Game Science

Game Science () is a Chinese video game development and publishing company founded by Feng Ji and Yang Qi in 2014. The studio is headquartered in Shenzhen and has an additional office in Hangzhou.

It is best known for developing the video game '' Black Myth: Wukong'' (2024).

History

Formation and early period (2014–2017)

Game Science was founded on 13 June 2014. The seven founding members were former Tencent employees who worked as developers on the massively multiplayer online game ''Asura'' at the company.

At the time of their studio's formation, China's mobile games market was expanding, so they pivoted toward mobile development to stay afloat as a studio. In collaboration with publisher NetEase, Game Science developed the mobile game ''100 Heroes'', which was inspired by the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''. The game attracted 500 thousand players in the first month and nearly 800 thousand players in its first year. Yang Qi proposed a single-player game as their next project, but the idea was shelved due to the high costs and risks involved for a newly established studio. Instead, Game Science developed the mobile game ''Art of War: Red Tides''. In 2019, the game was acquired by Chaoxi Guangnian, a gaming subsidiary of ByteDance. Lilith Games CEO Wang Xiwen—a former Tencent colleague of Game Science CEO Feng Ji—introduced Feng and Hero Games CEO Daniel Wu to each other, which ultimately led to Wu investing in Game Science.

From the outset, Game Science committed to pursuing a vision of creating games that move and resonate with them personally—a principle affirmed on their website. During a speech at an art exhibition in April 2025, Feng Ji remarked that this was a core value of the studio. He explained that the underlying idea is that a project can progress effectively if game developers, when they are players themselves, deeply understand both the work and its players, but that they only represent themselves and thus must constantly experiment to find the intersection between themselves and players.''游戏葡萄''. Reproduced in

The studio's philosophy also retained the ideas reflected in Feng Ji's 2007 article "Who Murdered Our Games?" (谁谋杀了我们的游戏), which offers a critique from the perspective of a game planner, arguing that many games fail before they even leave the development stage, these failures occur when development teams lack excitement for the games they are creating, the industry has fostered a mentality where players are treated like livestock in the pursuit for engagement and profit, and the industry has a dark side characterized by capital-driven practices that alienate players and degrade their experiences. In a 2024 interview with China Central Television, Feng Ji discussed this perspective, explaining that game developers should focus on gameplay and storytelling to captivate players but must remain cautious not to fall into capital-driven practices, emphasizing that a reasonable standard is whether you would recommend your children, friends, and relatives to play your games with peace of mind.

''Black Myth: Wukong'' (2018–present)

After the mobile games ''100 Heroes'' and ''Art of War: Red Tides'', Game Science started the development of '' Black Myth: Wukong'' in 2018. The decision to develop an AAA game, according to operations director Lan Weiyi, came after the realization that there were more Steam users from China than the United States, indicating that China's premium games market was undergoing a transformation. Before the development on the game began, Game Science conducted a company-wide survey that revealed that action role-playing games were the games with the longest playtimes on Steam among the staff, which led to a focus on the action role-playing genre for both the studio and the ''Black Myth'' project. Reproduced in Feng Ji said that this approach would allow them to better understand and empathize with players, because they themselves would be players of the types of games they were creating. Game Science decided to have a team focused on mobile games and a team focused on single-player games. Considering the differences in development cycles between these two kinds of games, Feng Ji and Yang Ji sought to find a new environment appropriate for a team working on single-player games. Ultimately, the ''Black Myth'' development team moved from Shenzhen to Hangzhou due to its "slower pace and lower living costs".

In August 2020, Game Science released the first trailer of '' Black Myth: Wukong'' as a way to recruit more talent for the company. At the time, the game's development team had 30 members. Due to the trailer going viral, Game Science received over 10,000 resumes. Some were from AAA gaming companies with candidates even from outside of China who were willing to apply for a Chinese working visa at their own cost. A day after the trailer's release, there were people showing up at the door of the company asking for a job. The development team expanded to 140 employees according to the game's credit list.

The ''South China Morning Post'' reports that Hero Games acquired a 19% stake in Game Science through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tianjin Hero Financial Holding Technology in 2017, but sold the stake in 2022 with payment partly outstanding. Reproduced in When asked about their ownership and relationship by ''VentureBeat'', Hero Games chairman Dino Ying said that he could not comment on that. As reported in March 2021, Tencent obtained a total stake of 5% in Game Science. They aimed to help their former employees on some projects, but committed to not interfering with the operation and decision-making of Game Science.

In 2023, ''IGN'' released a report that alleged a history of sexism within the company, citing as evidence screenshots of personal posts by company figures in Chinese social media and suggestive hiring posters from 2015. Chinese outlets ''HK01'', an online news portal, and ''GameLook'', a game-industry research website, criticized ''IGNs report, arguing that the article uses examples taken out of context and vulgar but not sexist. ''HK01'' and ''Gamebase'' reported that the relevant posts had been mistranslated. ''HK01'' also reported that the anonymous criticism quoted by the article cannot be verified. Game Science declined to address questions about the allegations. On social media, Khee Hoon Chan, a co-author of the ''IGN'' article, called for online piracy and made explicit comments toward Game Science. Hero Games' Dino Ying commented that Game Science tries not to get into distractions.

''Black Myth: Wukong'' was released in August 2024 and sold 20 million units in its first month, making it one of the fastest-selling games of all time.

In 2024, Game Science and the electric automobile maker BYD Company established a strategic partnership to digitize China's national treasures and landmarks to contribute to their protection and provide a scientific basis for future restoration work. This involves 3D scanning in multiple provinces, starting in Shanxi which was heavily featured in ''Black Myth: Wukong'', across all of China.

Games and products

Game Science have made several video games.

In January 2025, Game Science published a Chinese New Year short film unveiling their official merchandise brand BLACK MYTH. The studio aimed to create a gamer lifestyle brand with products related to ''Black Myth: Wukong'' and other content over time. A dedicated team, separate from the game developers, was formed to handle the design, production, and operation of the brand.

References

External links

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Chinese companies established in 2014
Companies based in Shenzhen
Entertainment companies established in 2014
Indie game developers
Video game companies established in 2014
Video game companies of China
Video game development companies
Video game publishers