House House Keeps Big Walk Off Xbox, Citing BDS Microsoft Boycott

House House published a statement on 2026年10月15日 announcing it will not release Big Walk on Xbox, citing the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement’s call to boycott Microsoft and its designation of Microsoft Games and Xbox as a priority boycott target.

The statement, titled “Regarding Xbox,” was also shared through the studio’s verified Bluesky account. In it, House House said that in 2026年6月 it announced Big Walk’s release would be limited to computers, Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5, and that it had since received many messages and comments asking about a future Xbox release.

House House said the decision was made in accordance with the BDS movement’s call to boycott Microsoft. The studio said it has always intended Big Walk to be played by groups of friends and acknowledged that keeping the game off Xbox runs counter to that intention, adding that some people will miss out on playing the game with their friends. The studio said it understands the disappointment the decision is causing and is disappointed too.

House House said it made the 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.”

For readers asking about its motives, the studio recommended the BDS movement’s explanation of why Microsoft is a priority target, material it said documents the successes this kind of pressure has already had on Microsoft, and an introductory video by People Make Games.

Big Walk’s Release and Platforms

Big Walk has been out since 2026年8月4日, according to the game’s official FAQ. It is available for Windows and Mac via Steam and the Mac App Store, on PlayStation 5, and on Nintendo Switch 2. The FAQ states that no other platforms are planned at this time.

The game’s website describes Big Walk as a videogame by House House and friends, published by Panic. The FAQ describes a game built around talking with friends, and says everything in it is designed for cooperative multiplayer, with no single-player mode.

Sessions support two or more players, up to a maximum of 12. Each time a host starts a session, they choose a two-player, three-player or larger-group version of the world, and some things in the world change to adapt to that choice. Big Walk supports crossplay between systems and has no online matchmaking, because it is made to be played with the same group over multiple sessions. Communication runs through in-game voice chat and in-game text chat, and the studio recommends that players be physically separated from one another rather than sharing a room.

The BDS Campaign the Studio Cited

The BDS movement’s Xbox boycott call names Microsoft a priority target and says the company provides the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services, which the movement describes as central to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The call lays out three tiers of engagement. The first asks people to cancel Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. The second calls for boycotting Candy Crush, Minecraft and Call of Duty, which BDS describes as flagship videogame franchises owned by Microsoft. The third calls for boycotting all Microsoft Gaming products, including Xbox-branded consoles, headsets, accessories and games published by Microsoft-owned labels such as Xbox Game Studios, Activision, Bethesda and Blizzard.

The movement says Microsoft Gaming, which spans Xbox consoles, Xbox Game Pass, Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Minecraft and gaming accessories, accounts for a considerable portion of Microsoft’s profit, and argues that viable gaming alternatives exist. On its Microsoft campaign page, BDS reports that more than 223,000 letters have been sent to Microsoft executives and more than 2,100 people have signed a Microsoft workers’ petition, and it credits earlier pressure for Microsoft’s 2020 divestment of $74 million from AnyVision, an Israeli facial-recognition technology company.

House House’s Earlier Games

Big Walk is House House’s third game, according to the studio’s website. The studio’s first game, Push Me Pull You, is available on PS4 and home computers. Its second, Untitled Goose Game, is available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and home computers. The site lists the studio as Jake Strasser, Stuart Gillespie-Cook, Nico Disseldorp and Michael McMaster, with Kalonica Quigley.

House House also stated the condition under which Big Walk could come to Microsoft’s console: “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.”