, PlayStation itself has opted to bring Helldivers 2 to Xbox outside of Xbox Game Pass, likely sensing an opportunity due to the platform's traditional preference for shooters.

Games (at least superficially) similar to No Rest for the Wicked like Diablo 3 and 4 have also enjoyed a lot of popularity on Xbox over the years, pre and post Xbox Game Pass, so I would expect No Rest for the Wicked to enjoy similar success there too. But as an independent studio, developers often prioritize per-platform development purely for cost reasons — without a Game Pass deal or some form of funding from Microsoft to offset costs, the opportunity on PlayStation is clearly the biggest. The Nintendo Switch 2 is already rapidly catching up there as well, and the competition for games that are Switch 2-exclusive is pretty minimal right now, so there's also a big opportunity there also.

As a fixed camera perspective game, Xbox Cloud Gaming's image update algorithm would have an easier time providing a native-feeling experience with No Rest for the Wicked. As Xbox Cloud Gaming looks to shed its beta tag in the coming months (per our sources), increasingly I wonder if Microsoft, in the future, would offer developers cloud-first marketing opportunities as well.

In any case, be sure to check out No Rest for the Wicked on Steam, and let us know in the comments if you'd like to see it on Xbox.