Game Science Admits ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Xbox Release Delay Due To Team’s Inexperience Optimizing Unreal Engine 5 For Series S Hardware
In the wake of Black Myth: Wukong winning Game of the Year at the 2024 Steam Awards, Game Science co-founder and CRO Feng Ji lamented the studio’s inexperience in optimizing the action RPG hit title for Microsoft’s entry-tier Xbox Series S console.
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Reflecting on the award, in a post on Weibo (as translated by DeepL), Ji explained the hurdles preventing an Xbox release, saying, “The only thing missing is the Xbox robe… It seems a bit wrong, but that’s 10GB of shared memory. It’s really impossible to get it without several years of optimization experience.”
While Feng Ji’s comments offer some clarity regarding Black Myth: Wukong not being offered to Xbox players, they also revisit a controversy that first appeared in June 2024 when Game Science announced an indefinite delay for the Xbox release.
At the time, rumors spread about a possible exclusivity deal with Sony, since the marketing efforts were very much focused on the PlayStation platform. However, those rumors proved to be false, with Game Science confirming the delay came due to technical challenges rather than any financial agreements. Specifically, the technical challenges of optimizing for the entry-tier XBox Series S system.
However, this confession hides a deeper problem. Black Myth: Wukong struggles with optimization across all platforms. On the PS5, those who still haven’t played it can expect frequent frame drops, stuttering, and more, while the PC version of the game has a high specification demand, and even matching high-performance hardware isn’t a foolproof way to play the game without glitches.
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To be fair, Black Myth: Wukong is Game Science’s first AAA title after a couple of mobile free-to-play games with PC ports. Furthermore, Black Myth: Wukong went through a development hell that lasted six years. First announced in 2018, Game Science originally made it in Unreal Engine 4, only to switch to Unreal Engine 5 in 2021.
That said, Black Myth: Wukong was released in August 2024 to incredible success, breaking numerous records. Alas, the Xbox release is still nowhere to be found, six months after the game’s launch.
Game Science isn’t the only studio that struggles to bring its titles to Microsoft. Even veteran studios have struggled with cross-platform optimization. Titles like Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian had to cut some content, including co-op mode. While it is easy to put blame solely on Xbox S’ hardware limitation, Unreal Engine is a huge factor here. The engine’s push for photorealistic visuals comes with performance trade-offs.
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Many games built on Unreal Engine 5 come with optimization problems, including the latest Indiana Jones, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, STALKER 2, and even Capcom’s Dragon Dogma 2, among other titles.
While the Xbox version of the game is in the works, Game Science’s statement about optimization experience only suggests that an Xbox release might be a long way off.
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