Video games are the next front in US-China tech war

Blockbuster Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong sold more than 10 million copies within days of its release last month, and its success has been hailed as a soft-power win for the Asian superpower.

However, as a Chinese idiom states, “the intention of the drunkard lies not on the wine, but on other purposes.”

China’s push into the gaming industry also serves a “harder” kind of power: the drive to bolster domestic chip manufacturing in the wake of US semiconductor export restrictions aimed at hobbling Chinese AI research.

Set in the world of Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West, Black Myth: Wukong lets players control Wukong, the Monkey King, on a journey of battles and mysteries inspired by ancient Chinese mythology.

The expansive, high-budget game is the first Chinese production on this scale to achieve such global success. Developed and published by Game Science, a studio backed by tech giant Tencent, Black Myth: Wukong shows how popular culture can follow the propaganda injunction to “tell China’s story well.”

Blockbuster gaming with Chinese characteristics

As I have commented elsewhere, despite criticisms in Western media the game is a successful cultural export and vehicle of Chinese cultural soft power.

It is a source of national pride for Chinese gamers tired of playing games with foreign settings, as illustrated by a popular post circulating on Chinese social media platforms:

Or in English (my translation):

Chinese game industry levels up

Chinese government support for gaming is not new. For instance, in 2019, the Beijing municipal government issued guidelines aimed at establishing the city as the “international capital of online games” and leveraging games as a medium to convey compelling Chinese narratives.