Black Myth: WukongConsidered China’s first true AAA game broke Steam’s concurrent players record, stream, and single-player titles Cyberpunk 2077 for a single player record. Additionally, it is the second most played game (including multiplayer) of all time. Palworld. Based on the 16th century novel Journey to the Westthe ghostly action-adventure epic has peaked with 2,223,179 players.
Industry analyst Simon Carless from GameDiscoverCo placed An early Tuesday morning guess on X (Twitter). Black Myth: Wukong‘s regional crisis gave his country a great advantage. The agency’s pie chart showed that China claims 88 percent of the game’s players. (In second place was the United States, with just three percent.) Although some interpreted these as potentially inflated numbers, the game started in the middle of the night in the Western Hemisphere, and Carless’ stats were posted around 5:00 a.m. ET.
The title’s remarks come amid accusations of misogyny and censorship aimed at developer Game Science. Streamers who had early access keys were issued a (non-legal) document that raised some eyebrows.
The document contains a list of prohibited topics that broadcasters should not discuss during game broadcasts. The New York Times informed banned topics include politics, “feminist propaganda,” COVID-19, China’s gaming industry, and anything that “contributes to negative discourse.” (The list was provided to broadcasters, but not to reviewers.)
Of course, the COVID record is easily linked to the nation “zero-COVID” restrictions.
As for the limitation of “feminist propaganda” for Black Myth: Wukong‘s streamers, you can easily draw a line from the widespread accusations of misogyny by developer Game Science and the people who work there, including some of its co-founders. Among many cases (generalized 2023 in an IGN story) were the 2015 Game Science recruitment posters, one featuring a friends-with-benefits office reward, and another featuring a dumbbell with the text (translated) “fats need to be fucked.” (Yes.) The accusations continue from there.
The game has science closes with The Chinese government is no stranger to accusations of misogyny and censorship. The #MeToo hashtag was just to name a few examples censored or blocked Posts and voices from feminist and LGBTQ+ groups are regularly posted on Chinese social platforms during the height of the movement. blocked Feminist views are often deleted or deleted in the country’s public media restricted or censored Chinese academic institutions and activists are no strangers to harassment, surveillance or arrest.
Tencent Holdings owns a five percent stake NY TimesIt has direct ties to the Xi government. Meanwhile, the game’s publisher, Zhejiang Publishing & Media, is owned by the Zhejiang provincial government. Finally, Hero Games, which sends out publisher keys on behalf of Game Science, has financial ties to “several government entities.” NYT. Hero Games owns about 20 percent of Game Science.
Equipped with switches (and an attached red tape), some broadcasters decided not to cover the game. “In the 15 years I’ve been doing this business, I’ve never seen anything so shameful. It’s a document that says very clearly that we have to censor ourselves,” said well-known French broadcaster Benoit Reinier (translated). YouTube video.
In Review by Engadget Black Myth: Wukong from earlier this summer (not including provisions about censored content such as received streams), Mat Smith found the game visually stunning. We found the demo to be “enhanced by how good the environments look, the weird monster design, and the quiet, haunting soundtrack.” The game is now available PC and PS5.
