- "Black Myth: Wukong" hit 2.3 million concurrent players on Steam in just two days.
- The game, based on "Journey to the West," faced backlash for censoring streamers' content.
- Despite the controversy, it sold 4.5 million copies and is China's first major video game success.
"Black Myth: Wukong" is smashing online records for concurrent players.
Similar to the 2021 game of the year "God of War," "Black Myth: Wukong" is a modern retelling of an ancient myth.
'Wukong' is an action RPG adventure based on the 1592 Chinese novel "Journey to the West." The game follows a monkey protagonist based on Sun Wukong, a monkey king from the novel who is imprisoned by Buddha under a mountain after leading a rebellion against the heavens.
"Black Myth: Wukong" debuted on Tuesday to massive player numbers on Steam, the online store where most PC gamers make purchases. At its peak on Wednesday, the game had more than 2.3 million concurrent players on Steam alone.
In just a few days, the game has already sold more than 4.5 million copies worldwide, according to South China Morning Post.
It now sits in second place behind "PlayerUnknown's Batttlegrounds" as the game with the highest-ever concurrent player count. "PUBG" logged over 3.2 million concurrent players in December 2017, according to Dexerto.
"Chinese players in the past have gone through this process of cross-cultural understanding. Now it is the turn of overseas players to learn... and understand Chinese traditional culture," CCTV, China's state-run broadcaster, said in a blog post on Wednesday on its WeChat account.
The success of "Black Myth: Wukong" comes despite a backlash ahead of its release from streamers who complained about censorship by the game's developers, according to NBC. Some streamers who received advanced copies of the game also got a Google Doc from the Chinese studio behind it, Hero Games, the outlet reported.
The document contained a list of "Dos and Don'ts" that described "trigger words" to avoid, like "quarantine," "isolation," and "COVID-19," and topics to avoid, like "feminist propaganda" and "other content that instigates negative discourse," NBC reported.
Hero Games did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider on Wednesday.
Chinese state media has described the success of "Black Myth: Wukong" as a great achievement. The game is considered the first AAA game for a Chinese developer.