According to several sources, the marketing team of Black Myth: Wukong has requested that streamers discussing the game refrain from discussing subjects like COVID-19, "feminist propaganda," and Chinese gaming regulations.
Benoit "ExServ" Reinier, a French content creator, shared screenshots of the paper featuring a list of "Do's and Don'ts" for influencers on social media. Reinier stated he would not be covering the game because of the peculiar criteria. Since then, GLHF and IGN are among the publications that have verified the email's legitimacy.
Hero Games, a co-publisher of Black Myth: Wukong, included the instructions in an email sent to content providers along with a Steam key for the game. The document covered "Do's and Don'ts" related to the game; among the "Do's" were "enjoy the game" and the following "Don'ts":
- Do NOT insult other influencers or players.
- Do NOT use any offensive language/humor.
- Do NOT include politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that instigates negative discourse.
- Do NOT use trigger words such as ‘quarantine’ or ‘isolation' or 'COVID-19'.
- Do NOT discuss content related to China's game industry policies, opinions, news, etc.
The guidelines require broadcasters to refrain from discussing a number of topics, some of which are understandable, such as advising gamers to refrain from using abusive language or insulting others.
These delineate "feminist propaganda" and "fetishization," as well as "politics" in general. The memo goes on to prohibit "trigger words" related to COVID-19 and requests that streamers refrain from talking about news, opinions, or regulations pertaining to China's gaming sector.
Hero Games, a significant investor in GameScience and co-producer of Black Myth, sent the email. It doesn't seem that the corporation gave the same instructions to journalists who received keys to evaluate the game as well.
The email includes a link to the "Do's and Don't's" document and states, "By using the game key and creating content, you acknowledge that you have been informed of the following guidelines, and any statements made are your own and not related to our marketing team." Reinier clarified that the document was not an NDA and that a streamer was free to choose to disregard the guidelines.
Black Myth: Wukong has received positive reviews from critics and has attracted a sizable player base even on its first day of availability, but Hero Games' attempt to stifle any political discourse surrounding the game may have simply caused the Streisand effect.
0 Comments