What you need to know
- The long-awaited action RPG Black Myth: Wukong released this week, and has already managed to achieve a concurrent player count of well over 2 million on Steam.
- Specifically, the game's record is 2,358,580 players, which makes it the second most-played game in Steam history. It's taken that title from January's Palworld, and is only superseded by PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS' 3,257,248 concurrent player count record.
- Hype for Black Myth has been steadily growing since it was announced in 2020, with fans enamored with its spectacle-heavy boss fights and combat mechanics.
- Its ties to the classical novel Journey to the West and Chinese mythology have also drawn lots of interest from the Chinese gaming market, which is expected to swell to 730 million players by 2027.
I knew Game Science's highly anticipated single player action RPG Black Myth: Wukong was going to be one of this year's most popular games, but I wasn't expecting it to have what will likely be 2024's largest launches, as well as one of the biggest debuts in gaming history. And yet, two days after its release, here we are, with the title hitting a peak player count of well over 2 million on Valve's PC gaming platform Steam. Specifically, as SteamDB data shows, it's reached a colossal zenith of 2,358,580 players.
That puts Black Myth: Wukong's peak a little over 250,000 higher than that of Palworld, another explosively successful game that launched on Windows PC, Xbox, and Xbox Game Pass earlier this year in January. It's also achieved better numbers than Counter-Strike 2, Lost Ark, and Cyberpunk 2077 (among others), and now stands as the second most concurrently played Steam game of all time. The only release with a record that tops it is PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, as the battle royale shooter managed to reach 3,257,248 players at the height of its popularity in 2018.
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At the time of writing on a Wednesday afternoon, roughly 1,800,000 players are embarking on their journey to the west, and that's not even taking fans on the Epic Games Store, WeGame, and PlayStation 5 into account. Whether Black Myth: Wukong will break its aforementioned launch day record or not remains to be seen, but given that we're soon heading into the weekend, I wouldn't be surprised.
The heights to which Black Myth: Wukong has ascended are very surprising, though as I said before, the ARPG was expected to be a big success. It was the most-wishlisted game on Steam for several months in advance of its launch, and hype for the title has been steadily building for several years now. Ever since it was first revealed four years ago in 2020, it's been on the radar of gamers worldwide.
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One of Black Myth's biggest draws are its stylish and cinematic boss fights, most of which are feasts for the eyes and deliver unparalleled audiovisual spectacle. Along with the game's excellent combat system, they're what got people excited for the game the most, and as I wrote in my review, they're one of its biggest highlights.
Undoubtedly, another major factor behind the game's eruptive launch performance is its appeal to Chinese gamers — a market that's projected to swell to 730 million strong by 2027. Black Myth: Wukong is directly based on the classical novel Journey to the West and has deep connections to Chinese mythology, so it's no surprise that it's attracting those players.
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Of course, it also helps that Black Myth: Wukong has been well-received both critically and by players. It currently has a Metacritic score of 80 (out of 100), with 47 favorable reviews. On Steam, it's also skyrocketed to an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating, with 96% of the 200,000+ user reviews for the game on the platform giving it a thumbs up. I gave it a 3.5/5 — I have some significant problems with its level design, enemy variety, and gear progression — but I still agree with the general consensus that it's a good game.
It's impossible to say for sure whether the game will end up having the most successful launch of 2024 or not, but personally, I don't see anything else topping it. Even if something does, though, it wouldn't change the fact that what it's managed to accomplish thus far is ridiculously impressive.
Black Myth: Wukong is one of the biggest games of 2024, and has the potential to be one of the best PC games and best Xbox games (whenever it does finally come to Microsoft's consoles). It's out now on Steam, the Epic Games Store, WeGame, and PS5 for $59.99.
