China's first globally released AAA game "Black Myth: Wukong" is causing a stir in Taiwan, but gamers and experts think Taiwan has more to learn from the game.
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00:00Striking enemies with a staff in a movement like lightning.
00:09This is Blacksmith Wukong, China's first blockbuster video game, with top-tier graphics, voice
00:15acting and sales.
00:18According to third-party statistics, Blacksmith surpassed 850 million U.S. dollars in gross
00:24revenue just two weeks after its global release, more than 10 times its budget.
00:33The anthropomorphic monkey is inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West,
00:38focusing on the story of the monkey king Sun Wukong, one of the leads in the original novel.
00:44Gamers in Taiwan are among millions around the world, giving the game positive reviews,
00:49putting aside the political divide between China and Taiwan.
01:00Here at the Guanghua Digital Plaza, a computing and electronics hub in Taipei, there's been
01:05an explosion of interest in buying the hardware needed to play a game like Wukong.
01:19The game's success shouldn't come as a surprise.
01:33While Taiwan and China are at odds on the world stage, when it comes to culture, the
01:37two share a common heritage, and the Monkey King story is a big part of that.
01:41But it's left some wondering, why can't Taiwanese stories succeed in the same way?
01:48Taiwanese games have achieved some success, notably those from developer Red Candle.
01:53But while Black Myth is drawn from a centuries-old novel, these Taiwanese hits have often touched
01:58on the country's difficult history in politics.
02:01The 2019 game Devotion was removed from all major sales platforms after gamers found hidden
02:07messages mocking Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
02:10The legendary setting of Black Myth has, by comparison, given it a wide appeal.
02:15So when we pick a topic, we always want to show the world what Taiwan is about.
02:22But to a Western audience, Chinese cultural background is a lot more general and a lot
02:31more familiar.
02:33But I think you need to draw people in before you can start trying to show them what you
02:38want to show them.
02:39And Black Myth Wukong does that.
02:41Black Myth's developers have also tried to distance themselves from any controversial
02:45topics, even asking reviewers to steer clear of topics like communism, feminism and COVID-19.
02:52And beyond the subject matter, few gamers in Taiwan are aiming for the kind of sales
02:56numbers Black Myth has reached.
02:58For that to change, a long-term vision is needed.
03:01Taiwanese players have a different mindset.
03:03They may have set their sights on Asia at first.
03:06If we really want to market globally, the government's support, the company's determination,
03:13and the choice of IP and original topics need to be positioned differently.
03:19You can also see small teams using technology and AI to come up with some clever ideas.
03:25And they can make 3A games.
03:26I think this is an aspect that I am very, very concerned about in this whole thing.
03:31Black Myth's breakout success has shown that games inspired by Chinese culture can succeed
03:37in an industry that has traditionally been dominated by Western and Japanese titles.
03:42But while gamers enjoy putting the monkey king through his paces, the wait for Taiwan's
03:46own Black Myth goes on.
03:48Howard Zhang and Nai Ringlin for Taiwan Plus.