Looks like the Monkey King’s biggest illusion wasn’t cast in battle, it was dropped in a press statement. After claiming it would take “years” to optimize Black Myth: Wukong for Xbox, GameScience is now rolling it out on Xbox Series X|S on August 20, 2025.
That’s exactly one year after its PS5 and PC release. It’s not just suspicious, it’s practically choreographed. The only way to justify this is either that they found magic monkey dust to speed up development, or that the whole “Series S is a bottleneck” excuse was a smokescreen from the start.
Black Myth: Wukong– strapped for memory? More like strapped to Sony’s deal
When Black Myth: Wukong was originally revealed, it was pitched as a multi-platform release, a win for all gamers. No console wars here. But somewhere along the way, Xbox players were told to wait for their turn.
The official reason? The Xbox Series S’s 10GB of shared memory supposedly wasn’t enough to run the game properly. GameScience’s CEO, Feng Ji, even stated on Weibo that optimizing for Series S could take years due to its technical limitations. Though Microsoft denied that hardware was the issue.
Now, exactly twelve months later, Black Myth: Wukong is releasing on Xbox Series X|S… suddenly optimized and ready? Coincidence? Doubtful. It smells more like a carefully orchestrated exclusivity deal with Sony: a one-year silence pact disguised as a hardware limitation.
Dear Destined Ones,
The summer sale is almost here, and hey—we’re jumping in too. Nothing too big, just two quick things:
1. Wondering about an Xbox version? We’ve got news!#BlackMythWukong will officially launch on Xbox Series X|S on August 20, 2025 (Beijing Time).
Starting… pic.twitter.com/4HwFUjRyrN— Black Myth: Wukong (@BlackMythGame) June 6, 2025
Let’s cut to the chase. This wasn’t about memory bandwidth; this was about market deals. The Xbox Series S was thrown under the bus to keep eyes off a likely one-year exclusivity pact with Sony. And if that’s what happened, we weren’t just misled; we were played.
The weakest current-gen console became the perfect scapegoat to keep fans quiet while PlayStation enjoyed its time in the spotlight. The truth isn’t a conspiracy theory; it’s an open secret hiding in plain sight, all while GameScience’s “years of optimization” excuse kept fans on hold.
GameScience and the cost of playing dumb
If GameScience really did delay the Xbox release of Black Myth: Wukong to honor an unspoken exclusivity deal with Sony, the studio might’ve miscalculated more than just public perception.
In this economy, where every partnership counts, showing evasiveness toward a major player like Microsoft isn’t just risky, it’s potentially damaging. Over the recent years, the Xbox brand has evolved from just another console into a sprawling ecosystem.
Powered by Game Pass, it has become a golden opportunity for developers seeking to grow their audience. And Microsoft isn’t obligated to hand out that golden ticket to everyone.
If a studio isn’t playing fair or being transparent about its other deals, nothing is stopping them from slamming the door on future deals. And that could hurt more than anyone at GameScience wants to admit.
Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt and this wasn’t really about a timed exclusivity deal, then why make such a fuss about Series S hardware? Why burn goodwill with both the community and a company that holds the keys to millions of players?
In an industry where relationships and player transparency matter as much as tech specs and realistic graphics, silence can be louder than honesty. Playing both sides doesn’t work forever, especially when one of them controls the store you may want back into someday.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
