‘Black Myth: Goku’ global hit
Why ‘Goku’ is attracting attention
The first AAA game produced with an investment of 75 billion won
Popular reviews for gorgeous graphics, storytelling, and action
21 million copies sold within two months of release, ‘high-flying performance’
21% increase in overseas sales in the third quarter… breakthrough role
Current status of Korean console games
Government creates KRW 630 billion fund of funds… interest support
Announcement of plan to foster ‘blue ocean’ console game market
A masterpiece, with development costs of 100 to 300 billion won
Point out that “interest support alone is not enough for development”
The Chinese video game market recorded its highest ever sales in the third quarter in the wake of the success of the role-playing (RPG) game ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ (hereinafter referred to as Wukong). In a report on the 16th, the Game Publishing Committee of the China Music, Video and Digital Publishers Association announced that sales in the Chinese video game market in the third quarter reached an all-time high of 91.8 billion yuan (approximately 17.64 trillion won), up 8.95% from the same period last year. Goku, which sold more than 20 million copies in just two months after its release, is said to have become a new breakthrough in China’s game industry, which was experiencing low growth, driving the largest ever game sales in China.
◆Goku, sales of KRW 1.4 trillion within two months of launch
According to game market research company VG Insight on the 20th, 21 million copies of Goku have been sold so far through the global online game platform Steam. ‘Game Science’ of Hangzhou, China, which developed the game, quickly ranked 12th in the global game company rankings on Steam, with sales of $1 billion (approximately 1.37 trillion won). Even considering that a similar level of marketing cost was invested in development and production costs of approximately 75 billion won, the profit was more than 10 times higher.
Wukong, a third-person action RPG, is China’s first triple-A (AAA) game. Triple A game is a modifier that refers to a masterpiece that sets trends in the gaming market. It is a classification of video games, called for convenience in the gaming industry, and refers to games in which large game companies invest large amounts of production costs to create high-quality games, aiming to sell millions of copies.
Many say that Goku’s success was predicted to some extent. This game was created by a Chinese game company, which is considered a wasteland and graveyard for console games. There were concerns that it was unstable from the initial planning stage, but the excellent graphics and unique combat system revealed through the trailer video are mainly evaluated as a masterpiece console action game. . Overall, it is receiving favorable reviews for its excellent graphics and production, art direction that well expresses oriental beauty, colorful actions, and high-quality boss battles. In particular, understanding of the story was strengthened thanks to the use of the global intellectual property (IP) of Journey to the West. The game deals with the adventures of the protagonist and monkey, One with a Thousand Mandate, to find six pieces of Son Goku’s soul.
On Steam, Goku is getting a positive rate of 93% out of 5.13% of English-language reviews. This means that 9 out of 10 English-speaking users who are familiar with console game masterpieces such as The Last of Us and God of War are positively evaluating Wukong, which was made in China.
◆ Serving as a breakthrough in the low-growth Chinese gaming industry The biggest reason why Tok Tok Goku’s success is attracting attention is because it served as a breakthrough for the Chinese gaming industry, which has recently entered a low-growth industry. In 2022, China’s mobile game sales recorded 193.058 billion yuan, a 14.4% decrease for the first time since 2014, and the number of mobile game users decreased by 0.2% from the previous year to 654 million.
There was a lack of explosive new products that could drive the growth of the local game industry, and the Chinese online game market tended to focus on updating and operating games preferred by existing users and be cautious about launching new products due to problems such as a decrease in market size and excessive competition. Because.
However, some say that the emergence of this console game, Goku, has breathed new vitality into the stagnant Chinese game market. Thanks to Goku, overseas sales of Chinese games in the third quarter were recorded at $5.17 billion (approximately KRW 7.093 trillion), a 21% jump from the same period last year.
In particular, it served as a catalyst for the surge in popularity of console games in China. Wukong’s main platform, PlayStation 5, doubled in sales compared to the same period last year and ranked first on Alibaba’s gaming device list. This is because Black Myth Goku is not compatible with PlayStation 4, so you need Sony’s latest console game console, PlayStation 5, to play this game.
Our government has also introduced various support measures to advance the entry of console games, which have emerged as a blue ocean in the global game market, but it is too late. Last May, the government emphasized strengthening the development of console games through the comprehensive game industry promotion plan. However, if you look at the reality, it is evaluated as poor. The government plans to support the production of games using major IPs such as Korean webtoons and dramas. To this end, it has created a fund of 630 billion won this year and earmarked 25 billion won and 5 billion won for completion guarantee and interest support, respectively.
However, in the case of globally recognized console games, development costs of approximately 100 billion to 300 billion won are spent, so the government’s console game development policy is evaluated as complacent. In the case of this Black Myth Goku, a development period of about 6 years and a development cost of 400 million yuan (about 75 billion won) were spent. The Last of Us Part 2 cost approximately 290 billion won, and God of War Ragnarok cost 270 billion won. This is why some say that annual interest support of 5 billion won is not enough to develop a proper AAA game.
Reporter Kim Geon-ho [email protected]
ⓒ Eyes to see the world, Segye Ilbo
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