Oddworld dev's Xbox woes

Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD dev Just Add Water has admitted that Microsoft will not be publishing their game, although they do still intend on bringing the title to Xbox 360.

Studio boss Stewart Gilray clarified earlier comments that led many to believe the 360 version had been cancelled completely.

He told VG247: "What I said was that we'd given up on Microsoft, not that we'd given up on 360. What I meant was that we'd given up on Microsoft doing anything with it."

After Stranger's Wrath had been confirmed for PS3, Microsoft were quick to react, asking the Studio to bring the title to Xbox 360.
It seems the platform holder was unable to maintain their early enthusiasm for the project because of internal politics. Gilray explained: "Just before Christmas, they came back and said that they didn't want it because it'd already been on a Microsoft platform."

"We said, ‘Hang on a minute. We didn't come to you. You approached us.' They said, ‘Yeah, but politics here says that we don't want it on XBLA.'"

The plan was then to launch the title via Games on Demand, but the low price-point for Stranger's Wrath didn't confirm with Microsoft's minimum requirements. Games on Demand titles must also have sold at least 1 million copies, and Just Add Water's game has only sold 500,000 copies.

To add insult to injury, Microsoft then suggested the game couldn't be released digitally on Xbox 360, because the game was already out on PS3. A disgruntled Gilray added: "We said, ‘We've been talking to you for over 15 months, now. We haven't stalled. You've been stalling us. If you'd had come to us six months ago and said fine, we would have held back the PS3 version until the 360 version was ready.'"

The studio is now talking to other parties, and they have a couple of publishers interested, but Gilray added: "Because Microsoft dragged us along for 15 months, we're now having to add new content to the 360 version."

"We can't wait forever," said Gilray when summing up. "If we did, PS4 and 720 would be out. We have to, at some point, say, ‘We tried. End of.' And that's sooner rather than later now. But people can't accuse us of not trying."