New Chinese Game “Black Myth: Wukong” Breaks Single-Player Records on Steam

The new game Black Myth: Wukong, developed by the Chinese company Game Science, reached over 2.2 million users on Steam this week. According to PCGamer, it just earned a record as “the second-highest peak player record in Steam’s history” within just a few hours after its launch this Tuesday.

Black Myth: Wukong, considered an AAA game—with the highest development budgets and levels of promotion—was inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West, published during the Ming dynasty in the 16th century. Players become Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, and must defeat monsters during a 15-hour journey. Its massive reach and promotion have also sparked controversy and debate.

According to the New York Times, gamer influencers had reached out to play and stream the video game before its launch. However, the restrictions regarding what these influencers were allowed to speak about were criticized. The list included forbidden topics like “feminist propaganda,” Covid-19, and isolation. The Chinese company has refused to comment on this.

Benoit Reinier, a journalist and YouTuber, shared a review and expressed being upset about the situation. “I have never seen anything that shameful in my 15 years doing this job. This is very clearly a document which explains that we must censor ourselves,” said Reinier.

Game Science invested over $50 million in the creation of the game and reached the first spot in the list of the top games played on Steam. Black Myth: Wukong quickly became a trending topic on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo, with many citizens taking pride in the Chinese culture, as the default language is Chinese and the history is based on a traditional Chinese story, but it also had critics. The hashtag “Black Myth: Wukong insults women,” in Chinese, also went viral on the social media platform.

The Chinese government has also taken advantage of the game’s popularity. The Department of Culture and Tourism in Shanxi featured the landmarks mentioned in the game in a cultural video.