The letter from Jyamma Games CEO Giacomo Greco, addressed to the Xbox community, clarifies a matter that was becoming rather complex.
During the Future Games Show Spring Showcase 2024, Italian game studio Jyamma Games officially announced the new release date for Enotria: The Last Song, the highly anticipated Souls-like game inspired by Italian folklore (you can find our main coverage of the title here).
For those who may have missed recent developments, here’s a quick recap. During The Streamer Awards, held in Los Angeles on February 17th, 2024, Jyamma Games revealed the release date for Enotria: June 21st, coinciding with the start of summer. It’s a special date that could truly be symbolic for the project and what the developers aimed to achieve, as one of their main goals with Enotria is to evoke that typical and indescribable feeling of visiting Italy in the summer for players.
Then came Elden Ring—or more precisely, the gameplay reveal of Shadow of the Erdtree, the highly anticipated DLC expansion of Elden Ring, with a release date announced at the trailer’s conclusion: June 21st, the same as the release date for Enotria. This event obviously disrupted Jyamma Games’ plans, prompting them to postpone the release date, which, as revealed by Jyamma Games, was supposed to be announced during the Future Games Show Spring Showcase on March 21st.
And so it happened. During the event, Enotria: The Last Song was showcased in a beautiful gameplay trailer that showcased the setting, enemies, boss fights, and all the improvements made by the team to their upcoming game. At the end of the trailer, we also notice the new release date, August 21st, the announcement of a demo, but also something else. Among the consoles the game will be available on, we see PlayStation 5 and PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), but not Xbox.
The news sparked a reaction from the Xbox community, some of whom evidently did not take well to the choice made by the Italian team. It didn’t take long for a response from Jyamma Games, a letter of apology from CEO Giacomo Greco addressed to the entire Xbox community, which we provide translated below:
“Jyamma Games officially apologizes to all Xbox players. We understand that the news of our absence on Xbox at launch has sparked much discussion, and we want to clarify some aspects of the matter with this official statement.
Internally, we have been deliberating the possibility of a simultaneous release across all platforms for some time now. I’m sorry to have communicated it only now, but it is a choice that was made recently (as indicated by the fact that even FGS was unaware), after I was officially informed that a simultaneous release would compromise the overall quality of the product and lead to additional delays.
I want you to know that the delay resulting from the simultaneous release with a competitor has afforded us the opportunity to dedicate more time to further enhancing the product. This has set higher standards, and as CEO, I bear responsibility for ensuring the ultimate quality of the product.
That being said, I would never compromise by allowing our game to be decently released across all platforms. I’d rather the game be perfect on two platforms than decent on three.
Once we’ve released the game, we will also get to work on the Xbox version, as well as on the DLC, so that we can provide the game to Microsoft users. The decision to prioritize PS5 over Xbox was primarily influenced by our partnership in Asia (with SEGA), which we hold in high regard and aim to honor through our agreements.
As many of you may know, the Asian market is largely dominated by PlayStation, so PS5 was the most logical choice. However, I want to clarify a few points. Jyamma Games is an independent software house that has never received funding from anyone, including Microsoft. Some accusations made by certain users verge on defamation regarding this matter.
I hope that everything is a little clearer now and that the Xbox community doesn’t get angry about my forced choice.”
We’d like to remind you that Enotria: The Last Song will be available on August 21, 2024, for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The release for the Xbox Series X/S version, which has not been canceled but is still being finalized, has not yet been announced. Stay tuned for further updates.
For more information about the game, keep following us, and don’t forget to add the game to your wishlist and visit the Jyamma Games website to stay updated on all the latest information.
That’s all for today. See you soon, Maskless!
