Black Myth: Wukong Director Questions the Criteria of GOTY

This year, the Game of The Year award at TGA was given to Astro Bot, an outcome that left supporters of other nominees like Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth feeling a bit disappointed.

As the first-ever Chinese AAA action RPG title to make it to the stage of TGA, Black Myth: Wukong carried a lot of anticipation from Chinese players and its developers, Game Science. Its loss in the GOTY category has prompted CEO Feng Ji, also known as Yocar, to release a heartfelt statement spanning seven sessions on Chinese social media Weibo. In this statement, he includes some content he had prepared for his acceptance speech, which was written two years ago but never got the chance to be delivered — a fact that he admitted in a joking and self-ironic way with the usage of dog head emoji.

It also covered topics like one of the major tasks he did during the game's development, why the company is named Game Science, and how the game could be inspirational and encouraging to the gaming industry employees and anyone who is facing struggles.

While admitting that all of the nominated games are excellent, he jokingly said that he came there for nothing. Like many others, he wondered what the GOTY's criteria have been. But this quick thought has been covered by other more important things to talk about, and he moved on. "We lost today, and could lose tomorrow. So what?"

During the seven years of development of Black Myth: Wukong, the team faced many challenges, with some developers expressing pessimism about potential flaws in the game and the possibility of delays. Feng Ji said, one of the main tasks for him was to encourage and tell colleagues they have been doing great and they were making progress all the time.

The game's development is a showcase of the methodology the team follows, which can be reflected by the company's name as well. Regarding why the company is titled Game Science, he shared that "mathematics, physics, and the basic science and engineering derived" are what they stick with to "analyze and solve specific problems," so the team can truly see why those leaders in the industry are so great to make them being the top competitors.

He believes having the chance to work on games is already a good fortune, as there are many people who don't have access to AAA titles, consoles, or even PC. Many are suffering from struggles, loss, pain, or unfairness. This would encourage him to continue working on bringing in better games. "I've always believed that the greatest value of good games is that they make the distribution of happiness in the world more equitable."

Looking forward to the future, he hopes the game could bring courage and light the way people move forward. He'll continue the journey with confidence and bravery, honesty and sincerity, and be open to all the results.