Black Myth: Wukong misses out on top prize at gaming Oscars, stirring online debate at home

Black Myth: Wukong ended up missing out on Game of the Year at The Games Awards (TGA) 2024, fanning heated discussion among Chinese players after expectations were dashed that the country’s first AAA video game could win the top prize in the so-called Oscars of gaming.

The action role-playing game, developed by Game Science and launched in August, lost to Japanese game Astro Bot in a tightly-competitive list of finalists that included Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday local time.

Although Chinese video games have gained recognition at TGA in recent years, with mobile titles Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail winning the Best Mobile Game award in 2021 and 2023, respectively, before Black Myth no Chinese-developed title had been nominated for the top prize, which typically goes to AAA games that require heavy investments in time and money.

The result stirred strong reactions on Chinese social media on Friday. Black Myth and Astro Bot quickly become top trending topics on X-like platform Weibo, with many netizens expressing their anger and dissatisfaction.

“I can accept it losing to all other nominees excluding Astro Bot,” said Weibo user “Moyun”, adding that the Japanese game’s user base was too small for the honour.

Sony said Astro Bot sold 1.5 million copies on its exclusive platform PlayStation 5 as of November 3, nearly two months after its release. In comparison, Black Myth recorded sales of more than 10 million copies less than four days after release, and sold more than 20 million units in its first month.

TGA winners are not determined by sales, rather, by a blended voting jury of over 100 global media and influencer outlets, who are given a 90 per cent weighting, and the rest from fans.