Black Myth: Wukong surpassed 1 billion on the first day, making all Chinese players excited

The emergence of Black Myth: Wukong has not only excited Chinese players with its exquisite graphics and profound cultural heritage, but has also set off a wave of oriental mythology fever around the world. This game, with its unique charm, proves the innovation ability and cultural confidence of the Chinese game industry. It is not only a game, but also a feat of cultural output, allowing the world to see the infinite possibilities of Chinese stories.

01 A game that became a big hit

Who says men spend less than dogs?

Today, "Black Myth: Wukong", a game that many people have been waiting for for many years, was finally released. After one month of pre-sale, sales reached 390 million yuan and 1.2 million copies were sold. On August 20, a poster circulated online said that sales had exceeded 5 million copies (estimated sales exceeded 1 billion yuan), completely breaking the pre-sale record for domestic games.

Luckin Coffee’s new co-branded products were sold out before they were even launched online - Luckin Coffee’s “Tengyun Americano”, paired with the “Black Myth: Wukong” paper bag and cup sleeve, sold out overnight. Even Luckin’s management exclaimed that male purchasing power subverted the team’s cognition.

There are four versions of the game: a digital standard edition priced at 268 yuan, a digital deluxe edition priced at 328 yuan, a physical deluxe edition priced at 820 yuan, and a physical collector's edition priced at 1998 yuan.

According to official sales channels, all physical versions are currently sold out.

Many companies even gave their employees holidays and reimbursed the cost of purchasing games, just to experience the game first. Currently, major game bloggers have also started live broadcasts, and related topics have instantly become popular searches.

Why is this game so popular?

People who play games and those who don't play games are discussing it heatedly, not only because it has a cultural background that only Chinese people can understand, but also because if you are a Chinese, the sight of the Monkey King facing Erlang Shen, the Four Heavenly Kings, and thousands of heavenly soldiers will evoke deep memories.

Source: Game Screen

The specific game world view of "Black Myth: Wukong" is based on "Journey to the West". It tells the story of the player playing the role of "the man of destiny" who embarks on a journey to the west full of dangers and surprises in order to explore the truth of the legend of the past.

More importantly, it is China's first truly domestically produced 3A game. Simply put, 3A games are games with high development costs, long development cycles, and high resource consumption.

Founder Feng Ji said, "We use the world's leading 'Unreal 5' development engine, which can achieve movie-level image quality for both static lighting and dynamic special effects." For example, in the game's prologue, the oppressive Four Heavenly Kings confront Sun Wukong, perfectly reproducing the description in the original "Journey to the West" that "yellow wind rolled and covered the sky in darkness, and purple mist billowed and covered the ground in darkness."

Overseas gaming media Siliconera praised it: "It is very gorgeous, and it is an interesting and exciting re-imagining of East Asia's most popular mythology."

Zhao Xuan, secretary general of the Zhejiang Game Industry Association, said that this was a milestone for Chinese games to go global. "Gamers around the world voted with their hands, proving that Chinese games have the ability to break the long-term monopoly of European and American companies in the high-end game field."

02 Behind the 3A masterpiece, there is more than just hard work

The entrepreneurial story of Feng Ji, CEO of Game Science, is comparable to a very difficult journey to obtain Buddhist scriptures.

Ten years ago, Feng Ji, who was the chief planner of Tencent's PC online game "Douluo Dalu", left Tencent and founded the current Game Science with his old colleagues, deciding to make 3A games.

3A games were only made abroad in the past because they take so long to develop and cost so much. No domestic company could make them, because domestic game companies generally prefer to make pay-to-win mobile games, which are cheaper and more profitable. For a long time, people could only experience foreign cultural scenes and characters when playing 3A games.

But now there are finally some Chinese games that are making a strong push, using the world's language and telling Chinese stories. The biggest hurdle is spending money.

Feng Ji Source: Xinhuanet "Sound of Advancement"

As the first 3A game developed in China, how difficult was the development of "Black Myth: Wukong"? It took more than four years. Feng Ji, the founder of Game Science, once revealed that the hourly development cost of this game is estimated to be between 15 million and 20 million yuan, and the entire development cost is at least between 300 million and 400 million yuan.

Of course, the support of capital is indispensable behind the burning of money.

In terms of shareholders, there are two major game manufacturers behind Game Science - Tianjin Hero Financial Holdings Technology Co., Ltd., which holds a 19% stake, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of game manufacturer Hero Entertainment, while Tencent holds a 5% stake through its venture capital platform Guangxi Tencent Venture Capital Co., Ltd.

Some people estimate that Tencent's investment in Game Science is likely to exceed 200 million yuan, and this time Tencent also gave the "Three No Principles" - promising not to interfere with business decisions, not to seize the lead in projects, not to seek distribution and operation, and even stated that it "will not pursue commercial returns" in investing in Game Science.

In addition, Tianyancha data shows that the current actual controller of Shenzhen Youke Interactive Technology Co., Ltd. is Feng Ji, who holds 38.76% of the shares, Shenzhen Youke Interactive Enterprise Management Center holds 27.36% of the shares, and Shenzhen Youke R&D Enterprise Management Center holds 9.88% of the shares. The equity penetration chart shows that the actual controllers of the above two major shareholders are Zheng Runzong and Feng Ji.

From a realistic perspective, Tencent's investment is at least not wasted. Before the game was officially launched, the official account of Black Myth had over 3.4 million fans on Bilibili, with popularity and traffic comparable to national level.

According to the latest weekly sales chart of the Steam platform released by Valve (August 6 to 13, 2024), "Black Myth: Wukong" ranked first in Steam's global weekly sales, and the pre-sale sales of the game reached 390 million yuan. As word of mouth spreads, it is estimated that there will be greater room for growth in the future.

03 Controversy is also a better start

From the moment it was born, "Black Myth: Wukong" has been fraught with countless controversies.

Abroad, there are controversies about the lack of female characters in the film, and at home, some people question whether it is "consuming classics" and "selling feelings."

It is precisely because of these controversies that it has gained unprecedented attention. An American blogger lamented, "This is the first time I have seen a game that can make players all over the world spontaneously study every page and every inscription." It even prompted many foreigners to spontaneously study "Journey to the West."

However, the premise of all this is that the product is king. "Just because you carry the label of national style doesn't mean you have a 'golden ticket'," Feng Ji said in an interview. "You should tread carefully."

At present, the experience of "Black Myth: Wukong" is quite good. Some players who have experienced it said that whether it is the smoothness of the battle scenes, the delicateness of the character movements, the graphics and music, they are no less than the foreign masterpieces they have played before. The combination of traditional Chinese style and modern aesthetics makes people who don’t know think they are watching a big-budget movie.

However, some bloggers who have tried the game in advance said that it has some flaws, such as occasional frame drops and lags, and there is room for improvement, but they are just nitpicking and the overall score is still high. IGN China, the world's top game review media, even gave it a high score of 10 points, saying that it is a masterpiece.

Games of the highest level represent a country's game production level and the best cultural propaganda. It can only be said that the fact that the creative team can produce works of this quality despite the lack of 3A production experience is worthy of praise in itself.

Author: July