A huge amount of baggage is associated to the launch of the title, which is considered to be China’s first AAA game.
Wukong, which is widely regarded as China’s first truly AAA game, has recently surpassed Cyberpunk 2077 in terms of the number of concurrent players for a single-player title on Steam. This achievement has earned it the label of “Black Myth.” In addition, it has surpassed Palworld to become the game with the second-most concurrent players of all time (including those who play multiplayer). The action-adventure epic that was based on the novel Journey to the West, which was written in the 16th century, reached its highest player count of 2,223,179.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, industry analyst Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo posted on X (Twitter) an assessment that Black Myth: Wukong’s regional split strongly favored its home country. According to the pie graph provided by the agency, China is responsible for 88 percent of the game’s players. In second position, the United States of America, with a meager three percent, The game was released in the middle of the night in the western hemisphere, and Carless’ statistics were posted around five in the morning Eastern Time. Despite the fact that some people viewed that as perhaps revealing exaggerated numbers, the game was published.
The records of the game are being made against the backdrop of allegations of censorship and misogyny that have been leveled against the developer, Game Science. A document that was not legally enforceable was provided to streamers who were granted early access credentials. This document caused some people to raise their eyebrows.
The streamers were instructed to refrain from discussing any of the prohibited subjects that were contained in the memo while they were broadcasting gaming. Politics, “feminist propaganda,” COVID-19, China’s gaming sector, and anything else that “instigates negative discourse” were among the topics that were not permitted to be discussed, according to a report from the New York Times. The list was provided to streamers, but reviewers were not allowed access to it.
The mention of COVID is, without a doubt, easily connected to the “zero-COVID” regulations that the nation has in place.
Regarding the limitation on “feminist propaganda” for Black Myth: Wukong’s streams, it is simple to draw a direct line from the extensive allegations of misogyny that have been made against the developer Game Science and the persons who work there, including several of the game’s cofounders. Game Science recruitment posters from 2015 were among the many incidents that were documented in a 2023 article published by IGN. One of the posters suggested that friends with benefits were a perk of working in the company, and another one included a dumbbell with the slogan “fatties should fuck off.” (Oh my goodness.) From that point on, the accusations continue.
It is not uncommon for the Chinese government to be accused of misogyny and censorship, and Game Science has connections to the Chinese government. Examples include the following: during the height of the #MeToo movement, the hashtag #MeToo was censored or blocked on Chinese social platforms; posts from feminist and LGBTQ+ groups and voices are routinely blocked or deleted on the country’s social media; feminist perspectives are frequently restricted or censored in China’s academic institutions; and activists are no strangers to harassment, surveillance, or arrests. These are just a few examples.
In accordance with The New York Times, Tencent Holdings, which holds a five percent investment in the company, has direct connections to Xi’s government. In the meantime, the Zhejiang provincial government owns a majority stake in Zhejiang Publishing & Media, the company that is responsible for publishing the game. Last but not least, according to The New York Times, Hero Games, the company that distributed the streamer keys on behalf of Game Science, has financial ties to “several state-owned enterprises.” Approximately twenty percent of Game Science is owned by Hero Games.
It was decided by certain streamers that they would not cover the game, despite being provided with keys and the associated paperwork. In the fifteen years that I have been working in this field, I have never witnessed something like it. In a video uploaded to YouTube, the well-known French streamer Benoit Reinier made the following statement: “This is very clearly a document that explains that we must censor ourselves.”
In the preview of Black Myth: Wukong that was published by Newtechmania earlier this summer, Mat Smith felt that the game had a visually outstanding presentation. However, the preview did not include any limitations regarding banned themes, as streamers were provided with. The demo was “elevated by how good the environment looks, the bizarre monster design, and the quiet, unsettling soundtrack,” according to our evaluation. PS5 and personal computers are now able to play the game.