S-GAME has issued a statement responding to this quote:
“Recently, we noticed that some media outlets have claimed to have interviewed an unnamed developer from S-GAME at Chinajoy, who seems to have made some statements regarding the release platforms and strategy for Phantom Blade Zero.
We want to clarify that these claimed statements do not represent S-GAME’s values or culture, as we believe in making our game accessible to everyone and have not ruled out any platforms for Phantom Blade Zero. We are hard at work on both the development and publishing fronts to ensure that as many players as possible can enjoy our game at release and in the future.
Our team is looking forward to sharing more development updates soon, and we are excited to bring our world premiere demo to Gamescom this month!”
Original Report Continues:
In a recent report published by a Brazilian outlet attending ChinaJoy 2024, it was claimed that a Phantom Blade Zero developer had some harsh words for the Xbox ecosystem. It was explained by the developers of both Black Myth: Wukong and Phantom Blade Zero that they don’t have exclusivity agreements in place with Sony – they just don’t see the need to bring their games to Xbox.
That’s a Bit Harsh
Per the post on the Brazilian outlet, when an S-GAME developer was questioned on the platform distribution of Phantom Blade Zero at ChinaJoy 2024, part of their response was scalding:
Nobody needs this platform.
Thanks to Icon-Era’s John Elden Ring for the source
The anonymous developer was talking about Xbox. Reportedly, they went on to say that the console platform isn’t popular in Asia – which is true – and that Microsoft has made it tough to develop games for the Xbox Series X|S by creating ‘a very overloaded ecosystem.’
Black Myth: Wukong is being released on August 20 on PlayStation 5 and PC, while Phantom Blade Zero is assumed to be dropping in 2026. I’ve linked these two titles here because both S-GAME and Game Science were at ChinaJoy 2024, and the Brazilian article makes it clear (from the developers) that while both games aren’t being released on Xbox, it isn’t because they have secured an exclusivity deal with Sony.
They just don’t feel that anyone needs the Xbox platform – which is a pretty inflammatory thing to say. However, it’s no big secret that Microsoft’s hardware sales are falling and the team looks intent on relying on streaming and cloud-based solutions, so who knows, perhaps even Xbox doesn’t need Xbox.
