The Significance of Black Myth: Wukong in China - Part 1
On August 20, Black Myth: Wukong, which is highly anticipated by Chinese players, was officially launched. As of noon of the same day, the number of people online at the same time on the computer game platform Steam exceeded 1.4 million, ranking among the top five in the history of Steam and the first in the history of non-online games. As of yesterday, "Black Myth: Wukong" has sold more than 3 million copies on Steam, and combined with Wegame, Epic and PS5 platforms, the total sales volume is now more than 4.5 million copies, with total sales of more than 1.5 billion yuan.
The production of AAA games has long been a blank field in China's game industry, and the public has generally accepted that Black Myth: Wukong is the first 3A game in China, which is a milestone for China's game industry. Aaa games are generally defined as games that are made with "A lot of money", "A lot of resources" and "A lot of time". In China, there have been no domestic games recognized as reaching the 3A level. A game person commented: "Black Myth: Wukong" to the Chinese stand-alone game, like "Wandering Earth 1" to the Chinese science fiction film, "The Three-body Problem" to the Chinese science fiction literature, is a real milestone.
From the definition of AAA games, we can see that these games are extremely demanding. The capital and time investment in the early stage is very large, and the input and output are not necessarily proportional to the future, which is like a big gamble, and the risk is extremely high.
Feng Ji, producer of Black Myth: Wukong, said that the development cost of Black Myth: Wukong is between 15 million yuan and 20 million yuan per hour, and the total development cost is 600 million yuan to 800 million yuan. Game Science was established in 2014, "Black Myth: Wukong" was born in 2017, the first real machine demo video was released in 2020, the new real machine demo was officially announced in 2021, the new 6-minute real machine story demo video was officially announced in 2022, the game was officially approved in China in February 2024, and it was officially unlocked on August 20, 2024. This is a project that lasts at least 6-7 years, compared to the classic GTA5, which burned through $200 million over 5 years of development. 3A masterpiece investment of time, energy, money are very huge, this is a similar to "wandering Earth" slow work out fine work product.
On the other hand, doing this kind of game revenue is not high, few people are willing to invest, or invest in the discovery is not very good and it is not done. Of course, this is closely related to the development of The Times in China. Ten years ago, not many people had the awareness of copyright and knowledge payment, and the degree of economic development was far less than it is now. Now, whether it's movies, video content, or games, the younger generation is willing to pay for what they love. It is not easy to do the original copyright, the consumption of brainpower and energy is countless, only by getting a return, can someone continue to be willing to invest, as a consumer, in order to enjoy higher quality goods and services.
If only feelings, "Black Myth: Wukong" would not be so popular, there must be economic support behind it. "Black Myth: Goku" exploded because the era just developed to this point, and this team was ready first. I believe that there will be more and more game developers to take this route, large investment, high quality, high sales, which is a positive cycle. After all, scarce things can obtain high value, which is a universal truth.
Black Myth: Wukong is a big step in China's 3A game space, not only because the game was made, but also because of the quality of the guarantee.
IGN China gave it a perfect score of 10. In addition, IGN headquarters also gave a high score of 8.0, which is already a high-quality 3A masterpiece. One reviewer said: "Wukong is one of the most beautiful and engaging games I've ever seen... When walking, I drag the Zen stick to make real time indentation on the snow, and all of them are vivid." "The score and sound design are equally outstanding, with deafening drums playing the main melody during the battle and elegant flutes and wind chimes accompanying the exploration of the unknown, creating just the right atmosphere." In addition, gameranx's review: the game is full of surprises, slight flaws can not mask the game's excellence. The IGN headquarters deducted two points, mainly because there are still small bugs in the game, and overseas reviewers do not know the story of Journey to the West, as well as the historical background.
In addition, the refined team is also one of the reasons for quality assurance. By the time the game was released, the company had no more than 150 people. It is not that the more the number of team members, the more guaranteed the quality, the more people, the consultation and discussion will make 70 points of the work out. When the team is refined, it is possible to be more effective like a special forces unit.
