Celeste and TowerFall are no longer on the Xbox Store. Developer Maddy Thorson said the delisting was deliberate, and that it was done in support of the Boycott , Divestment and Sanctions campaign targeting Microsoft.
Thorson said the decision is tied to Microsoft’s relationship with the Israeli government and military. The BDS campaign is also calling on people to cancel Xbox Game Pass, stay away from Microsoft gaming products, and boycott Xbox-connected series such as Call of Duty and Candy Crush. Online, the reaction has already split players between support and backlash.
Microsoft has previously said it provides technology to Israel’s Ministry of Defense. The company has also said it found no evidence that its Azure tools were used to target or harm people in Gaza, a claim that activists and other reporting have disputed.
The delisting also lines up with a wider pattern among indie studios. In October 2026, House House said Big Walk would skip Xbox for the same reason. Ice Water Games, the studio behind Tenderfoot Tactics, made a similar decision in 2025. Taken together, those calls suggest some smaller developers are using platform support and storefront access as a form of protest.
If you pay attention to the politics around the games business, this is one to keep an eye on, especially as the questions pile up around financial risk, reputational damage, and the way Palestinian players and developers keep getting pushed to the margins in these conversations.
If you still want either game, they’re available on PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Author: Jesús Bosque
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