Wukong boom sparks global sensation, boosts key sectors
The debut of Black Myth: Wukong, the first Chinese-made AAA game, sparked a global sensation and drove demand across various industries since its global debut on Tuesday, extending its reach far beyond Chinese players and the gaming industry.
The popularity of the action role-playing game of the Monkey King Wukong, based on the Chinese legend "Journey to the West," ignited a "Monkey boom" on international social media, revived a 40-year-old TV drama among foreign audiences, and boosted demand for tourism, hardware and related stocks.
The Monkey King in a TV drama produced in 1986 vs Wukong
Chinese culture sparks global sensation
Its graphics and art style are "top shelf, gourmet, tier-one," Travis Belleau posted on X about the game while another X user prodhenry said "get the game because it's literately peak."
On Metacritic, a website that aggregates reviews of films, music and games, Black Myth: Wukong gained an impressive 8.1 score with many positive comments. On Steam, the game was being played by about 2.13 million concurrent users at peak time, making it the best-performing single-player game of all time by this metric.
People are now reading Journey to the West to understand Wukong and play the game better.
Books and TV dramas about the Journey to the West were recommended among overseas communities to better understand the culture and stories of the Wukong game. The 1986 TV drama was often mentioned and suggested on social media like Instagram.
Video games are making me read books out of pure curiosity, said Jon Ford on Instagram.
It (the popularity of the game) also reflects the appeal of Chinese culture, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Wednesday.
Sculptures from Xiaoxitian Temple in Shanxi Province, a remote and lesser-known ancient edifice, are shown in the game. Now it has become a popular destination on tourism platforms.
Catalyst for various industries
Moreover, the game's success fueled demand for tourism and eSports hotels while driving up the value of related stocks in the publishing and hardware sectors.
Black Myth: Wukong was filmed at 36 scenic spots in China, with up to 27 locations in Shanxi Province, including Foguang Temple, Nanshan Temple, and Jinge Temple in Xinzhou; Xuankong Temple in Datong; and Yuhuang Temple in Jincheng.
The search requests for Shanxi destinations surged over 20 percent, covering cities like Datong and its capital Taiyuan, according to Trip.com, China's largest tourism platform.
Another spotlight is eSport hotels, which offers beds and computers with graphic cards the Wukong game requires.
About 70 percent hotel managers were eager to download Black Myth: Wukong after frequent demand for it while booking deals. The majority eSports hotel guests are male and often born after 1990, Trip.com told Shanghai Daily.
Shanghai's eSports hotels are fully booked after the game debut.
Due to the higher equipment configuration of eSports rooms, which offer smooth gaming experience, many gaming fans come and play together, the platform added.
Shares related the Black Myth: Wukong have also surged since the game's debut on Monday.
Zhejiang Publishing, which helps publish the game, surged to its second 10 percent daily cap to close at 10.53 yuan (US$1.48) on Wednesday.
Qitian Technology jumped 12.3 percent to close at 8.13 yuan (US$1.14), following a 20 percent daily cap surge on Tuesday. The company's shareholder Colorful and Nvidia have launched a graphics card customized for Black Myth: Wukong, which costs 9,199 yuan.
China's gaming industry revenue reached 147.2 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 2.08 percent from the previous year. The number of gaming users has surpassed 674 million.
The gaming industry is turning into a growth engine for the economy as its catalyst effect boosts the telecommunications, eSports, hardware, tourism, service and various other industries, officials told a recent forum in Shanghai.
