The domestic 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" will be officially launched on August 20, 2024, but starting a week ago, "Black Myth: Wukong" has set off a "Journey to the West frenzy" around the world.
Sales reached the top and the physical version was sold out... How popular is "Black Myth: Wukong"?
Although it has not been officially launched yet, discussions about "Black Myth: Wukong" have been going on for many days. Recently, many professional game evaluation agencies and bloggers who have been given the opportunity to evaluate the game have been full of praise for the game, raising players' expectations straight up.
According to statistics from Metacritic, the authoritative global game rating platform, as of August 19, the average score of a certain game work from 54 global media reached 82 points, showing that the work is highly recognized in the industry. It is particularly worth mentioning that the authoritative rating agency IGN China gave the game a full score, praising it as a milestone in the Chinese game industry and having the ability to compete with top games in the global market.
This high expectation has also been fully reflected in the game's sales. According to the latest weekly sales list of the Steam platform released by Valve (the time range is from August 6 to 13, 2024), the game successfully topped the Steam global weekly sales champion, and was sold in the United States, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, Brazil, and Italy. It leads sales in 12 regions around the world, demonstrating its strong market influence and player base.
According to the official website of "Black Myth: Wukong", the game has been launched in four versions, including the digital standard version priced at 268 yuan, the digital deluxe version at 328 yuan, the physical deluxe version at 820 yuan, and the physical version at 1,998 yuan. Collector's Edition to meet the needs of different players. According to information learned from official sales channels, all physical versions have been sold out, showing players' extremely high enthusiasm and pursuit of the game.
In addition, "Black Myth: Wukong" has also successfully attracted many brands to cooperate in joint marketing. Among them, the joint cooperation with Luckin Coffee is particularly eye-catching. This cooperation not only brings a unique gaming experience to players, but also further stimulates players’ enthusiasm for purchasing through limited edition posters, handbags, cup sleeves and other game co-branded products. These joint products sold out quickly after being released, once again proving the strong appeal and market appeal of "Black Myth: Wukong".
Many packages in Luckin stores have "sold out" signs. Unexpectedly, the prices of these peripheral products on the second-hand trading platform have been rising. Some sellers even packaged "cup sleeves and posters" together and sold them for nearly 40 yuan, while the original price of the set was only 25 yuan!
Why is "Black Myth: Wukong" called the "Wandering Earth" in the gaming industry?
AAA-level games refer to huge amounts of money, abundant resources, and long-term investment in the game production process, and fully demonstrate the creator's deep understanding and superb skills of game art. Therefore, it is often regarded as a measure of a game. An important benchmark for the country’s cloud game production capabilities. The domestic 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" is inspired by the Chinese classic "Journey to the West" and has carried the ardent expectations and eager attention of domestic game enthusiasts.
According to Mr. Feng Ji, founder and chief game producer of Game Science Company, the hourly development cost of "Black Myth: Wukong" has exceeded the RMB 20 million mark. In view of the team's pursuit of richness and depth of game content, the overall game duration is expected to exceed 20 hours. Therefore, the total development cost of the game is expected to be as high as 300 to 400 million yuan.
On August 10, Game Science Company officially released the trailer of "Black Myth: Wukong", which is as long as four and a half minutes. The trailer quickly attracted the attention of players with its unique art style and delicate scene modeling. In the trailer, the folds of Sun Wukong's clothes are clearly visible, the patterns on the golden hoop are even more exquisite, and the high-level restoration of ancient buildings is even more breathtaking.
The excellent visual effects displayed by "Black Myth: Wukong" benefit from the team's unremitting pursuit of scene details and extreme polishing. According to public reports, all ancient buildings in the game are derived from the team’s in-depth visits and field investigations to multiple provinces and regions, and have been highly realistically restored in the game. Recently, the Shanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism officially released a promotional video for the game, which vividly presents the real shooting locations in the game, including Xiaoxitian, Jade Emperor Temple, Tiefo Temple and other prestigious cultural monuments.
This game deeply integrates visual scenes rich in Chinese characteristics and China's most classic Journey to the West IP, jointly building its unique cultural elements. If "Black Myth: Wukong" can win widespread praise from players around the world as expected, then this will undoubtedly have far-reaching significance for promoting "cultural export" and improving China's cultural soft power.
It is worth noting that the producer of "Black Myth: Wukong" is not well-known domestic game companies such as Tencent, NetEase, and MiHoYo, but a company called Game Science. Public information shows that Game Science received investment from the game manufacturer Hero Interactive Entertainment in the early stages of its business; and in the middle of project development in 2021, Tencent also invested and obtained 5% of the company's equity. However, even after receiving the investment, Game Science continued to operate independently and its autonomy was not affected in any way. In addition, according to the Financial Associated Press, in 2022 Hero Interactive Entertainment has sold all 19% of the shares of Game Science Company held by its subsidiary, with a transaction amount of up to 480 million yuan. Based on this calculation, the valuation of Game Science Company has exceeded 2.5 billion yuan.
The popular performance of "Black Myth: Wukong" in the game market has attracted widespread attention. A research report released by Minsheng Securities pointed out that the game not only demonstrates the research and development capabilities of Chinese local developers’ globally recognized AAA-level masterpieces, but also marks a new level of China’s game industrialization level. The process of quality improvement in the game industry is accelerating, and the in-depth application of new technologies in content creation has become a key driving force. In addition, as new games are launched one after another, a new product cycle has quietly begun. Therefore, we recommend continuing to pay attention to those game companies with key product reserves.
Guotai Junan also has high hopes for "Black Myth: Wukong". It believes that the game has far-reaching significance for domestic games to enter the international market and spread Chinese culture, and predicts that the attention of the game sector will continue to rise.
CITIC Securities emphasized that the core of games lies in creativity and design. Even highly industrialized AAA games do not entirely rely on labor-intensive production models. Therefore, they predict that game companies with strong R&D capabilities will continue to receive market attention.
From a deeper perspective, the public’s expectations for “Black Myth: Wukong” actually reflect their ardent expectations for the future development of Chinese games. The success of this game will, to a certain extent, affect the enthusiasm of domestic manufacturers to invest in domestic independent games in the future, and is of great significance to the long-term development of the entire game industry.
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