Black Myth: Wukong has achieved considerable success since its release. In less than a day, it has broken the concurrent player records of Palworld and Counter-Strike 2 to become the second most played Steam game of all time. And although it leaves Palworld far behind, the game’s community manager doesn’t seem to mind.
“I hope Wukong hits the 4 million mark,” says John “Bucky” Buckley, Palworld’s community manager. “We probably won’t see another game reach those heights until GTA 6.” At the time of writing, Black Myth: Wukong has 1.5 million players and currently has a 24-hour and total peak of 2.2 million, about 100,000 more than Palworld. There have been a lot of comparisons between the two games because they are so close in terms of peak player numbers.
It’s been a while since Palworld has seen such amazing numbers, which is pretty normal considering how long it’s been around. “I don’t know what the negativity is about,” Bucky says. “People had fun. They’re still having fun. Isn’t that literally all we ask for as game developers? For people to enjoy our games.”
Previously, Bucky even said that he would vote for Black Myth: Wukong if it ever faced Palworld in a player vote: “I would vote for Wukong because I think this is the kind of positive change that is needed in the Chinese gaming world. Wukong is proof that a well-made single-player game can be great, and not some mobile hybrid with 5,000 variations of microtransactions.”
While the first day was clearly a success for Wukong, there were a few strange delays along the way. It was reported that Black Myth: Wukong had some strange guidelines for streamers, including not discussing Covid-19 or “feminist propaganda.” There were a few different reactions to this. My personal favorite is MoonMoon’s Wukong stream titled “Covid-19 Isolation Taiwan (Is a Real Country Feminism Propaganda).”
