When I started Black Myth: Wukong on PlayStation 5 in August 2024, I expected tough bosses and gorgeous landscapes. I did not expect to become obsessed with a console launch mystery. But while I was grinding through punishing fights, my friends kept asking the same thing: where is the Xbox version?
The official story seemed simple at first. Back in June, Game Science said it was optimising the Xbox Series X/S version to meet quality standards. They apologised for the delay and promised to announce a release date as soon as possible. As someone who usually trusts developers, I thought that was fair. A delayed game can become a better game, right?
A Memory Leak, or Something Else?
Then the reports shifted. Leaker eXtas1s claimed during Gamescom that the Xbox build was suffering from a memory leak, a bug that can cause major crashes and hurt console performance. According to that story, Black Myth: Wukong had not passed Xbox bug detection tests, so the release was delayed indefinitely until Game Science could optimise it for Series X/S.
At this point, I was willing to accept the technical explanation. A memory leak is serious business, especially on a game as demanding as Wukong. But then the narrative spun again.
Forbes and IGN sources suggested the real reason was an undisclosed exclusivity deal between Game Science and PlayStation. IGN even said the earlier technical claims were inaccurate. The exact terms of the deal stayed unknown, but the suggestion alone was enough to make the conversation explode. If true, I was playing a timed console exclusive without ever being told.
Conflicting Voices Everywhere
The story became a mess of sources and contradictions.
| Source | Claim |
|---|---|
| eXtas1s | Memory leak caused crashes; Xbox build failed bug detection tests |
| Forbes/IGN | Undisclosed PlayStation exclusivity deal; tech issue claims inaccurate |
| Jeff Grubb | No exclusivity deal; Sony maybe helped with the port; China install base favored PlayStation |
| Nick Baker | Sony paid only to help get the port done; no exclusivity |
| Jez Corden | 'No misunderstanding here' |
| Microsoft | Working with Game Science, but cannot comment on deals made with other platform holders |
Jeff Grubb, speaking on Giant Bomb's Game Mess Decides podcast, said Sony had no marketing deal to keep the game off Xbox. He did allow that Sony might have provided some help to get the game onto PlayStation. His bigger point was practical: the game's main audience was in China, and PlayStation is far more popular there than Xbox. To Game Science, Xbox may not have been the first priority.
That explanation made sense to me. Black Myth: Wukong was a Chinese phenomenon. It became the most-viewed game on Chinese live-streaming platforms on its first day. When a game is that tied to one region, developers naturally focus on where the players are.
Microsoft Made It Murkier
Microsoft's statement should have cleared things up, but it did the opposite. The company said it was excited for the Xbox launch and was working with Game Science. Then it added that it could not comment on deals made by partners with other platform holders. To me, that read like a carefully worded hint. If there was no deal, why bring up platform holder deals at all?
XboxEra's Nick Baker tried to calm things down, saying Sony only paid to help get the port done and there was no exclusivity. But Windows Central's Jez Corden replied simply: 'No misunderstanding here.' That tiny back-and-forth summed up the whole mess. Everyone had a source, and every source had a different story.
The Game Was Too Big to Ignore
While everyone argued, the game kept selling. It broke records as the most popular single-player game by peak concurrent users in Steam history. Later that August, Game Science announced 10 million copies sold across platforms. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad said that made it one of the fastest-selling games of all time, surpassing Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy in the same timeframe. That context mattered: this was not a niche action game with an Xbox delay. It was a cultural event.
Looking back from 2026, I still think about the unanswered questions. Was it a memory leak? Was it a quiet exclusivity arrangement? Did Sony help fund the port without asking for a formal window? Game Science, Sony, and Microsoft all refused to confirm or deny the reports, so I never got a clean answer. Maybe that is the point. Platform deals are rarely clean.
In the end, I got a great action game on PS5 and a front-row seat to one of the strangest console war mysteries of 2024. Sometimes the hardest boss is not in the game. It is in the press release.