Game Science, the Chinese studio behind the critically acclaimed video game "Black Myth: Wukong," unveiled its next project on Wednesday, a surprising new chapter that signals its ambition to build a broader franchise rooted in Chinese mythology.
The new game, titled "Black Myth: Zhong Kui", was announced with a teaser trailer, a nearly two-minute computer-generated short video. The announcement comes exactly one year after the release of "Black Myth: Wukong", which achieved breakout global success.
The official trailer of "Black Myth: Zhong Kui" released on YouTube by IGN, a video gaming and entertainment media website, has garnered over 500,000 views and nearly 2,000 comments in less than 10 hours.
The choice of Zhong Kui, a mythical ghost-queller from Chinese folklore, instead of a direct sequel focusing on the Monkey King, represents a deliberate creative shift.
In a personal Weibo post on Wednesday, studio founder Feng Ji, also known as Yocar, revealed the emotional backdrop to this decision, describing how he experienced "confusion, emptiness and anxiety" following the success of "Black Myth: Wukong".
While promising a new story and protagonist, Game Science confirmed that "Black Myth: Zhong Kui" will remain a "standard single-player, action role-playing game" featuring an identical business model.
No release window was given, with the studio admitting that even Yocar has no timeline yet for the new game -- which is for "PC and mainstream console platforms". The studio did announce rebranding of all its social media accounts from "Black Myth: Wukong" to simply "Black Myth" to serve as a unified hub for all future games in the series. "I came across the teaser trailer for 'Black Myth: Zhong Kui' this morning and was genuinely surprised. I've been playing 'Black Myth' (Wukong) for three to four months now. It's China's first truly AAA game and has reached world-class standards," said video game player Wang Mingming.
"This new game of 'Black Myth: Zhong Kui' explores a theme that no one has ever tackled before. The game itself is highly anticipated, and I will definitely try my hand at it," said Luo Wenhao, another video game player.
The series' first title "Black Myth: Wukong" is a record-breaking action game that sold over 10 million copies across all platforms in just three days after its launch last August. By the end of last year, it had sold more than 28 million copies worldwide and generated a revenue of over 9 billion yuan. The game won Best Action Game and the Player's Voice award at The Game Awards 2024, was named by Time magazine as one of the year's best video games, and picked up multiple Golden Joystick awards.
Driven by the release of "Black Myth: Zhong Kui", China's A-share gaming sector experienced volatile gains. As of the market close Wednesday afternoon, the A-share gaming industry rose by 1.46 percent, with some individual stocks hitting the daily limit of 10 percent.
Chinese studio behind hit game "Black Myth: Wukong" announces next project
