Chinese Companies Are Suspending Work for Employees to Play 'Black Myth: Wukong', Making Western Gamers Consider Taking PTO of Their Own

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Aug 29, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

What does 1 million terabytes of game downloads look like on Steam? Black Myth: Wukong.

It's called an 'exabyte' and you've probably never even heard of data being discussed at that volume because it's absolutely bonkers. But on the opening weekend of the release of Black Myth: Wukong, the highly-anticipated game where you play as a mythical monkey battling the beasts of China's ancient lore, that's the kind of measurement we're using.

To comprehend how huge this game is becoming, we have to start from the basics. If you're a gamer, you've probably at least heard of the iconic God of War, which made a lot of gamers more familiar with Greek mythology. Well, Wukong is a little bit like that, except we're talking about all of China–thousands upon thousands of years of mythology that the Western world is probably not accustomed to, but for the most populated country in the world, this drop is huge. 

To a Chinese audience, this game is the holy grail of gaming. 

Not only is the game well-made, it dives deep into lore that Chinese gamers have grown up with, but have never seen come to fruition on a modern screen. That's insane. It'd be like taking a 12th-century peasant and showing them Game of Thrones in 2015. So even as Westerners cling to our gaming consoles and enjoy this beautiful game, imagine the glee of Chinese gamers when they got to play Wukong. 

Some companies even gave their employees time off to go home and get some gaming in. If only my boss would do the same… Scroll onward for some more interesting nuggets about this game and how it's being received by the public one week after release.

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • 01
    RPG 'Black Myth: Wukong' gets released, companies in China suspend work for employees to game BLACK MYTH WUKONG
    via RepresentativeTax410
  • 02
    Farnic 3d ago Man, we don't even get work suspended for a record breaking blizzard, let alone a video game release
    via Farnic
  • 03
    karlzhao... 3d ago Edited 3d ago I'm Chinese-American, mostly American. I think most of the western audience still doesn't really have much of an idea of exactly how big this game is or why it's so big.
    via karlzhao314
  • 04
    To us, we just see that it's a pretty decent action-adventure game with a monkey fighting against monsters. Sure, we hear that it's based on Chinese mythology, but that makes it sound no different than, say, God of War based on Greek mythology.
    via karlzhao314
  • 05
    To the Chinese audience, it's way different. The story of Sun Wukong and Journey to the West isn't just some story, it's the story that basically every child in China grew up watching or reading or listening to. Many kids watched the cartoon or the 1986 show as
    via karlzhao314
  • 06
    the first TV show they've ever watched, and they get replayed year after year on TV or even during festivals or special events. Parents read storybooks about it to their children every night. Ruyi Jingu Bang or other props from the series are popular toys given
    via karlzhao314
  • 07
    to children. Shrines to Sun Wukong or even other characters aren't uncommon in households, and some families may place statues of him in prominent spots for luck or protection. And now someone's finally made a video game based on that story
    via karlzhao314
  • 08
    - an AAA title, recognized worldwide, that's also a faithful adaptation of the same characters and stories. (I showed my dad the opening cinematics and even he pointed out that all the details - Wukong's voice, the design of his armor and Jingu Bang, Erlang's
    via karlzhao314
  • 09
    design and outfit, etc, etc, are all exactly as he would have envisioned them to look like in a modern video game.) It even has callbacks to the same series that everyone grew up watching, using the 1986 TV show's opening and ending in the soundtrack.
    via karlzhao314
  • 10
    It's difficult to describe exactly how this game is making Chinese audiences feel. They're finally seeing their childhood adapted into a huge, well-made video game. I had tears in my eyes listening Celestial Symphony for the first time and hearing the 1986 opening remixed in it. The
    via karlzhao314
  • 11
    best comparison I can make is if you were a lifelong comic books fan, and after decades of reading comic books you finally saw MCU start to adapt those characters to the big screen using modern filmmaking techniques and CGI - only imagine it's a whole ethnic group, one of the largest in the world, feeling this way.
    via karlzhao314
  • 12
    So yeah, I'm not at all surprised that it's gotten so big, or that some people are making such a big deal out of it that companies are giving their employees time off to play it. The game is huge. It always was going to be.
    via karlzhao314
  • 13
    BadadvicefromIT 3d ago Ya, my boss will probably have to close shop when GTA VI finally drops too.
    via BadadvicefromIT
  • 14
    oloring_alex 3d ago Reminiscent of Japan giving employees Friday that a new Dragon Quest game releases back in the 90s off
    via oloring_alex
  • 15
    spoonface46 3d ago It's just a few GAMING companies that decided to give their folks a day off. Our own propaganda machine seems to always portray china as totalitarian/monolithic. Read past the headline before you gut-react post about The Chinese
    via spoonface46
  • 16
    jejacks00n 3d ago I started playing it. It's amazingly beautiful, and the visual effects are pretty shocking and good. The game is hard as for a retired gamer though, and I had to put it down after becoming frustrated with trying and failing at the same thing again and again. | I guess I'll watch a play through at some point.
    via jejacks00n
  • 17
    adamttaylor · 3d ago It is the first AAA game that China has ever made that focuses on Chinese culture. Of course they are going to get time off to play it. It is a very big deal in China.
    via adamttaylor
  • 18
    HonoluluBlueFlu 3d ago I have to burn PTO when I want to play a game on release day it seems.
    via HonoluluBlueFlu
  • 19
    DarthRiznat 3d ago This is the way... ...of the monke
    via DarthRiznat
  • 20
    Nooby_Chris • 3d ago My boss: "I will never understand this generation and their Nintendo console things. Games are stupid. Get back to work."
    via Nooby_Chris
  • 21
    Man, we don't even get work suspended for a record breaking blizzard, let alone a video game release
    via RepresentativeTax410 - via Mustsharenews

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

video game memes games gamer China wukong gaming relatable gamers Videogames Memes lol meme gaming memes video games gamer memes funny chinese black myth wukong
Scroll Down For The Next Article