Before Black Myth: WukongOn the game’s release date on August 20, publisher Hero Games (on behalf of developer Game Science) reportedly sent a strange instruction to several video game streamers who had received early codes for the game: Do not talk about things that “incite negative discussion.”
Several organizations, including gaming content agency GLHF and Forbes, confirmed that Hero Games did indeed send out a “Dos & Don’ts” document shared by French content creator and writer Benoit “ExServ” Reinier on BlueSky.
GLHF confirmed that at least two streamers received the “Do’s & Don’ts” list, which was posted in full online. The guidelines state that streamers “cannot insult other influencers or gamers,” “cannot use offensive language/humor,” “cannot include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that incites negative discourse,” “cannot use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation’ or ‘COVID-19,'” or “discuss content related to Chinese game industry policies, opinions, news, etc.” Polygon has reached out to Game Science and Hero Games for comment.
There are often restrictions on obtaining early test codes for video games. There are embargo agreements that determine the time at which a vendor or developer can release information about the game. Polygon agreed to a test embargo for Black Myth: Wukongwhich included an approved release date. Embargo agreements that critics and journalists sign do not include restrictions on opinions about the content or information outside of the game itself, although sometimes there are policies or requirements that prevent outlets from spoiling the game in its entirety before it is made available to players – Polygon’s agreement for Black Myth: Wukong For example, the author was prevented from “revealing too many details about the game’s plot outside of a few chapters,” according to the reviewer. On this point, Hero Games’ review guidelines for developers like Reinier deviate from the industry norm.
Given the game’s content, Hero Games’ instruction that developers not discuss violence is puzzling: toward the end of the release trailer, a character who appears to be half-human, half-crab crushes a human’s skull with his hands.
The request not to discuss the Chinese video game industry may refer to how restrictive the Chinese government can be when it comes to gaming in the country. China’s National Press and Publication Administration oversees what is and isn’t published in China and issues rules regarding time limits and spending on games. According to the New York Times, the agency apparently backtracked on a highly restrictive plan that would have further limited spending on video games because the proposal “drove the share prices of video game companies and raised doubts about the government’s commitment to reviving China’s flagging economy.”
But no matter how many good reviews Black Myth: Wukong gets, every step of the game’s journey still seems to be accompanied by controversy.
