There is good and bad news for Frogwares’ Sherlock Holmes fans. Today, the developer announced that Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is coming to PS4 next week. Unfortunately, sleuths who play on Xbox One will have to wait because the Xbox One release has been postponed indefinitely.
Why Was Sherlock Holmes Chapter One Delayed On Xbox One?
Frogwares explained the situation via a thread on Twitter. For one thing, bringing the game to Xbox One is no easy task.
“From September of last year right until February of 2022, we worked hard on optimizing our game for PC and both old and current generation consoles. During that time we discovered that the scope of the work was bigger than assessed. So last year we made the decision to release the PS5 and Xbox series X|S versions first, and work on optimizing the old gen versions.“
The statement describes some of the changes needed for Sherlock Holmes Chapter One to run well on PS4 and Xbox One. Frogwares made changes not only behind the scenes but also on the surface. For example, in the PS4 version, the city is missing some alleys on current-gen consoles and PC.
The game is almost ready for release on PS4, so what happened to the Xbox One version? Unfortunately, Frogwares face some significant challenges due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“To say that the war made an impact on us is probably the understatement of the decade. Keeping our personal and mental situation out of this, the war impacted us from a production point of view heavily. From where we stand now, with the resources and manpower that we have, we can release the PS4 version of Chapter One on April 28th. However, we have to postpone the Xbox One version.”
Fans who pre-ordered the game for Xbox can cancel their order and receive a refund. Frogwares concluded today’s announcement by thanking fans for their support. You can read the full announcement in the Twitter thread linked above.