From “Black Myth: Goku” Overseas Explosion, Seeing the Cross-cultural Communication of Games

In recent years, China's game industry has been booming with many masterpieces, among which “Black Myth: Wukong” has caused a great sensation at home and abroad with its superb production standards, profound cultural heritage and unique artistic style. The success of this game not only sets a new benchmark for the Chinese game industry, but also provides new ideas and opportunities for the cross-cultural dissemination of Chinese culture. Therefore, we should increase the efforts of cross-cultural dissemination of games and give full play to the important role of games as a carrier of culture.

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The explosion of Black Myth: Wukong is not by chance, and it has shown a very high standard in terms of game graphics, plot design, characterization and so on. The exquisite picture presents the fantasy and mystery of the ancient Chinese mythological world, the fascinating plot digs deep into the connotation of the classic literary work “Journey to the West”, and the various game designs make players feel the charm of traditional Chinese culture. Connotation.

The game immediately aroused heated discussion after the announcement, and gained a lot of attention and evaluation in foreign mainstream media platforms; it not only won the titles of the best of the show and the best of Cologne in the 2023 Cologne Game Show, but also successfully won the award of the “best visual effect”, and foreigners even queued up for five hours on the scene just to try playing it; it immediately became a hit after it was uploaded to steam. After the game was released on steam, it immediately rushed to the top of the sales charts; recently, on Reddit, an internationally renowned social forum, a wave of foreigners looking for English reading materials related to Journey to the West and the Monkey King in order to understand the game's worldview more deeply and to have a better gaming experience has quietly arisen. ...... All these are telling us that Black Myth: Wukong is a great achievement in cross-cultural communication.

The value of cross-cultural communication through games has been increasingly recognized, and unlike the traditional concept of “flood and ferocious beast”, the positive value of games has been emphasized in recent years. Firstly, in terms of academic theories, many scholars at home and abroad have studied games as a medium of cultural communication, believing that games can be used to impart knowledge, calm emotions, convey ideas and build identity; secondly, as a highly interactive form of entertainment, games allow players to naturally come into contact with and understand different cultural elements during the immersion experience, thus realizing the effect of subtle and silent cultural communication; at the same time, it is also undeniable that games have achieved success in cultural communication. At the same time, it is undeniable that games have a great influence on young people, as they seem to have become the “universal language” of young people.

In the past, Poland has made a series of games from the national book “Demon Hunter”, the United States has promoted the culture of the American West through the “Wild Dart” series, Japan's “Souls of Tsushima” has helped people understand the ancient samurai culture of Japan, and we have even seen “Mario” at the Tokyo Olympics and “Assassin's Creed” at the Paris Olympics. We even saw “Mario” at the Tokyo Olympics and “Assassin's Creed” at the Paris Olympics, which is enough to show the great success of games in exporting culture. In our past cases, the “Eternal Robbery of the Infernal” set off a wave of Chinese martial arts in the world; the “Original God” integrated Chinese Confucian culture, traditional folklore, national essence and art, etc. into it, and achieved a great response overseas. All these cases illustrate the great influence of games in cross-cultural communication.

Regrettably, there are a lot of classic ip such as the three kingdoms, feudal god and other classic works as well as countless splendid culture, these have not been made by the domestic manufacturers into a greater influence of the game, on the contrary, for example, the three kingdoms of this ip by the Japanese production into the “crouching dragon: the sky falls”, the true three kingdoms no double series and so on the masterpieces, in the world has produced a huge impact, which has to let people think deeply.

In this regard, firstly, the government should increase its support and guidance to the game industry and formulate relevant policies to encourage game enterprises to carry out cultural innovation and international cooperation. Secondly, game enterprises should focus on improving their innovation ability. In game design, they should dig deep into the essence of traditional Chinese culture, combine it with modern game technology and creativity, and create game works with unique charm. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen international market research, understand the needs and preferences of players in different countries and regions, and optimize and promote the game in a targeted manner. Finally, it is necessary to make full use of various channels to publicize and promote the game, using well-known foreign social media, game exhibitions, and online live broadcasts with famous foreign games, etc., to increase the popularity and influence of excellent local games.

With the imminent release of Black Myth: Wukong, the game has become not only a game, but also a cultural bridge connecting China and the world, allowing players around the globe to enjoy the game while gaining an in-depth understanding of China's traditional culture. This is undoubtedly a vivid interpretation of the concept of “culture without borders”, and is also a strong proof of the continuous improvement of China's cultural soft power. In the current complex and changing international political and cultural landscape, by giving full play to the fundamental role of the industrial system, we can further stimulate the international dissemination power of Chinese digital culture, and promote Chinese culture to gradually move towards the core of the world stage.