China’s first AAA game Black Myth: Wukong has both fans and brands excited

Unlike other major Chinese titles, Black Myth is one of the first to spend years in development with much of its large budget going toward advanced graphics for computer and console gaming – a classification known as AAA. Two years after development started, Game Science first unveiled a 13-minute demo reel in 2020, attracting widespread attention for its fluid combat scenes and cinematic visuals. Earlier this month, the studio released its final pre-launch trailer, generating more buzz and racking up more than 14 million views on the Chinese streaming site Bilibili and 1 million on YouTube.

Gamers have praised the combat and visuals of Black Myth: Wukong. Photo: Game Science

“I’ve played a lot of games since I was a kid, but most of them were based on Western culture, so I’m very excited to finally be able to play a game purely based on Chinese culture,” said Eric Wu, a sophomore at Guangzhou University. Wu bought the game for Sony’s PlayStation 5 on June 8, the first day of pre-orders.

Wu added that he is looking forward to the combat and monster designs, as well as the graphics and art style based on traditional Chinese culture.

“As a video game fan, I can’t wait to play and show my support to the first home-made AAA video game,” said Ors Xing, a student at the City University of Macau.

“Last year, I already watched the demo reels, and I’ve read a few other views of the title,” said Xing, who bought the game on Steam in June. “All of them make me feel confident about this home-made game.”

With years of brewing excitement, the game has found willing corporate partners such as Luckin Coffee, a local Starbucks competitor that this week started offering drinks with special handbags and promotional gift cards. Luckin’s announcement on the microblogging platform Weibo garnered more than 396,000 likes and more than 5,400 comments.

Didi Bike, the bike-sharing service from China’s ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, said it is also cooperating with Game Science on a batch of specially decorated bikes featuring elements from Black Myth. Didi also made its announcement on Weibo, but did not specify when or where these bikes will be available.

Personal computer maker Lenovo is the global partner for the game through its gaming PC brand Legion. It is offering special-edition desktops and laptops with a design based on the game to coincide with its release this week.

As of Monday, Black Myth had received 54 reviews from professional game reviewers, earning a score of 82 on Metacritic, a review aggregator. That places it among the top-ranked Chinese games of all time, which are often free-to-play titles that derive revenue from the sale of in-game items, such as miHoYo’s Genshin Impact and Tencent Holdings’ PUBG Mobile.

Black Myth follows the more traditional business model for AAA games, selling for US$60 on Steam in the US. The best-ranked AAA titles on Metacritic are still from Western and Japanese firms, such as FromSoftware’s Elden Ring and Nintedo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which both have scores of 96.

Since development started, Black Myth has been the subject of some controversy. Social media posts from the CEO and developers at Game Science containing misogynistic remarks circulated online, drawing backlash from gaming communities when reported by IGN, one of the biggest video game news websites based in the US.

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