House House has confirmed that Big Walk skipped Xbox on purpose: the Melbourne studio says it is observing the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement's boycott of Microsoft, and the co-op puzzler will not come to Xbox Series X/S while that boycott stands.
The statement went up on the studio's social media channels and the official Big Walk website, according to Kotaku. It answers a question Xbox players have been asking since the game launched on August 4, per Gamebonk's release tracker. Rock Paper Shotgun reports the launch covered PC, PS5 and Switch 2, with no Xbox version alongside them.
The studio's statement
House House acknowledged that the decision cuts against the whole point of a game designed around groups of friends exploring an island together over proximity chat. "It has always been our intention for Big Walk to be played by groups of friends, and we know that keeping the game off Xbox runs counter to those intentions," the studio wrote. "This decision means that some people will miss out on playing Big Walk with their friends, and we understand the disappointment we're causing. We are disappointed too."
The door is not closed forever, but the condition is specific. "We would love for people to be able to play the game on Xbox, but not until Microsoft and/or Xbox have been removed as BDS boycott targets," House House said, adding that it made the call believing "that coordinated collective action can confront even the most powerful interests, and that one day, Palestine will be free."
The post also pointed players toward further reading, PC Gamer reports, including the BDS campaign's own explanation of why it targets Xbox and Microsoft, an overview of what the pressure campaign has already achieved, and an introductory video by People Make Games.
“We would love for people to be able to play the game on Xbox, but not until Microsoft and/or Xbox have been removed as BDS boycott targets.”House House
The boycott and who else has joined it
Rock Paper Shotgun says the Microsoft boycott was called in 2025 over the company's business ties with the Israeli military. PC Gamer points to a report last year that the Israeli military was using a customised subset of Microsoft's Azure cloud service to store intercepted telecommunications from Gaza and the West Bank, which sparked employee protests and led to Xbox being added to the boycott's targets.
Kotaku notes the campaign has seen some results: Microsoft disabled the Israeli government's use of its cloud storage and AI systems last year, and in May it was reported that the company was cutting ties with employees in Israel. The boycott continues, and Kotaku says it has backing from parts of the industry organised under the No Games for Genocide banner.
House House is not alone among developers. Rock Paper Shotgun lists Speculative Agency, the studio behind All Will Rise, and Tenderfoot Tactics designer badru as others who have publicly stepped away from Xbox, and notes that staff inside Microsoft, including developers at Arkane Studios, have also objected to the company's relationships with Israel. The outlet adds that House House has openly supported Palestine since at least 2023 and backs the Pay the Rent movement, pledging at least 1% of its income to Indigenous groups.
The stance comes from a studio with a sizeable hit on its hands. PC Gamer says Big Walk drew around a million players in its first week.
