More claims have appeared backing rumors of a Black Myth Wukong deal for the PlayStation 5.
The last we reported on these rumors, several sources gave disputing accounts on what the situation was. Forbes editor Paul Tassi and IGN corroborated rumors that originally came from Windows Central editor Jez Corden, and also YouTuber King David of Xbox Frontline and the Iron Lords Podcast. Jeff Grubb and Shpeshal Nick Baker stated that they heard differently from their own sources.
First off, Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter corroborated that they heard the same rumor from their own ‘sources with good knowledge of the situation.’
Paul Tassi then revealed that he received a new statement from Microsoft, which has some new language that sheds even more light on things. Microsoft said this:
“As we have said before, 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’d prefer not to comment on the deals made by our partners with other platform holders but we can confirm that the delay is not due to Xbox platform limitations that have been raised to us.”
Leadbetter and Tassi tried to explain how the information Grubb and Baker received actually lines up with what they heard. Grubb was told that there was no marketing deal between Sony and Game Science. As Leadbetter pointed out, ”exclusivity deals can take many shapes and forms, and don’t necessarily need to include marketing.”
Baker himself had quite a detailed account that needed more unpacking. His sources claim Game Science told Sony that they were delaying the game because of technical issues. Sony then made a deal to pay for development to prioritize Black Myth Wukong on the PlayStation 5.
Tassi, for his part, pointed out that all these rumors could in fact come together to tell one story. Sony could have made a deal with Game Science that did not involve marketing or paying for timed exclusivity. Even if Sony did not pay Game Science to stop them from bringing Black Myth Wukong to the Xbox Series X|S, if their actions lead to the same outcome, then it amounts to the same thing.
Some fans want to argue semantics on describing this as an ‘exclusivity deal’, but that doesn’t seem to really be the major issue here. As I argued before, we may be looking at a situation where Sony took advantage of a game company, which may be a known commodity in their native China, but was inexperienced in dealing with the industry worldwide.
We had expressed a hope that Game Science would speak out to clarify the situation themselves, but it is possible that the deal they made with Sony stops them from doing just that. Sony is unlikely to admit what they have done here, short of being forced to do so in court. So we may be left truly in the dark on what has happened here, but that seems to only harm Game Science’s reputation more than anyone else’s.
