Black Myth: Wukong’s first week of sales numbers are in, and they firmly inhabit “Don’t take a big sip of coffee before you look at them” territory. 10 million units sold, which, as industry analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out on X, “The Everything App,” is a record-breaking performance that leaves some of the biggest releases of the past few years in the dust.
For perspective, here are some comparative numbers:
- Hogwarts Legacy: 15 million in three months
- Elden Ring: 13 million in one month
- Cyberpunk 2077: 13.7 million in one month
- Baldur’s Gate 3: 20+ million in five months
- Helldivers 2: 12 million in three months
The only game that comes close is Palworld’s 19 million players in two weeks, a mark that Black Myth: Wukong seems on track to surpass. It’s a sales figure that lines up with Wukong having leapfrogged the competition to be the #2 most-played game in Steam’s history by concurrent players. Before that, it was also the most wishlisted game on the platform after The Day Before met its ignominious end.
Garbage, even garbage with brand recognition, doesn’t always ensure sales. Plenty of licensed tie-ins of movies and books crash and burn because they suck. That game also sucks, but I suppose there was some sort of wagon-circling massed treat defense to own the wokes or whatever.
I still think the longterm effect of this event has negatively harmed the franchise and jk. You see people talk about it often, how they’ve put their books away, how they now find it difficult to enjoy the franchise and not think about those things whenever they hear about it.
The chuds might circle the wagons to do damage mitigation but they won’t last, and the damage will play out. That little seed planted in the hearts of every lib grows over time.
I think it’s more of a spore than a seed, but the point stands.