Black Myth: Wukong Wins Big in Steam Awards After GOTY Loss

Black Myth: Wukong is getting its recognition after an intense award circuit. The action role-playing game was prized to become this year’s Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2024 but lost to Team Asobi’s Astro Bot, which went home with four awards that night. While there’s no doubt that Astro Bot is a fantastic title, the game didn’t take home any prizes from this particular award event. The 2024 Steam Awards graced Black Myth: Wukong with three distinct honors: Best Game You Suck At, Outstanding Story-Rich Game, and the coveted Game of the Year title.

The Steam Awards have been a yearly tradition for the digital PC service since 2016. Run by Valve, the nominees and winners are chosen by Steam users and are released to coincide with the company’s annual autumn and winter holiday sales. Past GOTY winners include PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Elden Ring, and Baldur’s Gate 3. There were a lot of heavy hitters in the top categories, like the indie card game Balatro and the hack-and-slash game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, but Black Myth: Wukong took the lead, with the two titles without a win for the night.

Black Myth: Wukong Won Game of the Year at the 2024 Steam Awards

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Black Myth: Wukong is an action RPG that marked the first title from the Chinese AAA studio Game Science. Inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West, players take on the role of the Destined One. The game’s potential was noticed during a pre-alpha build trailer, in which the video garnered 2 million viewers on YouTube within 24 hours. The game’s success can be attributed to the title’s overwhelming popularity on Steam. As of May 2024, the title was the most-wishlisted game on the service, while also ranking first on Steam’s global top-sellers chart in pre-order sales alone. Within Black Myth’s first 24 hours, the title reached over 2.2 million players on Steam, becoming the highest single-player game on the service ever recorded.

The game was nominated for multiple awards for The Game Awards 2024, including Best Game Director, Best Action Game, and Game of the Year. Unfortunately, Game Science walked away with Player’s Choice and Best Action Game, losing three of its five nominations. Losing GOTY hit the team hard, with Game Science’s CEO Feng Ji (Yocar), noting his disappointment with the loss in a long letter, questioning his trip to Los Angeles “for nothing” and the criteria for the coveted category itself. It was also reported that during Astro Bot’s GOTY speech, the Game Science team was seen sobbing due to their debut title losing the award.

While it’s nice to see the studio gaining some awards under their belt, it’s valuable to note that these awards aren’t provided with intensive voting rules like The Game Awards. This doesn’t dilute the fact the game was a massive success and has earned several other awards from other events, as the game has about 18 wins, including the Steam Awards. While a prestigious honor, such as the D.I.C.E. Award, has yet to reveal its nominations, Black Myth: Wukong might have a chance to earn a few more wins.