From IGN to Screen Rant, the game has been a source of scrutiny and debate for months.
Well, this is a weird one. If you've not been following the drama surrounding the release of Game Science's upcoming action-roleplaying game Black Myth: Wukong, buckle up, because things are about to get bumpy. First, in November of 2023 IGN published a scathing piece by writers Rebekah Valentine and Khee Hoon alleging sexism and misogyny that took place at Game Science. Multiple statements made by developers and examples of signs at the company were cited, although not all of the claims were substantiated with evidence. In the time since that piece was published, many have come forward to argue that Valentine and Hoon's translations of the alleged sexist statements were either mistranslated, misunderstood, or mischaracterized.
Valentine added a sidebar to a preview piece on Wukong during Summer Game Fest 2024 where she mentions the controversy in a roundabout way, simply stating that Game Science never responded to the allegations made in her article. However, many consider the reporting by Valentine and Hoon to be biased and unfair to Game Science. This comes after IGN France Editor-in-Chief Erwan Lafleuriel suggested Shift Up's Stellar Blade would result in the deaths of women due to the main character Eve's design. Such a bombastic claim was naturally met with outrage, and is one of many recent examples fans allege demonstrates mainstream gaming outlets being rife with bias. Despite IGN's claims of sexism, however, Wukong has garnered quite a lot of interest from consumers in the lead up to the game's release. Now, reviews have started to come out and a new controversy is brewing over at Screen Rant.
Screen Rant scored the game a 3/5. Part of their reason for marking Wukong down is that it is "lacking in inclusivity and diversity." This has sparked some outrage online as Wukong is a game filled with fantasy creatures and is based on the Chinese book Journey to the West, which has a first known printing from 1592. Journey to the West is set in the 7th century AD and offers a dramatized account of the pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang to the western parts of central Asia and India. This is all worth mentioning because it helps to outline how strange a claim it is to make about Wukong given its setting and characters. This is a game set in ancient China starring a monkey.
Apparently, Screen Rant saw the consternation its review has caused online and decided to remove the name of the original author from the piece. There are two statements we've included below from the review: one regarding the writer and the other IGN's accusations:
Screen Rant doesn't offer any explanations as to why the author of the review would be in danger, but apparently the threat was real enough that the site felt compelled to remove the person's name. Also, as you can see, the statement summarizes the sexism claims but with no context about some questioning their validity. This has all sparked fan debate online. Now, Internet sleuths have alleged to have discovered the name of the writer and another interesting tidbit: this person supposedly also works for a PR agency called Splendid Communications. We won't post the writer's name here, as the reporting is coming largely from independent journalists and creators and has yet to be verified, but this person has deleted their LinkedIn account since the Wukong review began to light up social media. Needless to say, some feel that the writer being part of a PR firm comes across as rather strange and brings into question the validity of a "review" being written by someone who might have conflicting interests.
Where things start to get a little murky are the assumptions that are being made about these findings. For one thing, it isn't known what political leanings Splendid Communications may or may not have. The language from the company's LinkedIn page that's being quoted online doesn't explicitly assert any particular stance, although that's not stopping people from interpreting it how they see fit. Regardless, that this writer could possibly be compromised is a valid concern that one would hope Screen Rant will address in the future. For another, commentators are saying that the IGN article was "debunked." That's debatable, as only the translations referenced by Valentine and Hoon appear to have been debunked, but not all of the other claims made in their article. Game Science, in turn, has also not commented on the IGN piece. It would be fairer to say that IGN's piece isn't yet 100% verified and, thus, it's inappropriate to reference it in a review as Screen Rant (and others) has done.
At this point you might be wondering, "why is there so much fuss over this review and this game?" The reason is the culture wars that are currently flooding debates across social media. Many feel that there is brazen political bias coming from mainstream video game outlets, bias that leans in one political direction and stymies any sort of contrary opinions. The idea that Wukong, which is based in ancient China and stars an animal protagonist, is "lacking in inclusivity and diversity" comes across as strange and tone deaf to most people. No place in the world was very diverse or inclusive by today's standards in the 700s, after all, so to suggest that a game set during that period would need to conform to modern conceptions of those concepts is rather absurd. Yet here we are, in a world where Screen Rant has marked a game down for exactly that.
That's not the end of this story, however. Now it's being reported that Game Science is asking via an email message that anyone covering the game as an online influencer or commentator avoid a laundry list of forbidden words and phrases. This includes not mentioning "politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishisation [sic], and other content that instigates negative discourse," nor the use of "trigger words" like COVID-19, and perhaps the coup de grâce of "content related to China's game industry policies, opinions, news, etc." The message doesn't say that influencers can't be negative about Wukong, but rather that their coverage must conform to these terms in order to get a review key.
This has opened yet another can of worms, as many are rankled by the restrictions. However, why people are upset with the email will vary depending on a person's politics. Some see it as the usual censorious overreach of the Chinese government. Game Science is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, thus putting it under the purview of the CCP. As such, it makes sense that these demands would be in place, as they align with the Chinese government's view on things. Furthermore, being told outside of China to abide by China's restrictive media controls isn't something that sits well with people in free countries like the US. However, others are outraged because it essentially paints many of the hot button topics that mainstream journalists like to evangelize about in a negative light.
The subject of many mainstream journalists eager to use their platforms to push various social and political ideology, regardless of whether or not it fits with the target audience, is something that is also being hotly contested as part of the culture wars. To have a developer dissuade such discourse is naturally infuriating many of these writers and pundits. There's even another angle to this controversy, which is that Chinese social media is alight with fans infuriated that Western review scores aren't as high as the ones in China. Currently, Wukong sits at an 82 on Metacritic. While that means reviews are largely positive, it stands in contrast with China, where many of the reviewers are giving the game perfect scores or scores in the high 90s. Although all reviews are subjective, one can likely assume Wukong's true score rests somewhere in the middle between the views of Chinese gaming outlets (that are likely feeling massive pressure to score it high) and Western critics (some of whom feel pressure to score it low due to the IGN article).
We'll find out soon what the wider range of fans and critics think of Wukong, as the game will be launching tomorrow, August 20, 2024 on PlayStation 5 and PC, with an Xbox Series X\S release down the road. We'll keep you posted as this story continues to develop.
Source: IGN + GamesIndustry.biz + Geeks + Gamers + Mark Cern X Account + That Park Place + Minimal Effort Gaming YouTube Channel
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