The new action-adventure Black Myth: Wukong is a triumph on Steam. But the wrong people are celebrating, believes MeinMMO author Schuhmann.
Who is currently celebrating the success of Black Myth: Wukong?
- First and foremost, Mark Kern is currently triumphing. He is a game developer who played little role for years after leaving Blizzard and WoW in 2005 and failing as game director of the MMO Firefall. Kern was fired as CEO in 2013. Employees criticized his leadership style.
- For several years, Kern has been active on Twitter as “Grummz”. In 2016, he became a pioneer for private servers for WoW. In recent years, he has criticized other game developers and the alleged “woke, leftist gaming press”. He complained about the Starfield launcher and called for a boycott of Blizzard due to the Blitzchung affair.
- Now he presents himself as an advocate for Black Myth: Wukong and celebrates the success of the game on Steam. Kern is often flanked by gaming streamer Asmongold, who responds to his tweets and gives them additional reach.
Kern claims. The western press wanted to ruin the reputation of the studio behind Black Myth: Wukong
This is Mark Kern’s thesis: Kern believes the success of Black Myth: Wukong justifies him. He claims that the “western press” has banded together to sabotage the game in advance because it is not “woke” enough.
As evidence, he cites an IGN article from November 2023, which critically examined the history of the studio Game Science.
Additionally, he pointed out a review from ScreenRant that rated Black Myth: Wukong at 60% and cited a lack of diversity as one of several criticisms. This sparked a wave of hate for Kern on X, formerly Twitter. When the site anonymized the report, Kern rejoiced: Neither the author nor ScreenRant would “stand behind their report.”
Kern now believes: The immense success of Black Myth: Wukong on Steam proves that a game without “political correctness” can be a huge success – despite the western press attempting to tarnish the game.
Kern represents a purely US-centric view that has nothing to do with reality
What speaks against his thesis? On one hand, the “western gaming press” did not attempt to bring down Black Myth: Wukong. The review from Screen Rant was one of 54 reviews listed on Metacritic at the time of the discussion.
Other sites gave scores in the 80s, including IGN itself, which Kern claimed wanted to sabotage the game. To conclude from one voice to “the entire gaming press” is generalizing and reckless.
Additionally, the great success of Black Myth: Wukong on Steam is based on Chinese players, as current numbers show. This has nothing to do with the supposedly “anti-woke sentiment” claimed by Kern. Here, a current debate from the USA is seen as decisive for the global success of a game.
This is a US-centric and false view.
What is his point? Kern says:
- The studio behind Black Myth: Wukong loves its players and games
- Western “AAA” studios hate their audience
The success of Black Myth: Wukong is apparently largely based on China
Where does the success of Black Myth: Wukong really come from? According to Google Trends, interest in Black Myth: Wukong in China is 25 times higher than in the USA and 33 times higher than in Germany. The last 7 days were measured.
The breakdown of reviews by languages shows that Black Myth: Wukong (via tgeproductions)
- received 72,107 reviews in simplified Chinese – with a 97% positive ratio
- got 2,893 reviews in English – with a 93% positive ratio
- received 58 reviews in German – with an 84% positive ratio
So yes, Black Myth: Wukong is a great success. However, it has little to do with everything Kern says. The western press as a whole neither attempted to ruin the studio’s reputation, nor does the West have any significant influence on the success of Black Myth: Wukong.
It may be hard for an American to believe, but the USA and its debates are not the center of the world for Black Myth: Wukong. The currently great player numbers of Black Myth: Wukong do not have the causes claimed by Kern.
Kern defines: “If Black Myth: Wukong is successful, then that shows that I am right and the western gaming press is wrong,” without any rational basis for that.
Black Myth: Wukong is a Chinese game that processes one of the most important Chinese themes at all and is a huge success among Chinese players. Forcing the political culture war in the USA into it and framing Black Myth: Wukong as a “victory” for one side creates engagement on Twitter, but the numbers simply do not support it.
What significant influence Chinese players can have on the success of a game on Steam, we saw in another direction in June 2024 with Elden Ring: DLC for Elden Ring apparently has such bad reviews on Steam just because Chinese players are not allowed to cheat
