House House, the developer behind the co-op puzzle adventure Big Walk and Untitled Goose Game, has announced it is joining the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement's boycott of Microsoft. As a result, Big Walk will not receive an Xbox release, launching only on PC, PS5, and Switch 2.
According to Rock Paper Shotgun, the boycott against Microsoft was called in 2025 to protest the company's business ties with the Israeli military. House House stated in a post that it has been observing the boycott for a while, leading to the decision to keep its new game off Microsoft's hardware.
We’ve made this decision with the belief that meaningful change can be made in the world, that coordinated collective action can confront even the most powerful interests, and that one day, Palestine will be free.
House House
The studio acknowledged that keeping a multiplayer game off a major platform runs counter to its goal of letting groups of friends play together. House House noted it would love to bring the game to Xbox eventually, but only after Microsoft and Xbox are removed as BDS boycott targets.
While pro-Palestinian sentiment exists in the game industry, Rock Paper Shotgun notes that high-profile rejections of Microsoft hardware remain rare. House House joins other independent developers, including Speculative Agency and Tenderfoot Tactics designer badru, in publicly divesting from Xbox. The protest targets what the UN designates as a genocide against Palestinians. Additionally, some of Microsoft's own employees, including developers at the Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios, have spoken out against the company maintaining business relationships with Israel.
Based in Melbourne, House House has been open in its support for Palestine since at least 2023. The developer is also a vocal advocate for the Pay the Rent movement, pledging at least one percent of its income to Indigenous groups as restitution for developing games on what it calls "stolen Wurundjeri land."
This article was written by AI from reporting by rockpapershotgun.com.
