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A Chinese-made game backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. has become the fourth most-played title on Steam within hours of its launch, an unusually rapid ascent that may help seal its place in industry lore.<\/p>\n
Black Myth: Wukong,\u00a0<\/em>an action-adventure title based on the antics of the fabled Monkey King, garnered more than\u00a01.3 million concurrent players<\/a>\u00a0on Steam shortly after its global debut Tuesday. That surpassed records set by much-hyped titles like\u00a0Cyberpunk 2077\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Elden Ring,\u00a0<\/em>according to\u00a0data tracker SteamDB<\/a>. It overtook fifth-ranked\u00a0Dota 2<\/em>\u00a0and then\u00a0Lost Ark<\/em>\u00a0by that metric, which measures the peak number of people playing the game on Steam, at any given time around the world.<\/p>\n A strong first-day performance may help shore up expectations that China\u2019s $40 billion-plus gaming arena is rounding a corner, after years of incessant regulatory scrutiny. This summer marked an unusually busy pipeline of major debuts, including Tencent\u2019s own\u00a0DnF Mobile<\/em>, NetEase Inc.\u2019s\u00a0Naraka: Bladepoint<\/em>\u00a0and indie studio Mihoyo\u2019s\u00a0ZZZ<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Wukong\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0launch generated outsized attention in part because\u2014unlike many of the blockbusters Tencent backs\u2014it was wholly developed by local studio Game Science. Tencent has an investment in the Hangzhou-based developer and also handles publication domestically for the game on its own Steam-like WeGame platform. SteamDB doesn\u2019t track that service.\u00a0<\/p>\n Available also on Sony Group Corp.\u2019s PlayStation 5,\u00a0Wukong<\/em>\u00a0offers gritty combat that\u2019s been compared to FromSoftware\u2019s challenging\u00a0Dark Souls<\/em>\u00a0series. The title, under development since 2018, is viewed by players and critics as China\u2019s most serious attempt at making a big-budget PC-console blockbuster that could resonate globally. Prior successes from the country have mostly been in the mobile arena, such as\u00a0Genshin Impact<\/em>\u00a0from Mihoyo.<\/p>\n Major Chinese review sites, including\u00a0IGN China,<\/em>\u00a0scored Wukong a 10 out of 10 on the eve of its rollout. Their global peers gave mostly positive, albeit slightly lower, ratings, citing some issues with gameplay and translation.<\/p>\n The founders of Game Science, including Feng Ji, worked at Tencent prior to starting their own studio. Tencent bought a 5% stake in the startup in 2021, according to corporate registration site Qichacha.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nRecommended Newsletter: <\/strong>High-level insights for high-powered executives. Subscribe to the CEO Daily newsletter for free today. Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n