Game: Black Myth: Wukong
Article Reading Time: 2 minutes
The Chinese studio Game Science will release the highly anticipated Black Myth: Wukong tomorrow. A few days ago, the first reviews were published, suggesting that the gameplay legend of the Monkey King is a success, even if it has yet to escape optimization problems or bugs. However, besides the praise, there was also a controversy – a document was leaked to social networks, which was sent out by Hero Games to streamers and influencers, urging them not to mention “politics,” “feminist propaganda,” or even COVID-19 in their work related to the game.
Censorship Under the Guise of Guidelines
In a positive sense, the appeal is limited to a single bullet point: “Enjoy the game!” The prohibitions section begins sparingly: “Don’t insult other influencers and players. Do not use offensive language or humor.” But then the briefing starts to veer into censorship.
The Forbidden Words List
“Do not include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, or other content that encourages negative discourse in your coverage of the game. Don’t use trigger words such as ‘quarantine,’ ‘isolation’ or ‘COVID-19’. Do not talk about the game in the context of measures, opinions, and news regarding the Chinese gaming industry,” reads the pamphlet, first published by French streamer ExServ, aka Benoit Reinier. He first showed the instructions on the social networking site BlueSky. He later made a video about them and stated that he would not be covering Black Myth: Wukong because of the restrictions and wanted nothing to do with it.
Verifying the Leak: A Silenced Media
VideoGames.si magazine subsequently verified the email’s authenticity, and Forbes journalist Paul Tassi also stood up for it. The UK’s Eurogamer adds. The instructions were given to content creators, streamers, and other influencers. It was not a document intended for reviewers. IGN’s Travis Northup was added to the Bitcast podcast. The publisher tried to intervene in the review process. They wanted to limit the length of the video review to a maximum of 10 minutes due to the size of the medium. They managed to win an exception at some points.
A Troubled Past Resurfaces
Game Science has faced criticism for the toxic work culture and misogyny of studio founder and CEO Feng Ji. Thus, the leaked instructions from the publisher were meant to prevent further airing of the Chinese company’s affairs. Neither Game Science Studio nor publisher Hero Games have commented on the matter— Black Myth: Wukong releases on PC and PlayStation 5 tomorrow, August 20. The Xbox Series X/S version has been delayed indefinitely.
For more information, check the official page here!
Keep an eye out for an upcoming review in the Games Reviews section on our website!
