When is Valheim coming to Xbox? You may have already heard about Valheim, the Viking survival game that for the last few years has been sending PC gamers into a land of brutal combat, exotic exploration, and resource-scarce crafting adventures. Since hitting Windows PC with PC Game Pass a few months ago, its community has only been growing. Today, Valheim (Game Preview) comes to console for the first time with Xbox Game Pass, and we had the chance to speak to Iron Gate Studio Co-Founder Henrik Törnqvist about bringing their surprise mega-hit to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and why now may be the perfect time to sharpen that axe and journey to Valheim.
It is clear to see why Valheim is such a well-regarded title. The Norse mythology-inspired release offers a unique take on the otherwise saturated genre of survival games. While the title has been out in early access for over two years on PC platforms, the game is set to come to Xbox via the successful Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
When is Valheim coming to Xbox?
The much anticipated Valheim console release has finally happened, so if you’re on Xbox Series X or Xbox One then the wait for the Viking afterlife is over, and you can play it for free if you have Xbox Game Pass. This joins the existing release of Valheim on PC Game Pass, and adding more platforms to this survival adventure naturally leads to questions about Valheim crossplay, and whether the game will extend further to reach PS5, PS4, or even Nintendo Switch at some time in the future. To catch you up on that, here’s everything we know so far about the current situation and future Valheim console release plans.
Valheim PC and Xbox Game Pass release
Valheim was initially only available on PC Game Pass as a game preview, as when developer Iron Gate announced their plans to bring the game to Game Pass, they stated the PC and Xbox releases would be separate, with PC access arriving first. The Valheim console release date was then confirmed for March 14, 2023 on Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass. The console port was handled by two external teams, not by Iron Gate itself, so it didn’t impact on the development of other content such as the Valheim Ashlands update.
Is Valheim coming to PlayStation or Nintendo Switch?
Let’s start with the bad news for PS5, PS4, and Nintendo owners: since the initial Valheim console release is on Xbox Game Pass, it will likely remain exclusive to that platform for quite some time. On the bright side though, Valheim may still be ported to other consoles in the future.
Although this wouldn’t be such an issue for Valheim on the PlayStation, a Switch version would likely need a lot of optimization in order to run. Also, don’t forget that the Switch is over five years old, so a potential Valheim Switch port would be far more interesting to its successor.
Valheim On Xbox Game Pass
Valheim is set to come to Xbox Game Pass on March 14, with Xbox being the only console platform that the game is currently intending to release on. Already having built up a community on PC platforms, Valheim is lauded for its striking aesthetic and focus on co-operative play. Crucially, Valheim can be played in groups of up to ten players, who can then explore the tumultuous but fascinating procedurally generated world of the title together in their bid for survival.
Like many survival games, Valheim prides itself on its layered building and crafting systems, with players being able to create personalized structures to take shelter on their journey of slaying beasts and gathering materials. The intense popularity of Valheim on PC has done well to foster huge amounts of attention for the game’s inbound Game Pass release, with many assuming that the title will develop a commendable Xbox player base rather quickly. When considering the large level of co-operative play that Valheim is capable of, the wide availability of the game via Game Pass will only act as a catalyst for even more players to test the game out with friends.
Sons of the Forest and Valheim’s Competition
Sons of the Forest is a recently released survival horror title that is currently exclusive to PC platforms; it’s a sequel to the well received 2014 title The Forest. While of course being generally different to Valheim in the sense that Sons of the Forest possesses horror elements, both games share the same general framework of brutal survival, combat, co-operative play, and crafting.
Although it only released on February 23, Sons of the Forest is already being considered a success, building upon the mechanics and motifs of its 2014 predecessor impactfully. Sons of the Forest spent time atop the Steam sales charts, with the tense and engaging co-operative play that the title offers clearly resonating with a lot of players.
However, the recent success that Sons of the Forest has experienced may soon be overshadowed by the release of Valheim for Xbox Game Pass. Console players have been wanting to play Valheim for over two years, and the game’s stellar reputation alongside its impending wide availability via Game Pass is the perfect storm to shift the discourse within the survival genre towards the Norse title. With Xbox Game Pass reportedly having over 30 million subscribers, the Valheim playerbase has a lot of potential for growth.
Of course, with Valheim releasing for Xbox and with Sons of the Forest being exclusive to PC platforms, the titles are not entirely vying for control of the same player demographics. With that being said, the likely influx of attention that Valheim will soon receive may do enough to match the early levels of success as Sons of the Forest.
Valheim is available now for PC, and releases March 14, 2023 for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
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