Black Myth: Wukong has been a source of controversy since well before its release, and its developer, Game Science, is ensuring its reputation only gets worse after release. Last week, it was alleged that streaming guidelines for the game included some wild restrictions around what streamers could discuss while playing the game, and further reporting uncovers that the rumors were true. In a year already dominated by hate campaigns in gaming, Game Science’s ban on mentioning topics including “feminist propaganda” shows just how little gaming culture has changed since the reactionary Gamergate movement and highlights the stark difference in expectations for journalists and influencers.
Black Myth: Wukong will be released on August 20, but reviews went live last week, largely praising the Soulslike action game. At the same time, streamers began receiving copies of the game on Steam, along with an email from marketer Hero Games laying out a list of bizarre requirements. The email came to light when French streamer Benoit “ExServ” Reinier shared it on BlueSky, stating that he wouldn’t stream the game because of it.
Game Science and Hero Games did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Reinier, the email included a list of “Do’s and Don’ts,” which asked streamers not to discuss “politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that instigates negative discourse,” or “content related to China’s game industry policies, opinions, news, etc,” and not to “use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’ or ‘Covid-19'.”
At first, there was some confusion over whether the strange email was legitimate, as critics who had received the game for review weren’t asked to abide by any such guidelines. However, reporting from GLHF confirmed that the email is legitimate and Reinier isn’t the only one who received it.
It’s standard practice for developers to ask that anyone writing about a game before release avoid spoilers, but the list of restrictions for Black Myth: Wukong goes far beyond any reasonable request. The list of topics streamers are being asked to avoid aren’t even related to content in the game itself, but conversations that it may spark. The restrictions around discussing Covid-19 might be read as an attempt to stave off streamers repeating sinophobic myths about the origins of the virus, given that Game Science is a Chinese company, but it’s impossible to come up with a reasonable excuse for the rest of the list.
The most striking part of the email is the request not to discuss “feminist propaganda” or “fetishization,” especially in the context of Game Science’s history and this year’s other gaming controversies. Games like Stellar Blade were called out before release for fetishizing its female characters, though the game was well-received once it launched. Last year, Game Science’s history of extreme misogyny was also exposed by reporting from IGN. In that context, it’s reasonable to conclude that the restrictions Game Science is asking streamers to abide by are meant to keep them quiet about the studio’s own reputation for sexism.
Well before its launch, Black Myth: Wukong became a rallying point for the vocal contingent of right-wing grifters who’ve spent this year harassing targets, primarily women and people of color in gaming. Many of the same people who joined in the harassment of Sweet Baby Inc. employees turned to defend Game Science’s sexist history, falsely claiming that IGN’s report was fabricated and calling journalists’ trustworthiness into question.
It’s notable, then, that Game Science is asking streamers rather than journalists to hold their tongues. Despite the insistence of some reactionaries that influencers — implicitly, the ones who agree with the reactionaries — are less susceptible to bias, Game Science seems to think that it can silence streamers in a way it couldn’t do with journalists. While that plan clearly backfired, it could suggest that Game Science was counting on streamers not knowing the difference between a binding non-disclosure agreement and an informal request, or just not feeling comfortable calling out a developer and risking being blacklisted.
And of course, the people who’ve spent this year claiming that expressing sexist and racist harassment is part of their right to free speech don’t seem as fazed now about streamers being told not to speak about sexism.
It’s sadly predictable that a portion of the gaming audience will decry any game that doesn’t uphold their regressive standards for what’s acceptable in games, but it’s more troubling to see a developer seemingly share the same position. Trying to silence criticism isn’t even the worst behavior Game Science has been accused of in the past year, but the fact that it did it so brazenly speaks to a worrying confidence in its ability to hide its disturbing past. On the other hand, the fact that streamers refused to stay silent is heartening, showing that there aren’t as many people willing to hide a developer’s checkered past as some might have hoped.
