Why is this Chinese video game causing so much excitement?

An anthropomorphic monkey and a campaign against “feminist propaganda” have left the video game community in an uproar this week following the release of the highest-grossing Chinese title of all time.

Many players were angry after the company behind Black Myth: Wukong sent them a list of topics to avoid when livestreaming the game, including “feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that incites negative discourse.”

Nevertheless, within 24 hours of its release on Tuesday, it became the second most played game of all time on the streaming platform Steam, with more than 2.1 million concurrent players and more than 4.5 million copies sold.

The play, based on the classic 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West, is seen as a rare example of popular media broadcasting Chinese stories on an international stage.

Black Myth: Wukong is a single-player action game in which players take on the role of the “Chosen One” – an anthropomorphic ape with supernatural powers.

“The Destined One” is based on the character Sun Wukong or “Monkey King”, a key figure in “Journey to the West”.

This novel is considered one of the most important in Chinese literature and is heavily inspired by Chinese mythology as well as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhist folklore.

It has inspired hundreds of international films, television shows and cartoons, including the popular Japanese anime series Dragon Ball Z and the 2008 Chinese-American fantasy film The Forbidden Kingdom.

Black Myth was first announced in August 2020 via a hugely popular teaser trailer and launched on Tuesday after four years of anticipation.

It is the first AAA release in the Chinese video game industry – a title usually given to high-budget games from major companies.

High-quality graphics, sophisticated game design and heated hype have contributed to its success – as has the size of the Chinese gaming community, which is the largest in the world.

“It's not just a Chinese game targeting the Chinese market or the Chinese-speaking world,” Haiqing Yu, a professor at Australia's RMIT University whose research focuses on the sociopolitical and economic impact of Chinese digital media, told the BBC.

“Players around the world [are playing] a game with a Chinese cultural factor.”

This has become a great source of national pride for the country.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Shanxi Province, a region where many of the game's locations and scenery are located, released a video on Tuesday showcasing the real-world attractions, sparking a tourism boom called “Wukong Travel.”

Videos posted on TikTok around the release of Black Myth show tourists flooding the temples and shrines featured in the game, with one X user calling the whole thing a “successful example of cultural rediscovery.”

Niko Partners, a company that researches and analyzes video game markets and consumers in Asia, also noted that Black Myth “helps introduce the world to Chinese mythology, traditions, culture and real-world places in China.”

Before Black Myth's release, some content creators and streamers revealed that a company affiliated with the developer had sent them a list of topics they should not talk about while livestreaming the game: including “feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that incites negative discourse.”

While it's not clear what exactly was meant by “feminist propaganda,” a widely circulated report by video game magazine IGN in November revealed a history of sexist and inappropriate behavior by employees at Game Science, the studio behind Black Myth.

Other topics labeled “don'ts” in the document, which was widely shared on social media and YouTube, included politics, Covid-19 and China's video game industry policies.

The directive, issued by co-publisher Hero Games, has sparked controversy outside China.

Several content creators refused to review the game because they felt the developers were censoring discussions and suppressing freedom of expression.

Others chose to ignore the warnings outright.

A creator with the username Moonmoon started a Twitch stream of Black Myth titled “Covid-19 Isolation Taiwan (Is a Real Country) Feminism Propaganda.” Another streamer, Rui Zhong, discussed China’s one-child policy on camera while playing the game.

On Thursday, Chinese social media platform Weibo banned 138 users who violated its policies when discussing Black Myth.

According to an article on state-run news site Global Times, some of the banned Weibo users “did not discuss the game itself, but instead used it as a platform to spread 'gender stereotypes,' 'personal attacks,' and other irrational comments.”

Although the controversy attracted a great deal of attention in the international media and on the Internet, it did not detract from the consistently positive reception of “Black Myth”.

The game generated $53 million in pre-sales alone and sold an additional 4.5 million copies within 24 hours of its release, breaking the record for the most played single-player title ever released on Steam during the same period.

On platforms like Weibo, Reddit, YouTube, and elsewhere, countless comments celebrate the game's success, with many saying the consequences of the controversy surrounding the game's release have been exaggerated.

Ms. Yu agreed, describing Black Myth as a “success for the industry and the entire market.”

“When it comes to Chinese digital media and communication platforms, of course you can't avoid talking about censorship,” she said. “Black Myth is … an example of how to tell Chinese history well and how to expand Chinese cultural influence worldwide. I don't see any censorship there.”

She also pointed out that the apparent attempts to direct or censor the critics' statements probably did not come from Chinese officials themselves. More likely, Yu said, was that the list of dos and don'ts came from a company that wanted to keep itself out of trouble.

“The company issues its notice so that if someone from the central government comes to talk to the company, the company can say, 'Look, I've already told them. I can't stop people from saying what they want to say.'

“They were basically, to put it colloquially, ensuring their own safety,” she concluded. “I see it more as a politically correct gesture to the Chinese censors than a real order from above.”