China wants to break into the ‘Western games industry’ with Black Myth: Wukong

This article was last updated on August 22, 2024

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China wants to break into the ‘Western games industry’ with Black Myth: Wukong

It only became available yesterday, but it is already probably the most important game ever made in China. Action game Black Myth: Wukong is the first serious attempt by Chinese developers to bring a major game to the global market. And that seems to have worked.

On the Chinese social medium Weibo, hashtags about the game were read more than 1.7 billion times. The game is so popular that there has been a run on PlayStation 5 consoles in China. Remarkable, since people in China usually mainly game on their mobile phones. Moreover, Sony (the maker of the PlayStation) and its rival Nintendo have been trying in vain for years to gain a foothold in the country.

Black Myth: Wukong is also attracting attention outside China: within just two days it became the second most played game ever on the Steam platform. More than 2.2 million people worldwide played the game simultaneously on the PC platform. This does not even include the – not clear – figures from the comparable Chinese platform WeGame.

Black Myth: Wukong is an adaptation of the Chinese literary classic The Journey to the West, from the 16th century Ming dynasty. Gamers play as the mythical monkey king Sun Wukong, one of the main characters in the story. By practicing Taoism he gains superpowers and can transform himself into people, animals and inanimate objects. He can defeat enemies with his staff.

Check out a preview of the game here:

Game reviewers are quick to draw comparisons with popular games such as Dark Souls and Elden Ring, challenging action games where players must carefully study their enemies and time their attacking and evasive actions well. International media are often enthusiastic about the game, although some technical defects are also reported.

Experts expect the game’s success will lead to more Chinese games being made and exported to the West. The Chinese government is very enthusiastic about it. State media are therefore applauding the release of the game.

Roaring state media

“Chinese gamers have had to go through a process in the past to understand other cultures,” writes Chinese state television CCTV about the mainly large Western games that could be played in China. “Now it is up to the overseas players to learn and understand Chinese traditional culture.”

State news agency Xinhua adds gleefully: “With this breakthrough, the standard language of triple-A games will no longer be English, but Chinese.” Triple-A refers to games that have a large budget, comparable to blockbuster films.

The game was developed by the largely unknown start-up Game Science until this week. This is partly financed by Tencent, one of the largest game publishers in the world with an annual turnover of almost 23 billion euros. Game Science founder Feng Ji tells state media Xinhua that the global attention has exceeded his expectations.

Day off from work

The fact that Black Myth: Wukong has received such extensive attention in Chinese state media, including a half-hour documentary, is remarkable, investment bank Goldman Sachs told Reuters. “We see indications that the Chinese government is beginning to recognize the potential value of the games industry.”

That would be a special turn from Beijing, since the government has not had much interest in games in recent years. Fearing that children could become addicted, the government came up with a solution in 2021 measures: young people were allowed to play games for much less time.

There was still a commotion this week about the live streaming of the game. Some streamers are said to have received a document with terms and conditions for streaming the game. For example, they were not allowed to talk about “feminist propaganda” and the coronavirus, writes The New York Times, although they could not be held liable if they did.

This commotion does not apply in China, where Black Myth: Wukong can especially count on pride and support. For example, employees of the Sichuan Muziyang Technology company were allowed to stay at home to play the game. Games publisher Gamera Game went the extra mile: in addition to a day off, all employees received a copy of the game as a gift.