Skulls of the Shogun XBLA

A release may finally be imminent for one of XBLA’s most-anticipated games. 17-bit studio head Jake Kazdal informed XBLAFans today that its turn-based strategy title, Skulls of the Shogun, has successfully passed through the Microsoft certification process.

Skulls of the Shogun has spent the last several years impressing the media and gamers with generally excellent playable demos at conventions such as Penny Arcade Expo. Kazdal informed XBLAFans at last year’s PAX East that his team’s game was essentially complete and that the plan was to release it at the same time as the Windows 8 launch because the title is going to be available for XBLA and Windows 8 PCs, tablets and phones. That, of course, didn’t happen.

In September Kazdal took to Twitter to announce that the game had been delayed until this past November, but 17-Bit also failed to meet that target window. Last month it was revealed that the small team size of the independent studio was holding up Skulls‘ ambitious four-platform launch.

After the game’s most recent delay, 17-Bit elected not to publicly announce any more release dates for Skulls of the Shogun until it was absolutely certain it could meet one. With the game now having passed certification, 17-Bit has confirmed that the day that its game’s concrete release date is revealed is coming “shortly.”