Lack of ‘experience’ optimising for Xbox led to Black Myth Wukong delay

It has been months since Black Myth Wukong first launched on PC and PS5. While an Xbox version was announced, it was unceremoniously delayed and we've heard very little about plans for the Xbox version since. At the time, Game Science developers pointed to the Xbox Series S as the core reason for the delay. However, in its own statement, Microsoft said the delay was not due to any “Xbox platform limitation” and instead alluded to the possibility of the game being a stealth console exclusive.

Sony is believed to have paid a number of developers over the years to keep games ‘off' Xbox to further the perception that the rival PlayStation brand has a stronger line-up of games. Based on Microsoft's previous statements, in which it says it cannot comment on deals made with competitors, it seems that Microsoft believes that Black Myth Wukong is indeed one of these ‘stealth' exclusives.

In an update posted to Weibo, the most popular social media site in China, Game Science CEO, Feng Ji, stated that the Xbox version of Black Myth Wukong is being held back by the Xbox Series S and its 10GB of shared system memory. He states that he would need “a few years of optimisation experience” to get it to work.

The word ‘experience' seems to be the key here. We've seen many impressive games running on Xbox Series S without issue. However, some studios have struggled to get projects running on the console. This led to the cancellation of local co-op for Halo Infinite, as well as a delay for Baldur's Gate 3 on Xbox platforms. However, aside from these few outliers, the vast majority of games this generation have released on Xbox Series S without the need for a delay at all.

KitGuru Says: The Xbox Series S is the weakest console in the current gen line-up. We tend to see a big reaction whenever a developer suggests that the Series S is the issue. However, it seems to me that the actual problem is a lack of knowledge base. In the instance of Black Myth Wukong, I have to wonder if anyone in the development office had ever created a game for Xbox before. Based on the latest statement from Feng Ji, I'm leaning towards ‘no' being the answer to that question.

Become a Patron!