A Chinese-made game supported by Tencent Holdings Ltd. has quickly climbed to become the fourth most-played title on Steam shortly after its launch, marking a significant achievement in the gaming industry.
Black Myth: Wukong, an action-adventure game based on the legendary Monkey King, attracted over 1.3 million concurrent players on Steam just hours after its global release on Tuesday. This surpasses records set by highly anticipated games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring, according to SteamDB. It even surpassed Dota 2 and Lost Ark in terms of peak player numbers on Steam worldwide.
This rapid rise in player count on its first day may indicate a positive turn for China’s gaming industry, which has faced regulatory challenges in recent years. Along with Tencent’s DnF Mobile, NetEase Inc.’s Naraka: Bladepoint, and indie studio Mihoyo’s ZZZ, summer has seen a flurry of major game releases.
The launch of Wukong has garnered attention as it was developed solely by local studio Game Science, in contrast to many Tencent-backed titles. Tencent has an investment in Game Science and manages the game’s publication in China on its WeGame platform, a Steam-like service not tracked by SteamDB.
Available on Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation 5 as well, Wukong features intense combat reminiscent of FromSoftware’s challenging Dark Souls series. With development starting in 2018, the game is seen as China’s most serious attempt at creating a high-budget PC-console blockbuster with global appeal, unlike previous successes primarily in the mobile gaming sector like Mihoyo’s Genshin Impact.
Major Chinese review sites, including IGN China, gave Wukong a perfect 10 before its release. Global reviewers also provided positive reviews, noting some minor gameplay and translation issues.
The founders of Game Science, including Feng Ji, previously worked at Tencent before establishing their own studio. Tencent acquired a 5% stake in the company in 2021, as per corporate records on Qichacha.
