The competitive online shooter Hunt: Showdown, which released earlier this year on Steam as an early access title, will make its way to the Xbox Game Preview program.
Earlier this year, Crytek’s newest competitive online shooter, Hunt: Showdown, launched in early access on Steam as part of Valve’s Early Access program to much success both critically and commercially. With the team working on completing the game for its official launch on PC in the near future, Crytek will now be testing the console market by bringing Hunt: Showdown to the Xbox Game Preview program.
News of the online shooter’s upcoming launch as part of the Xbox’s early access program was announced by Crytek at Gamescom. Hunt: Showdown combines both PvP and PvE elements into one dynamic gameplay experience, placing players in the role of a bounty hunter. While players will try to earn bounties by killing monsters around the map, opposing players will be trying to steal those bounties from them at the same time.
When Hunt: Showdown launched on PC back in February, Crytek had a closed beta for the game weeks before launching its early access version to the public. It’s unclear yet whether they will do the same for the Xbox version.
The Xbox Game Preview program has been seen as a key feature for Xbox fans to purchase and try out upcoming titles while they’re still in development. When Hunt: Showdown eventually launches on the platform, it will join a lineup that consists of the popular Gwent, the spin-off card game based on the Witcher series, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. When PUBG launched as an early access title back in December last year, it quickly became one of the most popular games on Xbox.
While the Xbox Game Preview program essentially puts players in the role of beta testers, the success of Hunt: Showdown on PC means the developer has the confidence to test out the console market to see if there’s an audience for the game. While the early build of the game will likely come with technical issues and shortcomings when it launches, just remember that PlayerUnknown’s Battleground has shown a game doesn’t need to be a technical masterpiece to find a massive audience.
Hunt: Showdown is currently available for PC as part of the Valve Early Access program.
