A 92-rated game from the late 2010s has been removed from the Xbox Store. Those who already own the game can continue to download it and play it as normal. Those on Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X who don’t own it now have no option to purchase the game. The delisting is only on Xbox, though. To this end, the game remains available to purchase on the Nintendo eShop, the PlayStation Store, and Steam. Given the quality of the game, this is obviously unfortunate news for Xbox fans.
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Back in 2018, developer Maddy Makes Games released a platformer by the name of Celeste, which ended up being one of the standout games of its year, as evidenced by its 92 on Metacritic and its two awards and four nominations at The Game Awards, the latter of which includes Game of the Year. Over the years, there have been many games, especially indie games, that have been overrated by the games press, but this is not one of these examples. And we know this because its user reviews are similarly outstanding. Xbox fans will no longer be able to test this, though.
According to the developer behind the game, Celeste has been removed from the Xbox Store in support of the ongoing BDS boycott of Microsoft. The developer also removed their other game, TowerFall Ascension, for the same reason.
Likely a Permanent Decision
For those out of the loop, the BDS is running a pressure campaign against Microsoft in order to persuade Microsoft to end its “complicity in Israel’s apartheid and genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza.
For those who’re asking, yes, we delisted Celeste and TowerFall on Xbox. We did this to support the BDS boycott,” reads the short official statement from the developer on the matter.
Microsoft is a massive company with a bottom line that won’t feel the effects of this campaign. In other words, we don’t anticipate Microsoft meeting its demands anytime soon, and as a result we don’t expect to see Celeste back on the Xbox Store anytime soon. It’s been available on there since 2018, so Xbox fans have certainly had plenty of time to get it, but for those who learn about the game late or get into video games in the coming years, they will have to experience one of the best platformers of the 2010s on other platforms
At the moment of publishing, Xbox has not commented on this matter, and for a wide variety of reasons, we do not expect this to change. If it does, though, we will update the story accordingly. In the meantime, while Xbox fans can no longer purchase Celeste from the Xbox Store, they can purchase a 2025 PS5 exclusive that was recently stealth-released on it.
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Image courtesy of Microsoft
