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Black Myth: Wukong influencers asked to leave politics, COVID and ‘feminist propaganda’ out of coverage
A document from the game’s marketing team has been circulating online
Influencers and streamers covering Black Myth: Wukong have been asked to keep politics, COVID-19 references and “feminist propaganda” out of their coverage, it’s emerged.
As reported by Sports Illustrated’s Video Games team, French content creator and former Gamekult editor Benoit Reinier posted a video revealing that he had been sent the document, which he then shared online.
The document, sent to influencers and streamers by Hero Games – the marketing team for Black Myth: Wukong’s developer and publisher Game Science – specifies a number of topics they aren’t allowed to talk about while covering the game.
These include:
- Insulting other influencers or players
- Using offensive language or humour
- Using “trigger words” like ‘quarantine’, ‘isolation’ or ‘COVID-19’
- Discussing “China’s game industry policies, opinions, news etc”
Perhaps most controversially, however, the document also tells influencers not to “include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization and other content that instigates negative discourse” while discussing or streaming the game.
It appears that the document has only been sent to YouTuber and streamers, rather than games journalists. VGC did not receive the document and Eurogamer has also stated that it didn’t either.
It’s not unusual for influencers to be given guidance on what they should and shouldn’t discuss when covering games, but this usually relates to the content of the game itself, rather than external topics like politics, feminism or the COVID-19 pandemic.
While it’s not clear why the requests have been made, fans have pointed out – as IGN reported last year – that Game Science CEO Feng Ji and other members of the development team have a reported history of making sexually crude and misogynistic comments on social media.
It may be, then, that Game Science and Hero Games are attempting to stop influencers and streamers from discussing the studio’s previous controversial comments, in the hope that coverage will be mainly positive.
VGC’s Black Myth: Wukong impressions called the game “a beautiful if slightly boring boss rush”, saying: “It’s utterly gorgeous and technically mighty, but its gameplay and narrative leave quite a bit to be desired.”
