For his peers by Joe Bong is in an enviable position with a job at this Internet cafe. The 21 year olds got access to advanced tech that lets him play China's first blockbuster video game that made Wukong in its full potential.

It's different from what we have at home. We only have laptops at home. We don't have this kind of PC. It's not as good as what we have at home.

We want to upgrade it. But at the moment it's not convenient for us to move around due to various economic reasons.

Inspired by the 16th century novel Journey to the West, Wukong players control the monkey who is on a quest to gather relics to unravel his destiny as a legendary hero against a backdrop rich with ancient Chinese heritage and culture. Within a week of its launch it hit the gaming top seller charts and outperformed other big budget names in areas like concurrence players and copies sold.

Not for its impressive visuals and attention to detail what can make or break the game's experience on PCs are these graphics processing units or GPUs. They handle complex calculations to render high end graphics. It can cost a few hundred dollars on average.

Playing without them is nearly impossible with severe lags if the specs aren't up to par.

In fact, most games like the regular 40730 can handle it. Perhaps the quality of the Black Myth is a bit high so it needs to be above 40 to handle it.

While there are gamers like Zhebang who have turned to Internet cafes, there are also many others who have upgraded their computers just to play the game, boosting sales of machines several times more expensive than a normal desktop.

According to local news reports, graphic card sales have upped by 200% on-year on the day of the game's launch.

Posts with this hashtag saying the game has boosted sales of graphic cards has been viewed over 20 million times.

PS5 consoles too and other related electronics have seen sales increase by at least 80% on-year in the days leading up to the game's debut.

The game itself costs about 60 US dollars.

Which is quite a lot of money for most people in China. But you see the number of players.

Suddenly people realize, wow, people have the money if they want to spend it.

Others may want to get their PCs ready with various upscaling technologies.

And also another thing I wanted to point out, the best GPUs and all the upgrading technologies are all made by Americans.

This includes NVIDIA, which has been caught in the crosshairs of the US-China chip war.

Due to US sanctions, NVIDIA only makes available downgraded versions of its GPUs to the Chinese market.

Despite that, the chip giant has not been left out of the Wukong boom.

In an unconventional move, it offers bundles to let buyers get the game with the purchase of one of its select GPUs, a promotion not extended to those in China.

Industry observers said given the game's popularity and demand, Chinese developers will have more incentive to find ways to get into the growing market.

The game, developing the game, playing the game, has become a tech feast.

It actually encourages grassroots, bottom-up investment, technology and knowledge to develop more advanced chips in the future.

Because in the past, it was always top-down, so the Chinese government would heavily invest in the chip industry, right?

But then you realize whatever the government-driven initiatives would normally not lead to somewhere productive.

And therefore, this kind of bottom-up factor, when working with the top-down factor, I'm thinking probably that's what the policymakers are thinking in their mind.

That would lead to something down the track, which is the advanced chips manufacturing capabilities in the future.

The move comes amid efforts to advance China's computing capacity.

The city government of Beijing, for instance, in April said it will provide subsidies to Chinese companies to buy locally made GPUs as it seeks to achieve greater control of the supply of intelligent computing resources.

So let's chat more about this and bring in CNA's Lauren Wong Ong, who is based in Beijing.

So, Lauren, we can tell that a lot of positive feedback on the game.

We see that it clearly enhances China's soft power.

But we also heard from your report, and based on that, that it may even have implications for China's tech self-reliance and at the same time is also welcomed by the authorities.

Tell us more about that.

Yeah, well, it's very much in line with what we've been seeing the past couple of years.

Dating back to 2018, the U.S. sanctions on advanced computing and semiconductors have only heightened.

And in the case of GPUs, which is not only used for gaming, but also AI processing, Chinese firms have had to get creative.

And most recently, we've seen some Chinese AI firms mix GPUs, mixing different chip tech to individual AI servers, and also to get through loopholes, buying access to use sanctioned hardware in U.S. soil.

So it's pushed innovation that front.

But at the heart of Beijing's ambitions is to wean off reliance.

And Beijing, China is good at manufacturing older generation chips, which you see in cars, which you see in household appliances.

But it's still years behind in terms of advanced manufacturing chips.

So this domestic demand for gaming and as a result for its gaming GPUs, the hope is that there's sort of a ground up additional boost to really break frontiers in this sector.

And so and even so, like the tech giant, chip giant Nvidia, it first set it out as a gaming GPU maker.

That's correct. And I believe this game has also boosted consumption all around.

So tell us, what does that include?

Well, the game itself has sold over 10 million copies in the first three days, making it one of the fastest selling games of all time.

And aside from the game consoles and the tech, coffee and actually tourism have also been getting a boost.

An example being the Larkin coffee chain.

It features four drinks specially crafted for Black Moon Food Kong.

And one of its variations has over five million cups sold on the first day of its debut.

And when you walk around in Beijing, you go to the Larkin shops.

Sometimes some of the drinks are sold out.

And also the people in Shanxi province, they're getting increasingly excited.

It's a place where over three quarters of the location is featured in the games.

And this province is in the northern part of China with a population of over 30 million.

It's known for producing coal and it has a GDP per capita just below the national average.

But it has historical buildings and most of the historical buildings across all of the provinces in China.

And I spoke to one of the people who actually grew up there.

He's a blogger on Chinese social media, Xiaohongshu.

He said that normally there isn't much people visiting these sites.

But since the game's launch, he's seen on TikTok, social media, Douyin, more people flocking to these areas.

And according to Chip.com, searches for the area's scenic sites have upped by about 200%.

So to get a sense of what the blogger has been experiencing for his post promoting the Shanxi province, let's listen to what he has to say.

The most comments I've received are actually shocking.

A lot of people may not have felt the shock brought on by the sculptures and the temples.

But through some of the techniques I've used, they've really felt it.

Wow, this place used to be so beautiful and shocking.

Now people understand that if I have time in the summer, I have to go on a trip.

So we do see more people checking out the scenic sites.

But what about the gaming industry itself?

Tell us some of the impact because the industry itself has come under various clampdowns throughout the years, hasn't it?

Yeah, that's right.

All this comes after the headlines you've been hearing over the past couple of years, including restrictions on the game's content, the in-app purchases, as well as time limits for underage gamers.

And all in a bit to prevent gaming and gambling addiction.

But according to industry observers, Chinese firms have actually found mobile games to be more lucrative in this landscape.

It's more casual, it requires less money to invest upfront, and you can earn a big buck from in-game purchases.

But a game like Badminton Wukong, it shows how a big title game can bring success not only in China, but also globally.

But still, it's apt to note that a big game like this requires many years of production, it requires a lot of money, and also support.

And this is one of the games that has actually seen support in various fronts, like for example, Larkin Coffee, as well as local state media.

And it's on a scale that, at least for one analyst, that she has never seen before.

Let's listen to what she has to say.

And you've got also, importantly, got the official Chinese official media's support.

So all the Chinese official media actually are behind the promotion of Wukong, of the Black Myth Wukong.

They're all just saying high praise of it, etc.

So you can see this coordinated effort, because Wukong actually, the Black Myth Wukong, aligns so well with the government's strategy to tell the Chinese story well with Chinese stories, that tells Chinese tradition, cultural values.

Also, despite all the perks the game has brought, the traction and the longevity of the hype remains to be seen.

And actually, when I visited that internet cafe, not many people were playing Black Myth Wukong.

And the staff actually told me that the boom was actually about two days since its debut.

And after that, not many people were playing it.

And indeed, the game typically takes about 50 hours to complete in its entirety, according to some gamers.

So the extent the game that has taken years to make the imprint it lasts, still remains to be seen, I'll tell you.

Right. And perhaps the people are just drinking their Larkin Coffee.

Well, thanks so very much. CNE's Lauren Ong there, reporting to us from Beijing.

Thank you.