Celeste and TowerFall Delisted on Xbox: Maddy Thorson Explains the BDS Boycott

On Thursday 29 October 2026, players browsing the Xbox Store found something missing: the BDS boycott celeste towerfall delisted xbox story had become visible in the store itself. Celeste, one of the most acclaimed independent games ever made, was simply gone. No announcement, no warning, no farewell post. TowerFall Ascension, the studio's earlier multiplayer archery game, had vanished alongside it.

Hours later, Maddy Thorson answered the question the entire community was asking. In a single Bluesky post, the developer confirmed that Celeste and TowerFall had been delisted from Xbox in support of the BDS boycott: "For those who're asking, yes we delisted Celeste and TowerFall on XBox. We did this to support the BDS boycott."

That is the whole explanation. Two of the most beloved indie titles of the past decade were pulled from a major platform, and the reason fits in one sentence. The post did not name Microsoft directly. The abruptness of the removal and the clarity of the motive make this one of the highest-profile moments yet in the growing BDS boycott campaign against the company.

What Actually Happened on the Xbox Store

The delisting came without any prior announcement. Players discovered the games missing from the storefront on Thursday, and Thorson's Bluesky statement, timestamped 14:40 UTC that same day, followed shortly afterwards. The statement came from Thorson personally rather than through a formal corporate release.

It is what the industry calls a soft delisting. The games are no longer available for purchase, but existing owners reportedly still retain access to their purchased copies through their libraries. No source has reported players losing access to games they already own.

Crucially, only the Xbox versions were affected. Celeste and TowerFall remain on sale on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC.

There is also some naming confusion worth clearing up. The games are published under Maddy Makes Games, Thorson's studio. Thorson now also works at developer/publisher Extremely OK Games (EXOK), which is why both studio names appear in coverage of the delisting.

Why BDS, and Why Microsoft

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement is a Palestinian-led campaign for "freedom, justice and equality." Microsoft and Xbox are designated as priority boycott targets over Microsoft's contracts with the Israeli government and military, and BDS explicitly calls for a boycott of Xbox games, hardware and subscriptions.

Thorson's post cites "the BDS boycott" without naming Microsoft directly. The Microsoft-specific framing comes from BDS's own designation of the company as a priority target, and from the wider context of the campaign. That distinction matters for anyone reading the statement closely: the developer endorsed the boycott by name, while the identification of Microsoft as its subject rests on BDS's published targets.

The subject is politically charged, and Microsoft has not publicly commented on the removal; IGN has asked Microsoft for comment on related BDS moves without a public response. Neither has Maddy Makes Games issued a longer statement on future platform policy beyond Thorson's post.

Celeste Is Not the First, and It Will Not Be the Last

This did not happen in a vacuum. On 15 October 2026, House House confirmed that Big Walk would not come to Xbox until Microsoft is no longer a BDS target. The game had launched in August 2026 on PS5, Switch and PC, with the Xbox version conspicuously absent. That decision set the template for what has followed. You can read our full coverage of House House's Xbox Boycott for the background.

House House was not alone either. GamesIndustry.biz reports that indie developers joined the creators of Luck be a Landlord, Ice Water and All Will Rise in removing games from Xbox. Luck be a Landlord's Dan Dilorio asked players not to buy the game on Xbox and pledged $10,000 to The Palestine Children's Relief Fund; Ice Water removed Tenderfoot Tactics from Xbox; and Speculative Agency returned Microsoft funding for All Will Rise. The politics of platform protest have become an increasingly visible feature of indie development this year.

What makes the Celeste decision different is the direction of travel. The most prominent earlier move, Big Walk, concerned a game that never launched on Xbox at all, while Ice Water removed Tenderfoot Tactics from the platform. Thorson's studio took two existing, commercially successful titles off the platform. Celeste is the highest-profile removal the campaign has produced so far, and it signals that the boycott has moved from withholding releases to withdrawing catalogue.

What It Means for Players and for Xbox

For players, the practical impact is straightforward. If you already own Celeste or TowerFall on Xbox, you should still find them in your library. If you were planning to buy either game on Microsoft's console, that option is now closed.

The reputational impact is harder to measure. Celeste is a 2018 platformer widely regarded as one of the best indie games of its era, a title that has appeared on countless best-of lists and helped define the modern indie landscape. Losing it is not simply a gap in the catalogue; it is a statement about where a generation of independent developers stands.

The open questions remain substantial. There has been no longer statement from Maddy Makes Games or from Microsoft about future platform policy. IGN has sought comment from Microsoft on related BDS moves without a public response. What a platform holder can do when a publisher voluntarily withdraws a title is also unclear.

A Storefront Staple Gone Overnight

What stands out most is the speed of it. A game that has been a fixture of the Xbox Store for years disappeared without warning and was explained in a single sentence on social media. There was no press release, no coordinated campaign, no advance notice to players.

Microsoft has not commented, and no studio has outlined what comes next. The question hanging over the Xbox Store this week is a simple one: how many more games follow Celeste off the platform? This story is developing.