• Black Myth Wukong is likely the biggest release of 2024, topping the Steam played charts days after launching.
• The game has the backing of media houses owned by the Chinese government and is being marketed by major Chinese firms.
• State media are lauding the game as a way for Westerners to begin embracing Chinese culture and gaming.

Immediately following its 20th August release date, Black Myth Wukong – touted as China’s “first AAA game” rocketed to the top of the Steam most-played list and is currently doing the impossible in beating out the likes of Counter-Strike 2 and DOTA 2 in current players topping over 2 million today.

In other terms, the game is an unparalleled success for Game Science, China’s closest analogue to premier Western game-makers like Sony Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, Bioware and other big-name developers.

This is also not taking into account sales on the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and WeGame.

Black Myth Wukong is an action-adventure game, taking inspiration from the frenetic combat of the Souls series and mixing it with China’s most important mythical export – The Journey to the West and the story of the monkey king Sun Wukong.

Nearly 90 percent of its playerbase is comprised of people from China, and that makes perfect sense seeing as Chinese state media is promoting the hell out of the title, and why wouldn’t it? Not only for the potential of breaching the international market but also because mega-corporation Tencent has a small stake in Game Science.

The same Tencent in which the Chinese government took a “golden share” in last year.

One aspect the country’s state media is focusing on with Black Myth Wukong, according to a Reuters report, is the cultural significance of the title.

“Chinese players in the past have gone through this process of cross-cultural understanding, now it is the turn of overseas players to learn… and understand Chinese traditional culture,” China Central Television wrote in a blog post.

The national broadcaster added that Westerners could only enjoy the game if they came to understand the plot of the 16th-century piece of literature on which it is based.

“This release marks a bold foray by Chinese game developers into a market long dominated by Western triple-A titles,” explained Xinhua, another state-owned news agency, going as far to say that “With this breakthrough, the default language of a triple-A game is no longer English, but Chinese.”

Not only does this statement absolutely gloss over contributions the likes of Genshin Impact creator MiHoYo have added to the gaming industry – and all the negatives – but it is also not true seeing as Black Myth Wukong comes with an English dub, hur hur.

Besides that, the story of the heavenly monkey king is nothing new to people outside of China, seeing as films like Jet Li and Jackie Chan’s The Forbidden Kingdom, which is also based loosely on the tale, became global box office successes, and Dragon Ball Z, the most popular anime media ever, is also based on the story, with Son Goku being the Japanese version of the Sun Wukong.

Black Myth Wukong is no monkey business

Aside from the belief that the game will attract more international interest in China’s gaming industry, Chinese companies have also begun incorporating Black Myth Wukong into their advertising and marketing campaigns.

Companies like ride-hailing firm Didi, as well as tech firm Lenovo and Luckin Coffee, basically China’s Starbucks, have added the game’s main character to ads in the hopes of attracting customers.

Pre-orders of the game which began in June had already reached $56 million as the game was about to be launched this week.

Wukong shakes up the normal Chinese game maker business model of Gacha-like mobile games with endless micro-transactions and banners to unlock different characters – this time you can keep the full game and all of its features after a one-time fee.

“It is unclear whether ‘Black Myth: Wukong’s’ business model can bring more profits… the important thing… is that China is finally getting its own AAA game that can excite the world,” another state-owned publication, Global Times, wrote.

The game has also been a critical success, with reviews on Steam firmly locked in “Very Positive” with 92 percent of players enjoying the title. Black Myth Wukong is likely already the biggest release of 2024 in the industry, and if it continues its current momentum? Expect more major international publishers asking developers to look into Chinese myths and themes as a way into the market.