Black Myth: Wukong’s first week of sales numbers are in, and they firmly inhabit “Don’t take a big sip of coffee before you look at them” territory. 10 million units sold, which, as industry analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out on X, “The Everything App,” is a record-breaking performance that leaves some of the biggest releases of the past few years in the dust.

For perspective, here are some comparative numbers:

  • Hogwarts Legacy: 15 million in three months
  • Elden Ring: 13 million in one month
  • Cyberpunk 2077: 13.7 million in one month
  • Baldur’s Gate 3: 20+ million in five months
  • Helldivers 2: 12 million in three months

The only game that comes close is Palworld’s 19 million players in two weeks, a mark that Black Myth: Wukong seems on track to surpass. It’s a sales figure that lines up with Wukong having leapfrogged the competition to be the #2 most-played game in Steam’s history by concurrent players. Before that, it was also the most wishlisted game on the platform after The Day Before met its ignominious end.

  • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    30
    ·
    3 months ago

    My personal tinfoil hat theory is that this game was meant as a way to test if the Harry Potter franchise was still commercially viable, like Shadows of the Empire was for the Star Wars franchise in the 90s (except that one has been confirmed, of course). It’s speculation, of course, but considering how badly the second Fantastic Beasts movie did, it’d make sense for them to go after the millennial nostalgia market.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      23
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      If “Ready Player One” was more successful as a movie, I think late Xer-early millennial nostalgia of the “remember this? Remember that?!” bazinga kind would have stuck around like a particularly stubborn wart even moreso than it is now.

      • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        ·
        3 months ago

        I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve read parts of the book, and it’s incredibly funny to me that they had to make the references more recent because the people who’d be nostalgic for 80s pop culture were too old when the movie came out.

        • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          15
          ·
          3 months ago

          I saw the book at the store and thought the cover looked neat, so I picked it up to skim a few pages. Holy fuck was the writing bad. I chuckled and threw it back on the shelf.

          I was taken completely by surprise to later learn it was a bestseller and being made into a movie. “50 Shades of Grey” for 30-somethings.

          • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            3 months ago

            Looking back, it’s easy to see why it was a hit: it was slop for slop hogs. It said “what if bibeo bame, and knowing a lot of useless bibeo bame and nostalgia trivia means you eventually win the sex trophy and become the billionaire ruler of a dying planet?” so-true

              • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                edit-2
                3 months ago

                The sequel book is worse than both though. It’s horrifying, creepy, loaded with narcissistic excess and “poor me I’m too awesome, the poors are jealous NPCs” jagoff moments, lots of mind control/manipulation sex predator antics shown as “good”, and has a “happy ending” that’s very epsteingelion coded.