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Video game, Black Myth: Wukong (黑神话：悟空 hēi shénhuà: wùkōng), has broken the record to become the most-played title of its kind on its first day of release, with 1.4 million concurrent players in its first three hours online.
Released on August 20, the action role-playing game was developed by the Tencent Holdings-backed studio, Game Science (游戏科学). The game is inspired by the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West (西游记), and is named and based on a character of the story, Sūn Wùkōng 孙悟空.
Journey to the West is known as one of China's "four great classics". It's a fictionalised account of the pilgrimage of Xuánzàng 玄奘, the Buddhist monk who journeyed to India in the 7th century AD to seek out and collect Buddhist scriptures.
Wukong, also called "The Monkey King", is a monkey-like mystical being born from a stone, who is one of three protectors on Xuanzang on his journey. Amongst other powers, the Monkey King can turn his hair into whatever tool he wants as he plucks it.
We explore much more about the Monkey King character, and other interesting language from Journey to the West in this week’s Member Podcast at 9’ 30”!
The modern video game adaptation of the story has been in development for six years, and is China's first AAA game, marking a major milestone for the Chinese developers. AAA is an informal classification for games internationally from a major publisher with high development and marketing budgets.
As well as achieving this international milestone, the game has had unprecedented commercial success in China.
China’s gaming market is huge. According to data released by Sina, a media platform, there are 668 million gamers in China, of which 72% are mobile users. Around half of all gamers in China are men. In terms of market size, the revenue from mobile games in China was 226.86 billion yuan ($32 billion dollars) in 2023.
Black Myth sold over 10 million copies within three days of its release. Based on the minimum price of 268 yuan ($38), total sales would exceed 2.68 billion yuan ($378 million dollars). This more than covers the development costs of the game, estimated to be up to 400 million yuan ($55 million).
Black Myth: Wukong has also driven sales for other companies, with least 11 co-branded products created to coincide with the launch.
China's largest coffee chain, Luckin Coffee (瑞幸咖啡), launched a new drink, the "Tengyun Americano" (腾云美式) priced at 26 yuan per cup, discounted to 13.5 yuan when bought through its Wechat mini-program. The drink also comes with a co-branded cup sleeve, a paper bag, and a Black Myth 3D limited-edition poster. In addition to co-branded products, Luckin Coffee also rebranded some of its stores in the style of the game.
The Tengyun Americano builds on another co-branded coffee by Luckin last year, the Moutai Latte.
This brand partnership has unlocked a new growth area for Luckin:
It has always been challenging to stimulate male consumption. The uniqueness of the game "Black Myth" is a rare topic that effectively attracts male audience. This presents an opportunity for brands like Luckin Coffee to expand their reach to male consumers.
一消费品行业人士向记者表示，一直以来男性消费群体的消费需求都比较难激发，黑神话这款游戏的IP属性是吸引男性消费者难得的话题。这也是瑞幸等消费品牌扩展男性消费群体的机会。
Luckin Coffee's Chief Growth Officer, Yang Fei, commented on the success of their campaign:
This morning, our team was shocked by the sheer purchasing power of men. It's more effective than ten Father’s Days combined.
男性购买力今早颠覆团队认知了。比10个父亲节都靠谱。
Other Wukong co-branded merchandise included Hisense TVs, Lenovo Legion gaming laptops, shared bicycles by Qingju (a division of the taxi-hailing and car-sharing service provider, Didi Chuxing), gaming controllers by 8BitDo, and branded clothing by gaming media platform GCORES.
Even an entire province managed to rebrand itself as the Wukong travel destination.
Shanxi province, known as China’s biggest coal producing region, has successfully used the launch of Black Myth: Wukong to rebrand itself as a cultural destination.
It is home to many of the natural scenes and ancient buildings from the game. 27 out of the 36 sites are featured in the game, including the Yungang Grottoes (同云冈石窟), the Hanging Temple in Datong (悬空寺), and the Foguang Temple on Mount Wutai in Xinzhou (忻州五台山佛光寺).
Unlike recent overnight branding successes of cities like Zibo 淄博 and Harbin 哈尔滨, Shanxi's success has been a long time in the making. The game development team began working with the Shanxi tourism authorities four years ago, conducting on-site visits to Shanxi, recreating the details of Shanxi's ancient architecture in the game.
To coincide with the launch of the game, Shanxi launched the "Visiting Shanxi with Wukong" (跟着悟空游山西) campaign, inviting the first batch of players who completed "Black Myth: Wukong" to enjoy ancient architecture and local cuisine in Shanxi.
According to reports in the Chinese media, within two hours of the launch, the online search popularity for Shanxi increased by 10% compared to the previous day.
Not a gamer? Nor me! But there’s lots of cool and interesting language to learn below which you’ll love!
Favourite Five
1. 蹭 cèng
take advantage of, freeload
“蹭”的品牌和商家，则不计其数 - There are countless brands and businesses that take advantage of this. [1]
2. 薅猴毛 hāo hóu máo
reaping the benefits
山西文旅是第一个薅到“猴毛”的，目前游戏流出的不完整取景地目录显示，36处取景地里山西独占27处 - Shanxi Tourism was the first to "reap the benefits", as this province alone accounts for 27 out of 36 sites referenced in the game. [1]
Note: A play on words of the phrase "plucking wool" (薅羊毛), which means “grab a bargain” amongst other things, which we explain in more detail in this week's Sinica Phrase of the Week.
3. 不遑多让 bù huáng duō ràng
not to be outdone, equally competitive
联名们赚得盆满钵满，各地“文旅们”也不遑多让 - The brand collaborations are lucrative, and local cultural and tourism departments are also making a fortune. [1]
4. 当猴耍 dāng hóu shuǎ
be played like a monkey, be treated as a fool
不少消费者在社交媒体上吐槽“周一大早上被当猴耍” - Many consumers complained on social media, saying they were "played like a monkey“ early Monday morning. [2]
More: We discuss this phrase more in the member podcast.
5. 泼天的流量 pō tiān de liú liàng
overwhelming traffic, massive flow of visitors
李云说，“这泼天的流量，谁不要啊？” - Li Yun said, "Who wouldn't want this overwhelming traffic?" [1]
Note: an adaptation of the original phrase "a flood of wealth" (泼天的富贵)， referring to benefits from unexpected high volumes of internet traffic. One of our phrases of the year from 2023.
Consuming the Conversation
Useful words
6. 吃肉 chī ròu
eat meat, gain benefits
不仅仅《悟空》在吃肉，“联名们”也在吃 - Not only is "Wukong" reaping the rewards, the brand collabs are also gaining benefits. [1]
7. 联名 lián míng
collaboration, co-branding
据统计，目前正式与《悟空》联名的产品共有11件 - According to statistics, there are currently 11 officially co-branded products with Wukong. [1]
8. 爆款 bào kuǎn
popular item, best-seller
瑞幸与其联名的咖啡——腾云美式就已经在互联网上成为爆款 - Luckin Coffee's co-branded drink, Tengyun Americano, has already become a best-seller online. [1]
9. 不俗 bù sú
impressive, remarkable
机核网与《悟空》联名的“心猿”系列服饰销量也不俗 - The sales of the "Heart of the Monkey" apparel, a collaboration between GCORE and Wukong, are also impressive. [1]
10. 售罄 shòu qìng
sold out, out of stock
瑞幸与《黑神话：悟空》的联名活动一开始，相关产品上架秒售罄 - As soon as the collaboration campaign between Luckin Coffee and Black Myth started, their co-branded products sold out instantly. [2]
Related:
秒售罄 miǎo shòu qìng - sold out in seconds, instant sellout
11. 贴合 tiē hé
align with, cater to
品牌通过联名可以更好地贴合年轻消费者的兴趣点 - Brands can better cater to young consumers through collaborations. [2]
12. 破圈 pò quān
break through, reach a broader audience
在一定程度上反映了行业同质化严重，急需破圈的心态 - To some extent, this reflects the industry's severe homogenization and the urgent need to break through. [2]
More:
同质化 tóng zhí huà - homogenization (which we learned last month)
13. 疯抢 fēng qiǎng
frenzied rush, scramble
