{"id":15787,"date":"2024-09-05T10:37:14","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T08:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/05\/how-black-myth-wukong-put-chinas-games-industry-under-the-microscope\/"},"modified":"2024-09-05T10:37:14","modified_gmt":"2024-09-05T08:37:14","slug":"how-black-myth-wukong-put-chinas-games-industry-under-the-microscope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/05\/how-black-myth-wukong-put-chinas-games-industry-under-the-microscope\/","title":{"rendered":"How Black Myth: Wukong put China\u2019s games industry under the microscope"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s newsletter: Fuelled by a backdrop of sexist culture, alarming censorship guidelines and \u2018anti-woke\u2019 ire, the summer\u2019s biggest hit has become a lightning rod in the video game culture wars<\/p>\n

\u2022 Don\u2019t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Chinese game called Black Myth: Wukong has been the biggest hit of the summer, selling 10m copies in just three days, according to its developer Game Science, with over 1 million people playing it every day on games marketplace Steam. China\u2019s homegrown games industry is absolutely massive, but concentrated almost entirely on mobile phones: this is the country\u2019s first successful blockbuster console and PC game, which makes it very interesting in itself. It\u2019s also a massively successful single-player game arriving on the back of a few high-profile multiplayer flops, which suggests there is still<\/em> more of a market for this kind of adventure than video game execs like to believe.<\/p>\n

But Wukong has been grabbing headlines for other reasons, too. Back in November, IGN put together a report<\/a> compiling crude, vulgar public comments from a number of Game Science staff, some of whom are very well-known in China\u2019s games industry. IGN also spoke to several women who expressed their disappointment and despair over omnipresent sexism in games and in China more broadly. It is a very interesting and well-researched article that doesn\u2019t so much point the finger at Game Science specifically as set it within the context of a bigger Chinese feminist struggle. But of course, it attracted the ire of an increasingly vocal swathe<\/a> of \u201canti-woke\u201d gamers that has found a gathering-place on YouTube and social media, some of whom accused IGN of trying to sabotage Black Myth: Wukong by making things up.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nIn this week\u2019s newsletter: Fuelled by a backdrop of sexist culture, alarming censorship guidelines and \u2018anti-woke\u2019 ire, the summer\u2019s biggest hit has become a lightning rod in the video game culture wars
\n\u2022 Don\u2019t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
\nA Chinese game called Black Myth: Wukong has been the biggest hit of the summer, selling 10m copies in just three days, according to its developer Game Science, with over 1 million people playing it every day on games marketplace Steam. China\u2019s homegrown games industry is absolutely massive, but concentrated almost entirely on mobile phones: this is the country\u2019s first successful blockbuster console and PC game, which makes it very interesting in itself. It\u2019s also a massively successful single-player game arriving on the back of a few high-profile multiplayer flops, which suggests there is still more of a market for this kind of adventure than video game execs like to believe.
\nBut Wukong has been grabbing headlines for other reasons, too. Back in November, IGN put together a report compiling crude, vulgar public comments from a number of Game Science staff, some of whom are very well-known in China\u2019s games industry. IGN also spoke to several women who expressed their disappointment and despair over omnipresent sexism in games and in China more broadly. It is a very interesting and well-researched article that doesn\u2019t so much point the finger at Game Science specifically as set it within the context of a bigger Chinese feminist struggle. But of course, it attracted the ire of an increasingly vocal swathe of \u201canti-woke\u201d gamers that has found a gathering-place on YouTube and social media, some of whom accused IGN of trying to sabotage Black Myth: Wukong by making things up. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s newsletter: Fuelled by a backdrop of sexist culture, alarming censorship guidelines and \u2018anti-woke\u2019 ire, the summer\u2019s biggest hit has become a lightning rod in the video game culture wars \u2022 Don\u2019t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here A Chinese game called Black Myth: Wukong has been the biggest …<\/p>\n

How Black Myth: Wukong put China\u2019s games industry under the microscope<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15787"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}