Xbox One Game Unexpectedly Cancelled Two Months Before Release

An upcoming Xbox One game has been unexpectedly cancelled two months before release, and in the process has raised questions about censorship on the platform. This week, developer Inti Creates announced that the Xbox One version of its lewd game, Gal Gun Returns, has been canned for inscrutable reasons. In the statement, the developer notes the game’s development on Xbox One is complete and the master ROM is currently under review, however, after discussions with Microsoft, it’s decided to not just halt this progress, but throw it away altogether, and it’s not exactly clear why, but the developer does seemingly hint at an issue of censorship.

According to Inti Creates, it would be “unable to ensure consistency of experience across all platforms” if it were to release the game on Xbox One, which is why this version is being canned. Again, no direct reference to censorship, but the language used certainly suggests that’s at the heart of the issue.

“Today we would like to announce that we will no longer be releasing Gal Gun Returns on the Xbox family of consoles,” reads the statement. “As a remaster of the original Gal Gun, we wanted to strive to ensure that we stayed true to the spirit of the first entry in the Gal Gun series, and while development of the Xbox version was complete and the master ROM under review, it became apparent, after productive discussion with Microsoft, that we would be unable to ensure consistency of experience across all platforms. As a result we have decided to re-focus attention to Nintendo Switch and PC for the upcoming release of Gal Gun Returns. We understand the disappointment from everyone who was looking forward to playing the game on Xbox One, and would like to thank everyone for their ongoing support. Please accept our sincerest apologies for this change in the planned release. We hope you enjoy the Gal Gun experience on other platforms. We look forward to continuing working with Microsoft on other PQube releases going forward.”

While the Xbox One version of the game is being canceled, the developer notes the Nintendo Switch version is still scheduled to hit on January 28, 2021 in Japan, and a month later on February 12 in North America and Europe alongside the PC version.

At the moment of publishing, Inti Create hasn’t added to the above statement in any capacity. Meanwhile, Microsoft has said zero about the matter.