Black Myth: Wukong Sets the Steam Charts on Fire on its Release Day
Today is launch day for Black Myth: Wukong, the first game from Chinese studio Game Science that has had an embattled road to its release. Based on a Chinese novel called Journey to the West about Chinese history, culture, and mythology, Black Myth: Wukong has been criticized for not being more diverse and inclusive, as silly as that sounds when talking about a game starring a monkey warrior fighting other anthropomorphic animals. This came on the heels of a report by IGN claiming that Game Science and the game’s producer, Feng Ji, were sexist and sexually harassed women, which they haven’t retracted despite their translations from Chinese to English being proven inaccurate. However, anticipation for the game never waned, particularly after an unconfirmed report that Sweet Baby Inc. tried to extort Game Science into hiring them to make their game more DEI-compliant and were told to which end to kiss. Between this nakedly partisan hate campaign and the excellent trailers, gamers sensed a fun time in Black Myth: Wukong, and projections were high.
Today, Black Myth: Wukong was greeted with open arms on Steam, where it broke records and had 2,223,179 concurrent players at its peak. It’s the number two game of all time in that regard, second only to PUBG: Battlegrounds, which had 3,257,248 concurrent players at its all-time peak in 2018, according to That Park Place. Particularly satisfying is that Black Myth: Wukong’s all-time peak is more than those of all of Sweet Baby Inc.’s games combined:
Real gamers VS Their army of ‘Modern audiences’. pic.twitter.com/abiC7QJFYU
— Kevin the Muda teammate. (@Kevin12Jump) August 20, 2024
And I doubt it’s going to slow down anytime soon because Black Myth: Wukong is getting great reviews from the people who count: gamers. (By “the people who count,” I not only mean the ones who actually pay for the game but the ones who don’t have to be told not to bring “feminist propaganda” into their reviews.) According to SteamDB, the game has 97% positive reviews and only 3% negative reviews, meaning the response is overwhelmingly positive. One of the reviews cited on That Park Place says the game is comparable to God of War and Jedi Fallen Order in its gameplay. Another talks a bit about the story, saying it picks up where Journey to the West ends, with the monkey searching for six artifacts that contain the spirit of Wukong, the novel’s protagonist, fighting through monsters sent by the gods. Based on that synopsis – which the player says is based on the very early parts of the game – I can see why Black Myth: Wukong is being compared to God of War. It sounds like it was made with love, which is what Feng Ji conveys in a letter to gamers, thanking them and encouraging them to play and have fun with Black Myth: Wukong:
Some warm words from the Creator of Black Myth Wukong on the day of the release.
This is a creator who obviously love gamers and games alike.
Such a difference from AAA Western Studios, who hate their audience. pic.twitter.com/hn1vyxOLMh
— Grummz (@Grummz) August 20, 2024
That sounds much more like the kind of inclusion gamers want to see, rather than the Sweet Baby Inc. and games journalist style of checkboxes ticked to meet diversity quotas. People play video games to have fun, and that’s the common thread joining the games that have been successful lately. Black Myth: Wukong, Stellar Blade, and Helldivers 2 (when it first hit) all looked like good, fun games, with the added element of making gamers feel like they’re snubbing their nose at the journalists and consulting firms trying to spoil the party. Helldivers 2 was called fascist, Stellar Blade’s scantily clad heroine drove prudish scolds nuts, and Black Myth: Wukong was targeted for destruction because it focused on gameplay instead of representation. This is good for gaming, if only because it reinforces that this is what the customers want. Whether game developers pay attention or dig their heels in on DEI is up in the air right now; we’ll see how Ubisoft’s upcoming two-fer, Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows do in comparison. They’d be foolish to ignore Black Myth: Wukong’s massive success, but nobody said the wokesters were smart.
Let us know if you’ve played Black Myth: Wukong yet in the comments!
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