The head of Game Science, the developer of “Black Myth: Wukong”, said that the critically acclaimed action role-playing game has not yet been released on the current generation of Xbox consoles due to optimization issues on the less powerful Xbox Series S. This update from the Game Science CEO goes against the developer’s previous claims of signing a console exclusivity deal with Sony. Black Myth: Wukong was released on PC and PS5 last August, but an Xbox Series S/X release date has yet to be announced.
Game Science CEO laments Xbox Series S optimization issues
Game Science co-founder and CEO Feng Ji posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Wednesday, expressing regret over the absence of “Black Myth: Wukong” on the Xbox platform. He cited a post on Black Myth’s official Weibo about the game winning three awards at the 2024 Steam Awards, including Game of the Year, and said the only thing missing is the Xbox version of the game.
“Although there are no big surprises, I was still a little emotional after getting them all.” Feng Ji said when talking about “Black Myth: Wukong” winning the 2024 Steam Award. “…but the only thing missing is the Xbox robe…it seems a little wrong, but that 10G of shared memory, it’s really impossible to get it without several years of optimization experience,” he added.
The game science director appears to be referring to the 10GB of memory shared between the Xbox Series S system and games. Compared to the Series X’s 16GB, this 10GB of RAM seems to have become a bottleneck for developers planning to bring games to the Xbox platform.
Xbox Series S limitations
Technical limitations of the Series S delayed the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 on current-generation Xbox consoles, as the lower-end console struggled with the game’s split-screen co-op functionality. Finally, the role-playing game is coming to Xbox consoles, but without split-screen co-op on the Series S, four months after it launched on PC and three months after it launched on PS5.
As a matter of policy, Microsoft enforces game feature parity between its current-generation consoles, and the company intends to have games release on Xbox Series X and Series S simultaneously.
Conflicting reasons behind delays
However, Feng Ji’s comments about the limitations of the Series S further complicate the story of Black Myth: Wukong’s delayed launch on Xbox. While he pointed to optimization issues as the reason for the delay, an August 2024 report claimed that Game Science had signed an exclusivity deal with Sony to keep the game on PS5 for an undisclosed period. However, neither Sony nor the developers have confirmed such an agreement.
However, claims of a potential exclusivity deal contradict official statements from Game Science itself. In the FAQ section of the game website, the Chinese studio stated that it needs more time to optimize the game for Xbox Series S/X.
“PC and PS5 users can enjoy the full game starting August 20, 2024. We are currently optimizing the Xbox Series X|S version to meet our quality standards, so it will not be released at the same time as other platforms,” the developer said. “We apologize for the delay and want to minimize the wait time for Xbox users. We will announce a release date as soon as our quality standards are met.”
However, Microsoft’s announcement in June 2024 complicated the situation by hinting at possible deals between developers and other platform holders such as Sony.
“We’re excited to launch Black Myth Wukong on Xbox Series X|S and are working with Game Science to bring the game to our platform,” Xbox Parents said at the time. “We can’t comment on the deals our partners have struck with other platform holders, but we remain committed to making Xbox the best platform for gamers, and great games are at the core of that.”
The conflicting statements and lack of clarity and transparency from all involved, as well as the fact that Black Myth: Wukong’s Xbox Series S/X release date is still undecided, may be frustrating for Xbox gamers.
Black Myth: Wukong will be released on PC and PS5 on August 20, 2024. At the 2024 Steam Awards, announced on December 31, the action role-playing game won awards in three categories, including Game of the Year, Best Game, and Outstanding Story-Rich Game.
