Update 2: Black Myth: Wukong overtakes Palworld to become the second most played game of all time on Steam. At the time of this update, there were 2,223,179 concurrent players on Valve’s platform, surpassing the peak of 2,101,867 recorded by Palworld earlier this year.
The question now is whether Black Myth: Wukong can dethrone PUBG as the most played Steam game of all time, which hit a staggering peak of 3,257,248 concurrent players.
Update 1: Black Myth: Wukong’s success on Steam continues to grow, now surpassing Counter-Strike to become the third most played game of all time on Valve’s platform. As of this update, Black Myth: Wukong had an astounding 1,950,058 concurrent players. With a peak concurrent player count of 2,101,867, Palworld is definitely within striking distance of Black Myth: Wukong.
ORIGINAL STORY: Black Myth: Wukong has been a massive hit on Steam, overtaking Cyberpunk 2077 to become the most played single-player game ever on Valve’s platform.
The action-RPG, developed by Chinese studio Game Science, was released earlier this morning and quickly shot to the top of Steam’s most-played games list, reaching an astounding 1,443,570 peak concurrent players — a number that’s sure to grow as the weekdays turn into the weekend and more people buy games.
Less than 24 hours after its release, Black Myth: Wukong is already the fourth most concurrently played game on Steam, behind only PUBG (3,257,248), Palworld (2,101,867) and Valve’s Counter-Strike 2 (1,818,773), beating out blockbusters like Dota 2, Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3. The game has already garnered nearly 30,000 user reviews on Steam, with user reviews rated as “Very Positive.”
Black Myth: Wukong’s launch will be even bigger than Steam suggests: It’s also been released on PlayStation 5 (Sony Interactive Entertainment hasn’t released PlayStation player figures), Tencent’s Chinese gaming portal WeGame, and the Epic Games Store, with Xbox Series X and S versions due to arrive at a later date (see why here).
IGN’s review of Black Myth: Wukong gave it an 8/10 rating, and we said: “Despite some frustrating technical issues, Black Myth: Wukong is a fantastic action game with great combat, exciting bosses, fascinating secrets, and a beautiful world.”
If you’re playing Black Myth: Wukong, be sure to check out our feature “13 Things Black Myth: Wukong Won’t Tell You.”
This week, IGN reviewed an email sent by the marketing team for Black Myth: Wukong instructing content creators who were given Steam keys not to include “feminist propaganda” or use so-called “trigger words,” like COVID-19, in their articles.
Game Science has yet to respond to IGN’s earlier report, which compiled a number of sexist comments made by the studio’s founder and other developers over the past decade.
Wesley is IGN’s UK News Editor. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or wyp100@proton.me.
