Neon White publisher Annapurna Interactive has denied rumors that the acclaimed 2022 first-person shooter would be coming to Xbox consoles or Xbox Game Pass this year. These rumors began circulating shortly after Neon White was announced to be coming to PS4 and PS5 later this month.
Neon White was released this past summer for PC and Nintendo Switch to critical success for its high-speed action shooter gameplay complemented by its upbeat soundtrack. Annapurna Interactive published the game the month before it published the cat adventure game Stray, another one of 2022's indie darlings. Neon White was recently announced for PS4 and PS5, but there was no news on whether the game would come to Xbox consoles, leading to rumors on when, if ever, the game would come to Xbox.
These rumors were mentioned in the latest episode of the XboxEra Podcast. Co-host Nick Baker spoke on the rumors saying he had been told that Neon White would be coming to Xbox consoles as well as Xbox Game Pass, possibly as soon as this month. Annapurna Interactive addressed these rumors as well as this episode of the podcast in a tweet jokingly referencing an older tweet from Australian racing driver Oscar Piastri. The tweet from Annapurna stated that there are no plans for more Neon White ports this year, though there was no direct confirmation that the game would not come to Xbox at a later time.
Baker responded to the tweet by affirming that his statement on the December release for Xbox was "pure speculation" and was based on the timing of the upcoming PlayStation ports for Neon White. He viewed the response from Annapurna as partial confirmation of an Xbox port for Neon White, though there is still no news on whether Neon White will join Xbox Game Pass.
There has been no shortage of high-profile indie games to experience success in recent years, many of which have been given a spotlight from being available on Xbox Game Pass such as Tunic, another indie hit from this year. Neon White circumvented this path by only launching on PC and Switch with large success on both platforms. This success has allowed it to be nominated for Best Indie at The Game Awards alongside Tunic and Stray, showing that indie games are still capable of experiencing organic success without the backing of a major company. The Game Awards will premiere this Thursday, so gamers will not have to wait much longer to see which game will receive the honor of Best Indie.
Neon White is available now for PC and Switch. It will launch on PS4 and PS5 on December 13.