Talk of the Town: Black Myth: Wukong excites gamers worldwide
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The hottest topic among gamers around the world is undoubtedly Black Myth: Wukong. Released on August 20, the game, based on one of China's four great classic novels "Journey to the West", has become a phenomenon and is also creating a wave in the West. CGTN reporter Zhang Zhenni has more. 

A lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of resources – when a game meets these conditions, the industry will simply call it a 3A game. For years, this market has been dominated by foreign games, but that is no longer the case. Black Myth: Wukong is filling the blank in China's 3A game field. 

ZHANG ZHENNI Shanghai "The video you just watched was released by the game company only a fortnight ago and has got 18 million views on just two video platforms. This role-playing game, based on 'Journey to the West', has not only become a hit domestically, but is also talk of the town globally."

HU ZHENING Student "I have been looking forward to this game for a very long time. And yesterday, I have played this game and was shocked by the wonderful illustrations in it."

RICKY ZHU Citizen "The overall design of the monsters is very Chinese, and it revolves around defeating monster bosses, which makes players feel very tense and excited."

4.5 million copies, 1.5 billion yuan (which is about 200 million U.S dollar) – this is what the game achieved in just 1 day after its official release. 

2.3 million concurrent players make it the 2nd biggest game of all time on Steam and also the biggest single-player game on the platform in terms of peak concurrent players. The popularity of this game in the overseas market is enormous. 

WU BAOKANG Analyst, iDigital Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. "I think the most important thing is that the quality of the game is very high. Its battle operations, graphics, music and artistic expressions have all reached the standard of international commercial games. Secondly, the Monkey King's image enjoys huge popularity overseas. Thirdly, I think it has commonality with western figures such as 'Rise of the Planet' and 'King Kong', which can also help overseas users better understand the emotions and values expressed in the game."

An interesting phenomenon is that overseas players are swotting up "Journey to the West" these days, trying to understand the core of the game. This actually exposes some of the challenges currently faced by domestic games going overseas. 

ZHOU YABO Editor-in-Chief of Article, GAMECORES "Judging from the first wave of overseas media reviews of the game, points were mostly deducted because players need to read 'Journey to the West' before they can better understand the game. This is a challenge. We need a process to slowly let overseas players and media understand our culture."

The success of Black Myth: Wukong is actually a new reference point for domestic games going overseas. 

LI JIFU Founder, Lerfilm Inc. "The key to going global is to tap into existing culture communities. For example, like in North America, there are huge comic and gaming communities with conventions happening every day across different states. So, a voice actor behind anime and video games, might have a massive fan following. They have regular interactions. That is a good way for us to promote our games."

Many years later, as players look back on Black Myth: Wukong, they may not remember its plots but they would surely remember the day it was released and the shockwaves it created among players around the world. 

Zhang Zhenni, CGTN, Shanghai. 

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