The Phenomenon of Black Myth: Wukong or “Journey to the East” for Western Developers
On August 20, the game Black Myth: Wukong was released by Chinese developers Game Science. The project became incredibly successful thanks to the support of Eastern players, despite attempts to cancel it by Western game journalists. Black Myth: Wukong became the symbol of this year – and the starting flag for all Western developers.
On the first day of its release, Black Myth: Wukong broke Cyberpunk 2077’s record for the most online single-player games on Steam, reaching over 2.2 million concurrent players. Today, the Chinese AAA game has already gathered 2.4 million players and deservedly became the second game on the list of “Most Popular” among all games on Steam in general – only the multiplayer battle royale PUBG: Battlegrounds remained ahead.
The success of China’s first AAA game
Black Myth: Wukong is based on Journey to the West, one of the four classic Chinese novels. We play as a descendant of the monkey king Sun Wukong, who intends to repeat the journey of his ancestor in order to revive him. The result is a sequel-interpretation that respects the original source.
The world is very beautiful, and each new enemy killed opens up stories about the structure of the world and its creatures. You can read about some enemy in one of the side stories, and then meet him as a boss. You will know where he got his power from, why and for what – an interesting approach to revealing the lore of the game.
The gameplay is reminiscent of the Souls-like genre that has become boring to everyone – it is a pure slasher with a bunch of techniques, combos, dodges, special attacks and opportunities. Although, some on the Internet have already managed to dub the project a “Souls-Lite game”
It is possible and necessary to talk about the great success of “Wukong”, even despite the fact that out of more than two million online players, 81% of players come from China ! In the Celestial Empire, such products are treated in a special way – there are even companies that gave a day off to everyone who pre-ordered the game . All so that employees could enjoy the project. As a result, we learned that pre-orders for Black Myth: Wukong reached four million copies .
It’s hard to say what would have happened to the game if it weren’t for the audience from China. Chinese culture, although wonderful, is not as widespread outside of China as Japanese culture. Therefore, 300-400 thousand players at the peak of online outside of China is the maximum that could be expected from “Wukong”. Although this is a very decent figure for a AAA game on Steam.
On the other hand, the audience of a particular game often depends on a particular country, there is no problem with that.
Invitation to the Chinese Market
Black Myth: Wukong today has become a project that truly opens up the Chinese market for game developers from all over the world. Yes, you will have to sacrifice your views and “agenda”. Yes, you will have to forget about your “own vision” and start working for your clients and their requests – as it was before in the gaming industry.
For example, you can do what Sucker Punch did with Ghost of Tsushima — make a game about China, carefully approaching the implementation. Even though Ghost of Tsushima is largely made up of stereotypes and cranberries, the Japanese loved this project. As did many other players from all over the world.
But it is not necessary to make a game about China – such developers just need to make something that Chinese players like. Including the most common fantasy about orcs and elves – it all depends on how exactly these projects are presented.
If Western developers can cope with this, then money will flow to them like a river. Here you don’t even need to agree with many of the demands and restrictions of the Chinese government – the Chinese themselves will be able to buy the game in the most ordinary Steam or Playstation Store. And this is a big difference.
The agony of the “activists”
This year, two Asian games have already been released that have torn apart the information field – because their developers went against the Western agenda.” We are not only talking about Black Myth: Wukong, but also about Stellar Blade – even though the second is far from the financial indicators of the first.
What unites them is the fact that they were released by companies that previously dealt with free products overflowing with in-game monetization. Shift Up and Game Science have taken a step forward and become an example for other developers from these countries, who previously released only “donation dumps” – and there are many of them. If at least some of them start releasing large single-player games of comparable quality, then there will be practically nothing left of the Western gaming industry.
Exactly the same thing happened last year with Hogwarts Legacy – the game had a lot to criticize, but the press destroyed this project for the fact of what franchise it was based on and because of the name of its author. This, in turn, only increased sales of Hogwarts Legacy, making it the best-selling game of 2023.
But the main merit of these projects is that they showed not only how pathetic the activists are, but also how stupid they are. After their whining, you want to buy these games even more. I remember the phrase: “Stop selling me this game! I already bought it!”
Despite all the cries, Western journalists are only too happy to receive money and have no desire to quarrel with the audience once again. Take, for example, IGN: this publication has its own regional branches, and if the main publication gave Black Myth: Wukong an 8 out of 10 rating, then IGN China gave it all 10 out of 10. Although, at least due to optimization problems, the project definitely does not deserve the maximum rating.
They don’t care, even when their claims are not true. For example, before the game’s release, there was a scandal – Screen Rant accused Black Myth: Wukong of having no female characters, although this is not true at all . But the author did not bother to go beyond the second chapter of the game, making premature conclusions and giving the game low marks.
We can also recall IGN and the scandal with allegedly sexist quotes from the CEO of Game Science – in fact, it turned out that the catchphrase, often used by the Chinese in everyday life, was simply translated incorrectly .
The conclusion is obvious – an empty barrel thunders louder. Activists don’t care about games and the industry. They don’t even care whether their ideals are followed in the games themselves. As long as they receive money from various companies and investment funds, they will continue to whine online, creating information noise. Even if the fact of their error has been proven many times.
Diagnosis
Black Myth: Wukong is a phenomenon of 2024. The game breaks online records and demonstrates two things at once.
Firstly, it shows how generous the Chinese market can be. Now Western developers are faced with a choice: continue to follow the agenda and listen to the howls of activists, or return to their roots and once again make interesting games for the main audience. That is, their players, who are already tired of “statements” and “diversity”
Secondly, for other Chinese developers, Black Myth: Wukong has become an example that positively answers the question of whether it is possible to make a big profit by doing more than just “donation dumps.” Yes, it is possible. And even necessary — I want to believe that such projects will only become more numerous!
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All images used in this article are copyright Game Science
