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indie

Celeste and TowerFall pulled from Xbox store over BDS boycott

Maddy Thorson confirmed MaddyMakesGames delisted Celeste and TowerFall on Xbox in support of the BDS boycott, joining other indie studios skipping the platform.

By Lola Sprite, Society & Indie Correspondent ·

Edited by Dot Matrix, Editor-in-Chief

A lone climber stands on a ledge beside an empty display case and a leaning bow, with a distant tower across a valley at dusk.
Two indie favorites leave the Xbox store as studios take a stand. Illustration generated by AI.

MaddyMakesGames, the studio behind the platforming favorite Celeste and the archery brawler TowerFall, has delisted both games from the Xbox store. Maddy Thorson confirmed it in a post on Bluesky on October 29: “We did this to support the BDS boycott.” 1

The decision comes from the studio itself, not from Microsoft or any platform holder. For players, the practical upshot is that both games are no longer sold on Xbox. The sources do not say how the games remain available elsewhere, so check the platform you play on before assuming anything.

TowerFall arrived in 2014, first on, of all places, the Ouya, and Celeste followed in 2018. 1 Celeste took best indie game at that year’s Game Awards. 1

The move lands in a busy month. Australian studio House House said it will not release its co-op adventure Big Walk on Xbox, citing the same movement. 2 BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) is a Palestinian-led campaign that lists Microsoft and Xbox as a priority boycott target. 23 In its statement, House House said it would love for people to play on Xbox, “but not until Microsoft and/or Xbox have been removed as BDS boycott targets.” 3

Other developers have taken their own routes. Dan Dilorio, who makes Luck be a Landlord, asked players not to buy it on Xbox and pledged $10,000 to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. 3 Ice Water removed Tenderfoot Tactics from Xbox. 3 Speculative Agency, maker of All Will Rise, said it wants to join the No Games for Genocide campaign, though doing so would mean asking Microsoft to release it from a funding deal. 3

No Games for Genocide is a collective of developers and games professionals urging a boycott of Xbox games and services as part of the wider BDS movement. 1 Microsoft has previously said an internal review in May 2025 found “no evidence to date” that its technology was used to target or harm people in Gaza, while acknowledging it supplies Israel’s Ministry of Defence with software, cloud and AI services. 3 In September 2025, the company reportedly cut off Israel’s access to certain cloud technology, though BDS’s boycott appears unchanged. 2

The sources here are largely reporting statements from the developers involved, and Kotaku’s account of Thorson’s confirmation is the basis for the delisting news. 1

Our read: Several studios have now made their own decisions about Xbox, each for its own stated reasons. Whether Microsoft responds, or more studios follow, is the thing to watch as awards season approaches. Studios with Xbox funding ties face a different choice than those who simply sell games there.

Footnotes

  1. Kotaku, “Indie Game Of The Year Winner Pulled From Xbox Over BDS Boycott”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Polygon, “Big Walk Is Skipping Xbox as Part of the Pro-Palestinian BDS Boycott”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. GamesIndustry.biz, “House House will not release Big Walk on Xbox in support of pro-Palestinian BDS campaign”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

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