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

• Philip Dujek

  Online Editor

It’s only been available to play since yesterday, but it’s already probably the most important game ever made in China. Action Game Black Legend: Wukong It’s the first serious attempt by Chinese developers to bring a major game to the global market. And it seems to have worked.

On Chinese social media site Weibo, hashtags related to the game have been read more than 1.7 billion times. The game is so popular that it has been played on PlayStation 5 consoles in China. That’s remarkable, given that people in China typically play primarily 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.

Also moving outside China Black Legend: Wukong Attention: In just two days, it became the second most played game of all time on Steam. More than 2.2 million people around the world played the game simultaneously on PC. And that doesn’t even include the – unclear – numbers from the similar Chinese platform WeGame.

Black Legend: Wukong It is a quote from classical Chinese literature. Journey to the Westfrom the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century. Players take on the role of the legendary Monkey King Sun Wukong, one of the main characters in the story. Through practicing Taoism, he gains supernatural powers and can transform himself into people, animals, and inanimate objects. He can defeat enemies with his staff.

Check out the game preview here:

Game reviewers are quick to make comparisons to popular games like Dark Souls and Ring of the worlda challenging action game where players must carefully study their enemies and carefully time their offensive and evasive actions. The game is often praised by the international media, although some technical flaws have also been reported.

Experts expect the game’s success to lead to more Chinese games being produced and exported to the West. The Chinese government is very excited about this, so state media is praising the game’s release.

“Chinese players had to go through a process in the past to understand other cultures,” China’s state broadcaster CCTV wrote of the mainly Western games that can be played in China. “Now it is up to foreign players to learn and understand traditional Chinese culture.”

“With this breakthrough, English will no longer be the standard language for triple-A games, but Chinese,” Xinhua news agency adds with glee. Triple-A refers to big-budget games, comparable to blockbuster movies.

The game was developed by Game Science, a little-known startup until this week. It is partly funded by Tencent, one of the world’s largest game publishers with annual sales of around €23 billion. Game Science founder Feng Ji told state media outlet Xinhua that global interest has exceeded his expectations.

The fact that so much attention has been paid to it Black Legend: Wukong In Chinese state media, including a half-hour documentary, it’s a big deal, investment bank Goldman Sachs told Reuters. “We’re seeing signs that the Chinese government is beginning to see the potential value of the gaming industry.”

It would be a particular shift from Beijing, where the government has been less interested in gaming in recent years. Fearing that children could become addicted, the government took action in 2021: Young people were allowed to play games for much less time.

There is still buzz this week about the livestream of the game. Some streamers are said to have received a document with terms and conditions for streaming the game. For example, they are not allowed to talk about “feminist propaganda” and the coronavirus. New York Timesalthough they cannot be held responsible if they do.

It is true that this hype does not apply to China. Black Legend: Wukong Pride and support can be counted on above all else. For example, employees of Sichuan Muziyang Technology were allowed to stay home to play the game. Game publisher Gamera Game went the extra mile: in addition to a day off, all employees received a copy of the game as a gift.