It has been officially announced via the Annapurna Interactive Showcase 2023, that PlayStation exclusive, Stray, from developer BlueTwelve Studio, will be landing on Xbox X/S and Xbox One. The title, which has been hyped by Sony as one of its’ premium PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5 games, will jump to Microsoft on August 10. Although Stray has been with PlayStation since July 2022, it appears the exclusivity deal between BlueTwelve and Sony is soon to end. In two months, Xbox fans will be able to experience the third-person adventure game and wander the futuristic streets of Walled City 99 as the featured red stray cat.
If you’re unfamiliar with Stray or its’ story, the title takes place in a distant future absent of humans, where all that remains are robots and some animals. The primary playable character, a red stray cat, is separated from its’ group of other cats and must navigate a new underground world. The cat goes further and further in this world, as it tries to get back to the surface and return to love ones. The director’s of the game, Colas Koola and Vivien Mermet-Guyenet, used their own cats, Murtaugh and Riggs, as inspirations for the game. The developers also used images and videos of cats as a form of research to make the gameplay and movements as realistic as possible.
Although the game is very short and comes in at only around five hours, the developers worked hard to provide the player with a cinematic and captivating experience. Everything in the environment is well placed and brings Stray to life.
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What Does the Release of Stray to Xbox Mean for the Gaming Industry as Well as Sony and Microsoft?
While the Annapurna announcement that Stray is coming to Xbox, might be exciting to you, if you’re a fan of the console, you might also be wondering what this means to the gaming industry. In a world where companies like Sony and Microsoft are competing for the best exclusive titles, why would a PlayStation exclusive suddenly jump consoles?
The answer seems to be in the fact that more and more game developers are working to create timed exclusivity contracts. BlueTwelve knows that if its’ game reaches a larger audience, then there will be greater revenue and the potential for a sequel will increase. So, studios might agree to allow a title to be exclusive on one console for a year, as appears to be the case here, and then will release on other consoles when the time is up.
SEE ALSO: The Cat Is Out Of The Bag: Stray Is Vastly Overrated (PS5)
There has certainly been a great deal of back and forth between Sony and Microsoft lately, especially with the Federal Trade Commission case currently blocking the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Recent news has also seen game titles jumping to other platforms, as it appears developers are not willing to give up everything to one brand. Scorn, a game from Serbian developer Ebb Software, also recently announced it was jumping platforms, however, in that scenario it was an Xbox game going to Sony. If console makers like Sony and Microsoft cannot maintain complete exclusivity over certain titles, it could lead to increased incentives to give developers whatever they ask to maintain complete control of a game. Nevertheless, what is happening with Stray and other games may be a major sign of what is to come from the gaming industry and how exclusive deals are made.
Source: Annapurna Showcase 2023
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