Developer Maddy Thorson has explained why in a social media post: to support the ongoing pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Microsoft. Thorson, who led development of both titles at Maddy Makes Games, confirmed in a post on Bluesky that her studio delisted both games from the platform. Celeste, which happens to be one of the best 2D platformers ever made, was released in 2018 for PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, while Towerfall: Ascension is a single-screen multiplayer action game that Polygon once described as "the new gold standard in the local multiplayer renaissance." Thorson isn’t the first developer to voice support for BDS's boycott against Microsoft over its ties to the Israeli military.
A few weeks ago, Big Walk developer House House said its game would not come to Xbox in support of BDS. We are disappointed too.” “We would love for people to be able to play the game on Xbox, but not until Microsoft and/or Xbox have been removed as BDS boycott targets,” the statement continues. As the BDS website puts it, the goal of the movement is to “impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law.” Specifically, it calls for Israel to do this by “1.
Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; 2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and 3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.” As for why Xbox is a priority target of the boycott, “Microsoft is perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza,” the BDS website reads.
It provides the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that are central to accelerating Israel’s genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip. After 34 years of deep complicity with Israel’s military, the Israeli army relies heavily on Microsoft to meet technological requirements of its genocide and apartheid regime.” In 2025, reporting from The Guardian found that Microsoft had supplied the Israeli military with Azure cloud technology, which was used to carry out mass surveillance of Palestinians that resulted in bombings. In response to BDS protests and blowback caused by The Guardian’s coverage, Microsoft eventually rescinded Israel’s access to Azure technology used to monitor millions of phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank each day.
That said, the company is still a BDS target because it continues to supply other technologies to the Israeli government. Beyond House House and Maddy Thorson, other developers have taken stances that align with BDS. Penguin Colony developer Origame Digital included a scathing statement in the game’s credits: “The cowardice of the Game Industry during the ongoing genocide of Palestine by Israel will be recorded by the art it makes.” The studio blocked sales of the game in Israel in solidarity with Palestine.
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