Goldman Sachs commented on "Black Myth: Wukong": a turning point for Chinese console games, with Steam sales potentially reaching 20 million copies

"Black Myth: Wukong" has become a hit, causing a sensation in the global gaming market with record-breaking sales across all platforms, potentially achieving breakeven on its first day of listing.

According to the National Game Bestseller List, "Black Myth: Wukong" has sold over 3 million copies on Steam alone, with total sales exceeding 4.5 million copies across platforms such as WeGame, Epic, and PlayStation, generating total revenue of over 1.5 billion RMB.

Regarding the success of "Black Myth: Wukong," Goldman Sachs pointed out in its latest report that this marks a significant turning point for the Chinese console gaming industry and a crucial step towards China's games going global, potentially stimulating investments in the Chinese gaming industry, especially in AAA games.

In terms of sales forecasts, Goldman Sachs stated that using a conservative 7x conversion rate (from Steam PCCU to PC sales volume), under the base scenario, "Black Myth: Wukong" could sell over 12 million copies on Steam, generating revenue exceeding 3 billion RMB, while under an optimistic scenario, it could sell over 20 million copies, generating revenue exceeding 5 billion RMB, not including sales on WeGame and PlayStation platforms.

Goldman Sachs considers itself a turning point for the Chinese PC/console gaming industry because:

This is the first time Chinese developers have achieved such a high PCCU ranking (peak concurrent users) on the Steam platform. "Black Myth: Wukong" ranks third in PCCU on Steam, surpassing popular titles like "Cyberpunk 2077" and "The Witcher 3."

Goldman Sachs also believes that this is a crucial step for Chinese games going global:

While we observe that over 80% of reviews on Steam currently come from Chinese users, indicating a more domestic player base, "Black Myth: Wukong" as a classic Chinese IP is venturing globally through AAA games for the first time. Chinese developers' production capabilities on PC/consoles continue to improve, expanding beyond the mobile gaming sector.

Taking a more supportive stance towards the Chinese gaming industry, especially for high-quality content exports. We see signs of recognition of the industry's potential value in exports and culture, particularly with Xinhua News Agency interviewing the founder of Game Science before the game's release.

Furthermore, Goldman Sachs states that this may stimulate investments in the Chinese gaming industry:

Developing AAA games is a long-term and resource-intensive process, especially in the private market. We expect to see more AAA games entering the global market in the future.

Regarding the impact on other companies, Goldman Sachs believes that Tencent holds a 5% stake in Game Science and stands to benefit from the success of "Black Myth: Wukong." In the future, Tencent/NetEase may continue to increase investments in high-quality PC/console games to compete for market share globally, while Bilibili may benefit from video content and user interactions related to "Black Myth: Wukong."