Celeste and TowerFall Developer Explains Why Games Were Abruptly Delisted from Xbox

Celeste and TowerFall have been delisted from Xbox, as the developer has chosen to boycott Microsoft for its involvement and investments with the Israeli government.

Developer Maddy Thorson, the mind behind Celeste and TowerFall, confirmed on Bluesky that her team had removed the games from Xbox. They are no longer available to purchase on the platform, which caught some fans by surprise. Thorson stated that she made the decision to remove the titles in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which describes itself as a “Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality.” IGN has asked Microsoft for comment on the situation.

The movement targets companies that are involved with or invested in the Israeli government amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Celeste and TowerFall are not the first games to drop Xbox as a result of this movement, either. Earlier this fall, the beloved co-op adventure game, Big Walk, chose not to release on Xbox and cited the boycott as its reason. The team noted that, should Microsoft divest from its Israeli ties and be removed from the list of BDS targets, Big Walk would be brought to Xbox.

"We have made the decision not to release Big Walk on Xbox, in accordance with the Palestinian-led BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement’s call to boycott Microsoft, and their designation of Microsoft Games (and Xbox) as a priority boycott target," said Big Walk developer House House at the time. "If you need help understanding our motives, we would recommend reading about why Microsoft is a BDS priority target, the successes this kind of pressure has already had on Microsoft, and especially, watching this great introductory piece by People Make Games."

Celeste and TowerFall have both been out for some time, with the latter having been released in 2013 and the former in 2018. Both games remain available for purchase on PlayStation, PC, and Switch.