Breaking Down Barriers: How Black Myth: Wukong is Redefining China's Gaming Industry

The release of Black Myth: Wukong in August marked a significant milestone for China's gaming industry, with the game reaching a record-breaking 2.4 million concurrent players and becoming the top-grossing game across multiple markets for the month. Developed by China-based studio Game Science, Black Myth: Wukong is an anomaly in the Chinese gaming landscape, as it is a single-player title available only on PC and PlayStation 5, whereas many games developed in China are free-to-play with gacha mechanics. According to a report by business research firm Niko Partners, China's gaming industry is expected to continue growing rapidly, with 715.9 million gamers in 2023 and an expected rise to 722.5 million in 2024 and 747.9 million by 2028. The Chinese video game market is also expected to generate an annual revenue of $49.8 billion this year, with mobile games accounting for 68.7% of the revenue, followed by 28.4% for PC and 2.9% for consoles. We spoke with several industry experts and developers from China to gain insight into the significance of Black Myth: Wukong's success and whether it will lead to a shift in business strategies for studios and publishers. Our respondents include Steven Wu, former head of Tencent's NEXT Studio Shenzhen and Tencent Games global publishing, who now helms Emina Studio, which is currently working on ACE Strategy, a mecha-inspired trading card game. We also spoke with Simon Zhu, founder of the China Independent Game Alliance (CIGA), the largest indie game organization in China, and Jingwei 'Biaoge' Fang, producer of Shenzhou Saga: Three Kingdoms, an upcoming strategy role-playing game inspired by Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The success of Black Myth: Wukong, a game that showcases Chinese culture and traditions, raises questions about the importance of presenting Chinese culture to a global audience. Steven Wu believes that as a studio, it is exciting to see Black Myth: Wukong doing well worldwide, and for ACE Strategy, the game reflects the team's understanding of sci-fi, mecha, and space exploration themes from around the world. Simon Zhu thinks that the general idea among Chinese developers is to integrate cultural elements in a way that feels natural, allowing players to see the developers' interpretation and expression of Chinese culture. Jingwei 'Biaoge' Fang believes that showcasing Chinese cultural traditions is important in his game, and he wants to continue promoting Chinese culture and stories. The success of a single-player game like Black Myth: Wukong may represent a shift in the Chinese gaming industry, where more studios focus on single-player or premium games instead of free-to-play titles. Steven Wu believes that larger companies are already motivated by Black Myth: Wukong's success and will start supporting more premium projects, perhaps not a full shift, but one that focuses on large-budget titles. Simon Zhu thinks that replicating the success of Black Myth: Wukong is challenging, and leading game companies have projects that may resemble AA or AAA titles, but these are still free-to-play due to exorbitant development costs. Jingwei 'Biaoge' Fang believes that more Western players will gradually come to appreciate Eastern stories, and vice versa, and that the key to success lies in providing high-quality and unique experiences. When it comes to breaking into Western markets, Chinese studios and developers face challenges such as understanding platform policies, building media connections, localization, and payment systems. Steven Wu thinks that breaking into any new market comes with challenges, and his team wondered about the level of quality that is good enough for Western players used to AAA titles and blockbuster films. Simon Zhu believes that China is still at a stage where breaking into the international market comes with massive costs, and there is an information gap regarding Western users' behaviors and habits. The success of free-to-play gacha games such as Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves raises questions about the viability of gacha mechanics and whether there is a middle ground. Steven Wu believes that both premium and free-to-play models focus on providing high-quality and unique experiences, and that developers need to earn a living, and both models can be healthy and sustainable providing that there is a clear boundary on commercial systems. Simon Zhu thinks that gacha mechanics can be player-friendly, and features such as a pity mechanism and opportunities to earn more draws through in-game events can enhance player satisfaction. Jingwei 'Biaoge' Fang believes that when a game can provide stat curve upgrades that are worth the cost of gacha draws, there is a theoretical perfect equilibrium, and that developers can ensure that the gacha mechanics can meet the expectation of most paid players by refining gacha mechanics according to purchasing behaviors. Some companies have released free-to-play gacha games before launching single-player premium titles, and Steven Wu believes that companies making free-to-play games can benefit from their market-driven, data-focused approach, especially after gaining years of experience running multiplayer games. Simon Zhu thinks that the investment required when making a free-to-play game is higher than that of a premium, paid game, and that developing a premium game carries an inherent risk. Jingwei 'Biaoge' Fang believes that the Shenzhou Saga team is still a relative newcomer in the industry, and that they first need to make sure their game succeeds before pursuing more ambitious plans.