"Black Myth: Wukong": How to make a good product?

Black Myth: Wukong has redefined the heights of domestic games with its stunning game graphics and profound cultural connotations. This game not only allows players to experience the perfect combination of traditional culture and modern technology, but also provides a case worth pondering for product managers: how can we create a truly good product?

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

An old IP that was originally covered in dust has been given such a powerful new vitality by the science of games. It has exploded the entire network as soon as it was launched and instantly became a phenomenal black myth. No matter from which angle you observe it, there are too many sources worth thinking about.

As a product manager, facing this overwhelming and neatly arranged information feast, I have too many emotions to contain: I am moved by the creative path, delighted by the cultural output, cheering for game science, and amazed by good content.

Looking around, what is counter-cyclical? What is the red ocean, blue ocean, and dead sea? What is the fading dividend? For example, all kinds of demons, monsters, and ghosts.

All of these seem extremely pale in comparison to this phenomenal black myth: user needs can never be exhausted, and what the market always lacks are good products and good teams to make good products.

Is Black Myth: Wukong a good product? Do we need to define success first?

Mr. Jing believes that there is no need to discuss too much here. I have always been obsessed with the belief that user recognition is always the first attribute of a good product and a prerequisite label that cannot be crossed.

Without the “1” of “user recognition” in front, any number of “0”s that follow will be in vain.

Objectively, in the game "Black Myth: Wukong", every player is a "destined person" who embarks on a journey to the West full of dangers and surprises in order to explore the truth of the legends of the past.

From this perspective, Jing feels that every product manager is also a "man of destiny" who is seeking knowledge on how to meet user needs and understand market pain points. This road is also full of unknowns, risks and challenges.

However, this good product delivered to players with "focus, imagination, and toughness" by CEO Mr. Feng Ji seems to be trying hard to convey a simple truth to users: embarking on the journey to obtain Buddhist scriptures is more important than reaching Lingshan.

Perhaps, this is the charm of the product.

There is no doubt that this landmark game content product is worth repeated consideration by every product developer.

Image-↑ From the official website of "Black Myth: Wukong"

1. Content quality is always the primary competitive advantage.

Good products are highly dependent on good quality, which naturally requires long-termism.

Looking back at the journey of "Black Myth: Wukong", we will find that it is not easy for it to come out. It can be said that it took ten years to sharpen a sword. This is best demonstrated by CEO Feng Ji.

This leader in game science, who was born in 1982, is obsessed with something very simple, which can be summed up in four words: content quality.

"Games should not just be about making players spend money, but should make players happy through quality." He has expressed his values ​​on games on many occasions, which is also the reason why he left Tencent in anger, as many media people said.

Although Jing has not experienced the trial version, he has also observed this 3A masterpiece in depth (he will buy a PS5 when he saves enough money). To borrow a sentence from a media person: The high quality of this game makes me see that games can also be a form of artistic expression comparable to movies, paintings, and music.

Yes, the game quality of Black Myth is reflected in every creation, every plot, and every shot. It is a fusion of diverse art forms and a detail obsession visible to the naked eye. It seems that every frame is telling a story of "quality".

Just to give an example:

I never knew that Shanxi had so many cultural treasures and such a deep cultural heritage. It was not until I got to know Black Myth in depth that I discovered that its scene settings were largely based on the team's field investigations, with as many as 27 filming locations in Shanxi alone.

For example, there are the Shisi Temple, which was built in the 10th year of Shaoxing in the Song Dynasty, the Lingyan Temple, which was built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, or the Flower Pagoda of the Qinghua Temple, which was built in the Liao Dynasty, and other Chinese-style buildings that showcase Chinese culture.

For example, there are the hanging sculpture art from Xiaoxitian in Linfen, Shanxi, the cave art from Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing, and the Buddhist art from Mount Wutai.

Of course, the cultural and tourism departments of these places were not polite and immediately took over this huge amount of traffic.

For example, I would never have thought that "Shaanxi Minor Tune" would become popular all over the world, let alone pay attention to Xiong Zhuying. But after reading the original intention behind the creation, I realized that Black Myth embodies not only traditional Chinese music art, but also spares no effort to build quality.

Looking back at the content products we designed, do we have such a sense of mission?

Here is another example:

Recently, the opening rate of public accounts has continued to decline, and many author friends have gradually stopped updating. In fact, I have discussed this issue in the Newspaper Boy column and Knowledge Planet. Simply put, in the current situation of scarce attention, good content is the primary competitive advantage.

Writing articles and sharing planetary knowledge are essentially creating content products. Jing often takes great pains for a sentence or a picture, because I know very well that the so-called "craftsman mentality" is nothing more than trying to polish the quality of content.

Only in this way can the black myth of the product be created.

Figure -↑ From the screenshot of the game "Black Myth: Wukong"

2. A good team and a good atmosphere can produce good products

Professor Ning Xiangdong of Tsinghua University has repeatedly emphasized in his management courses that employees are not costs but assets, and excellent companies must do two things well: retain good talent and create a good atmosphere.

In a sense, the success of "Black Myth: Wukong" is the inevitable result of the two-way efforts of an excellent team and excellent culture.

The book “The Power of Customer Success” says that employee success, company success, and customer success are the iron triangle of spiral growth, and none of them can be missing. Once combined, they will automatically unlock business success.

In the past few years, I have been living in such a state of shock almost every day. On the one hand, I feel that my reputation and expectations based on luck will fail to be fulfilled, but on the other hand, I am moved and even often surprised by the real progress of my colleagues in their work. There is a saying in Silicon Valley: fake it until you make it.

The above three sentences are excerpts from Feng Ji’s Weibo post on May 19. He unreservedly praised the team’s hard work and summarized it with a sentence that may be related to Feng Ji: It is not the glory of one person, but the glory of the team.

In fact, looking through Feng Ji’s Weibo and interview videos, we can see that he has expressed his attention and gratitude to the team countless times. There is a sentence on his official website that resonates very well: First of all, impress yourself.

Perhaps, this sentence can be interpreted from another angle: to impress users, you must first impress yourself, and to impress employees, you must first impress yourself.

Figure-↑ From the official website of Game Science

I read a post by a blogger in which he said that he was moved by the final list of "Black Myth: Wukong". Yes, at the end of the game, "Black Myth: Wukong" displayed the 140 team members one by one in the order of joining, 13 people in 2018, 10 people in 2019, 18 people in 2020, and so on, just like replaying a cassette.

Jing also discovered that there was a very important detail after the subtitles rolled. Although it was just one sentence, in my opinion it was enough to make people imagine what a good team looks like: Thank you to all colleagues and their families for their understanding and support during the project development.

Yes, it is not difficult to understand that this project will certainly involve a group of students from product and development departments staying up late to work overtime, but if you are doing something valuable, and you are happy during the process, and you are remembered after you have done it, then what a blessing it is.

Perhaps, that moment was the sacred mountain for this group of "destined people".

Think back on your product, your team, and your corporate atmosphere. Jing has witnessed too much meaningless internal friction in companies. The bosses treat employees as costs and want to tie them to their workstations. If they dare to take a breath, they will be killed immediately. It would be strange if they can retain good talents and make good products in this way.

Figure-↑ From the screenshot of the game "Black Myth: Wukong"

3. Good products also need good operations

Feng Ji also wrote a sentence on Weibo: Concentration is close to happiness; seriousness is salvation.

I also shared a sentence on Knowledge Planet. It was a classroom note when I was studying "Ning Xiangdong's Tsinghua Management Course": The so-called focus is like choosing an inch of land and digging a deep abyss.

If the creation of "Black Myth: Wukong" is an abyss carved out with "focus" and a place of happiness built with quality, then the serious attitude of this group of "destined people" towards operations is the active redemption of its great success.

Try to recall that on the day when Black Myth was released, there was almost overwhelming promotional information, and the operation density was very rare. At least, the top KOLs I followed almost all promoted the content at the first opportunity (Statement: This article did not receive any promotion fees. I hope Game Science will reward me in time after seeing this:)).

Of course, the quality of the game is the underlying quality, and there are authors who are trying to take advantage of the popularity (for example, Jing), but their seriousness in marketing is indeed worth learning from.

Not only that, at the beginning of its development, "Black Myth: Wukong" continuously released the game's development progress, actual machine demonstration videos and other content through social media platforms, attracting the attention of a large number of players. It can be said that it has always been seriously warming up.

At the same time, the development team also actively interacts with players, listens to their opinions and suggestions, continuously improves the game, and carefully iterates and promotes it.

Obviously, this interactive marketing method not only enhances players' sense of participation and loyalty, but also plays an important role in the promotion of the game.

In fact, such details can be found everywhere. For example, its official website provides a large number of videos, game screenshots, wallpapers, original pictures and other materials. One of the purposes is to satisfy the players' feelings, but more importantly, it is conducive to promotion and operation, and to users' spontaneous word-of-mouth communication.

You see, this is actually doing operations seriously.

Image-↑ From the official website of "Black Myth: Wukong"

To be honest, in the past few days, Jing has been watching a lot of videos and reading a lot of articles about "Black Myth: Wukong", and has also generated a lot of thoughts related to the product, such as product positioning, interaction design, iterative thinking, user insights, and operational strategies.

Objectively speaking, for me, it is a magnifying glass for product self-inspection.

Of course, Jing actually has a lot more to say, but the space is limited. At the end, I still remembered a sentence Feng Ji said in an interview:

What makes you suffer the most is not the high mountains in the distance, but the sand on the soles of your shoes. The sand is endless, but if you want to reach that mountain, you have to endure this process. Embarking on the journey to obtain scriptures is more important than reaching Lingshan.

When I saw this sentence, I pondered for a long time. Perhaps, this is also the best footnote for us product people.

After all, we are all "destined people".