An upcoming Xbox One game was unexpectedly canceled two months before launch and, in the process, raised questions about censorship on the platform. This week, developer Inti Creates announced that the Xbox One version of their obscene game, Gal Gun Returns, was closed for inscrutable reasons. In the statement, the developer notes that the game’s development on Xbox One is complete and the master ROM is currently under review, however, after discussions with Microsoft, it was decided not only to stop this progress, but to throw it away, and it’s not exactly clear why, but the developer apparently suggests a censorship problem.
According to Inti Creates, it would be “unable to guarantee consistency of experience across all platforms” if it were to launch the game on Xbox One, which is why this version is being canned. Again, no direct reference to censorship, but the language used certainly suggests that this is at the heart of the matter.
“Today we would like to announce that we will no longer be launching Gal Gun Returns for the Xbox console family,” the statement said. “As a remastering of the original Gal Gun, we wanted to strive to ensure that we remained true to the spirit of the first entry in the Gal Gun series, and while the development of the Xbox version was complete and the master ROM under review, it became evident after a productive discussion with Microsoft that we would not be able to guarantee consistency of experience across all platforms. As a result, we decided to refocus on Nintendo Switch and PC for the next release of Gal Gun Returns. We understand the disappointment of everyone who was looking forward to playing on Xbox One and we would like to thank everyone for their continued support. Accept our sincere apologies for this change in the planned launch. We hope you enjoy the Gal Gun experience on other platforms. We look forward to continuing to work with Microsoft on other versions of PQube going forward. “
Announcement: The Xbox One launch of “Gal * Gun Returns” has been canceled. We sincerely apologize to the fans who were waiting for its release. You can find more details on the game’s homepage. The Nintendo Switch and Steam versions will be released as planned. # ぎ ゃ る が ん #galgun pic.twitter.com/T9xBEZzxyC
– ぎ ゃ る が ん official (@galgun_official) December 25, 2020
While the Xbox One version of the game is being canceled, the developer notes that the Nintendo Switch version is still scheduled to be released on January 28, 2021 in Japan, and a month later on February 12 in North America and Europe along with the PC version.
At the time of publication, Inti Create added nothing to the above statement. Meanwhile, Microsoft said zero on the matter.