Promotional image for ‘Black Myth: Wukong’.
“DO NOT include political commentary or feminist propaganda. DO NOT use words like ‘quarantine’, or ‘covid-19’. DO NOT talk about China’s video game industry.” The Chinese action video game Black Myth: Wukong It is an absolute success. It went on sale on August 19 and in two weeks it reached 18 million units sold. The reviews have been very favorable, it has become the game with the second most simultaneous players (more than two million) in the history of the Steam digital store, and nobody would be surprised if at the end of the year it was the best-selling game. And yet, since its release it has been the protagonist of one of the most heated digital controversies of the year due to the requests that the game’s developer, Game Science, included to those who sent the game in advance. A controversy that has fueled the debate on state control and self-censorship in the entertainment industry in China and its impact on creativity and diversity of opinions in the cultural world.
“China has sensitivities that are not ours. To a large extent, it is a mystery,” says Pedro Antonio González Calero, director of the master’s degree in video game development at the Complutense University of Madrid. “From the world of Western video games, it gives the impression that it is the holy grail, but that it is very difficult to enter there.” The expert breaks down the data: the United States and China are almost tied in terms of video game revenue (about 45 billion euros in 2023), but China wins by a landslide in terms of the number of players: more than 700 million. González Calero believes that “at the business and political level, which are not so far apart there, there is a desire to internationalize their products.” The best example is Tencent, the Chinese technological titan, which has investments in more than 600 companies around the world (several in Spain) and is behind some of the most famous games in the world, such as League of Legends, PUBG o ValuingGonzález Calero is organizing the Guerrilla Game Festival, which this year will be held in Madrid on November 21 and 22, with China as its guest country.
In the world of video games, journalists or influencers They usually accept slogans when receiving the games for the reviews that are published before the game goes on sale. A made-up but rational example: it could not be said that, in a video game Star Warsthe final enemy is Darth Vader, to safeguard the surprise. Critics and influencers They accept these limitations in order to respect the work, and in more extreme cases, NDAs (non disclosure agreements) are signed, which sometimes include fines if they are not respected. The relevance of this would be the subject of another article, but these are the rules by which the video game press operates.
The fact is that in Wukonga game whose developers have not bothered too much to present in the West, the restrictions for influencers who received the game in advance included: “DO NOT insult influencers and players. DO NOT use offensive language”, so far so good; but it continued: “DO NOT include political commentary, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that instigates negative discourse. DO NOT use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’, ‘isolation’, or ‘covid-19’. DO NOT talk about content related to the policies, opinions, news, etc. of China’s gaming industry.” That is, the game, a work of entertainment, prohibited in the West to talk about Chinese politics, make references to the coronavirus and China’s management of it, or include “feminist propaganda”. Prestigious media such as Forbes or BBC confirmed the credibility of this document. When the BBC talked about the subject, the Chinese newspaper Global Times He accused him of tarnishing the success of Wukong and they included it in a plot to discredit China.
“China is a difficult market,” says Victor Cerezo, professor of the master’s degree in video game design at the U-tad university centre. “It is a market that has been closed and is very focused on mobile phones, because players have had many restrictions when it comes to buying consoles. Although there is a very powerful parallel market.”
The Black Myth: Wukong guidelines for content creators have apparently leaked online.
Streamers who agree to use a game key are not allowed to include politics, feminist propaganda, China’s game industry policies or trigger words as COVID-19 & quarantine. pic.twitter.com/TMGsNLjVIG
— MauroNL (@MauroNL3) August 17, 2024
“They have been, mainly, mobile and computer players. It is a tremendous market, but one that is very difficult to access. Most of the studios that have tried to enter China need the link of a Chinese company,” explains Cerezo, who is also a game designer senior at Electronics Arts. This Chinese company, with which foreign video game studios must form alliances, acts as a cultural guide, but also as a tacit blessing from the Chinese government, which controls what type of company enters its market.
Courtesy does not mean courage; the expert also points out that the country “has a lot of creative potential. There are people with a lot of talent, many of the best artists in the sector are Chinese and many Western video game companies subcontract Chinese companies, because they are fast and excellent.” “But not everything is worth it,” he adds: “You have to be in this century, understand European or American sensibilities.”
China’s flirtation with interference in artistic creation is not new. In 2019, it forced some of the largest video game companies, such as Tencent, NetEase or miHoYo, to limit the inclusion of “effeminate” male characters. The government was then convinced that video games were behind the country’s drop in birth rates at the time. It was argued then that the measure was established to “seek profit and not include violent or obscene content, such as the cult of money or effeminacy.” Over the years, similar examples of positions that clash with Western morality have been repeated. Without leaving Game Science, the developer of Wukongthe company already came into the spotlight last November The specialized media IGN published a report with the degrading and sexist comments that some of the programmers had made publicly over the years.
A moment from a ‘Wukong’ fight.
Regarding the controversy surrounding the game, Cerezo explains: “It is sad that, after the controversy, they have not even made a statement to try to explain or smooth things over. I know a lot of people who have not bought the game because of all this that has happened.” In other words, China is very cautious about what enters its market, but not so much about what leaves. Nevertheless, Cerezo believes that China is an “unstoppable power.” “If they manage to not only adapt, but realize that what they do is powerful, they will be unstoppable.”
What Cherry pointed out about the mobile phone market is key and shows that China’s weight in the video game market is growing. June has arrived in Europe Honor of Kingsthe world’s most successful mobile game, distributed precisely by Tencent. In 2023, it became the highest-grossing game of the year, generating a whopping €1.425 billion. To put it in context, the second most successful mobile game was the shooter PUBG, which generated €1.17 billion. An unquestionable success, but 25% less, a figure that reaches its full informative weight when you know that Honor of Kings solo was played in China. That is to say, isolated or not, the preeminence of the Chinese market is undeniable.
“We will continue to explore and experiment in the global market as well,” two of the creators of the game said this week. Honor of Kings to EL PAÍS. Since June, Honor of Kings has achieved 50 million downloads. Wukongsurely, will be the best-selling console and PC video game of the year worldwide. Whether you like it or not, China’s gaming potential has left its country. And it has come to the West to stay.
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