From the explosive popularity of "Black Myth: Wukong", we can see the possibilities brought by high-quality content

As a domestic 3A masterpiece, Black Myth: Wukong has not only set off a craze in China, but also attracted attention worldwide. Its unique artistic style, profound narrative techniques and top-notch game technology have not only won wide acclaim from players, but also become an important force in promoting the transformation and upgrading of China's entertainment industry. This article will deeply analyze the reasons behind the explosion of Black Myth: Wukong and explore the infinite possibilities of high-quality content in the development of the entertainment industry.

In this era of information explosion and diversified entertainment methods, a domestic game has broken through the siege and become the focus of global attention. It is the domestic 3A masterpiece "Black Myth: Wukong". This game has not only caused a sensation in China, but also set off a wave of enthusiasm around the world. Its success is not only a victory in the game field, but also an important step for China's entertainment industry to go global.

This issue of Tencent News will start with the explosive popularity of Black Myth: Wukong and explore the infinite possibilities brought by high-quality content.

1. The domestic 3A masterpiece "Black Myth: Wukong" is popular all over the world

"Use thunderbolts to show your compassion. This is your destiny."

On August 20, the domestic 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong", which was eagerly awaited by millions of gamers, was launched simultaneously around the world. Once released, it set the Internet on fire, continued to dominate the hot search list, and became a constant topic of discussion.

It is reported that this game is an action-adventure game based on "Journey to the West", one of the four great classical Chinese novels, written by Wu Cheng'en, and created by a game team led by producer Feng Ji. "Black Myth: Wukong" cleverly adapted "Journey to the West" and set the story of "Journey to the West" as a prequel. It tells the story of Sun Wukong who gave up his position as a Buddha after his successful pilgrimage, which led to a new round of conquest by the Heavenly Court. The player appears as a "man of destiny" after the conquest. In order to find the truth of the legend of the past, he embarks on a journey to the west full of dangers and adventures.

Since its first announcement, Black Myth: Wukong has attracted countless players with its unique art style, profound narrative techniques and top-notch gaming technology. In 2020, Black Myth: Wukong caused a stir in the gaming industry with its first trailer, and subsequent information disclosures have further raised players' expectations. The game is not only popular in China, but also has aroused discussion abroad.

After four years, the popularity of Black Myth: Wukong has reached an unprecedented height. This domestic 3A masterpiece that carried all the expectations of the production company and players did not disappoint. On the first day of its launch, it quickly topped the sales charts of major game platforms such as Steam and WeGame. At the same time, the number of online players on Steam once exceeded 2.2 million. On the first day of its release alone, the total sales of the game exceeded 2 billion yuan and sales exceeded 10 million copies.

In addition, many netizens showed their support for Black Myth: Wukong. On the first day of the launch, many companies posted holiday notices to facilitate their employees to experience this masterpiece first.

Image source network

Major game anchors rushed to the front line of downloads, released live broadcasts in advance to warm up, and waited for the platform to start live broadcasts at 10:00 on August 20. On the day of the release, the top game anchor "Zhang Daxianer" contributed to the world's "first vomiting", even with a motion sickness patch, he continued to broadcast, and the Douyin anchor "Yang Qijia" gained nearly 600,000 fans with 40 hours of uninterrupted live broadcast of "Black Myth: Wukong", achieving a rapid increase in account volume. On August 20, major platforms such as Video Account, Bilibili, and Douyin were dominated by "Black Myth: Wukong", which was unprecedented.

In addition to live-streaming games, many netizens were shocked by the story and gorgeous images after experiencing Black Myth: Wukong. Various secondary creation videos have emerged. According to data, within three days of the launch of Black Myth: Wukong, the number of works on mainstream content platforms such as WeChat Official Accounts, Video Accounts, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu has reached nearly 200,000, with over 100 million interactions. [1] Many players said that this game has helped them regain their confidence in domestic games and has given them a deeper understanding and knowledge of Chinese traditional culture. So why has Black Myth: Wukong caused such a big response both at home and abroad? Why has this game created the first year of domestic 3A games?

2. The popularity of "Black Myth" is a new opportunity for the development of the entertainment industry

Before analyzing the reasons why "Black Myth: Wukong" became so popular, let us first understand what 3A games are and which games can be called 3A games.

The term 3A game originated from the United States. In the game industry, "3A" usually refers to: a substantial amount of money, abundant resources, and a substantial amount of time. In essence, it is a blockbuster in the game industry. It can be said that 3A games symbolize the highest production standards, cutting-edge technology applications, and huge market influence.

Internationally renowned 3A games include: GTA from the United States, Assassin's Creed from France, Elden Ring from Japan, and Cyberpunk 2077, a 3A game released by CD Projekt Red of Poland that has set off a global cyber trend. They are very popular both abroad and at home, but there are no domestic games among them.

"The Chinese gaming industry has suffered from domestic 3A games for a long time." It can be said that "Black Myth: Wukong", which has the title of a domestic 3A game and the strength of a 3A game, has filled the gap in China's 3A game market, which is also one of the reasons for its popularity.

Of course, there is more to it than that. On the eve of the release of Black Myth: Wukong, Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Yang talked with producer Feng Ji. In the interview, he mentioned the opportunity to decide to launch the Black Myth: Wukong project: 8 years ago, we firmly believed that China's stand-alone market would definitely exist and it would be huge. You will see other entertainment markets, the most typical of which is movies. In recent years, you can see that the top 10 box office movies are quietly changing by just pulling the data. China's well-made movies are rapidly eroding this list. Similarly, we have also seen that many phenomenal products have begun to appear at that time. "Feng Ji's words reveal his firm confidence in the future development of China's entertainment industry. At the same time, we can understand that the popularity of Black Myth: Wukong is not accidental. It has a deep industrial foundation and firm market beliefs behind it.

In recent years, China's entertainment industry has indeed produced many phenomenal works, and more and more excellent content products produced in China are becoming the new favorites in the international market. For example, the science fiction movies "The Wandering Earth" 1 and 2, with their grand science fiction settings and excellent production standards, have opened a new era for Chinese science fiction movies, and have not only achieved great success in China, but also won a good reputation internationally.

Through "Black Myth: Wukong" and "The Wandering Earth", we can see that the emergence of these phenomenal high-quality contents not only enriches the content supply of the domestic entertainment market and enhances the international influence of China's entertainment industry, but also promotes the transformation, upgrading and high-quality development of the entire industry.

So apart from this, what other potential can high-quality content bring to related industries?

First of all, phenomenal high-quality content can stimulate the development of the cultural and tourism industry.

At the beginning of the promotion, we learned that almost all the scenes in "Black Myth: Wukong" were scanned from real scenes of famous Chinese attractions, such as Chongqing Dazu Rock Carvings, Shanxi Xixian Xiaoxitian, Hangzhou Lingyin Temple, Yungang Grottoes, Hanging Temple, Jueshan Temple, Shanhua Temple, Yong'an Temple, etc. According to incomplete statistics, 27 of the 36 filming locations in the game are from Shanxi. Shanxi also quickly seized this opportunity to "go out of the circle". Recently, Shanxi Culture and Tourism officially announced that the first batch of players who passed the game "Black Myth: Wukong" can experience the theme event "Follow Wukong to Tour Shanxi" for free. It can be foreseen that if the event goes smoothly, the next popular tourist destination after Zibo and Tianshui will be "Shanxi".

Secondly, phenomenal high-quality content can stimulate consumption and the development of cross-border cooperation.

With the launch of phenomenal high-quality content, related derivative products and co-branded products have also been launched one after another. These products not only satisfy the collection desire and purchasing needs of the fan group, but also bring significant economic benefits and positive social effects to the market. For example, once the peripherals such as Benben and MOSS models of "The Wandering Earth" were launched, they completed the 100,000 crowdfunding goal in one minute, and the crowdfunding amount in 6 days was close to 50 million. [2] Luckin Coffee, which was the first to co-brand with "Black Myth: Wukong", sold more than 100,000 cups of new products on the day of the launch, which directly overwhelmed the mini program.

This cross-border cooperation not only brings more exposure and attention to the game, but also injects new vitality and impetus into the consumer market.

Again, phenomenal high-quality content can promote the overseas dissemination of Chinese culture.

As globalization deepens, cultural exchange and communication become more and more important. For example, most foreign netizens know Sun Wukong as a simple image, and some even only know the Wukong in the Japanese Dragon Ball, but do not know that he originated from China. It is extremely difficult for us to explain to the world that Sun Wukong is ours, but with the emergence of works such as Black Myth: Wukong, through the reinterpretation and innovative expression of classic IPs, we have created high-quality entertainment works with distinctive Chinese characteristics, which can allow foreign netizens to quickly, comprehensively, and even actively understand that "Sun Wukong" is Chinese and comes from China's four great classics, Journey to the West.

The impact of a game is so great. If more phenomena and high-quality content emerge, it will play a huge role in enhancing the international influence and popularity of Chinese culture and promoting exchanges and integration between different cultures.

Image source network

Finally, phenomenal quality content can greatly enhance a nation’s cultural confidence.

It is very intuitive that before the emergence of Black Myth: Wukong, foreign stand-alone games dominated the world, and the first thing ordinary players did when they wanted to play was to open the simplified Chinese version. Not only games, but also foreign movies and TV shows, etc., have become a habit to find "simplified Chinese". However, the emergence of Black Myth: Wukong has achieved a "identity" swap, and we let foreigners find the language version that belongs to them.

Moreover, with the empowerment of the mysterious oriental legend, Black Myth: Wukong has had an impact on foreign gamers. More and more foreign players have begun to actively learn about Journey to the West and Sun Wukong. Some even compiled all the skills and spells used by Sun Wukong in Journey to the West into a 214-page shared document, the content of which is comparable to an academic paper. As Feng Ji said, "If you want to understand things other than the stimulation of sound and picture, there is a threshold." If you want to play it well and want to experience the real charm of this game, then go and learn about it.

3. How to create phenomenal quality content?

The importance of creating more phenomena and high-quality content to the development of Chinese entertainment is self-evident. It can not only meet the audience's growing spiritual and cultural needs, but also enhance the popularity and influence of Chinese culture.

So how can we create more phenomenal and high-quality content? Or what does the creation of phenomenal and high-quality content rely on? There are two important points.

The creation of high-quality content is inseparable from in-depth exploration and innovation of the content. "Content is king" is an unchanging rule.

Taking Black Myth: Wukong as an example, Feng Ji mentioned why he chose Journey to the West as the background. He said: "When we make Journey to the West themes, we don't consider whether it is popular or outdated. Instead, we first think about whether we feel excited when we think of this theme. For example, I think Chinese mythology or this kind of oriental content still has magical colors. We feel that the previous (works) are not good enough, and it seems that they have not reached the level I want to achieve in my mind. Can I do this thing better?"

Therefore, in Black Myth: Wukong, he boldly added many original elements and settings, making the entire game world both faithful to the original and full of new ideas. At the same time, they focused on creating complex and three-dimensional characters, not only making the protagonist Sun Wukong more full and profound, but also making his enemies and supporting roles have distinct personalities and charm. As Feng Ji said: "Classics are not a constraint." This extreme pursuit of content and continuous innovation is the key to the birth of high-quality content.

Technological innovation and breakthroughs are also an indispensable part of high-quality content creation. As we have mentioned before, the most important thing about 3A games is that they are different from other games and use the most advanced technology and picture rendering. "Black Myth: Wukong" is exactly like this. It uses panoramic ray tracing, DLSS 3.5 light reconstruction and the top game engine Unreal 5 as the key technical support for "Black Myth: Wukong", creating a realistic and grand world of Journey to the West with interweaving light and shadow for players, making people feel as if they are in the game.

Similarly, The Wandering Earth, as China's first "hard science fiction film", has won the admiration of Chinese and foreign moviegoers with its outstanding special effects and production technology. 2,200 special effects shots, 50% of which are highly difficult visual effects shots, are the confidence of The Wandering Earth to open the door to science fiction films. An article in the Financial Times of the United Kingdom commented that "China has leapt into the field of science fiction films with this film, demonstrating the country's increasingly strong production budgets and confidence. They are now able to challenge this genre that was once monopolized by Hollywood."

Whether it is "Black Myth: Wukong" or "The Wandering Earth", their technological breakthroughs not only improve the overall quality and viewing experience of the works, but also provide strong support for China's entertainment industry to gain international recognition and influence.

Image source: Internet Perspective Conclusion

Embarking on the journey to obtain scriptures is more important than arriving at Lingshan.

The popularity of Black Myth: Wukong is not only an unprecedented victory in the Chinese gaming industry, but also a leap forward for the entire entertainment industry. It allows us to see the infinite possibilities and huge potential of high-quality content in the development of the entertainment industry. It also verifies the saying that good content makes time more valuable!