Tencent-Backed ‘Wukong’ Makes Gaming History in First-Day Frenzy

(Bloomberg) -- A Chinese-made game backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. has become the fourth most-played title on Steam within hours of its launch, an unusually rapid ascent that may help seal its place in industry lore.

Black Myth: Wukong, an action-adventure title based on the antics of the fabled Monkey King, garnered more than 1.3 million concurrent players on Steam shortly after its global debut Tuesday. That surpassed records set by much-hyped titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring, according to data tracker SteamDB. It overtook fifth-ranked Dota 2 and then Lost Ark by that metric, which measures the peak number of people playing the game on Steam, at any given time around the world.

A strong first-day performance may help shore up expectations that China’s $40 billion-plus gaming arena is rounding a corner, after years of incessant regulatory scrutiny. This summer marked an unusually busy pipeline of major debuts, including Tencent’s own DnF Mobile, NetEase Inc.’s Naraka: Bladepoint and indie studio Mihoyo’s ZZZ. 

Wukong’s launch generated outsized attention in part because — unlike many of the blockbusters Tencent backs — it was wholly developed by local studio Game Science. Tencent has an investment in the Hangzhou-based developer and also handles publication domestically for the game on its own Steam-like WeGame platform. SteamDB doesn’t track that service.

Available also on Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation 5, Wukong offers gritty combat that’s been compared to FromSoftware’s challenging Dark Souls series. The title, under development since 2018, is viewed by players and critics as China’s most serious attempt at making a big-budget PC-console blockbuster that could resonate globally. Prior successes from the country have mostly been in the mobile arena, such as Genshin Impact from Mihoyo.

Major Chinese review sites, including IGN China, scored Wukong a 10 out of 10 on the eve of its rollout. Their global peers gave mostly positive, albeit slightly lower, ratings, citing some issues with gameplay and translation.

The founders of Game Science, including Feng Ji, worked at Tencent prior to starting their own studio. Tencent bought a 5% stake in the startup in 2021, according to corporate registration site Qichacha.

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