Ten months ago, in my article titled Revitalizing City’s Film Industry Is Very Important to City’s Continued Development (China Daily Hong Kong Edition, Nov 9, 2023), I mentioned that Hong Kong’s (and also the Chinese mainland’s) movie industry can be a very important cultural and soft-power tool since movies can be extremely significant not only from a financial perspective, but also as they can attract many more tourists and increase international interest in Hong Kong.

In the same sense, the video game industry is also a very important industry that the mainland and Hong Kong can leverage. While the video game industry has been traditionally dominated by the United States and Japan, China’s video game industry has been growing enormously this past decade, to the point that, as per Statista’s data, with 668 million players spending an average of 453 yuan ($64) each on video games, China boasts the world’s most lucrative gaming market.

China’s video game industry pillar has been that of mobile games. Also, according to Statista, in terms of gaming revenue, mobile games ranked first, controlling around 75 percent of market share in 2023. Client games took up second place with a market share of about 22 percent. Browser-based, home console, and other segments accounted for only 3.4 percent altogether. In terms of genres, casual and role-playing games remained in the lead, while dating simulation titles were on the rise.

While these data show the potential of China’s video game industry, its video games, with a few exceptions, have not attracted much international interest, probably because of the language barrier, and also because of the predominance of mobile-based video games and to a lesser extent of browser-based and home console-based video games.

However, there has been a new development, one that will not only help China’s video game industry but will help the country from a soft-power/cultural perspective: On Aug 20, the video game Black Myth: Wukong was launched. This game has not only broken records (it has become one of the fastest-selling games of all time), it has also attracted much attention and interest domestically and internationally. I, as an avid reader of the Chinese literature classics, have had the opportunity to play this video game, and I know many people across Europe who have played it as well.

Black Myth can be considered China’s first AAA game (“AAA Games” is a classification used within the video gaming industry to signify high-budget, high-profile games that are typically produced and distributed by large, well-known publishers).

Indeed, Black Myth has reached $852.4 million in gross revenue (before platform fees and taxes) on Steam since its launch, according to data from VG Insights. This brings its estimated sales on the platform to over 17.8 million units (as of Sept 3). The mainland currently accounts for 76 percent of Black Myth’s sales on Steam, beginning with the over 80 percent share at launch. The respective shares in other regions is increasing, with the US a distant second at 6 percent. Hong Kong remains third with a 1 percent share. Gamalytic and VG Insights estimate that the game sold between 14.5 million and 16 million copies in just 10 days. The popularity of the game managed to boost PlayStation 5 sales, reaching the top in video game hardware sales on Alibaba’s Tmall for example, in the mainland market.

If, from an economic perspective, this game can have a huge importance in the subsequent development and growth of China’s video game industry, culturally it will have an undoubted importance too. The game is set against the backdrop of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, and, from a cultural standpoint, this video game can help raise interest across the globe in Chinese mythology and the Chinese classics.

As for Hong Kong’s gaming industry, the special administrative region is not a newcomer to this industry, since it has produced successful titles before, like the 1990s 2D action game Little Fighter 2, which saw more than 50 million downloads worldwide. Hong Kong’s industry has a strong emphasis on mobile gaming and a growing interest in esports. Esports in Hong Kong is indeed an emerging new sector with rapid development in recent years. The industry in Hong Kong does not seem ready yet to produce AAA games like Black Myth, but it has room to keep growing, especially in areas like esports.

To sum up, Black Myth can be considered a breakthrough in China’s video game industry, something that was already very strong but has room to grow these coming years, domestically and internationally. Games like Black Myth can play a key role in internationalizing Chinese video games and stimulating interest in learning more about Chinese mythology as well as the Chinese literature classics.  

The author is a fintech adviser, a researcher, and a former business analyst for a Hong Kong publicly listed company.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.