Honestly, it’s been a weird ride. Most people expected to be swinging the Ruyi Jingu Bang on their Series X months ago. Instead, we’ve mostly seen silence, rumors, and a whole lot of "coming soon" placeholders that haven't moved an inch. Black Myth: Wukong on Xbox has become the industry's biggest "where is it?" mystery, leaving Microsoft fans staring at their dashboards while PC and PlayStation players are already deep into New Game Plus.
Game Science, the developer behind this massive hit, hasn't exactly been an open book. They dropped the game on August 20, 2024, for PS5 and PC, and it absolutely shattered records. 10 million copies in three days. That's insane. But the Xbox version? It stayed in the oven.
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Why the Delay is Actually Happening
There was this huge wave of speculation that Sony signed a secret "money hat" deal. You know the type. People swore there was a timed exclusivity contract hidden in a drawer somewhere in Tokyo. But then reports from Forbes and IGN started pointing toward a more boring, technical reality.
Memory leak issues.
That’s the word on the street. Specifically, it seems the game was struggling to pass Microsoft's strict bug-detection tests. If a game crashes the console or hogs memory until the system chokes, it doesn't get the green light. Game Science basically admitted they were optimizing the Xbox Series X|S versions to meet their internal quality standards. They didn't want to pull a Cyberpunk 2077 and launch a broken mess on a major platform.
The Series S Elephant in the Room
We have to talk about the "lower-end" hardware. It's a touchy subject. Developers often struggle to pack high-fidelity Unreal Engine 5 experiences into the Series S's smaller memory pool. While the Series X is a beast, the S requires a lot of extra "dieting" to get games running smoothly.
We saw this exact same drama with Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian Studios couldn't get split-screen working on the Series S, which delayed the whole Xbox launch for months. It’s highly likely that Black Myth: Wukong on Xbox is hitting similar snags. When you have a game that looks this good—lush forests, particle-heavy boss fights, and complex fur rendering—downscaling it for a 4-teraflop machine is a nightmare.
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Performance Expectations vs. Reality
If you're waiting for this on Xbox, don't expect a miracle on day one. On the PS5, the game uses FSR upscaling to hit 60fps, and even then, there are noticeable frame drops in the later chapters like the Flaming Mountains.
The Xbox Series X should, in theory, handle it slightly better than the PS5 because of its raw compute power. But optimization is king. If the code isn't tight, those extra teraflops don't mean a thing. Expect three modes:
- Performance Mode: Targeting 60fps at a reconstructed 1080p or 1440p.
- Quality Mode: 30fps with all the ray-tracing bells and whistles.
- Balance Mode: A weird middle ground that usually works best if you have a VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) TV.
For Series S users? It’ll probably be a locked 30fps at 900p or 1080p. That’s just the reality of the hardware.
The Microsoft Statement and "Partner" Drama
Microsoft actually put out a statement that fueled the conspiracy fires. They mentioned they were "working with Game Science to bring the game to our platforms" but also noted they "can't comment on the deals made by our partners with other platform holders."
That is some Grade-A corporate shade.
It hinted that maybe, just maybe, there was a deal. However, most technical analysts like those at Digital Foundry lean toward the technical hurdle theory. Building a game for two different Xbox SKUs (the X and the S) while simultaneously fixing bugs for a massive global launch is a lot for a studio that, until recently, was relatively small.
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What You Should Do While Waiting
Waiting sucks. Especially when your friends are posting clips of the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal. But there are a few things to keep in mind so you're ready when the store page finally goes live.
First, check your storage. This game is a hog. It’s roughly 130GB on PC. You're going to need a decent chunk of space on your internal SSD. Don't bother trying to run this off an old external hard drive; the load times for the boss run-backs would be soul-crushing.
Second, don't buy those "pre-order keys" from shady third-party sites yet. Since there is no official release date, those keys are often just placeholders or scams. Stick to the official Xbox Store.
Third, if you have a decent PC but were holding out for the "couch experience," remember that Xbox Play Anywhere might be a factor. If Game Science supports it, buying it once would give you access on both PC and console. We don't have confirmation on that yet, but it’s a standard Microsoft feature for many big titles.
Preparing Your Setup
To get the most out of Black Myth: Wukong on Xbox, you really want a display that supports VRR. Unreal Engine 5 games tend to have "stutter struggle" where the frame delivery isn't perfectly smooth. A VRR-capable TV (like an LG C-series OLED) hides those imperfections. It makes a 45fps dip feel like 60fps.
Also, keep your controller's firmware updated. It sounds silly, but input lag in a "Soulslike" (or boss-rush action game, if we're being pedantic) is the difference between a perfect parry and a "Game Over" screen.
Actionable Steps for Xbox Players
- Monitor Official Channels: Follow the Game Science X (Twitter) account and the Xbox Wire blog. Ignore the "leaks" from random accounts with 40 followers.
- Clear 150GB of Space: Start deciding which games are getting deleted. You'll need the room for the high-res textures.
- Check Your Game Pass: Don't expect this on Game Pass day one. The sales numbers are too high for the developers to "give it away" for a subscription fee right now. Budget for a full $60-$70 purchase.
- Adjust Your Expectations: The Series S version will look different. It just will. If you're a graphics snob, the Series X is the only way to go for this specific title.
The game is coming. It passed ESRB ratings for Xbox long ago. It’s just a matter of the developers finishing the "janitorial" work on the code. When it finally drops, it’ll be the biggest addition to the Xbox library of the year, even if it's fashionably late.