Shakedown: Hawaii will not be released on Xbox One when it comes out tomorrow, according to Vblank Entertainment.
The highly anticipated Shakedown: Hawaii, the long-awaited sequel to Retro City Rampage, will be available on PC, PS4, PS Vita, and Nintendo Switch on Tuesday. Shakedown: Hawaii will also be released for 3DS. As you can see, the Retro City Rampage successor is missing one of the most popular current-generation platforms: Xbox One. Brian Provinciano of Vblank Entertainment addressed why Shakedown: Hawaii isn’t coming out at launch on Xbox One in a recent interview.
“It’s possible in the future, but I don’t have Xbox one dev kits or a port [in the works]” was all that my brain told me. It’s also worth noting that despite hitting Xbox 360 in 2013, Retro City Rampage never made its way to Xbox One. If you prefer your answers more straightforward, Brian went through the motivation behind this decision as well.
“When Retro City Rampage launched, I had to spend so much time on porting, paperwork, and certification filings that it took away from the game itself, its content, and the amount of time available to polish it. This time around, I’m just releasing on platforms where I’ve already published; as a result, there’s less of a time sink and more opportunity to polish the game.”
In other words, Vblank Entertainment wanted to make sure that the previously announced versions of Shakedown: Hawaii were of the greatest possible quality, therefore they decided not to include the Xbox One dev kit approval and certification in the mix. Brian emphasized that he is “committed to platform parity,” so it would be best not to distract attention away from that with another port. As first reviews for Shakedown: Hawaii begin rolling in, it appears that this was a correct decision.
Brian did mention that it was “possible in the future,” so we’ll see if the game comes to Xbox One. In the meantime, Shakedown: Hawaii for PC, PS4, PSVita, and Nintendo Switch will be released on May 7. The 3DS versions are scheduled to release in the future. Our conversation with Brian Provinciano will be published tomorrow.
Shakedown: Hawaii Cross-Buy Insists You Play it on Older Consoles
As the Developers Intended
Shakedown: Hawaii is a satire and tribute to the original Grand Theft Auto games. You know, the top-down shooter. It’s also a parody of Hotline Miami, which pays homage to classic 80s aesthetics. Shakedown: Hawaii developer Vblank Entertainment takes all of the throwback and vintage elements and cranks them up to 11 in this game. It caught our attention late last year when physical copies were being printed for Wii and Wii U, but they’re back with Shakedown: Miami cross-buy on PS5.
Cross-buy, as it’s being referred to, isn’t anything unusual. You may play it on another platform after purchasing it. Xbox Play Anywhere games are available from Microsoft and PlayStation, but cross-buy is for Shakedown- Hawaii by Vblank Entertainment. We’re going all the way back to PS3 with this one. It’s downright insane, yet it’s also in keeping with Vblank Entertainment’s reputation.
If you enjoy top-down shooters like the old-school GTAs or Hotline Miami games, be sure to try Shakedown: Hawaii on whatever platform you prefer, since it’s likely to be available for whatever you can think of. Shakedown: Miami is now available for PC, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, PSVITA, Nintendo Switch, 3DS, Wii U and will come out on the PlayStation 5 on December 15th.
Have you played the game Shakedown: Hawaii? Let us know what you think about it in the comments below.
