When a game is classified as triple-A, it means that it's well-made, it's premium in quality, it has a large development and marketing budget, and it's usually published by large, well-known publishers like Sony and Ubisoft.

The game has topped U.S. distributor Steam's wishlist chart for months, attracting hundreds of thousands of subscribers within hours of its release.

The game, Black Myth Wukong, is based on Journey to the West, which is a 16th century novel.

It has been reimagined countless times in media and in entertainment.

So to see it appear in a game, and to see it being interpreted well, that is sort of the appeal for this new release.

Its projected success, though, has not been without controversy.

In 2020, sexually explicit remarks from the developer's founder led to calls for a boycott and a deeper dive into the company.

More sexism was reported in 2023 by gaming interest website IGN.

The company GameScience's recruitment strategies ignited debate about the alleged mistreatment of women.

The hashtag Black Myth Misogyny garnered nearly 5 million views on the Chinese social media platform Weibo as of August 19th, 2024.

There have been criticisms directed at Wukong for, quote-unquote, a lack of diversity or inclusivity.

Actually, this has been a trending topic on Higgs or Twitter for the past couple of days or even months is that some websites and some writers are coming out to say that the game lacks in the concept of diversity and inclusivity.

Experts have said the gaming industry in China has generally resisted political correctness, particularly regarding race and gender.

Because for them, it's about the user experience, it's about the technicalities, the qualities of the game.

There can be criticisms about whether there are bugs in the games or whether it runs smoothly, whether the storyline is fascinating.

But a lot of these gamers are hitting back at these reviews that take cultural considerations like, for example, applying Americanized standards of inclusivity or diversity into a Chinese-made game that is based on an ancient Chinese literature.

The highly anticipated game has undoubtedly sparked discourse online, but ultimately, its market success will depend on the quality of its images and the story it tells.