Black Myth: Wukong was intended to be a multiplatform release. However, for some reason the action-RPG has only been released on PlayStation 5 and PC, with an Xbox release being nowhere in sight yet.
Throughout several interviews, Microsoft insisted that the delay of the Xbox version was due to an exclusivity deal that Sony made with Black Myth developer Game Science. Microsoft has even stated that they "confirm that the delay is not due to Xbox platform limitations that have been raised to us."
This weekend, Game Science said that no, actually it is a limitation of the Xbox hardware that is the reason for the delay.
A post was made to the Chinese social media site Weibo by Game Science CEO and co-founder Feng Ji. In his statement he specifically blames the lack of RAM on the Xbox Series S model on why an Xbox release hasn't happened yet. He also flatly admits that the studio doesn't have experience with optimizing games. This all comes alongside some not-so-humble remarks about Wukong winning various categories, including Game of the Year, in the 2024 Steam Awards.
Here is Ji's full quote, as translated to English from Chinese.
"Although it wasn't too surprising, I still feel a bit emotional after winning everything. Everyone's combat power is terrifyingly strong, except for the Xbox... It seems a bit undeserved (but that 10G of shared memory, without years of optimization experience, it's really hard to achieve."
These differences between the two models have caused issues for several different developers over the years. Microsoft has a policy that says games released on Series S must have feature parity with the Series X versions. A rare (if only) exception to this parity rule was made for Baldur's Gate 3.
Black Myth: Wukong sold over 18 million copies across PS5 and PC within its first two weeks of its August 19, 2024 release. Downloadable content for Wukong is expected to be released at some point in the future.
