Black Myth: Wukong was one of the favorites to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards which held on December 12. However, Astro Bot happened—which many would not consider a surprise. Wukong’s director Feng ji has reportedly aired his feeling about what transpired at the award night.
According to reports, the Wukong director shared a lengthy statement on the Chinese social media platform Weibo where he thanked fans for their Chinese mythology-themed game while also expressing disappointment that the game did not win the biggest award of the night, Game of the Year.
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Game Science’s hugely popular Black Myth: Wukong was voted the Players’ Voice winner—the only category where the winner is decided based 100% on community votes. It also won in the Action Game category. However, the star of the show was Astro Bot which won in three other categories besides Game of the Year.
“In the end, it won the Best Action and Players’ Voice, especially the Players’ Voice which is gratifying,” read the post from Wukong director which was machine translated. “But I must admit that there are disappointments and regrets…. The games nominated this year are all excellent, but I really don’t understand the selection criteria for this year’s Game of the Year. I came here for nothing!”
“From yesterday to now, I have also seen strong dissatisfaction, unwillingness, and unhappiness in the comments of many players – most of them expressed in a humorous and deconstructive way, which is hilarious.”
“I can fully understand this unwillingness to sympathize with this unhappiness because I know that behind these emotions, it is not pain and malice, but self-esteem and self-confidence.”
Game of the Year meant so much to Black Myth: Wukong developer
The tone of the comment from Wukong’s director was a mix of bitterness and humor that it was hard to truly decipher the mood of the writer. Nevertheless, winning the Game of the Year must have been a dream for the developers who reportedly wrote their victory speech two years ago.
However, after The Game Awards show, a Sony Santa Monica writer, Alanah Pearce, claimed an unnamed developer from Game Science broke down in tears when Astro Bot was announced as the Game of the Year.
here’s alanah pearce talking about it https://t.co/9X3p90qn4d pic.twitter.com/JZy9C6ybuW
— kate bush's husband (@airbagged) December 15, 2024
The reaction from Wukong’s director and other developers has raised several questions. One comment from @dj_mackelfresh read, “Is there a chance that because of the Chinese Governments involvement in the game that there was a lot of added pressure on the Director to win? And if he didn’t win there would be consequences when he gets back home?”
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From launch, Black Myth: Wukong has been a favorite to win The Game of the Year. It smashed several single-player game awards including shipping 20 million copies across PS5 and PC and hitting 1.44 million concurrent players on Steam.
Daniel Camilo, a China-based journalist and games industry consultant said Wukong developer is working on an expansion for the game with a launch date set to coincide with the Chinese New Year which begins on January 29, 2025.
Do you think Astro bot was a deserved winner or do the Wukong developers have a good reason to be mad at the Game of the Year winner? GameBaba Universe would love to hear from you.
