Domestic AAA games make a stunning breakthrough, and Wukong Coin also joins in on the hype

On August 20, the highly anticipated domestic game "Black Myth: Wukong" was launched, attracting widespread attention from gamers both domestically and internationally. The game was initiated in February 2018 and has undergone years of development, completed by the Chinese game developer "Game Science." "Black Myth: Wukong" is built on the Unreal Engine 5 and is developed based on the classical masterpiece "Journey to the West," creating an action role-playing game set in a world filled with deities, demons, and mythical creatures.

Upon its launch, "Black Myth: Wukong" garnered immense traffic and attention, achieving great success. Moreover, its strong sales triggered a chain reaction, pushing several A-share concept stocks to their limits, leading industry insiders to jokingly refer to it as "the monkey that exploded in trading." Even the cryptocurrency sector jumped on the bandwagon, launching various "Wukong coins."

++The first domestic AAA game has made a stunning debut, and China++ ++Tian Shen++ ++is starting a global fan-finding mode.++

"Black Myth: Wukong" is an action role-playing game set against the backdrop of Chinese mythology. The story is adapted from one of China's four classic novels, "Journey to the West," where players take on the role of a "destined person" embarking on a perilous and wondrous journey.

With high development costs, exquisite graphics, and ample marketing budget, "Black Myth: Wukong" has become the first AAA game in China, attracting countless fans and receiving numerous accolades upon its release. On its first day, the peak number of simultaneous players on Steam surpassed 2.22 million, second only to "PUBG," creating the second-highest record in Steam's history. Official media praised it as a "phenomenal product," breaking the long-standing monopoly of AAA games by Japan and the United States.

According to data, "Black Myth: Wukong" went live at 10 AM on August 20, and by 8 PM that evening, its global sales had exceeded 4.5 million copies, with total sales exceeding 1.5 billion yuan. By the evening of August 21, the number of online players worldwide reached nearly 2.36 million. Not only domestic players were impressed by the game's high-quality production; many international players also praised it. A German player remarked that the monster designs in the game were particularly cool, featuring many different styles, and the main storyline reflected Chinese cultural characteristics, making it very captivating.

According to the official game website, the digital version of "Black Myth: Wukong" is available in a standard edition for 268 yuan and a deluxe edition for 328 yuan, while the physical versions are priced at 820 yuan and 1998 yuan, accompanied by game-related merchandise. Currently, all physical versions are sold out, and prices for physical copies on second-hand platforms have doubled.

++The cryptocurrency sector is also riding the wave! "Wukong"-related meme coins are experiencing a surge in speculation.++

Naturally, the cryptocurrency sector is eager to capitalize on the hype surrounding domestic AAA games.

According to data from Dex Screener, on public chains like Ethereum, Solana, and Base, there are various meme coins themed around "Wukong." These unofficial meme coins generally follow a similar trend to most previous meme coins: they experience astonishing price surges, followed by rapid declines.

Overall, these tokens have low market capitalizations and trading volumes, but most have experienced extreme volatility. For instance, a token named "wukong" launched on the Uniswap platform surged rapidly after the release of "Black Myth: Wukong" on August 21, but its price plummeted within half a day. Just 24 hours later, the token's price had dropped over 40%; another "wukong" token launched on the Raydium exchange saw significant price fluctuations on August 20 and 21, followed by a downward trend, with a 24-hour decline of 52.45%.

There are many examples of the cryptocurrency sector trying to ride the hype, especially with meme coins. When the hit anti-fraud film "All In" was released last year, the "Keta Coin" featured in the movie was targeted by many cryptocurrency projects, which simultaneously launched tokens of the same name, all of which saw decent price increases for a time. However, after a brief period of excitement, these tokens invariably headed towards "zero." Similarly, during the popularity of Netflix's "Squid Game," the squid game (SQUID) meme coin's price skyrocketed by over 86,000% within a week. But shortly after, the development team fled overnight, and the price subsequently crashed.

This allows us to more intuitively understand the characteristics of meme coins: they are always closely tied to trending events. Since these accompanying trending events often have high visibility and traffic, the meme coins that capitalize on them tend to experience astonishing price increases in the short term. However, as the trending events cool down, the prices of these meme coins also plummet rapidly. After all, such market behavior lacks fundamental support and is driven more by market sentiment and speculative psychology.

The frequent emergence of "Wukong concept coins" is a clear indication of the "one-click coin issuance" foolproof model, highlighting the wild growth in the cryptocurrency sector, especially in the meme coin arena. Issuing a meme coin requires no barriers; you just need to come up with a name. However, in the long run, this will inevitably lead to an influx of low-quality projects, affecting the healthy development of the market, and some projects may even involve illegal financing and fraud.

"Anyone can issue a coin" is not a good thing. An excessive number of token issuances can lead to market bubbles, increasing risks for investors, and the entire market may become unstable as a result.

++China has already produced its own AAA game; where is the spring of blockchain games?++

We know that in the GameFi sector, there are also some games that claim to be AAA. However, in reality, the vast majority of these claims are just gimmicks, aimed at attracting as many players and investors as possible, with very few (if any) truly top-tier games like "Black Myth: Wukong."

The reason for this is largely that GameFi is still in its emerging stage, representing a new model that has not yet been tested by the market and time. The economic models of most GameFi games have flaws and lack playability. Some even argue that the core of GameFi is not the game but finance (Fi), which is why it seems difficult for the cryptocurrency sector to produce AAA games.

We have discovered an uncomfortable truth: In GameFi, the games that make money are not fun, and the fun games do not make money. These GameFi projects carry a strong "financial attribute," and discussions often revolve around "Token economics," so for most people, the biggest selling point of blockchain games is not "playing" but "earning." To make money, games are likely to be hastily produced; hastily produced games lack playability, and players are unwilling to spend; if no one is willing to spend, the project team naturally lacks the motivation to improve and enhance, creating a vicious cycle. Under this logic and ecological environment, it is challenging for GameFi to see the dawn of a AAA phenomenon-level game.

However, the emergence of Wukong seems to bring some crucial shocks and reflections to the entire GameFi sector.

"Black Myth: Wukong" appears to have burst onto the scene and become an instant hit, but the year-after-year efforts of its team are solid and visible. The main creators prepared for a long time, utilizing various software, hardware, AI, and other cutting-edge technologies. It is through this meticulous effort that "Black Myth: Wukong" achieved success.

It is worth mentioning that the team behind "Black Myth: Wukong" had planned to develop the game "Dou Zhan Shen" at Tencent back in 2008, but it ultimately did not materialize. After leaving Tencent, the main creative team established "Game Science" in 2014, using their previous development experience and ideas to try again, ultimately creating this masterpiece. From the project's initiation ten years ago to the trailer four years ago, and finally to the launch on August 20, 2024, it truly is a decade of sharpening a sword.

In contrast, the current cryptocurrency industry is actually the least lacking in advanced concepts and technological support, yet it has not produced a single phenomenon-level project. Compared to focusing on product development, many prefer to invest their time and energy into how to exploit the market, hype up traffic, and make quick money.

Many cryptocurrency projects emphasize "speed," with many projects going from PPT initiation, white paper to implementation, token distribution, and even eventual exit, all potentially within a month. The overall atmosphere in the cryptocurrency industry is such, let alone in the GameFi sector.

In GameFi, many project teams believe that if they invest a lot of energy and costs into game development, it will be challenging to achieve the ultimate goal of profitability. Now, we hope that the outstanding performance of "Black Myth: Wukong" can help them understand: for games, fun is the hard truth; fun is the only magic weapon that can lead to profit.