The first step in stock trading is to open a stock account. Although there are still three days until the official release on August 20th, the impact of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ has already broken through the circle. Recently, with the release of the final trailer before the launch, the leak of the plot video, and the online performance testing tool, every new update of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’, which is expected to challenge the domestic AAA game benchmark, has sparked heated discussions among players, causing its popularity to soar once again.
‘Black Myth: Wukong’ has welcomed media score lifting. As of Saturday morning, an average of 82 points were given by 52 global media. ‘IGN China Full Score’ even topped the Weibo hot search, with the reviewer from IGN China stating that ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ can definitely be regarded as a milestone in the Chinese gaming industry. The excellent quality it presents is worthy of all the expectations it has carried over the past four years.
It is a truly competitive domestic game in the global market and is believed to become a strong contender for the Game of the Year. After this battle, Game Science will undoubtedly become one of the world’s top ARPG game developers. ‘Raising game development to the height of science’, in ‘Journey to the West’, the fairy stone absorbed the essence of heaven and earth for a long time and finally gave birth to Sun Wukong.
The Game Science company that nurtured ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ can also be traced back to 10 years ago. In 2014, Feng Ji, dissatisfied with the atmosphere of the game industry at that time, left Tencent with several old colleagues from ‘Dou Shen Zhan’ to found Game Science in Shenzhen, implying that game development is a rigorous discipline that requires both diligence and inspiration. Feng Ji served as CEO, hoping to gradually answer various questions about game production through the development practice of each project, raising game development to the height of science.
In the early stage, in order to survive, they produced some mobile game projects that catered to the market, such as ‘Hundred Generals Line’ and ‘Art of War: Red Tide’. In May 2017, the publisher of ‘Art of War: Red Tide’, Hero Interactive (now ‘Hero Game’), brought an investment of 60 million yuan to Game Science, and the wholly-owned subsidiary of Hero Interactive, Hero Financial, became a shareholder of Game Science, holding 20% of the shares.
According to this calculation, the valuation of Game Science at that time was 300 million yuan. In 2018, during a late-night meeting, Feng Ji and team members decided to go all out to produce a single-player action game, with the project code named ‘B1’, which is the abbreviation of ‘Black Myth One’, meaning ‘the first work of the Black Myth series’, which is now ‘Black Myth: Wukong’.
Feng Ji has planned the second and third installments for this game and established five core principles for game development at Game Science Company, with exposed principles including ‘immersive growth-driven gameplay’ and ‘uncompromising high-quality graphics’. The phrase on Game Science Company’s official website, ‘If you aim high, you may reach the middle; if you aim for the middle, you will end up below,’ originates from Emperor Taizong of Tang’s ‘Imperial Model’ Volume Four, implying that if one sets high standards for oneself, even if they only achieve a moderate level, it is far superior to setting moderate standards.
Feng Ji has set extremely high standards for this game, demanding that the team not only avoid copying classic game mechanics but also achieve comprehensive breakthroughs in graphics, plot, and gameplay. This has also filled the development process of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ with challenges. Initially, the ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ team consisted of only seven members, and the pressure was immense when facing the vast scale of the project and the demand for high quality.
Leading the team, Feng Ji started from learning the Unreal Engine and gradually built the game world. They chose the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit as their first experimental level, and through continuous trials and adjustments, they finally achieved basic game functionality. They addressed many challenges in game development through practice, such as how to build more realistic outdoor environments, how to tell a good game story, and how to create an excellent sense of impact.
He led the team to continuously refine game details, from character design to level layout, from combat systems to plot progression, striving to do the best in every aspect. After many twists and turns, Tencent’s ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ finally revealed its true form on August 20, 2020, when the first trailer was released and quickly caused a sensation in the gaming community. In the trailer, the protagonist’s hair and skin textures were realistic, and the motion capture brought realistic expressions and smooth movements.
This high regard for detail and quality is one of the hallmarks of AAA games. However, AAA games mean high development costs, long development cycles, and resource consumption. Where does the development funding for ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ come from? At this time, Tencent entered the game. According to Feng Ji, Tencent was one of the first to visit after the release of the ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ demo video.
In March 2021, Guangxi Tencent Venture Investment Co., Ltd. obtained 5% of the equity in Game Science Company through capital increase, and the investment amount was not publicly disclosed. The asset changes of Game Science Company before and after receiving Tencent’s investment (in ten thousand yuan) can be compared to see the total assets and net assets, which were 40.413.7 million yuan and 15.61 million yuan at the end of December 2020, respectively.
From 920,000 yuan to a significant increase to 298 million yuan and 270 million yuan by the end of June 2021, it is highly likely that Tencent’s investment in Game Science Company has exceeded 2 billion yuan. Based on this calculation, the valuation of Game Science Company may exceed 4 billion yuan. Tencent has committed to a ‘three no’s’ principle in this investment: no interference in business decisions, no seizing of project leadership, and no pursuit of distribution and operation rights.
The main aim is to assist former colleagues in successfully completing the project, without deliberately seeking commercial returns.
In addition, to ensure a smooth and high-quality visual experience across different hardware platforms, ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ has been developed using Unreal Engine 5. Tencent’s investment in Epic Games in 2012, which has multiple projects developed with Unreal Engine, could potentially provide more technical support to Game Science Company.
‘The path we have chosen is not easy, so we have always been serious about engaging and conditionally accepting those who share our values and are willing to help us achieve our dreams, whether it be people, technology, or capital,’ said Feng Ji.
In the following year of 2022, Hero Entertainment sold all 19% of its stake in Game Science Company held by its subsidiary for 480 million yuan. Based on this calculation, the valuation of Game Science Company exceeded 2.
5 billion yuan. Hero Entertainment received the first payment of 280 million yuan for the equity transfer that year, with the remaining 200 million yuan to be paid at a later agreed-upon time in writing (but not before April 1, 2025). It is worth noting that the recovery of the remaining equity transfer payment is subject to contingent terms.
‘Black Myth: Wukong’ has been exceptionally popular since its pre-order launch on June 8th.
As of July 19th, pre-sales have reached 1.2 million copies, with pre-sales revenue nearing 400 million yuan. According to Valve’s latest weekly sales list on the Steam platform (August 6th to 13th, 2024), ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ topped the Steam global weekly sales chart. As previously revealed by Feng Ji, the hourly development cost of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ is about 15 to 20 million yuan. The team estimates the overall game duration to be over 15 hours, with the actual research and development time being 1.
5 times this duration. Based on this estimate, the development cost would require at least 300 to 400 million yuan. This data also aligns well with the investment amounts and financial data related to Game Science Company’s investments from Hero Entertainment and Tencent.
This means that, after deducting publishing, distribution, and operational costs, recovering the development costs may not take a long time.
Does this also imply that Chinese games have obtained the ‘true scriptures’? It might be, or it could just be the beginning of a new story. Commercial success can provide game developers with the motivation and financial support to continue moving forward, but it is only one dimension of measuring success. Equally important is that domestic AAA games need more room for trial and error, needing to find their own development path through continuous exploration and attempts.
Even if ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ fails to meet commercial expectations, it can still serve as a business card for Chinese games, showcasing the cultural charm of China to the world. Regardless of the final commercial performance of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’, it has already opened the prelude to a new story for the Chinese gaming industry. We look forward to more manufacturers being inspired to bravely invest in the research and development of AAA games, jointly exploring the infinite possibilities of Chinese games, and writing a new chapter in the Chinese gaming industry.
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