Developed by the Chinese studio Game Science, Black Myth: Wukong was released yesterday, turning the classic story Journey to the West into a soul-like action game similar to Elden Ring and Lords of the Fallen.
This highly-anticipated game quickly attracted many players. However, the large number of players on PC has recently dropped significantly, highlighting how time zones and audience can affect Steam’s charts.
Black Myth: Wukong started strong, with critics praising the action-adventure game. Many gamers described it as a remarkable reimagining of a beloved literary classic that captures the unique surrealism of Chinese mythology. Also, they noted it as an ambitious action RPG that aims to build on FromSoftware’s legacy rather than rely on it.
This positive reception has led to a large player base on Steam, with the game rapidly becoming one of the most popular titles on Valve’s platform. Nevertheless, this massive player count can drop sharply due to time zone differences.
At 2pm UTC, Black Myth: Wukong hit a peak of 2,223,179 concurrent players on Steam. However, by 9pm UTC, the number of players had dropped to 290,791. The reason for this drop is likely the strong support from its home region. At 2pm UTC, it was 10pm China Standard Time (CST), while at 9pm UTC, it was 5am CST. In other words, many of the nearly 2 million players probably logged off as it got late in China.
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