‘Black Myth: Wukong’ breaks records on its release day

Chinese video game ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ on Tuesday became the single-player video game with the highest number of simultaneous players on Steam on the day of its launch.

This record surpasses, by a wide margin, any other title of the same genre in the history of the digital platform, a global leader in video game distribution that allows users to buy, download and play titles on their computers.

Furthermore, at the time of publication of this article, it was already the fourth video game with the most simultaneous players in the history of Steam, with almost 1.45 million people, surpassing titles such as ‘Elder Ring’, ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ or ‘Dota 2’.

Officially launched on August 20, ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ has quickly become a global trend, standing out as the most talked-about topic on Weibo and Baidu – similar to X and Google, respectively, both censored in China – as well as one of the global trends on the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Developed by Game Science, the title is a single-player action role-playing game inspired by Chinese mythology, specifically the classic work ‘Journey to the West’.

The game cost around 400 million yuan ($56 million, €51 million) to develop, and three million copies would need to be sold at 268 yuan for the standard edition ($37.50, €33.80) and 328 yuan for the digital deluxe edition ($45.80, €41.40) to recoup that investment.

Despite some initial issues reported by players during the game’s installation, reception has been mostly positive, with IGN China giving it a perfect score of 10 out of 10.

Several companies in the Asian giant, such as Muziyang and Gamera Game, gave their employees days off to enjoy the video game, while one of its producers urged “playing in moderation.”

The popularity of the game has also had a significant impact on the stock market, with shares such as those of Huayi Brothers, which is involved in the development of the title, registering a 20% increase on the Shenzhen stock exchange, where it is listed.

The success of this title could influence the video game industry in China, encouraging the creation of more AAA games, which are high-budget, high-quality productions, comparable to major film productions.