Black Myth: Wukong Dev Bemoans Lack of Xbox Version, Points the Finger at Xbox Series S

The boss of Black Myth: Wukong developer Game Science has pointed the finger at the Xbox Series S over the lack of an Xbox version of the game.

In a post on Chinese social media website Weibo, Game Science co-founder and CEO Feng Ji celebrated PC and PlayStation 5 action game Black Myth: Wukong’s Game of the Year win at the 2024 Steam awards, and in doing so lamented the lack of an Xbox version of the game, which he blamed on optimization trouble with the Xbox Series S.

“The only thing missing is the Xbox,” he said, per machine learning translation, “which somehow feels a bit wrong, but that 10GB of shared memory — without years of optimisation experience — is really hard to make work.”

That’s a reference to the Xbox Series S’ power relative to the Xbox Series X. The Series S has 4TF of GPU compute compared to the Xbox Series X’s 12.2TF, but the killer is the drop in memory allocation, from 16GB down to 10GB.

Microsoft’s Xbox release policy means publishers and developers must release their games across Xbox Series X and S. They are unable to release a game for Xbox Series X only, for example. This has caused difficulty for some studios in the past, perhaps most notably Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian. Baldur’s Gate 3 was originally released on PC and PS5 only, with the Xbox version delayed due to issues with the Xbox Series S specifically struggling to perform splitscreen co-op. In the past, Xbox had committed to parity between Xbox Series S and X for all games, but it ultimately made an exception for Baldur’s Gate 3 so the game could launch later in 2023.

In 2023, Remedy communications director Thomas Puha talked openly about the challenge the studio faced getting Alan Wake 2 running well on the Xbox Series S, saying the console’s GPU “is an issue” and “having less memory is a pretty big problem.” Before then, a VFX artist who had worked on an Xbox Series X and S game said in a now-deleted tweet that “many developers have been sitting in meetings for the past year desperately trying to get Series S launch requirements dropped”.

“Studios have been through one development cycle where Series S turned out to be an albatross around the neck of production, and now that games are firmly being developed with new consoles in mind, teams do not want to repeat the process,” the developer said.

In interviews with press including IGN, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has deflected questions about whether Xbox Series S is holding developers back, and rejected calls for developers to be allowed to release their games on Xbox Series X only. In an interview with Eurogamer, Spencer said: “Having an entry-level price point for a sub-$300 console is a good thing for the industry. I think it’s important. The Switch has been able to do that, in terms of kind of the traditional plug-into-my-television consoles. I think it’s important. So, we’re committed.”

The situation with Black Myth: Wukong, however, is further muddled by Microsoft’s insistence that the game’s delay on Xbox has nothing to do with development issues. In a number of statements issued to IGN, Microsoft has suggested an exclusivity deal with Sony was the cause of the delay.

“As we have said before, we’re excited for the launch of Black Myth Wukong on Xbox Series X and S and are working with Game Science to bring the game to our platforms,” Microsoft has told IGN.

“We’d prefer not to comment on the deals made by our partners with other platform holders but we can confirm that the delay is not due to Xbox platform limitations that have been raised to us.”

Black Myth: Wukong launched on August 19 and sold an eye-watering 18 million copies in just two weeks across PC and PS5, reportedly making over $700 million in revenue in the process. That was enough to put Black Myth: Wukong up there with Grand Theft Auto 5 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as one of the fastest-selling games of all time, and is an astonishing return for a game that had a reported budget of $70 million over six years of development. It did so well that Sony pointed to Black Myth: Wukong as making a significant contribution to revenue during its last financial quarter, making up for the Concord disaster.

DLC is set to follow. In September, Game Science investor Hero Games confirmed plans to release an Elden Ring-style expansion for Black Myth: Wukong ahead of any sequel.

IGN’s Black Myth: Wukong review returned an 8/10. We said: “Despite some frustrating technical issues, Black Myth: Wukong is a great action game with fantastic combat, exciting bosses, tantalizing secrets, and a beautiful world.”

While you’re here, IGN has plenty more Black Myth: Wukong guides to help you out, including Essential Tips and Tricks, Things Black Myth: Wukong Doesn’t Tell You, and our Boss List and Guides.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].