Because the article completely ignores the source of the sales volume it keeps mentioning and is pretending the sale is some runaway success in the west instead of acknowledging the reality that it’s doing moderate sales here.
Moderate sales is a good first effort, but ignoring the actual market altering affect it will have to pretend it’s actually a giant outside of China completely undermines the article.
I’m not sure I’m understanding this correctly, the prerequisite for a video game to be a “runaway success” is to do well sales-wise in the west? Why is the source of sales that important when the article mainly praises and discusses the game’s launch figures, behind-the-scenes, the studio’s lore, etc… like any other video game articles do? The author isn’t suggesting the sales are doing well in the west, so what warrants discussion of the games’ sales in the west in the first place?
The article’s headline alone says it’s “One of the Fastest Selling Games In History”. If we take the revenue value in the article to be true ($852 million in revenue in 2 weeks), then it beats Elden Ring by around a $100 million, give or take, in the first 2-week period (I’m assuming each copy costed 59.99$, so 12 million copies roughly translates to $720 million in revenue, since actual figures were never revealed, I think).
Because the whole premise of the article is the “global” impact and bringing Chinese culture to a “global audience” when only a small fraction of its sales are outside China.
The actual impact it’s going to have is much less on the development of AAA games by Chinese studios and much more as a demonstration of the Chinese market’s interest in single player games.
Maybe you didn’t realize, but by volume, sales in the west for BMWukong were stellar. >4M sales volume (76% of 17.8 million sales were chinese) is performing well by any standard. It dwarfs the sales volumes of other recently popular Chinese titles, taking the top spot for sales in the west handily. Other games like the GuJiang series, dyson sphere program, the matchless kungfu, crimson snow, tale of immortal had substantially fewer players despite getting nearly universally positive reviews. This is the definition of breakout success, when you reach a new market.
For reference, this game is selling in the west as well as street fighter 6 and guilty gear strive, games that are performing far above a previous genre standard.
You should look into just how restrictive Chinese Steam is. You should also look into how any online game operating in China (like PUBG) needs to be offered by a joint-venture with a Chinese firm.
The CCP killed more Chinese than Genghis Khan, they’re an occupying force, we pushed the Japanese out only to leave them to be conquered by someone almost as bad.
What in the ChatGPT is this article? It’s like someone from LinkedinLunatics paid an aspiring content writer to write a vapid hype piece but insisted that it be about 6x too long.
Here are some highlights (although it was hard to figure out which sections were the cringiest):
This new studio represented more than just a business venture; it was the manifestation of Feng’s dream to create games that prioritized player experience over profit.
The team’s dedication to authenticity was unparalleled. They immersed themselves in Chinese mythology, reading the classical novel “Journey to the West” over 100 times. They visited countless cultural sites, drawing inspiration from ancient architecture, art, and landscapes.
The impact of Black Myth: Wukong extended far beyond sales figures. It became a cultural phenomenon, bridging the gap between Chinese mythology and global audiences. The game’s success inspired a new wave of developers to create games based on their own cultural mythologies and histories
Feng Ji: The Humble Visionary Despite the overwhelming success and adulation, Feng Ji remained characteristically humble. When asked about the game’s achievements, he responded with a touch of philosophy: "When you are at the peak of confidence, you are also staring at the valley of foolishness. This statement encapsulated Feng’s approach to game development and success. Rather than resting on his laurels, he immediately turned his attention to the future, focusing on expansion packs and maintaining the game’s quality
Yeah, it’s really strange. Talking about how it inspired a new generation of developers and stuff, like anyone had time to be inspired and start a game development career in the 3 weeks it’s been out, lol.
Blizzard is already pretty infamous for adapting their games for the Chinese market, by removing or replacing certain numbers/symbolism or objects like skulls. So, it’s already been happening for a long time.
There’s a huge difference between a publisher or two censoring their games and the industry as a whole systematically sucking up to their insane restrictions.
Basically Nazi stuff. Which still isn’t awesome, but isn’t comparable at all to China. It’s a small side effect of them trying to prevent actual Nazis from regaining power and not properly recognizing games as art.
It also isn’t comparable because anyone who can’t be bothered with multiple versions is going to ignore Germany, not ruin their game.
Fun fact: Swastika’s are actually allowed for artistic and similar purposes, but in the 90’s a dodgy ruling did not consider this exception. The reasoning was the same as ‘playing violent games make you violent’ . The court feared growing up with those symbols would normalize them.
As the movie industry discovered, it's a dice roll in terms of pissing off the censors. Hard to invest millions when something as stupid as a map can get your game banned.
Let us not forget the revolutionary idea to-- now pay attention cause this is BIG-- to prioritize player experience! Can’t believe nobody has thought of that before.
I wonder how much of that is marketing. That eats up most of a AAA game budget and I don’t think it was heavily advertised outside of China (where it had a big marketing campaign)
It’s really easy to pander to the Chinese audience when you’re a Chinese developer telling the same one Chinese myth yet again.
I mean seriously, if you add up every game, show, or movie based on all the myths of Robin Hood, King Arthur, and every Grimm fairy tale combined You wouldn’t have as many productions as there are Journey to the West adaptations, it’s ridiculous. Hell even Disney went with something different when they made Mulan.
thedroidguy.com
Active