Independent developer Sleight of hand revealed that it had to scrap the Xbox Series X|S version of its 2022 game, Haakdue to a tumultuous porting process.
Over the weekend, the studio released a statement detailing how it spent “over 14 months” trying to bring its game to Microsoft’s console. This proved to be a “nightmare,” largely due to “many” alleged bugs in Microsoft’s Partner Center.
Blingame said those bugs prevented it from registering an account and that further problems with the support system made it “impossible” to request help.
“We have informed ID@Xbox of our situation,” the studio wrote, “but they have been unable to assist us. Apparently, this is outside of their scope of responsibility and appears to be a Microsoft issue.”
Last year, Baldurs Gate 3 Xbox Series X|S Port It hit a snag before release due to the S console. Those problems were later fixed solvedBut the two games point to a potentially bigger problem in bringing titles to Xbox in a staggered release.
“We want to share a lot By Haak multiplayer adventure,” Blingame continued. “But development funds are extremely limited and we can’t afford to wait any longer. We deeply regret this outcome, but we really did our best.”
In response to a comment on social media, the study He later called the Xbox publishing process “the worst we've ever encountered.” […] We have never encountered such significant obstacles.”
The game developer has reached out to Xbox for comment and will provide updates when they receive a response.