I thought it was unsuccessful as xitter was already the preferred platform
It isn't anymore, ad I expect that to accelerate. The Guardian just announced today that they will no longer use it, for example (although individual journalists may still choose to do so)
Bsky federates. I follow several people from my Mastodon profile.
Edit: I should add a caveat here. Federation doesn't work as smoothly as Threads yet. You have to use a bridge service: https://fed.brid.gy/