Black Myth: Wukong developer Game Science is reportedly trying to ban content creators from discussing certain topics in exchange for game codes.
In a leaked document, which at least one content creator has publicly stated they received from Game Science, there is a “do’s and dont’s” section, telling those who receive a code what they cannot discuss in their content. Here, the document informs those with Black Myth: Wukong codes that they cannot include “politics” and “feminist propaganda” in their coverage of the game, among other topics.
I was just going to write “China’s gonna China”, but then I remember this particular studio goes a little further than that:
In one instance, a lead is said to have written that men and women play different games because of “biological conditions”, following up his comment by writing: “Fck sissies, fck tragic love stories, fuck moon-lit peach blossoms and flute-playing scholars! […] Some things are just for men, their depression, their anger, their pain…”.
The studio is also said to have shared job recruitment posters that boasted “friends with benefits” as a job perk. Another was reported to have read, “Fatties should f*ck off.”
Charming.
So a 4chan edgelord is somehow running part of a company. Lovely…
I wasn’t aware that only men have depression, anger and pain. 🤔
The guy who sent this was apparently using a gmail domain, not Game Science domain, this might be fake.
The article itself says that they never received any such requirements.
Others have already pointed out important things about what the dev has said; I would like to add that the book the game is based on has a number of female characters which are simply not in the game.
Red flag.
Not for most of the Dark Souls crowd.
But what I’m thinking is that they don’t really have much leverage, I don’t know who is expecting this studio to put out more than this one anticipated game before returning to relative obscurity. At most they can provide a shorter demo and deny the full game codes to reviewers that didn’t obey.
This is fake.
https://x.com/JordanMiddler/status/1824864368342753719
EDIT: Seemingly different guidelines for reviewers and “influencers”? I’ll wait for the dust to settle on this one.
Ah yes, the undeniable proof that is a man’s word and a screenshot of a bullet points list without any context.
Here’s the Forbes article: The Black Myth: Wukong ‘No Feminist Propaganda, No COVID-19 Discussion’ Email Is Real
“GLHF has confirmed that the “Do’s & Don’ts” document was sent to Reinier and at least one other content creator by Hero Games, a developer and publisher that co-published Black Myth: Wukong according to a LinkedIn post from the company. Hero Games is also a major shareholder in developer GameScience, and as of a 2021 press release was the largest external shareholder of the company.
Reinier sent GLHF a copy of the email sent to content creators and we can confirm that it was sent from a company email address associated with Hero Games. The email signature also contained a Discord username, and the account associated with the sender is listed as a Hero Games employee on their profile in the official Black Myth: Wukong Discord server.”
