Black Myth: Wukong has broken a record few would have expected
Chinese developer Game Science's Black Myth: Wukong is a massive hit on Steam
🤯 Black Myth: Wukong has had a record-breaking launch
🥈 It’s quickly become the second most-played game ever on Steam
🥇 It’s also the most-played single-player game of all time
🐒 Black Myth: Wukong is available on PC and PS5, with an Xbox version planned
Black Myth: Wukong launched today, and it’s quickly broken a record that few would have expected. The game has become the second most-played game ever on Steam, hitting a 24-hour peak of 2,223,179 players.
The game has also received an overwhelmingly positive review score from players, with 93,278 reviews registered on Steam so far.
Black Myth: Wukong’s next target is PUBG, which has held the record for several years. It amassed a peak of 3,257,248 concurrent players, a figure that most games can only dream of.
The success of Black Myth: Wukong on PC comes after the game received generally positive review scores from critics. The game settled on a score of 82 from 57 critic reviews, which focused on the PC version.
However, it seems like players have voted with their wallets and all want to experience the game’s mythological, soulslike action for themselves. The game seems to push PC hardware to the limits on its highest settings, too.
Good news for Sony, bad news for Microsoft
Sony will also be pleased with Black Myth: Wukong’s success as it’s only available on PS5. But not because there’s a timed exclusivity deal in place like we’re used to, but because developer Game Science ran into issues developing the Xbox Series X|S version.
A similar situation happened with the console versions of Baldur’s Gate 3, where the PS5 enjoyed a couple of months of exclusivity as developer Larian Studios tried to get the game running well on Xbox Series S. Eventually, Microsoft allowed the studio to remove the local co-op feature from the more affordable Xbox, which was holding back the release.
The PS5 version of Black Myth: Wukong hasn’t received much coverage, with reviews centering on the PC code of the game. However, judging from PC performance tests, the PlayStation 5 will have its work cut out maintaining a stable frame rate and delivering the suite of graphical effects Game Science has included.
Black Myth: Wukong on PS5 also won’t join the list of PS5 games with ray tracing support, as the feature is missing from the console version. A PS5 Pro enhanced version of the game could solve this, and become a great advert for Sony’s souped-up console.
We’re still waiting for Sony to reveal its mid-gen console refresh, but PS5 pre-orders may start next month. Both PlayStation 5 and PS4 Pro pre-orders began in September, and the PS5 Pro is tipped to launch sometime in November. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this year’s Tokyo Game Show for a PS5 Pro reveal.
Up next: Until Dawn on PS5 gets a release date – and it's out before Halloween
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.