Ukrainian studio Frogwares has indefinitely postponed the Xbox One version of Sherlock Holmes Chapter One due to the ongoing Russian invasion.
In an update shared on Twitter, the Kyiv-based studio explained the war has heavily impacted its production capabilities, meaning it no longer has the resources or staff required to release the Xbox One version of the action-adventure title.
“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,” it wrote.
“From where we stand now, with the resources and manpower that we have, we can release the PS4 version of Chapter One on April 28. However, we have to postpone the Xbox One version indefinitely.”
The company said it has been working to optimize the title for PC and old and current gen consoles since September 2021, but during that time discovered the scope of the work was “bigger than we assessed.”
After that realization, the studio chose to release the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S versions first, before starting to optimize the title for last-gen hardware. Frogwares explained it was getting “closer and closer” to finalizing those versions of the game and then war broke out.
“To say we’re not happy about this is putting it subtly. We want to see our games on as many platforms as possible. We see that there are a lot of you waiting for the Xbox One version. We’re also disappointed because we’ve invested time and money in this version which is put on hold indefinitely,” continued the studio.
“It’s also money lost from potential future income, which is important for an independent studio like us.”
Frogwares said that players who pre-ordered the Xbox One version of the game will be able to cancel their order and claim a full refund. It also thanked its community for offering to support staff affected by the Russian invasion by offering up their homes as temporary accommodation.