Black Myth: Wukong is already one of the fastest-selling games of all time, moving almost as many units in one week as Elden Ring and Cyberpunk did in their first months
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.
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.
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.
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.
Every middle schooler for the last 30 years has pitched "pokemon with guns" as a game idea, the first one to do it half-decently was bound to be popular
Pokemon with guns thing made it go viral and so people tried it. It got a LOT of free advertising. Apparently it is also a good game in and of itself too, I've never played it, but the impression I get is that while it's a bit rough around the edges it does accomplish some neat stuff that isn't in other games the same way
great shit post concept over the top of arks gameplay, which was already a pretty big splash. it's actually such a win considering the developers are a pretty small scale and humble team
The devs are your typical misogynist bro types (“we don’t need female gamers!”) that unfortunately reflects the broader cultural brainrot on the Chinese internet, especially the g*mer type.
But the game itself is gorgeous and incredibly well made for a first time developer. Not to mention that literally every Chinese person is well familiar with the stories from the Journey to the West - a cultural foothold that has persisted for nearly a thousand years! You learn about the stories from local folklores, reading materials in schools, visual narration from TV shows, memes and jokes on the internet. It’s pervasive and so so deeply ingrained in the Chinese cultural sphere, that the game was already half successful simply from the source material alone lol!
The original JTTW sure was. There was one chapter where 2 of the 4 male main characters drink water from a magic river, get pregnant, and they have to do a whole ass quest to get those two a magic abortion. It's beautiful.
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
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.
I heard that supposedly the fitgirl post was completely fabricated and she never posted anything saying that. Might wanna check that but I remember coming across a post saying it was fake. Although that could be fake. Maybe its all fake? Maybe hexbear is fake?
yeah, just learning this too but it seems there is no evidence it was a real post. she does have some wack opinions but that may have been totally fabricated
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
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.
Honestly I think it's just the visuals resonating here in the US. It's a really beautiful game to look at, and the Chinese art and architecture and landscapes aren't something you see very much in western games.