Online participation for Helldivers 2 on Steam increased by 557% following a major update, Elden Ring sales surpassed 28 million copies, and the head of Game Science was disappointed by Black Myth: Wukong's loss in the "Game of the Year" category at The Game Awards 2024. Here’s a recap of the main events in the gaming industry over the past weekend.
Black Myth: Wukong
- The CEO of the Chinese studio Game Science, Feng Ji, half-jokingly remarked in a lengthy post on Weibo that he regretted attending the The Game Awards 2024 ceremony. While Black Myth: Wukong won awards in the categories “Best Action” and “Players' Choice,” it lost to Astro Bot in the battle for Game of the Year. Ji admitted that he had prepared an acceptance speech for Black Myth: Wukong’s victory in the main category two years ago but never got to deliver it. He added that he doesn’t fully understand the criteria for selecting winners, though he considers all nominated projects to be excellent games. Nonetheless, the Game Science head does not see the loss as “the end of the world.” He is confident that the Black Myth: Wukong team has created an outstanding game and become a pioneer in introducing Chinese folklore to the world.
- Baldur’s Gate 3 faced review bombing on Steam. After Black Myth: Wukong lost the “Game of the Year” category at The Game Awards 2024, Chinese gamers began leaving negative reviews en masse for Larian Studios’ creation. They chose to vent their frustration on Baldur’s Gate 3, as the winner in this category was announced by Swen Vincke, the head of Larian Studios. According to the SteamDB counter, Baldur’s Gate 3 received over 900 negative reviews on Valve’s platform in just the past three days. Despite the anger from the Chinese gamers, Baldur’s Gate 3’s rating on Steam remains “overwhelmingly positive.”
- On December 13, Helldivers 2 received a major update called Omens of Tyranny, which added a new faction of enlightened beings, maps, and vehicles to the game. This led to a sharp increase in the multiplayer shooter’s online presence on Steam. Prior to the update's release, no more than 22,800 players were online simultaneously in the Steam version of Helldivers 2. However, on Saturday, December 14, the online count exceeded 150,000 players. The last time Helldivers 2 had such high numbers was in April. However, the game is still far from its historical peak. Recall that upon launch, the peak online count for Helldivers 2 on Steam was 458,700 players.
- Bandai Namco Entertainment and FromSoftware announced that Elden Ring has sold 28.6 million copies. The game reached this milestone by the end of September 2024, two and a half years after its release on February 25, 2022, on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.