Black Myth: Wukong’s first week of sales numbers are in, and they firmly inhabit “Don’t take a big sip of coffee before you look at them” territory. 10 million units sold, which, as industry analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out on X, “The Everything App,” is a record-breaking performance that leaves some of the biggest releases of the past few years in the dust.

For perspective, here are some comparative numbers:

  • Hogwarts Legacy: 15 million in three months
  • Elden Ring: 13 million in one month
  • Cyberpunk 2077: 13.7 million in one month
  • Baldur’s Gate 3: 20+ million in five months
  • Helldivers 2: 12 million in three months

The only game that comes close is Palworld’s 19 million players in two weeks, a mark that Black Myth: Wukong seems on track to surpass. It’s a sales figure that lines up with Wukong having leapfrogged the competition to be the #2 most-played game in Steam’s history by concurrent players. Before that, it was also the most wishlisted game on the platform after The Day Before met its ignominious end.

  • ShinkanTrain
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    77
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    I, for one, welcome Chinese devs doing less anime gacha shit and more good videogames.

    RETVRN to traditional videogames

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        3 months ago

        Garbage, even garbage with brand recognition, doesn’t always ensure sales. Plenty of licensed tie-ins of movies and books crash and burn because they suck. That game also sucks, but I suppose there was some sort of wagon-circling massed treat defense to own the wokes or whatever.

        • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          24
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          I still think the longterm effect of this event has negatively harmed the franchise and jk. You see people talk about it often, how they’ve put their books away, how they now find it difficult to enjoy the franchise and not think about those things whenever they hear about it.

          The chuds might circle the wagons to do damage mitigation but they won’t last, and the damage will play out. That little seed planted in the hearts of every lib grows over time.

    • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      3 months ago

      My personal tinfoil hat theory is that this game was meant as a way to test if the Harry Potter franchise was still commercially viable, like Shadows of the Empire was for the Star Wars franchise in the 90s (except that one has been confirmed, of course). It’s speculation, of course, but considering how badly the second Fantastic Beasts movie did, it’d make sense for them to go after the millennial nostalgia market.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        If “Ready Player One” was more successful as a movie, I think late Xer-early millennial nostalgia of the “remember this? Remember that?!” bazinga kind would have stuck around like a particularly stubborn wart even moreso than it is now.

        • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          23
          ·
          3 months ago

          I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve read parts of the book, and it’s incredibly funny to me that they had to make the references more recent because the people who’d be nostalgic for 80s pop culture were too old when the movie came out.

          • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            15
            ·
            3 months ago

            I saw the book at the store and thought the cover looked neat, so I picked it up to skim a few pages. Holy fuck was the writing bad. I chuckled and threw it back on the shelf.

            I was taken completely by surprise to later learn it was a bestseller and being made into a movie. “50 Shades of Grey” for 30-somethings.

            • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              6
              ·
              3 months ago

              Looking back, it’s easy to see why it was a hit: it was slop for slop hogs. It said “what if bibeo bame, and knowing a lot of useless bibeo bame and nostalgia trivia means you eventually win the sex trophy and become the billionaire ruler of a dying planet?” so-true

                • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  3 months ago

                  The sequel book is worse than both though. It’s horrifying, creepy, loaded with narcissistic excess and “poor me I’m too awesome, the poors are jealous NPCs” jagoff moments, lots of mind control/manipulation sex predator antics shown as “good”, and has a “happy ending” that’s very epsteingelion coded.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        3 months ago

        I wonder how many of those buyers were, ironically, “virtue signaling” their devotion and loyalty to their nostalgia treat.

  • neo [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    3 months ago

    It apparently uses Denuvo and I have decided I will never purchase a Denuvo-DRMed game ever again. My last one was Doom Eternal.

  • Absolute@lemmygrad.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    3 months ago

    This game looks great and I wanna play it but its $90 where I live, gonna have to wait a year or two for sale

  • check DODI because fitgirl is a Zionist

    First thing on the page is a picture of the cover

    It’s a link to the trailer

    Remember it’s devuno

    Check the one person who can crack it right now

    Cw empress)

    Explanation Regard My Upcoming MMO Game Server Concept :

    my goal from this is to make a powerful game server that can handle a lot of players, and customize it to fit our plans and needs. currently, it’s all still work-in-progress. this is why the “NEW CULT” will soon open, as a “Bridge” to this game server plan. ————————————— this MMO is going to be our “FUTURE”, because i am developing the server in a way that will make it your “LIFE” there. my vision is that as we progress into making the server ready, the telegram cult will serve more as a “base” in a general sense, while the game server will become our “main” way of our daily meetings & interactions.

    firstly we will integrate most of my telegram activities inside the game, with even periodic “times” and “locations” for things like daily philosophies/live piano/stories/etc. PLUS, many fresh & exciting activities by making use of the game’s mechanics, which will be revealed later.

    secondly, i am planning to make “Ranking” system within the game universe, which also connects to your telegram roles.

    rankings will be as follows :

    • King/Queen
    • Prince/Princess
    • Duke/Duchess
    • Admiral
    • Captain
    • Commander
    • Elite [not final and changes to the list could occur later]

    to earn higher rankings, it all depends on you and your capabilities. it goes from basic things such as “playtime”, to “pvp battles”, “dungeon mastery”, or “special events scores”, and much more.

    Forget about DENUVO games, this will be your new long sticking addiction. not only because it will be the most realistic and engaging way of “interactions” between everyone, but also because you will finally get a “LEGIT” way to learn some REAL reverse engineering from me directly inside the game. i will be making periodic lessons from time to time available to those with “certain ranks” and pass certain “Conditions”. so naturally only the “BEST” will get such honor, as it should be.

    thirdly :

    —want to be a BETA TESTER ?, sure. make sure to defeat some of my highest ranked guards in PVP, and you got it.

    —want a HINT on the next release?, sure. maybe if you can defeat me personally in PVP i will tell you, and so on. the ideas never end.

    *AND… since i fully developing the server myself and own it, the game universe will be uncensored haven for me, and we can easily say this will bring my “NFOs” to the NEXT LEVEL, which i am sure you all cannot wait for. AND especially because there are many removeds that i will be WIPING THE FLOOR WITH, soon enough.

    Last but not least :

    later onward, i actually may end up with a helping hand in the future for my work, and then we can strike a powerful partnership in destroying evil and doing greatness, all while conquering dungeons and bosses within the game as a side quest! 🔥

    She’s now developing a new scam game. Jesus Christ.

  • Thallo [love/loves]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    3 months ago

    Where are the sales coming from? I would guess the majority are coming from within China?

    I guess I’m just surprised that a Wukong game would be such a hit with westerners, especially in the very saturated soulslike genre. I also haven’t seen anyone say anything about the game other than “it’s a soulslike”, so I’m wondering what’s resonating

    • AstroStelar [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      3 months ago

      The primary driver of Wukong’s sales success is its popularity in China, where developer Game Science is based. Games industry analyst firm Niko has an in-depth article by Daniel Ahmad breaking this down. 93% of Wukong’s Steam reviews are in simplified Chinese, and Steam shattered its previous download bandwidth record (set during Cyberpunk’s launch) by a whopping 28 terabytes per second on Wukong’s August 20 launch⁠—82% of that traffic originated in East Asia. Gameplay videos and previews of Wukong have also been dominating Chinese social networks like bilibili.

  • P1d40n3 [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    3 months ago

    The only reason I haven’t joined the Black Myth bandwagon is that I HATE RPG elements in videogames. How bad are those elements in this game?

  • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    The only game that comes close is Palworld’s 19 million players in two weeks

    Somehow i’m not surprised that slavery and exploitation simulator with cutesy packaging being advertised by their devs as slavery and exploitation simulator get so popular