Black Myth: Wukong coming to Xbox during Sony exclusivity deal explained

The popularity of Black Myth: Wukong has been quite impressive with the new single-player title has already moved more than 10 million copies worldwide, and it hasn't even released on Xbox yet.

That last point has been quite the focus as of recent as Xbox gamers are patiently waiting for their version to sink their teeth into but are hearing conflicting rumors from multiple insider sources as to why Black Myth: Wukong has been delayed. The source of the confusion lays between statements from the title's developer, along with statements from Xbox and industry insiders.

Game Science said back in June that it was "currently optimizing the Xbox Series X|S version to meet our quality standards" and that it would "announce the release date as soon as it meets our quality standards". However, shortly after the launch of Black Myth: Wukong an insider claimed they spoke to Xbox insiders at Gamescom that informed them Black Myth: Wukong was affected by a technical issue on Xbox consoles, specifically from a bug known as a "memory leak".

This insider claimed the Xbox insiders said the game is "delayed indefinitely" until its optimized for both Xbox Series X|S consoles. Here is where things get more confusing. Sources informed Forbes' Paul Tassi and IGN's Kat Bailey that Game Science entered into a partnership agreement with Sony for the exclusive release of Black Myth: Wukong on PlayStation. The details of the purported deal are unknown, such as the duration of the exclusivity.

Shortly after these rumors surfaced different sources informed outlets Black Myth: Wukong had no timed exclusivity deal with PlayStation, and that Sony "only paid to help get the port done". However, it would be quite rare for Sony to partner with Game Science for the port and not have some form of exclusive access to the titles. Usually access to Sony's development teams comes timed exclusive access, they typically work hand-in-hand.

Moreover, Sony isn't typically one to keep quite about an exclusivity deal with a highly anticipated title, which lends more to the idea there was never one in the first place. Unfortunately, this leaves us essentially back at square one as Black Myth: Wukong still doesn't have a release date on Xbox, and no reason as to why it has been delayed.

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Despite Microsoft responding to the rumors of the Xbox release with the below statement, there still seems to be a level of ambiguity surrounding the Xbox version of Black Myth: Wukong, and because of that I think it would be extremely helpful if Game Science and Xbox published separate or joint statements updating Xbox gamers on the status of the title's release. I think this would reinstall some confidence in the upcoming release.

Microsoft responded to the Xbox release of Black Myth Wukong with a statement, "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. 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."