Black Myth: Wukong is out now for PC and PlayStation 5, and on Steam, the game is seeing extraordinary popularity right out of the gate. The game has exceeded 2 million concurrent players, surpassing the all-time peak concurrent records for titles like Dota 2 (1.2 million), Counter-Strike 2 (1.8 million), and more. It is Steam’s most popular game today based on concurrent players.
It’s closing in on Palworld’s all-time record (2.1 million concurrent players), but remains well short of the all-time record-holder, PUBG, which reached an astonishing 3.2 million concurrent players. Of note, titles like Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, and PUBG are free, whereas Black Myth costs $60. The game is also the No. 1 title on Steam’s top-selling games chart.
How China-specific is interest in Black Myth: Wukong? A lot: @GameDiscoverCo‘s current estimate of its Steam country split for players is 88.1% China, 3% U.S., 1.6% Hong Kong, 1% Japan. pic.twitter.com/FeAFn85NBH
— Simon Carless (@simoncarless) August 20, 2024
Black Myth: Wukong, which was created by Chinese developer Game Science, has been controversial in some circles. Game Science’s guidelines for content creators ask them to avoid discussing “feminist propaganda” and COVID. A report from IGN in 2023 documented the alleged sexist and misogynist commentary from the development team.