What you need to know about Black Myth: Wukong

Published: August 27, 2024

What you need to know about China’s first successful video game

By Movieguide® Contributor

The video game “Black Myth: Wukong” made waves in the industry after becoming the first game produced in China to achieve huge success with a global audience.

The game, which was released earlier this month, immediately gained popularity on the game distribution platform Steam. A day after its release, it peaked at 2.2 million concurrent players, making it the most popular game on the site at the time. The next day, the number of concurrent players rose to over 2.4 million. With a retail price of $59.99, the game has already generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

Although some games produced in China have enjoyed general success in the mobile gaming industry, Black Myth: Wukong is the first game from the region to achieve such widespread success among console and PC gamers.

Black Myth: Wukong roughly takes players through the 16th century Chinese epic Journey to the West. It depicts the Chinese myth of a group of magical monkeys who can transform into other animals – including humans – as they embark on a journey to find the six relics of Wukong, which grant the animals new abilities.

Although the game has proven successful, it faced criticism during the pre-release marketing phase when reviewers and streamers were given guidelines on topics they were not allowed to discuss while playing, such as the pandemic or “feminist propaganda.”

“By using the game key and creating content, you acknowledge that you have been informed of the following policies and that any statements you make are your own and not associated with our marketing team,” the developer said in an email sent to everyone who received early access to the game, according to NBC News.

Although this regulation of the game is considered inappropriate by industry standards, the game’s success after its release suggests that it had little impact on sales.

However, the game’s popularity does not affect how suitable it is. The emphasis on Chinese folklore and the use of magic throughout the combat system lead to a clearly anti-Christian message. In addition, the emphasis on violence makes the game unsuitable for children and young people. Movieguide® advises parents to be extremely cautious when purchasing this game.

Movieguide® previously reported on the video game industry:

From TV shows and movies to the opening of Nintendo’s Super Mario World theme park at Universal Studios, gaming seems more popular than ever – and it is.

During the pandemic, gaming saw a sharp rise in popularity. With people forced to stay at home, many turned to gaming to combat boredom and stay in touch with friends. In the three years since then, gaming has maintained its high popularity, a trend that is likely to continue for a long time to come.

Despite its popularity, gaming is often still viewed as a fringe interest rather than a robust, global industry. However, a look inside the industry shows just how popular video games are in the world of entertainment.

In 2020, the gaming industry generated $180 billion in gross revenue. That was more than the previous year’s global film industry ($100 billion) and all of North American sports ($75 billion combined). The strong industry numbers continued in 2021 and 2022, with gaming generating gross revenue of $192.3 billion and $184.4 billion, respectively. About half of the revenue in 2022 came from mobile gaming, while PC and console gaming brought in the rest.