Wukong escalates – Asmongold pillories IGN freelancer

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The conflict over Black Myth: Wukong continues to escalate. Now Twitch streamer Asmongold has targeted a freelance contributor to gaming magazine IGN who was involved in a critical article on Game Science in November 2023. A tweet with a reach of 79 has a video with 860,000 views in response. This poisons the mood and makes controversial discussions impossible, believes MeinMMO author Schuhmann.

This is the basic conflict:

  • On November 20, 2023, a critical article appeared on IGN about the studio Game Science, which has now landed a big hit on Steam with Black Myth: Wukong. The article was written by IGN senior reporter Rebekah Valentine and Kee Hoon Chan, a freelance contributor and translator.
  • The authors of the article were accused of maliciously mistranslating a statement by the head of Game Science in order to make him look like a weird pervert.
  • For months, this article by Twitch streamer Asmongold has been described as a “hit piece.” The authors of the article, the US edition of IGN and gaming journalism in general have been repeatedly and harshly criticized.

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    Black Myth: Wukong becomes a political issue

    This is the new escalation level: The conflict has flared up again in recent weeks because Black Myth: Wukong is such a huge success on Steam – especially among Chinese players.

    Controversial game developer Mark Kern, who is particularly influential on X, argues that the success of Black Myth: Wukong proves that “Western gaming studios” hate their audiences while Asian developers love them. This reflects a culture war in the US against “supposedly woke” companies that focus too much on “DEI”, i.e. diversity and equality.

    Translator of the critical IGN article comments in tiny tweet

    Note: The translator uses the pronouns they/them.

    In the course of this conflict, the author of the article expressed herself in a forum and once again came under fire. Her translator now expressed support for X and wrote in a post:

    Don’t play Black Myth: Wukong. If you must, pirate it. If you like it, I don’t want to know. Screw Game Science and all the idiots who do this to one of my favorite people in the gaming industry.

    The post was shared by an online magazine and had 79 views at the time.

    Editor’s note: The translator’s X-account has now been set to private.

    Asmongold pillories translators in video with 868,078 views

    Streamer Asmongold responded to this tweet in a video titled “IGN Finally Goes Mask off” on the evening of August 25. After 10 hours, the video has already reached 868,078 views (via YouTube).

    Here, Asmongold also showed a post from the translator from January 21st, in which he says that when white gamers are angry, they just shout loudly and then the world gives in to them. He hates white people so much because of their privilege. He explains that this is not directed against individuals, but against “white privilege”.

    In the video, Asmongold practically gives the translator the green light to shoot, saying:

    I don’t think you should harass him. Obviously harassment is bad. But publicly disagreeing with someone, publicly insulting them on the internet – is absolutely, damn fine. That’s called public discourse and if you have a problem with that, delete your account.

    Asmongold is irresponsible with its reach

    That’s what’s in there: Asmongold’s attack on a journalist with a tiny public reach and his shaming in this way is like an elephant stepping on a peanut.

    The generalizing representation in the title is always problematic here:

    This tendency of such big influencers as Asmongold to use their reach like a cannon aimed at people who hold different, even provocative opinions, leads to a mood in which controversial discussion is no longer possible for fear of being on the hit list of influencers who use their reach so irresponsibly.

    He may say, “Harassment is not okay,” but with such a wide reach and target audience, Asmongold knows exactly what kind of toxic comments such videos will trigger. The translator’s Twitter account has now been protected.

    A game like Black Myth: Wukong fades into the background in such a discussion and only serves as a vehicle to lead a completely different discussion, which guarantees an enormous reach and thus financial profit, especially in the politically heated USA: The success of Black Myth: Wukong on Steam is being celebrated by the wrong people

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