Black Myth: Wukong became a global hit after its release last year, catapulting China’s video game industry to sensational heights. The game draws on the tales of Journey to the West, one of the great works of Chinese literature, and follows a descendant of the great monkey king, Sun Wukong, in his adventures.  

The collaboration introduces a range of limited-edition menu items designed with festive and game-themed twists. Highlights include a Cheese Double Beef “Black Gold Mooncake” burger served on a dark bun, Golden Crispy Chicken Egg Mooncakes, crispy shrimp nuggets with curly fries and golden dipping sauce, and a Sesame Lava Pie with molten egg yolk filling. Sweet offerings such as the Autumn Osmanthus Sparkling Milk Tea and a Golden Egg Yolk Big Luck McFlurry further tie the promotion to Mid-Autumn traditions. 

Beyond the menu, McDonald’s has rolled out Black Myth: Wukong branding in select stores and launched themed pop-ups in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. Never ones to shy away from collectable merchandise, they’re also releasing limited-edition tote bags, pins, t-shirts, and – get this – a velvet lounge robe featuring playful Monkey King artwork. 

By pairing a global fast-food icon with a homegrown gaming phenomenon, McDonald’s is aiming to tap into both the nostalgia for cultural heritage that’ll be running high for the holiday period, and excitement for their collaborator. Early response has been enthusiastic, with netizens sharing images of the themed meals and merch. 

Black Myth: Wukong have already been partnered with some huge, and very relevant, brands: Chow Tai Fook and Miniso to name a couple. A year after release, appearing in 7,000+ McDonald’s across China is the latest step in a strategy that’s keeping the game very relevant.  

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Game Science raised quite a few eyebrows at Gamescom in Cologne when they showed a 2-minute teaser for their next release. It is not a DLC (downloadable content, similar to an expansion pack) for Wukong, nor is it a direct sequel, but a brand-new entry to the Black Myth series: Black Myth: Zhong Kui. The teaser features Zhong, a Taoist deity and vanquisher of ghosts, riding a tiger while commanding his army of demons.

• #黑神话 Black Myth: 110 million views in 24 hours on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list
• #冯骥杨奇谈黑神话钟馗 Feng Ji and Yang Qi discuss Black Myth: Zhong Kui: 32.09 million views on Weibo, ranking number 8 on the Hot Search list

Since Wukong’s release, it was widely speculated that there would be a DLC. The announcement almost certainly means we won’t see a Wukong DLC in the foreseeable future, with some pundits predicting no new Wukong content until a full sequel. Understandably, the teaser caused some backlash among Wukong fans. Feng Ji and Yang Qi, the studio’s co-founders, published long posts explaining their desire to create something new. The new game will have fresh mechanics and stories. However, with Zhong Kui being a lesser-known character both at home and abroad compared to Wukong, the game will likely be a test of both the Black Myth brand and Game Science itself.

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The game is closer to an interactive movie with live-action cutscenes. The protagonist navigates through romantic mind games and fraud against the gold diggers. It was directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Mark Wu and is praised by some reviewers for its cinematics. It was quickly welcomed by the traditional male-dominant gaming community with 88,695 simultaneous players at its peak and an overwhelming 97% positive rating.

However, it was swiftly criticised for its tacit misogyny and for portraying stereotypical “gold diggers” who try to seduce the protagonist for power or money. Women online are calling for a boycott. In fact, the “捞女” phrase in the title itself comes from Cantonese, usually meaning prostitutes, but has recently been adopted by Mandarin speakers as women who seek money in relationships. The backlash rapidly gained traction in state-owned media, and the game was criticised for agitation and provoking gender antagonisation. Not only did director Wu‘s social handles get banned on multiple platforms, but the title had to change its Chinese name to “情感反诈模拟器” (lit. Anti-Romance Scam Simulator) while the English title remained unchanged. All the trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, were also banned.

Pressure from platforms and mainstream media fuelled conspiracy theories, including claims that the civil service, or even the government itself, had been infiltrated by a feminist ‘deep state’ intent on oppressing men. Some reviewers lament that the game doesn’t deserve to be panned, as all the “gold diggers” in the story are actually complicated characters. In fact, the game is more critical of societal attitudes towards women as “gold diggers” than of women themselves. It seems that both the cult following and the intense controversy stem from the game’s provocative title and its market appeal to the “manosphere” audience, at a time when feminism remains a thorny issue in China.

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The co-branding event is framed as a “premiere” for a mystery action film co-created between KFC and Genshin Impact. A 30-second teaser is also planned for release on 27 June, presumably the official launch date of the collab. For the event, KFC has prepared pin badges, acrylic stands and exclusive packaging for food.

• #肯德基原神联动 KFC Genshin collab: 130 million views on Weibo, ranking number 25 on the Hot Search list
• #肯德基原神 KFC Genshin Impact: 100 million views on Weibo

This is not the first time KFC has collaborated with Genshin, so it’s unsurprising that the campaign’s hashtags attracted a high number of views. However, the most recent ranking isn’t as high as previous ones. For brands like KFC, its marketing has always been aimed at younger consumers, both in China and globally. KFC has launched several gaming team-ups, especially with female-facing otome games. By taking the popular game’s highly shippable duo, this collab is likely aimed at young female gamers or “erciyuan” in general.

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• Coca-Cola harnesses the fandom of Honor of Kings’s virtual boy band with different releases on multiple accounts for one of the latest gaming collabs.
• KFC x Identity V is a complete meme campaign. Launched on April Fool’s Day, the mixed nut latte is “abstract” through and through.
• A Minecraft Movie attracted collaborations from Pringles and McDonald’s, but both played it safe.

The many Black Myth: Wukong co-brandings last year showed “the male buying power”, according to Fei Yang, Luckin Coffee’s chief growth officer (CGO). Of course, this is a controversial and stereotypical statement. But it does show that purchasing power and will are strong with popular game IPs. This year, we are seeing even more gaming collabs, especially from global chains and brands that are developing a localised market.

Boy band: Coca-Cola x Honor of Kings

Neither party in this pair needs any introduction. One of the most iconic drink companies and one of the most popular games in China join hands for a co-branding campaign. The specific collab last month was between Coca-Cola’s popular Sugar Free line and the Tencent game’s in-house virtual boy band WXWZ (无限王者团, lit. Limitless Kings Group). The collab is to promote the No Sugar Coke in time for the “Weight Management Year” programme initiated by the Chinese government at the Two Sessions earlier this year, as well as the long-awaited new single from the virtual idol group.

The collaboration mostly involves three different promotional videos posted on multiple accounts. The main video, co-created by both Honor of Kings and Coca-Cola accounts, shows a regular CG version of the five members of the supergroup sharing cokes in their living room during band practice. A more “abstract” version of the ad was posted on the Honor of Kings account, showing “chibi” (cutesy caricature) versions of the members dancing with a Coke bottle while chanting the taglines. A final version with individual members was released on the WXWZ official account.

Meanwhile, there were prize draws to boost engagement on social media platforms. But the three different accounts give fans of the game and the boy band many layers of content, depending on which account they follow.

Nuts: KFC x Identity V

This is a bit of a left-field choice among gaming collabs. Identity V is a popular mobile game in the mode of asymmetrical multiplayer survival horror games by NetEase. KFC created a “mixed nut” pastel de nata latte. Pastel de nata is a Portuguese and Macau custard tart which is a staple on the KFC menu in China. K Coffee, KFC’s coffee chain, introduced its first nata coffee last year.

KFC, as always, with its “Crazy Thursday” sense of abstract humour, went full throttle with the meme-ability of the collab. Identity V is known as “第五人格” (di wu ren ge, lit. fifth persona) and is often shortened to “五人” (wu ren, lit. fifth person) by players. It sounds the same as “五仁”, a traditional mooncake filling usually translated as “mixed fruits and nuts” or “mixed nuts” but literally means “five nuts”.

The nuts are baked into the tart skin, which holds the coffee. The uncommon design and flavour, especially when mixed nut mooncakes have a polarising reputation, also makes the campaign meme-able, like the coriander pizzas from before. Introduced on April Fool’s Day, KFC opened four pop-up concept branches for “check-ins” (打卡), as well as merch giveaways for customers.

Do they count? A Minecraft Movie collabs

Technically, they are film collaborations. However, the film relies heavily on the IP of the game with its numerous easter eggs and namedrops. One would argue that the Minecraft film collaboration still relies on the game IP.

On the last day of March, Pringles launched its collaboration with A Minecraft Movie, two Minecraft-themed Pringles packaging options for the original and sour cream onion flavours. From preordering tickets to bringing followers (and Pringles cans) to the China premiere of the film, the stackable crisps brand served as a partner in promoting the film. Before 30 September, Chinese netizens can submit their drawings of a pixelated Mr Pringles in the Minecraft world for a chance to win a prize.

On 3 April, a day ahead of the film’s release in China, McDonald’s launched its own collaboration with A Minecraft Movie. Taking McDonaldland residents Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and the Hamburglar to the Minecraft world, McDonald’s introduced six different toys, including pixelated versions of the characters and iconic food from the fast-food chain. The campaign will run until 21 April.

With A Minecraft Movie becoming the top-grossing film during the Qingming holiday, it would seem that gaming IPs still command popularity and, by extension, buying power in China. From Coca-Cola’s virtual idol fandom approach to KFC’s “abstract” meme product on April Fool’s Day, all the way to the safe bets from Pringles and McDonald’s, there is more than one way to succeed in the gaming IP collabs arena.

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However, in January, after the publication of a new official document encouraging cultural industries and mentioning support for public listings and fundraising in China for “qualifying cultural enterprises”, businesses in the gaming sector regained hope. Investors are excited, while the market forecasts an imminent “wave of IPOs” from the video game sector. The CSI media index, which includes gaming stocks, has been rising steadily since early 2024.

Currently, investors have their eyes on several candidates that might seek a public listing in China. NetEase, which is currently listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) and on the Nasdaq, have long been seen as “the one that got away” for the Chinese market. Medium-sized companies like XD Inc., owner of gaming platform TapTap was listed on the HKEX in 2019, are viewed as more likely to return to A-shares. MiHoYo, the company behind the global phenomenon Genshin Impact, is also being closely monitored because it had once attempted to list in China in 2017.

Meanwhile, investors are warned that if a “wave” of new IPOs happens in the sector, there is bound to be an impact on existing gaming stocks in China. Another concern is whether it would create a bubble like in 2015. However, most pundits are optimistic, since the industry does need the investment to grow.

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On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Black Myth wins Golden Joystick Game of the Year Award” (#黑神话获金摇杆年度游戏奖#) shot to number 1 on the Hot Search list, garnering 43.07 million views within 24 hours. Many netizens quoted an earlier joke in their comments: now the Golden Joystick has proven itself.

The joke originated a few days earlier when the game was nominated at the Game Awards in 4 categories, including Game of the Year. Western video game media and commentators reported that the nomination was mostly focused on it having a Metacritic score of 81/100, the lowest in Game of the Year nominee history. Meanwhile, with the awards allowing expansions such as downloadable content (DLCs) to compete as games, this paved the way for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree to win Game of the Year. One commentator said that “it’s the awards that need to prove themselves, not Black Myth” in response to the pessimism for Black Myth’s prospect of winning.

The game put out an official statement thanking gamers for voting for Black Myth as the Golden Joystick Awards are won by popular vote alone. The huge fanbase, especially in China, is what propelled the game to the top of the Steam platform ranking and presumably helped with its win. However, even though the game was mostly well received, it was not without its criticism by Western critics, therefore it might be an uphill battle for Black Myth to win the same honour at The Game Awards.

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The unlikely but very fitting collaboration was to celebrate the belated official release of the 2018 Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! video games in Mainland China. Both games are remakes of the original Pokémon Yellow from 1998, coinciding with the first season of the anime. The music video of Tengger’s cover, for that reason, features plushies and costumed mascots of Pikachu and Eevee, who were both part of Pokémon Gen 1.

The theme was originally sung by Japanese voice actress and singer Rica Matsumoto, who also voiced the now-iconic Ash Ketchum (or Satoshi in Japan) in the Japanese version. The anime, when first aired in China, retained the Japanese opening theme in the Mainland while a Cantonese version, performed by Leo Ku Kui-kei was used in the Hong Kong airing.

Nintendo has been frequently launching localised campaigns for its Pokémon IP, from the heart-warming Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn promotional videos to the meme-tic collaboration with Tengger. Tengger has been a meme icon, especially in the ACGN (anime, comics, games and light novels) world since as early as 2021. Ethnically Mongolian, Tengger used to be known for his masculine and wild looks, as well as his deep and open voice. This has transformed him into the perfect meme for covering themes from animes, especially those sung by female vocalists.

Nintendo’s choice of song and singer, therefore, combines nostalgia marketing and meme marketing, both of which provide enormous “emotional value” for the younger generations, whether it’s the ageing millennials who watched the anime during its original run or the Y2K-obsessed Gen Z who are well-versed in turn-of-the-century pop culture.

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This partnership is with the latest launch in the fighting game series, TEKKEN 8 which was released in January 2024 by Bandai Namco. The collaboration mostly involves a pair of co-branded sunglasses aptly named “INFERNO”, with demon horns as temples and comes in a boxing glove similar to what Mishima wears in the game. Currently, GENTLE MONSTER has released several short clips featuring Mishima, from him creating the INFERNO sunglasses with a beam from his third eye in a lava-filled subterranean space to him trying on the eyewear in a locker room, all the way to Mishima, as a representative of Mishima Zaibatsu, the fictional evil corporation that tries to take over the world in the game, stepping out of a limo, sporting the sunglasses, to face cameras and boom mics.

The pop-up spaces will launch in Haus Nowhere in Shanghai, as well as GENTLE MONSTER’s Beijing store, along with the Haus Dosan in Seoul, South Korea and the brand’s Tokyo Aoyama shop. For a limited time, the retail spaces will be converted into a large fighting space with a recreated Mishima in a “traditional zen” style. Visitors can also interact with an AI photobooth with TEKKEN 8-inspired AI filters to become iconic characters from the game.

GENTLE MONSTER is no stranger to building campaigns with fictional backdrops and creating immersive spaces based on that story. Last November, the Korean street fashion eyewear brand launched a campaign called “GENTLE HIGH SCHOOL” featuring Japanese musician and DJ Shinichi Osawa and actress Nana Komatsu. The promotional videos show a fictional school with classes such as robotics and martial arts. In the pop-up and online there is an AI student ID generator that will morph the photo that users upload to fit the aesthetic.

As a rather niche cool brand, the collaboration with the fighting game is another step towards niche cool. The heavy metal aesthetic fits both the game and the brand, with console games and fighting games in particular being lesser known outside groups of dedicated fans. However, Tekken does have a large following in Japan and the West, with an American-made film in 2009. When the pop-up opens over the weekend, we will see whether this collaboration strikes the balance between the niche cool of the IP and the mass appeal of the product design.

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• Black Myth: Wukong exceeds expectations with its online buzz, sales numbers and favourable reviews, both at home and abroad.
• Dozens of brands collaborate with the game, including Luckin Coffee, Didi Bike and GCores.
• Local authorities, such as Shanxi Province also leverage the success of Black Myth by promoting the locations referenced in the game.

Since its release on 20 August, the “first Chinese AAA game” Black Myth: Wukong has been the talk of many netizens, creating Hot Search after Hot Search on Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent. From the developer, Game Science’s employees being headhunted to the point they needed to add “not looking for a job” to their social profiles to the Chinese Foreign Ministry responding to the game’s global popularity, all the way to celebrities playing the game and Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun posting a picture of the box of the physical edition, many hashtags have reached and even topped the list.

With the Monkey fever subsiding in the stock market, brands such as Huayi Brothers and Zhejiang Publishing have already seen their share prices drop. Shanghai Conant Optics was reported to have been involved in the game’s co-branded graphics card by Nvidia and enjoyed a share price boost before plummeting 11.93% on 22 August.

Journey to the West

Not only did the game top the Steam sales list on launch, but it also reached number 2 on the all-time concurrent players list on the gaming platform and passed 2 million on multiple days. On the first days of release, most channels streaming the game enjoyed huge popularity, making 20 August the “Cyber Chinese New Year” for many.

On 21 August it was reported that when combining all platforms including PlayStation, the game had already sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide, grossing over 1.5 billion RMB and had likely broken records 1 day after launch. On 23 August, it was reported the game had already sold 10 million copies, 4 days after launch. The topic “Black Myth Wukong global sales over 10 million copies” shot to the top of the Hot Search list with 50.37 million views. Although most players are Chinese, based on the concurrent data on Steam, there’s still great interest in the game in the West.

Speaking of the west, Shanxi (山西), the northern province whose name means “West of the (Taihang) Mountains” enjoyed a surge of popularity online. The province boasts being the home to 27 of the 36 real locations referenced in the game. It has successfully leveraged the interest in the ancient temples and mountains which appear in the game and also created several Hot Search-worthy topics including one that reached number 2 with 120 million views. Many hope the ancient architecture tours can boost the “cultural tourism” of the province to the height of Zibo, Harbin and Tianshui.

Year of the Monkey

In fact, since the game’s release, the viral phenomenon has seen more brand collaborations than most TV shows. From co-branded monitors from TV maker Hisense to clothing collab with gaming media GCores, all the way to JD.com delivering the first physical copy of the game to a player. Baidu Maps also introduced a voice pack from the game.

Out of all the IP collaborators, one is the most eye-catching, the Luckin Coffee team-up. This is the 18th collaboration this year for Luckin, and the second Monkey King collab since the Olympics-themed Havoc in Heaven collab. The collaboration is centred around a Black Myth signature coconut cloud Americano, similar to Americano con crema but with frothed coconut milk and lemon syrup instead of orange. It also comes with the regular exclusive cups, sleeves and bags.

What made the collab special was the 3D poster that comes with the 2-drink set. However, it was sold out almost instantly on the launch day on 19 August, 1 day before the release of the game. The Glastonbury-level ordering nearly crashed the Luckin system. Luckin urgently ordered restock but it will be another 15 days before people see them again. Yang Fei, Luckin’s CGO (Chief Growth Officer) also said on his WeChat Moments that the “masculine purchasing power has revolutionised our understanding, it’s better than 10 Father’s Days”. This reference is to the male gamer stereotype. But it also brings to mind some of the game devs’ past sexist allegations and attempted boycotts from feminist netizens.

Planet of the Apes

Didi Bike also launched a major collab with the game. Co-branded shared bikes have been released in cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Changsha, Luoyang, Chengdu and Shijiazhuang. The bikes come in several looks, with most sporting cloud motifs inspired by the Monkey King’s “Somersault Cloud” flying ability. As the official riding partner of the game, Didi Bike also released official T-shirts, cards and other merch, including a calabash gourd objet d’art.

Of course, gaming PCs, graphic cards and consoles are benefiting from the Wukong fever. As the game grows in popularity, it can be a great opportunity for video games, especially single-player games that are not e-sport programmes to raise awareness to the public. How the gaming industry will be affected by the success of this one game is hard to tell at the moment, but things will change now that gamers in China know what standard the industry can reach.

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