In years past, most AAA games were developed either in Japan, US or neighboring European countries. But in the past year, we’ve now seen more and more Chinese studios take on the reins to deliver AAA experiences likeBlack Myth Wukong.
Another game that aims to deliver the same kind of quality as Black Myth Wukong is S-Game with their debut PS5 project, Phantom Blade Zero.
Black Myth Wukong Proved China-Made Games Can Sell Really Well
Last year, Black Myth Wukong shocked everyone when the single-player game not only managed tocrack the Steam all-time concurrent player listbut even reached the #2 spot ahead of multiplayer games, Palworld and Counter-Strike 2.
Black Myth Wukong ended its miraculous run with an all-time concurrent peak of 2.4 million players on Steam alone, and not even factoring in the PS5 player base, which was quite significant as well.
While some might point to the high concurrent player count as just propaganda from China, it’s worth nothing that last month, it wassurmised that about 30% of Black Myth Wukong playerswere outside China.
This staggering number is something Phantom Blade Zero developer S-Game is quite aware of. Speaking toEurogamerat this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), Phantom Blade Zero’s game director “Soulframe” Liang admitted that there’s now pressure from the team due to Black Myth Wukong’s massive success. However, thre’s some good to come alongside the pressure, as the studio has also gotten more resources from Tencent. “Everyone now realizes there is potential for a Chinese-made game to make 30m copies in half a year,” Liang notes.
Phantom Blade Zero Gets New Gameplay To Celebrate Year Of The Snake
The latest gameplay trailer for Phantom Blade Zero clocks in at six minutes and features some insane combat.
Will Phantom Blade Zero sell as much as Black Myth Wukong? While we can’t say for sure, the developers are optimistic since the game has been tracking ahead of Wukong on social media outside of China. The launch trailer for Black Myth Wukong has received over 2.8 million views on game’sofficial YouTube channel, and about three million views on thePlayStation YouTube channel.
In comparison,Phantom Blade Zero’s announcement traileron the PlayStation channel already has 5.3 million views. Sure, that’s not indicative that it’ll sell as well as Wukong, but it does show the interest is there.
I guess we’ll have to wait when Phantom Blade Zero gets released sometime this year to see how well it fares commercially, and whether people from China will support this as much as Black Myth Wukong.
If you’re curious about the action game,check out our hands-on preview of the gamefrom last year’s build.
Phantom Blade Zero Is A Passionate Tribute To Martial Arts Legends
Bruce Lee, Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh, and more.
