Why is this Chinese video game causing such a stir?

An anthropomorphic monkey and a campaign against “feminist propaganda” have taken the gaming community by storm this week, following the release of China’s most successful game of all time.

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

However, within just 24 hours of its release on Tuesday, the game became the second most played game ever on the Steam streaming platform, attracting more than 2.1 million concurrent players and selling more than 4.5 million copies.

The game, based on the 16th-century Chinese classic novel Journey to the West, is considered a rare example of mass media broadcasting Chinese stories on the international stage.

Black Myth: Wukong is a single-player action game in which players take on the role of “The Fateful One” – a monkey with supernatural abilities.

The Destined One is based on the character Sun Wukong, or Sun Wukong, a main character in Journey to the West.

The novel is considered one of the greatest works of Chinese literature, drawing heavily from Chinese mythology as well as Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist folklore.

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

First announced via a super-exciting trailer in August 2020, Black Myth debuted on Tuesday after four years of anticipation.

It is the Chinese video game industry’s first AAA title – a title usually reserved for big-budget games from major companies.

High-end graphics, sophisticated game design, and intense hype contributed to the game’s success — as did the size of the Chinese gaming community, which is the largest in the world.

“This is not just a Chinese game targeting the Chinese market or the Chinese-speaking world,” Haiqing Yu, a professor at Australia’s RMIT University who studies the economic, political and social impact of Chinese digital media, told the BBC.

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

This has become a great pride of this country.

The Department of Culture and Tourism of Shanxi Province, a region with many locations and settings appearing in the game, released a video on Tuesday introducing real-life attractions, creating a tourism wave called “Wukong Tourism.”

Videos posted on TikTok after Black Myth’s launch showed tourists swarming the temples and shrines featured in the game, in what one X user described as a “successful example of cultural rediscovery.”

Niko Partners, a video game and consumer market research and analysis firm in Asia, also points out that Black Myth “helps introduce real Chinese myths, traditions, cultures and places to the world.”

Before Black Myth launched, several content creators and streamers revealed that a company affiliated with the game’s developer sent them a list of topics to avoid discussing while streaming the game: including “feminist propaganda, fetishism, and other content that incites negative discussions.”

While it’s unclear exactly what “feminist propaganda” means, a widely circulated report by video game publication IGN in November accused employees of Game Science, the studio behind Black Myth, of having a history of sexist and inappropriate behavior.

Other topics designated as “No-no’s” in the document, which was widely shared on social media and YouTube, included politics, Covid-19 and policies in China’s video game industry.

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

Many content creators have refused to review the game, citing the developer’s attempts to censor discussion and stifle free speech.

Others chose to outright ignore the warning.

A streamer named Moonmoon streamed Black Myth on Twitch under the title “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 for allegedly violating its guidelines while 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 but instead used it as a platform to spread ‘gender-objection’, ‘personal attacks’ and other irrational comments.”

While this controversy has attracted a lot of attention in international and online media, it has not really dampened or diminished the positive reception given to Black Myth.

Pre-sales alone reached $53 million, with another 4.5 million copies sold within 24 hours of release. In that same time period, it broke the record for the most played single-player game ever released on Steam.

On platforms like Weibo, Reddit, YouTube, and elsewhere, a flood of comments are celebrating the game’s success. Many believe that the fallout from the controversy surrounding the game’s release has been overblown.

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

“When it comes to Chinese digital media and media platforms, of course people can’t avoid talking about censorship,” she said. “Black Myth is… an example of how to tell a good Chinese story, and how to expand Chinese cultural influence globally. I don’t see any censorship there.”

She also pointed out that any apparent efforts to shape or censor what reviewers say are unlikely to come from Chinese officials themselves. Ms. Yu said it was more likely that the “Dos” and “Don’ts” lists came from a company trying to stay out of trouble.

“The company puts out their notice so if anyone from the central government comes to talk to the company, the company can say, ‘Hey, I told them already. I can’t stop people from saying what they want to say.’

“They basically, in a colloquial sense, covered their own ass,” she concluded. “I see it as a politically correct gesture to the Chinese censors, rather than a real directive from above.”