You’re likely aware of Boneloaf’s upcoming video game release, Gang Beasts. Thanks to the early access on the PC platform, gamers have been sharing and enjoying the cartoonish brawling title online. Now that video game is slated to exit from its alpha stage this year, the development team is starting to focus more on a release for console platforms along with PC.
We’ve learned before that the video game would be launching on the PC platform along with the PlayStation 4 console. However, it seems that due to Microsoft’s parity clause, Boneloaf is having a tough time launching the video game for Xbox One players.
News regarding this came from Gamesindustry.biz who spoke with Boneloaf’s co-founder, James Brown. During their conversation, James Brown spoke of how the parity clause is really hampering their decision on releasing a copy of the game for Xbox One players.
Essentially, the clause from Microsoft demands that video games launch on the Xbox One the same day as rival consoles if it’s not an exclusive title for the Xbox One already. Likewise, there are demands that the Xbox One will come with exclusive content to help it stand out from other console releases.
This has led to a number of issues for indie development studios. These studios are oftentimes small and lack the resource capability to work on a number of platforms for release and as such the Xbox One is likely out of the question for Gang Beasts unless Boneloaf and Microsoft are able to come out with some solution.
While exclusive content could help Gang Beasts when it comes to launching the title after the PlayStation 4 and PC platforms, James Brown stated that his distaste of exclusive content for the sake of just being exclusive.
Regardless, it looks like the developers may seek out another platform of choice after the launch on the PlayStation 4. Boneloaf has already started conversations with Nintendo in order to receive developer kits so that they can begin porting the video game on the Switch.