If you love your Xbox and adore cats then I have some great news for you! It looks like cat-simulator Stray is ambling its way over to Microsoft’s consoles after a lengthy nap over on Playstation and PC. Twitter user @MACOS380 gets the credit for spotting that the ESRB has rated an Xbox version of the game.
The obvious assumption is that an announcement will be made fairly soon. If I was a betting man, I’d say the forthcoming Xbox showcase would be the most likely time. I’d also speculate that a 1 year exclusivity deal was the most likely, meaning Stray should be free to curl up on Xbox in July of this year.
When Stray was first announced, the 2020 teaser did offer a glimmer of hope for Xbox and Switch owners when a splash card confirmed the game was a console exclusive “for a limited time.” And speaking of the Switch, if Stray is indeed going to be freed for its Playstation prison then might we also see it come to Nintendo’s machine, where I’m sure it would sell a metric arse-load?
If you don’t know what Stray is then I’ll get you the crash-course: it was published by Anna-Purna and developed by the French studio BlueTwelve who were founded by former Ubisoft employees. Stray launched in July 2022 as a Playstation console exclusive to glowing reviews and a whole lot of love from gamers, its popularity further boosted by it being offered free to Playstation Premium, Extra and Deluxe members. It also landed on PC where it currently boasts an Overwhelmingly Positive rating with over 105,000 reviews people who are clearly in the thralls of Stray’s absurdly cute leading cat.
My own review of Stray was fairly glowing, too. “Playing Stray is much like the fluffiest cat coming up and asking for cuddles. It’s warm, comforting and relaxing.” – Me, 2022. I think the coolest thing about Stray is that it feels different to most of the other games out their, exploring a completely different protagonist instead of another humanoid with a sword/gun. Moving around the word is an absolute joy, as is learning more about the strange, underground city and its robotic inhabitants.
