"Black Myth: Wukong" Surpasses 1 Million Players on Launch Day, Beating Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3

The highly anticipated game Black Myth: Wukong officially launched on Monday and is globally unlocked simultaneously on the PS5 and PC platforms (Steam/Epic Games Store/WeGame).

According to SteamDB data, within about an hour of the launch, the number of players on Steam for Black Myth: Wukong has already exceeded 1 million, surpassing Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3. Now, the number of concurrent players has reached over 1.5 million, with the online figures still soaring.

Industry insiders told the media that they are optimistic about the impact of Black Myth: Wukong on the game industry's R&D strength, cultural export, and the cloud gaming market. They are optimistic about the game's sales.

Black Myth: Wukong Quickly Broke Through a Million Online Players

Considering that the release time is on a working day, coupled with the heat of Black Myth: Wukong sweeping the network, the industry expects that the number of Steam players for this game will reach a peak in the morning (which is evening time in China).

It is not surprising that Black Myth: Wukong has such a high heat. This single-player game, initiated in 2018, has been polished for six years and cost at least 400 million yuan. Since the release of the first actual machine demonstration video in 2020, it has been carrying the high expectations of the first Chinese 3A-level game.

Stats show that the pre-sale of the standard edition of Black Myth: Wukong has topped the Steam sales list in many regions around the world. The industry expects that after the official release of the game, the sales volume will exceed 5 million copies, and even reach the sales volume of tens of millions.

On August 18th, Black Myth: Wukong started pre-loading. Pre-loading is to let players download most of the data in advance before the game is released so that they can play immediately after the release, avoiding a long download wait after the release. The game set a record for pre-loading bandwidth usage on the Steam platform during the pre-loading period (70Tbps), with the Asian region accounting for 59.3Tbps, exceeding the previous global record of 51Tbps, when Cyberpunk 2077 was launched globally.

The First of Its Kind

Five hours before the release of Black Myth: Wukong, the founder and CEO of Game Science, Feng Ji, said on his social media that the game will never be a skin change for any existing games, and fans of single-player ARPG will enjoy playing Black Myth: Wukong.

Black Myth: Wukong is an ARPG (action role-playing) game developed by Game Science. In the game, players will play as a Destined Person, to explore the truth of the legends of the past, and embark on a journey to the West filled with danger and surprises.

The attractive theme, 3A-level production, and the various characteristics of Black Myth: Wukong have attracted global attention, and even some overseas players have read Journey to the West in advance to play the game. According to Metacritic statistics, 52 global media have given an average score of 82 points. Among them, the authoritative media website IGN Overseas scored 8 points, while IGN China gave a full score of 10 points.

Feng Ji said that in 2016, the single-player market in the United States was $10 billion, Japan was a little over $5 billion, and China was less than $100 million. Now, with the launch of Black Myth: Wukong, he believes China will also earn a place in the 3A single-player game market.