There’s a civil war brewing over Black Myth: Wukong, all based on why the game hasn’t come to Xbox. On one side we have claims that it’s simply because of technical issues, which is what developer Game Science is saying. However, the other side states that there’s actually some sort of secret PlayStation exclusivity deal in place.
The second theory is what IGN is currently positing in an article directly referencing the recent claim by Spanish leaker eXtas1s that Black Myth: Wukong has not released on Xbox due to a memory leak issue. This seemingly makes sense as the PS5 version appears to suffer from a memory leak that gradually erodes performance unless you shut down and restart the game. A problem like that could be damaging to the Xbox Series S which has far less RAM than the Series X and PS5.
However, according to IGN, a “knowledgeable source” has told them that Black Myth: Wukong’s delay is because Game Science and Sony has signed some sort of an unpublicised exclusivity deal.
Paul Tassi of Forbes has corroborated this, alleging that a “source with knowledge of the situation” told him that “the reason Black Myth: Wukong is not currently on Xbox is due to an exclusivity deal, not because of some sort of technical issue causing a delay in the release of the game.”
Just one week prior, Paul Tassi believed that it was in fact a technical issue stopping the Xbox version from launching. He then updated the article with the above quote on the same day that IGN released their report.
Windows Central is also confirming the same thing.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out the source of all these reports is actually just one person speaking to multiple outlets, which would severely undermine the veracity of the claim.
This is not the first time the idea of an exclusivity deal between Game Science and Sony has been brought up. Back in June a trailer for Black Myth: Wukong was released and eagle-eyed fans noted that an Xbox version was not mentioned at all. Developer Game Science updated its official FAQ to state that: “We are currently optimizing the Xbox Series X|S version to meet our quality standards, so it won’t release simultaneously with the other platforms.”
Game Science has not issued any sort of update on the Xbox version since then.
Microsoft then released a statement on June 21st which confused matters further: “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.”
Note the highlighted text. This wording immediately triggered fans and the media to begin speculating that some sort of exclusivity deal had been signed between Game Science and Sony to make Black Myth: Wukong a PS5 console exclusive, either indefinitely or for a predetermined time. Microsoft sent the same statement to Paul Tassi when he asked them about the situation in the article we discussed above.
The exclusivity theory doesn’t make much sense, regardless of what IGN says. Sony has always built much of its strategy around exclusive releases, both first and third party and have always been transparent about these deals. In fact, it heavily markets these deals. While it’s not outside the realms of possibility, why would Sony sign a secretive contract? It isn’t illegal or immoral, and getting Black Myth: Wukong would have been yet another feather in Sony’s already rather full cap.
For his part, extas1s is sticking to his guns, tweeting out that “Secret exclusives do not exist, when you pay for an exclusivity, you advertise it (como obviously), you do not hide it. Of course I have total respect for my colleague, but I trust more the people who have told me this first hand.”
And so we have something of a standoff. On the one hand, we have a single leaker standing his ground, and on the other we have three major outlets saying that Black Myth: Wukong is currently a PlayStation console exclusive because of a secretive deal between Sony and Game Science.
Perhaps this whole mess can finally be cleaned up when either Game Science or Sony make a straightforward statement that clearly denies any sort of agreement.
What we do know is that Black Myth: Wukong is currently crushing it. After managing to hit well over 2 million concurrent players on Steam, we learned it had also sold a gigantic 10 million copies. Not bad for a monkey with a stick.
Stay tuned for my review.
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