The head of Game Science, developer of Black Myth: Wukong, has suggested that the acclaimed action-RPG has not yet made its way to current-gen Xbox consoles owing to optimisation issues on the less powerful Xbox Series S. The update from Game Science CEO runs contrary to earlier claims of the developer signing a console exclusivity deal with Sony. Black Myth: Wukong released on PC and PS5 in August last year, but a launch date for Xbox Series S/X is yet to be announced.
Game Science CEO Bemoans Xbox Series S Optimisation Issues
Game Science co-founder and CEO Feng Ji lamented the unavailability of Black Myth: Wukong on the Xbox platform in a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo Wednesday. He quoted a post about the game winning three awards at 2024 Steam Awards, including Game of the Year, from the official Black Myth Weibo handle and said the only thing missing was an Xbox version of the game.
“Although there were no big surprises, I still felt a little emotional after getting all of them,” Feng Ji said on Black Myth: Wukong’s triumph at the 2024 Steam Awards. “… but the only thing missing is the XBOX robe… seems a bit wrong but that 10G of shared memory, it’s really impossible to get it without several years of optimisation experience,” he added.
The Game Science chief seems to be pointing at Xbox Series S’s 10GB of memory shared between the system and games. This 10GB of RAM, compared to Series X’s 16GB, seems to have become a bottleneck for developers who intend to bring their games to the Xbox platform.
Xbox Series S Limitations
Technical limitations of the Series S delayed the launch of Baldur’s Gate 3 on current-gen Xbox consoles, as the lower-end console struggled with the game’s split-screen co-op feature. Eventually, the RPG arrived on Xbox consoles without the split-screen co-op feature on Series S, four months after it released on PC and three months after its PS5 launch.
Microsoft, as policy, enforces gameplay feature parity between both of its current-generation consoles and the company intends for games to launch on both Xbox Series X and Series S simultaneously.
Conflicting Reasons Behind Delay
Feng Ji’s comments on the limitations of Series S, however, further complicate the saga behind the delay to launch Black Myth: Wukong on Xbox. While he points to optimisation issues as the reason for the delay, a report in August 2024 claimed Game Science had signed an exclusivity deal with Sony to keep the game on PS5 for an unspecified duration. Neither Sony nor the developer, however, have confirmed such an agreement.
The claim about a potential exclusivity deal, however, ran contrary to the official statement from Game Science itself. In the FAQ section of the game’s website, the Chinese studio had said it needed more time to optimise the title 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 won’t release simultaneously with the other platforms,” the developer had said. “We apologize for the delay and aim to minimize the wait for Xbox users. We will announce the release date as soon as it meets our quality standards.”
The situation, however, is further complicated by Microsoft’s statement from June 2024 that alluded to possible deals between developers and other platform holders like Sony.
“We’re excited for the launch of Black Myth Wukong on Xbox Series X|S and are working with Game Science to bring the game to our platforms,” The Xbox parent had said at the time. “We can’t comment on the deals made by our partners with other platform holders, but we remain focused on making Xbox the best platform for gamers, and great games are at the center of that.”
Conflicting statements and a lack of clarity and transparency from everyone involved, with still no confirmed Xbox Series S/X launch date for Black Myth: Wukong, is likely to leave Xbox players frustrated.
Black Myth: Wukong released on PC and PS5 on August 20, 2024. At the 2024 Steam Awards, announced December 31, the action-RPG won in three categories, including Game of the Year, Best Game You Suck At Award and Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award.
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