Chinese game studios are proving they can compete at the highest level

The trailer for Blood Message, a new game from Chinese studio NetEase, had over a million views within hours of release. The studio behind it had never made a video game before. The protagonist is a female Tang Dynasty warrior. The graphics are Unreal Engine 5. And the whole thing was announced not at E3 or Summer Game Fest, but by tweeting out a trailer.

The Black Myth Wukong effect

The central argument of this episode is that Black Myth: Wukong was a turning point. Before it, there was no proof that a Chinese studio could make a triple-A game and sell it to a Western audience at scale. After it sold hundreds of millions of dollars, that proof exists. As the host puts it, "Black Myth Wukong was the proof positive that an Eastern studio could make a video game and have it sell in a Western audience, hit a triple A audience, and make literally hundreds of millions of dollars."

That success, combined with the accessibility of Unreal Engine 5, has triggered a wave of investment. The host points to several games announced in the same period: Tides of Annihilation, Wu Chang: Fallen Feathers, and now Blood Message. The studio behind Blood Message had never made a game before. The publisher is NetEase. The trailer alone accumulated over a million views rapidly.