An independent Australian video game studio has made a high-profile political stand that has split global gaming communities, after confirming it chose to exclude Xbox versions of its newly launched co-op puzzle adventure Big Walk to align with Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement guidelines.
House House, the studio behind the 2019 global hit Untitled Goose Game, launched Big Walk in August 2026 across PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2, but intentionally omitted releases for Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. The studio officially confirmed the reasoning behind the exclusion in an October 15, 2026 post on social media platform X, ending weeks of fan speculation about the missing Xbox launch.
In the statement, developers said they share the goal of making Big Walk accessible to as many players as possible, but will not release the title on Xbox until Microsoft is removed from the BDS movement’s boycott target list. “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,” the statement read.
The BDS movement added Microsoft to its boycott list in June 2025, citing the technology giant’s business and technological ties to the Israeli military and government. The movement specifically called out the use of Microsoft technology for mass surveillance of Palestinian communities in occupied territories, extending the boycott to all Microsoft-owned Xbox products including consoles, accessories, and first-party services.
A day after House House’s announcement, the official BDS movement account on X released a statement praising the studio’s “principled stance” and amplified the call to action, urging all gamers, game developers, games journalists, and industry workers to sign the “No Games for Genocide” pledge and join the Xbox boycott until Microsoft severs its problematic ties to Israel.
News of the decision has triggered deeply divided reactions across global gaming and social media spaces. Proponents of the boycott have applauded House House for using its platform to advance Palestinian rights, with many calling on other independent studios to follow the studio’s lead and align their release practices with BDS guidelines. “More people need to be vocal about Microsoft being a BDS target. Good on House House,” one supportive X user wrote.
Critics, however, have questioned the consistency and sincerity of the studio’s stance, labeling the move as performative activism. Many observers have pointed out that House House’s previous breakout title, Untitled Goose Game, remains available to play on Xbox, and the PC version of Big Walk is sold through Steam, which can be installed and run on Microsoft’s Windows operating system. “But Big Walk is available on Microsoft Windows and Untitled Goose Game is available on Xbox. Seems performative to me,” one critic wrote. Other critics have called out the studio for only targeting Microsoft and Xbox while releasing the game on Sony’s PlayStation 5, noting that Sony also has business ties to global militaries including Israel’s. “Either way they can fudge off with their political nonsense, hope they go under,” one critic said.
Supporters of the studio’s decision push back on these critiques, noting that revenue generated from Xbox console sales directly flows to Microsoft in line with the BDS boycott targets, while Steam purchases for Windows PC do not create the same direct financial benefit to the boycott target.
This is not the first time House House has publicly aligned with Palestinian causes. The studio first released a public statement in support of Palestinian self-determination back in December 2023, writing at the time: “An end to this genocide. An end to apartheid. Free Palestine.”