How Black Myth: Wukong put China’s games industry under the microscope

In this week's newsletter: Fuelled by a backdrop of sexist culture, alarming censorship guidelines and anti-woke' ire, the summer's biggest hit has become a lightning rod in the video game culture wars

Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

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's homegrown games industry is absolutely massive, but concentrated almost entirely on mobile phones: this is the country's first successful blockbuster console and PC game, which makes it very interesting in itself. It's 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.

But 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's 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't 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 anti-woke" 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.