Xbox One version compromised, war involved

Released on November 16, 2021, Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One had made the choice of the next gen’ for its launch and the title was only available on PS5, Xbox Series and PC, promising that the PS4 and Xbox One versions would arrive with some month lag. The Frogwares studio is back with two news: one good and one bad. The first is that the PS4 version will indeed be available on April 28, in a few days, but the second news is that the game on Xbox One has been put on stand by indefinitely. The reasons given are legitimate and understandable: the war in Ukraine had a considerable impact on the teams, since the premises of Frogwares are located in kyiv / Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The development team has sent its apologies to the players, explaining that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has slowed production considerably. Here is the word that was sent to their community:

Hello everyone, especially fans who are waiting for Sherlock Holmes Chapter One on PS4 and Xbox One.

As some of you have pointed out on our social media, we’ve been pretty quiet on the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Sherlock Holmes Chapter One. The good news is that we will be releasing Sherlock Holmes Chapter One on PS4 on April 28, 2022. The bad news is that unfortunately we had to make a difficult decision regarding the Xbox One version of the game. Due to circumstances Beyond our control, the Xbox One version of Chapter One has been postponed indefinitely. We explain the reasons to you.

From September last year until February 2022, we worked hard to optimize our game for PC and old and new generation consoles. During this time, we discovered that the amount of work was greater than expected. So last year we made the decision to release the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 versions first, but also to work on optimizing the older generation versions. After Chapter One released on current-gen in October 2021, we continued to work on optimizing the PS4 and Xbox One versions. We have tried to rely as much as possible on older generations. A lot of non-visible work has been done, and other more impactful ones like map modifications on the PS4 and Xbox One versions so that the game is more fluid (we cut some alleys, shortcuts, etc.). And as we got closer and closer to finalizing those builds, war broke out.

To say the war had an impact on us is probably the understatement of the decade. Keeping our personal and mental situation out of it, the war impacted us heavily from a production perspective. Where we are now, with the resources and manpower we have, we can release the PS4 version of Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One on April 28th. However, we have to postpone the Xbox One version.

Of course we are unhappy. We want to see our games released on as many platforms as possible. We see that many of you are waiting for the Xbox One version. We are also disappointed because we have invested time and money in this version which is put on hold indefinitely. It’s also lost money on potential future revenue, which is important for an independent studio like ours.

If you pre-ordered the Xbox One version of the game, what now? Xbox is advised that you can cancel your order and get a full refund. We know this isn’t the outcome you wanted, but we hope this at least sheds some light on what happened.

Again, thank you all for your patience. And thank you all for your kind words and support. The fact that many of you even offered us a place to stay in your homes is beyond “wow”. And as always, for any comments or questions, post it. We’ll try to respond as quickly and as much as possible – life is a bit strange right now.

Until next time,

Your Frogwares team