Playstation And Xbox Booths At The 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) In Los Angeles
IN PHOTO: People walk past the Playstation and Xbox booths at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles, California June 10, 2014. Reuters/Jonathan Alcorn

The puzzle platformer "Stealth Inc" is no stranger to platform jumping. That isn't meant in the literal gameplay sense, but on a more meta level as well thanks to its propensity to jump across console platforms. The latest instalment in the series "Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones" will no longer be a Wii U exclusive. The sidescroller is slated to become a multi-platform game by the month of April.

The game will be coming to Windows PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PS Vita according to a Polygon report. The sudden multi-platform transformation is courtesy of the developer Curve Studios' exclusivity deal with Nintendo coming to an end. "Stealth Inc 2" had launched on Nintendo Wii U in Oct. 2014 as an exclusive title for the console – a move that had surprised the industry given the commercial success of the series.

However, there was a method to that apparent madness as explained by Rob Clarke, the Marketing Manager at the developer Curve Studios, in an interview with Gamespot. The decision seems to have paid off for the company. The exclusivity deal not only gave the studio requisite funds to support game development, but it also insulated it from competing with scores of indie and AAA titles on other dominant console platforms such as PlayStation and Xbox One.

"The good thing about releasing on Nintendo is, you're not competing with a lot of other people," said Rob Clarke in an interview with the website. "Even as an indie publisher, we always fight with AAA for space on the storefront… with Nintendo, we know that we're not having to compete with, say, Watch Dogs for example."

"Stealth Inc's" story is inspiring. Originally released as "Stealth Bastard," the puzzle sidescroller was distributed as a free download on the PC. The game's ingenious gameplay and art style wowed many and garnered enough interest to spawn a full-fledged paid release dubbed as "Stealth Bastard Deluxe: Tactical Espionage Arsehole" on Valve's Steam distribution platform.

The game had to assume a more family friendly title "Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark" before it could migrate to the PlayStation ecosystem. The news of "Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones" current jump from Wii U to a multi-platform release was accompanied by Curve Studios announcing that the "Stealth Inc" series has amassed more than a million downloads to date.

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Stealth Inc - iOS Trailer (credit: Curve Digital YouTube channel)