Owlboy, the revered indie darling and one of the best games of the past few years, is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4. In a surprise move, the game is also getting a physical release on the aforementioned consoles, as well as heading to Nintendo Switch in all of its case-holding glory.
D-Pad Studio has announced the move (on April Fool’s Day of all days), with the game arriving digitally Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on April 10. The developers have also teamed up with Dutch video game publishers SOEDESCO for a physical release. Owlboy is heading to stores on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch six weeks later on May 29.
In a trailer that riffs on the confusing release date, Owlboy turns into an ’80s action flick before pause is pressed and the trailer’s true intentions are made clear. A quick montage of some of the game’s most climactic moments, as well as a look at the lovingly-crafted pixel art, leads into the release date, a typically understated flash of April 10 (next Tuesday if you’re desperate to mark it in your calendars).
Of course, the announcement is missing something. As of yet, no Xbox One physical release date has been confirmed and, with the relative size of the Owlboy studio, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that will ever be the case.
While the Xbox and PlayStation stores aren’t currently showing the game listing on its storefronts and store pages, the Nintendo Switch physical version, with correct release date, no less, is already available to pre-order on Amazon UK, with both the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch physical releases being available on Amazon.
