Shovel Knight Xbox One Retail Package Has Been Pulled

There has been some oddities surrounding Xbox One, Indies and third-party support. Some claim that there are parity policies involved, while Xbox head Phil Spencer insists that if you talk to him to work things out down the road, he can sort things out. Evidently either that’s not the case or Yacht Club Games simply didn’t get the opportunity to talk to Spencer, as Xbox One retail versions of Shovel Knight have been suddenly been put on hold.

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As detailed on their website, Shovel Knight won’t be coming to spaces on Xbox One store shelves this holiday because of “publishing policies on the platform.” The game is still available digitally on the Xbox One, and it will continue to receive full support and updates, but because of elements outside of Yacht Club Games’ control, they can’t release the game on the platform yet. Additionally, the price of Shovel Knight has been increased to $24.99 in order to avoid the bargain bin, and will come with a digital copy of the game’s soundtrack to provide an equal value.

Recently, Phil Spencer admitted he didn’t know if the Xbox One could ever pass the PS4 in terms of sales throughout each console’s life cycles. While they might prioritize buying out 3rd-party exclusives like Titanfall, bundle lots of games and discount their hardware and churn out Microsoft Studios content, treating independent developers as second-class citizens unless they develop explicitly with an Xbox One kit in the ID@Xbox program is a huge negative factor. It’s reasons like publishing and Indie gaming policies that have great minds like Jonathan Blow skip the Xbox One entirely to release for consoles solely on the PS4.

Shovel Knight will be headed to stores on the PS4, Wii U and 3DS platforms on November 3rd.

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