Thanks to Black Myth Wukong, Everyone Now Knows China-Made Games Have the Potential to Sell 30M Units Says Phantom Blade Zero Dev
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Possibly one of the biggest surprises of 2024 was how big Black Myth Wukong was in terms of impact on sales and the gaming industry in general. When the action game developed by China-based Game Science was released, it catapulted to the top of the charts on Steam and even caused the PS5 console to sell out in China.
Could Phantom Blade Zero, which is being made by China-based studio S-Game, replicate this success?
Phantom Blade Zero Director States the Gaming World Now Knows Games Made in China Can Sell a Ton
Speaking to Eurogamer at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Phantom Blade Zero game director “Soulframe” Liang talked about the pressure they are under now due to Black Myth Wukong’s success. While the studio has benefited in Wukong’s success by receiving more resources from investors such as Tencent (who also invested in Black Myth Wukong), this means expectations are much higher. Liang shares, “Everyone now realises there is potential for a Chinese-made game to make 30m copies in half a year.”
Is S-Game expecting to sell as well as Black Myth Wukong? I can’t say for sure, but that would be a reckless estimate if so. Wukong benefited from years of hype (based on its initial trailer that wowed gamers all over the world), and the game being based on one of China’s most popular literary figures of Sun Wukong from the novel Journey to the West.
However, Phantom Blade Zero is also turning heads. S-Game noted how Black Myth Wukong’s trailers are viewed the most in China, in other parts of the world, Phantom Blade Zero has it beat. In comparison, the launch trailer for Wukong is at 2.8 million views on the game’s official channel, and even 3 million views on the official PlayStation YouTube channel, but Phantom Blade Zero’s announcement trailer on the PlayStation channel has a over 5.3 million views. It’s a particular comparison point, but I guess a win is a win.
In the same chat, Liang was asked whether the frequent comparisons to Souls-like games is frustrating. “I don’t think that is a frustration, it’s just something to help the players to understand the game better,” Liang says.
Liang added, “Although there was a misunderstanding and now there are more people comparing us to Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry, which is the other way around. But maybe this is a way to help another group of players to understand or anticipate the game. There’s something for both sides. But for us, it’s hard to label our game as a pure Souls game, nor hack and slash. It’s just something in between. It’s a way to tell a story.”
Phantom Blade Zero has no release date set yet, but according to S-Game, the main story will take 20-30 hours to complete.
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