Breakout indie hit Valheim just launched on Xbox consoles to the delight of many gamers; however, despite the game making its way to a new platform, the Norse mythology-inspired survival game may not be reaching PlayStation or Switch audiences any time soon. In a recent interview with Iron Gate developer Jonathan Smårs, the dev states that Valheim is only focusing on Xbox platforms for now, but it seems like the door is open for a port in the future.
Valheim launched in early access on PC via Steam in early 2021, and it didn’t take long for the Norse mythology survival game to skyrocket in popularity. Only a month after release, Valheim had already sold over five million copies and was topping the charts on Valve's storefront. Between launch and now, the game still hasn’t progressed past the Early Access stage, but it has reached a significant milestone in the form of its first console port, launching on the Xbox consoles on March 14 via Xbox Game Preview. Seeing as Valheim has come to consoles after all, some PlayStation and Switch gamers may be wondering when they can experience Iron Gate’s Norse survival adventure game for themselves.
Unfortunately, PlayStation and Switch gamers may be waiting some time for Valheim to launch on their console of choice. Iron Gate developer, Jonathan Smårs, was recently interviewed on an episode of the Xbox Expansion Pass podcast, where he and the host discussed all things Valheim now that the game has found its way to the Xbox consoles. Eventually, the topic of launching on other console platforms came up, and Smårs’s response indicated that the team is currently only focusing on Xbox and PC. Smårs states, “Currently, we’re only looking at the Xbox, but you never know.”
Fortunately, the Iron Gate developer’s response doesn’t totally discount the idea of Valheim coming to other consoles. However, with Valheim now in early access across two platforms, it makes sense why the studio might hold off on another release. Unlike either PlayStation or Nintendo, Microsoft does have an avenue for in-progress games like Valheim to launch via Xbox Game Preview. Because early access games can change drastically from what the user initially purchased, Xbox and PC’s use of early access storefronts is likely important to Valheim’s development and may be why the game is skipping the PS5 and Switch for now.
However, whenever Valheim reaches its full 1.0 release, perhaps Iron Gate will be ready to take on other console platforms. The game has proven incredibly popular for survival game fans on both PC and Xbox, so there is little reason to believe that Iron Gate wouldn’t want to grow the game’s audience on other platforms as well. 2023 is set to be a big year for Valheim, and hopefully, its continued success will come to the PS5 and Switch sometime in the future.
Valheim is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.