How Black Myth: Wukong found success amid China’s gaming crackdown

On its official launch on 20 August, Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong (Black Myth) attracted over 1 million concurrent players. Just days later, the number skyrocketed to surpass 3 million, setting a new record for the highest number of concurrent players in the history of Steam, an online game platform.

According to market research platform VG Insights, Black Myth sold over 18 million copies on Steam within two weeks of launch, hitting approximately US$867 million in sales. Meanwhile, media outlet Gamalytic estimated that around 14.8 million units were sold on the same platform, with sales of about US$800 million.

Based on both sets of data, it can be conservatively estimated that Black Myth has sold at least 15 million copies on Steam alone.

Black Myth has topped Steam’s weekly sales chart for five consecutive weeks and ranked number one for eight consecutive weeks in the Chinese region. Apart from its stellar sales performance, the game also won exceptional praise, with 96% positive review ratings on Steam. Indeed, Black Myth is winning critical acclaim and commercial success.

The game has not only performed well in the domestic market but also achieved impressive results overseas. Overseas sales accounted for 20% of the total, with over 2 million units sold. A year ago, Black Myth won the Best Visuals award at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, garnering widespread acclaim from international gaming media and companies.

Since its official launch on 20 August, Black Myth has received high praise from overseas gaming streamers. Renowned Twitch streamer Shroud (Michael Grzesiek) said that the game is “awesome” and a work of art. Several internationally renowned streamers also asserted that Black Myth is a shoo-in to win Game of the Year.

But many people did not expect that the Chinese gaming industry, once thought to be deliberately suppressed by the government, would see such success with Black Myth. Contrary to numerous media interpretations, China’s crackdown on the gaming industry is largely aimed at addressing online games and mobile games addiction among minors. The government is not opposed to the development of cutting-edge technology in the gaming industry.

In fact, there is actually a consensus among industry practitioners when it comes to the suppression of the gaming industry. It is just that the people directly involved in the industry rarely talk about it in the media.

Firstly, the country has clearly outlined its stance and regulatory framework for the gaming industry in the core document Measures for the Management of Online Games. Chapter IV, titled “Protection of Minors”, outlines key provisions aimed at preventing minors from becoming addicted to online games. These provisions emphasise social responsibility, corporate responsibility, and the use of technological measures.

Essentially, the government’s primary focus is on rectifying highly addictive games. Therefore, strategy role-playing games that are relatively non-addictive are not the main targets of these crackdowns.

More importantly, unlike the one-sided interpretations of many media outlets, Chapter VI of the document also specifies the types of games that will receive government support. Notably, Article 50 of Chapter VI encourages the research, development and promotion of games that are guided by core socialist values; develop advanced socialist culture; carry forward revolutionary culture; pass on excellent traditional Chinese culture; promote scientific and technological progress; have innovative value; are beneficial to physical and mental health; and are both educational and entertaining.

Black Myth is the epitome of the inheritance and transmission of outstanding traditional Chinese culture. Based on the government’s initial regulatory plans for the gaming industry, games that meet these criteria have always been the main focus of government support.

Why is it that even as industry insiders are largely aware of the mass media’s misinterpretation of the country’s crackdown on the gaming industry, nobody is saying anything?

This is because there is a very lopsided negative public opinion of China’s gaming industry among the grassroots. China’s society is composed of a dual structure of cities and villages; most villagers spend most of their time working in big cities, while their children remain in the villages for their schooling due to household registration issues. As a result, children with absent parents for extended periods are particularly vulnerable to gaming addiction.

The Chinese government has made significant efforts to rectify the problem of gaming addiction in minors, and a key starting point is addressing the lack of parental supervision.

The parents of such families have an intense abhorrence for games, but in fact, they lack an understanding of them. Any kind of writing carried by the media that speaks well of the gaming industry would easily invite unnecessary trouble, especially given the present circumstances.

Many commentators on mass media are at times truly ignorant, while others are just jumping on the bandwagon in criticising games, thus leading to the misconception that the Chinese government is cracking down on gaming entirely.

AAA or Triple-A games, are high-cost, high-volume and high-quality single-player games that are usually created by large developers. These games put a premium on graphics, game mechanisms, story plot, character creation and more, and represent the highest tier in game creation.

AAA games rating originated in the US, and is a standard used to measure the production scale and quality of games, with “A” denoting the highest tier.

The high cost refers to a development cost usually between millions and tens of millions of US dollars — or even higher. High quality refers to the attention to detail when it comes to graphic presentation, game mechanism, story plot and character creation, among other areas. High production standards refer to cross-console compatibility, and involves complex market promotion strategy as well as a development team comprising hundreds of professionals including programmers, designers, artists and audio specialists.

One aspect is key here: high-quality graphics. This high quality is reliant on the hardware used to run the game, which must work in tandem with high-quality graphics cards to render images. Nvidia, currently the most popular chip company in the world, got its start by producing graphics cards for video games. The industry and the computational power of present AI technology are highly interconnected.

Hence, whoever has the most developed AAA gaming industry would control a key downstream market for high-end chips, and can in turn spur the development of high-end chips. From this perspective, it is not hard to understand why the Chinese government has never truly sought to suppress this segment of the gaming industry, which at its core is about technological development.

Black Myth was able to impress players and industry professionals alike at various major gaming expos with its stunning graphics generated by Chinese-manufactured hardware. One such hardware manufacturer is the well-known Hisense Group.

In order to push the game’s graphics to the maximum, Hisense worked with BOE Technology to develop the “obsidian” screen, which uses a low reflectance deep black panel that greatly reduces reflection and glare.

For core processing, Hisense — the only company in the television industry that develops its own chips — equipped its television with its proprietary Xinxin AI graphics chip. This is akin to equipping a television with a “dedicated graphics card” that is used mainly in high-end gaming consoles. Coupled with a unique computer graphics algorithm, the television is able to handle precise light control while gaming, significantly reducing motion blur, and presenting an immersive display of epic fight scenes in games.

This also meant that Hisense, initially a passive service provider, would now have a proactive role across different needs. These hardware manufacturers produce custom products in collaboration with the games, and are in turn able to access markets globally alongside these games.

The opening up of these markets is even more valuable especially amid US efforts to suppress China’s chip industry. AAA games have become another technological arena for big power competition between China and the US.

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