Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath came out to fairly good reviews last month when Just Add Water released their HD remake to the PlayStation Store. In the near future, we're talking about weeks rather than months, an update to the Steam version will mean that anybody who has bought the game in the past will have instant access to the new and improved game. That leaves only one fairly major console with digital download capabilities without the ability to get a copy of Stranger's Wrath.
Just Add Water are blaming Microsoft after over a year of playing the PR game and submitting and resubmitting the title multiple times. Rather than hiding the information, taking the flak from annoyed 360 owners and hoping for changes in the future, Stewart Gilray is letting people know exactly why Stranger's Wrath, originally an Xbox exclusive, will probably never arrive on Microsoft's new console.
Originally the issue seemed to be that the game was too large, going over the 2GB limit Microsoft apparently has in place for XBLA games. I'm sure there are some games that are slightly bigger, but that was the reason given, either way it's no longer an issue as Just Add Water have managed to shrink the size somewhat.
So where's the problem?
This is where things start to get unusual. Firstly Microsoft has allegedly said that for a game to be re-released on demand or on the Arcade, it must have at least a metacritic score of 80. Both the HD remake and the original game have scores over 80, but that's not the only thing blocking release. The game must also have sold over a million copies, something that, unfortunately, Stranger's Wrath can't boast.
The only way onwards from here is for Just Add Water to find a publisher for their game, a third party to deal with Microsoft in the hopes of having a little more luck. In the meantime it seems 360-only users will have to either wait and see or purchase the Steam version.
We've contacted Microsoft to find out their side of the story and will update if we get a reply.
EDIT: Turns out I got a little bit of this story wrong. Stewart, from Just Add Water, popped into our comment section below to make a brief correction:
"We had 2 options, xbla or GoD Xbla has the size restriction, so we thought about GoD, the other reasons you mentioned only apply to the GoD route…"
I apoligise for any confusion or misinformation this might have caused.
