Windows Central Insider
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.
Stellar Blade will be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 later this year💫Stay tuned for more updates!#StellarBlade #NintendoSwitch2 pic.twitter.com/NrrD7WypzXJune 9, 2026
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.
Do you want Stellar Blade or Stellar Blade: Blood Rain on Xbox? Let us know your thoughts!
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