Xbox Snubbed by Several Third-Party Games During Sony's State of Play

Sony kicked off "Not E3 but kind of like E3" season this week with their Summer 2026 State of Play.

They featured a look at the gameplay of Marvel's Wolverine, the surprise 20-minute reveal for God of War: Laufey, and even Until Dawn 2 headlining the list of first-party games for the PS5. There was also a cavalcade of third-party games featured during the presentation.

This isn't anything new; E3 press conferences from Sony and Microsoft often featured major third-party games, such as Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed, being a prominent part of their showcases. However, those games would later be confirmed to be coming to all major platforms (PC, Xbox, and PlayStation). This weekend, we'll see Microsoft highlight games coming to other platforms, including the PS5. That didn't happen during State of Play, leading to some possible confusion over certain titles.

We did, however, see the Xbox social media account rapidly reposting announcements from Control Resonant, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, and others, but eagle-eyed gamers will notice there were a couple of notable games missing.

The Lost Wild, Silent Hill: Townfall Are Just Several Games Skipping Out on Xbox...For Now

If you're an Xbox gamer, and there are dozens of us by the way, then you may be disappointed to learn that five games from yesterday's State of Play will not be available at launch on Xbox Series X|S.

The Lost Wild, Silent Hill: Townfall, Kemuri, Phantom Blade Zero, and No Rest for the Wicked will all see a simultaneous release on PS5 and PC, but there is no word on when they'll be available for the Xbox platform.

Timed console exclusives aren't inherently new in the industry, though backlash against them by gamers is becoming more and more prevalent. Publishers, too, have started to openly express a desire to move away from them, notably with the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy.

There are some notable anecdotes with those games, too. Kemuri comes from Ikumi Nakamura's Unseen. Nakamura, of course, is the iconic developer who everyone fell in love with during the reveal of Ghostwire: Tokyo, a former Xbox exclusive from Tango Gameworks. Phantom Blade Zero stated in 2024 that they were still considering platform options "to ensure that as many players as possible can enjoy our game at release and in the future." There's one game, though, that may feel a little personal to Xbox fans.

Are Past Statements From No Rest for the Wicked Studio Co-Founder Haunting Him?

No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios got their start with the Ori franchise, and both games were published by Microsoft. It's important to note that No Rest for the Wicked will still arrive on Xbox (and Nintendo Switch 2), but "at a later date."

It's a stark contrast from the comments made by Thomas Mahler, co-founder of Moon Studios, regarding comments in 2021 about not being able to play Ori on a PlayStation console. Mahler said that it was one reason why they're publishing No Rest of the Wicked with Private Division, having seemingly learned the lesson from Ori fans who "hate that they can't play it on PlayStation".

The dream at the time was for "everyone to be able to play together, across all systems," but reality seems to have gotten in the way as yet another major Moon Studios release has gone down the route of piecemeal console access.

Beyond his 2021 self, Thomas Mahler more than anything owes an explanation to his hypothetical "13-year-old kid whose parents were only able to afford to buy one system for their child". At least that kid will now be able to play Halo, as Halo: Campaign Evolved is confirmed to ditch platform restrictions and will release on PlayStation 5 later this year.