Chinese Hero Games shares what’s next after the hit Black Myth: Wukong

BEIJING – China’s first attempt at a top-tier video game has broken world records, boosting the industry’s global ambitions just a few years after Beijing’s gaming crackdown.

Black Myth: Wukong, an action game set in mythological China, sold more than 10 million copies three days after its launch on August 20. Ten days later, the title was still ranked #2 in sales in the US, and #1 worldwide. according to the Steam video game platform where it sells for around $60 or more.

“I think the next triple-A game is probably very close because Black Myth: Wukong showed everyone that a Chinese-made AAA game can achieve such high global sales,” said Dino Ying, Chairman of Hero Games, which is co-publisher. the game and was an early investor in the developer Game Science. That’s according to a CNBC translation of his comments in Mandarin in an exclusive interview Thursday.

Ying said he was aware of at least one such game in development, which his business partner at Hero Games has invested in. But he declined to share a time frame.

As for how well Black Myth: Wukong has done, Ying only said that sales have since increased by “much more” than the 10 million units mark, although he indicated that it had not yet doubled.

He said that in the future, the company’s game releases will have a global strategy from the start. He also expects that foreign AAA game developers will realize how big the Chinese market is and tailor more features to Chinese players.

AAA games generally refer to titles with high graphical quality and significant marketing. That means such video games usually come from companies like Nintendo, Ubisoft And Electronic art.

“China is a big country. We’re talking about 1 million simultaneous players,” said Ivan Su, senior equity analyst at Morningstar. “China has 600 million gamers.”

He said the reason why China has not previously developed its own AAA game, which is usually played on computers and consoles, is because of the years of production time. “It’s much more cost-effective if you make mobile games,” Su said.

When Hero Games first invested in Game Science, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited in 2017 and was so impressed with the first game, Art of War: Red Tides, that he put it on the front page of the iOS App Store in 178 countries, Ying said.

But that was not a commercial success.

Hero Games had already invested 60 million yuan (about $8.5 million today) in two failed Game Science projects for three years when the developer approached Ying and his team about Black Myth: Wukong in August 2020, he said.

“We were very lucky that we didn’t abandon Game Science before it was successful,” Ying said, noting that his business partner Daniel Wu, now CEO of Hero Games, had first discovered the startup.

“We are not saying that we should blindly wait for all people,” he said. “When you see that kind of talent, you have to be sure that that talent is undervalued. It may not have found the right direction. [So you just need to] help find it.”

Two days before Game Science planned to release a promotional video for Black Myth: Wukong, the company showed it to Ying and asked his team for at least 100 million yuan more, he said. If not, he said the startup plans to ask Bilibilia major Chinese video streaming and gaming platform.

After watching the video, Ying said he told his team, “I really don’t want to miss this opportunity because this is the best game I’ve seen in my life.”

Tencent subsequently bought a 5% stake, but said it would not hinder Game Science’s plans, Ying said. “Because this was a AAA game, there was no way it could be approved under the normal process of a major company.”

Hero Games’ initial investment in Game Science was a 20% stake.

Beijing only started approving games in the past two years, after suspending new titles and limiting the number of hours minors could play in 2021.

Black Myth: Wukong received Chinese government approval in February. No part of the game needed to be changed for it to succeed, Ying said.

“Personally, I think that in the past two years, the regulations are increasingly respectful of the gaming industry and beneficial to its development,” Ying said, noting that there was “a misunderstanding” one or two years ago.

In the first half of this year, domestic game sales in China reached 147.27 billion yuan, said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of Chinese digital consultancy ChoZan, citing industry figures.

But console game revenues were just 0.5% of that, she said.

Ying pointed out that many people in China bought PlayStations or upgraded their graphics cards after the release of Black Myth: Wukong, similar to the number of people who first bought the Nintendo Switch because of Zelda.

As for the global market, Dudarenok says overseas sales of Chinese-developed games have increased to $16.4 billion in 2023, up from $11.6 billion in 2019.

“Chinese games often contain rich cultural elements that increasingly appeal to global audiences,” she said. “This unique cultural flavor sets them apart from games developed in other regions”

Ying said he expects China to have at least five to 10 other stories passed down over the millennia that could be turned into games.

“If I make something new, I don’t know if people will like it. But something that has lasted a thousand years, people will definitely like it,” Ying said. ‘We don’t know why it has been preserved for so many years. But we just have to respect it [original] craftsmen.”

He said Game Science has sent teams and equipment to ancient temples in China to scan and replicate the designs, which enhances the game’s immersive feel.

Chinese companies are also emerging in the more niche market of independent games.

Shanghai-based Cotton Game, which employs 70 people, won the 2024 award for best development team in indie games from the French-backed Game Connection organization and ChinaJoy, which organizes an annual major gaming conference in China.

“It depends on how capable we are, but [we hope to] use games as a way to share art, philosophy and thoughtful content,” said the company’s CEO, who goes by the English name Cotton Guo, in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.

Cotton Game’s Sunset Hills – which took five years to draw by hand – also won “Game of the Year” and “Best Indie Game” awards. The $20 game then launched on Steam on August 21 Raised $13,000 on Kickstarter.

The game follows an anthropomorphic dog through a Europe-like village, accompanied by nature sounds and music. Players solve puzzles along the way.

“Everyone is quite tired. In today’s society, the speed of life is very fast,” said Robin Luo, the manager of Sunset Games. The main character is based on his own dog. “So my hope in making Sunset Hills was that everyone would play the game [find it] refreshing.”