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[Lunatic_Gamer]

Game Science's breakout hit Black Myth Wukong oozes AAA quality, and it seems the game's budget reflected that as well. Hero Games, the biggest external sharholder in the studio, divulged that the development cost for crafting the action game was a whopping $70 million (USD) across six years, which is an unheard of for a Chinese-developed game.

This was confirmed by Hero Games boss Daniel Wu in a recent interview with Bloomberg. Back in 2017, Wu paid 60 million yuan ($8.5 million) for Hero Games' 20% stake in Game Science. Initially, that seemed like a bad deal given Game Science's unsuccessful string of games (mostly for mobile). All those are in the rearview mirror now, as Wu also revealed that Black Myth Wukong has already sold 18 million copies in just its first two weeks availability — a number very, very impressive even if you compare it alongside behemoths such as Elden Ring, or even Call of Duty.

What's next for Wukong? While Game Science plans for it to be a "series based on Chinese mythology," the next part of it will be DLC, though outside of that, there's no info about it revealed just yet.

Black Myth Wukong Development Budget Was $70M, Planned to Be a Series Based on Chinese Mythology

Black Myth Wukong's development budget was $70 million across six years, as Game Science plans it to be a series about Chinese mythology.

mp1st.com

 

[LectureMaster]

the development cost for crafting the action game was a whopping $70 million (USD) across six years, which is an unheard of for a Chinese-developed game.

This is only true for single player titles, there are many MMO projects in China from Tencent and NetEase cost more than this.

And up till now, the whole studio is only around 150 people. Very impressed with their productivity.

 

[Bernardougf]

And up till now, the whole studio is only around 150 people. Very impressed with their productivity.

You can produce anything when your only and only objective and focus is on your work and doing the best product you can ... something lost in west development culture unfortunately where people still think is normal taking 8 years to do a shitty game

 

[Mr Moose]

Who knew making stuff people would want to play would work out?
Great to see the success of some games this year. Palworld, Helldivers 2, this.

 

[killatopak]

Do one for Zodiac signs. Very relatable even beyond Chinese people.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

70 million earned by 150 devs over 6 yrs in China.

Something is not adding up. I think a lot of work was done by support studios and a lot of funds were diverted there.

Or maybe they have some other way of calculating.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Return on investment must be nuts. It looks and plays better than most AAA western games. Compare this to Ubisoft Star Wars lol.

 

[Mr Moose]

70 million earned by 150 devs over 6 yrs in China.

Something is not adding up. I think a lot of work was done by support studios and a lot of funds were diverted there.

Or maybe they have some other way of calculating.

Might've included marketing, which costs a fuck load.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Something is not adding up. I think a lot of work was done by support studios and a lot of funds were diverted there.

I bet those animated sequences at the end of each chapter costed a lot to make. There's also the music recording and the voice acting to take into account. Wonder if the marketing costs are being taken into account too.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

I bet those animated sequences at the end of each chapter costed a lot to make. There's also the music recording and the voice acting to take into account. Wonder if the marketing costs are being taken into account to.

Yeah, maybe just adding salaries is not close to dev cost at all.

 

[Hustler]

Might've included marketing, which costs a fuck load.

This, my understanding is that it was marketed heavily across China. Makes sense given the sales disparity globally and where the team spent their marketing budget.

Great game, just platinumed it yesterday. Can't wait for more content and a sequel.

 

[TGO]

The east is embarrassing the west

 

[Bitstream]

You can produce anything when your only and only objective and focus is on your work and doing the best product you can ... something lost in west development culture unfortunately where people still think is normal taking 8 years to do a shitty game

well, 6 years to make a decent game, and then another 2 years to shoehorn shitty sweet baby inc ideas into it

 

[Flabagast]

70 million earned by 150 devs over 6 yrs in China.

Something is not adding up. I think a lot of work was done by support studios and a lot of funds were diverted there.

Or maybe they have some other way of calculating.

A ton of outsourcing was involved, just watch the credits

 

[IAmNotFromDelaware]

70 million earned by 150 devs over 6 yrs in China.

Something is not adding up. I think a lot of work was done by support studios and a lot of funds were diverted there.

Or maybe they have some other way of calculating.

What are the salaries for developers in china. Highly thoughtful they earned between 100,000 $ and 200,000$ like they do in North america.

For software companies, employee salaries is their highest expense.

 

[Bernardougf]

well, 6 years to make a decent game, and then another 2 years to shoehorn shitty sweet baby inc ideas into it

Well and than there is the important knitting and cooking classes ...