Chinese action-RPG Black Myth: Wukong is officially a hit, breaking Steam’s concurrent single-player record within hours of release. It’s also embroiled in a culture war that, unlike a great deal of others, is not entirely contrived. Following reports of sexism at developer Game Science last year, the studio sent pre-release code to content creators last week with a series of stipulations, one of which barred “politics, violence, nudity, feminist propaganda, fetishization, and other content that instigates negative discourse,” as well as mentions of covid and “content related to China's game industry policies.” These are extreme restrictions. They are, however, not that far afield from what content creators sometimes encounter during dealings involving game code.
It’s important to situate Black Myth: Wukong in the broader context of content creation not to minimize the overbearing directive issued by marketers at Game Science collaborator Hero Games, but to understand the forces that can inform creators’ thinking – even slightly – as well as the ways companies try to control the messaging around their games.
In Black Myth: Wukong’s case, the list of do’s and don’ts was only issued to content creators, not reviewers at websites and other more traditional publications (who received a different set of guidelines with restrictions largely centered around spoilers). It was also not tied to any sort of contract or sponsored content. As Aftermath understands the situation, Hero Games sent out code with what essentially amounted to a gentle – albeit forcefully worded – suggestion. Aside from denying opportunities in the future, there’s not much the company can do to actually enforce these rules.
That part immediately struck creators to whom Aftermath spoke as strange. Typically, you don’t encounter rules this specific until you’re in the fine print of a contract for a sponsored stream or video – aka, one in which a company is directly paying a content creator to play a game.
“The normal language of 'No politics, please don't talk about current events (covid), etc' have always been part of contracts,” longtime Twitch streamer Ben “Cohh Carnage” Cassell told Aftermath. “That's totally normal and has been in there for years. Even the vulgar language stuff, although I've never seen it enforced. ... I do many sponsored streams, and I've never seen anything about ‘feminist’ anything in any of them. That is new. And definitely very strange."
"It's only in sponsored, actually-paid stuff when we're signing a contract and agreeing to certain things [that] I ever see 'Don't bring up politics. Don't bring up this. Don't bring up that,'" pirate-themed streamer Burke Black told Aftermath.
"The vast majority [of creator emails about game keys] I’ve seen don't require behavioral restrictions," Shannon Plante, director of business operations for popular Twitch streamer Sacriel, told Aftermath. "Those are usually kept to paid activations, which makes sense [because] they’re paying you. … Typically restrictions would be normal stuff like refraining from abusive conduct, hate speech, [and] sometimes too much swearing depending on the game and brand.”
A creator who was granted anonymity so as not to lose out on future opportunities shared several such documents with Aftermath. One, for Alan Wake 2, included mandatory streaming language, but only around FTC disclosures (“Thank you to Epic Games for sponsoring this video” at the beginning of the stream and again every 30 minutes). Another, for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, included talking points to help advertise the game (“Talk about what makes SMTV: V so interesting to you – the ominous atmosphere, the metal music, demons, etc”) as well as a request that streamers include spoiler tags in their titles.
A third, for Meta-published VR game Asgard’s Wrath 2 was a little stricter, with a list of do’s and don’ts that forbade third-party IP in creators’ content (logos, etc), alcohol consumption, and derogatory, sexual, or explicit comments. The streamer who received it told Aftermath that they nonetheless made “plenty” of sexual comments during the stream and were not penalized.
In general, while language can at times be restrictive, enforcement is rare.
"I’ve never experienced a situation where a brand hasn’t paid, but technically I guess if you violate those things it could result in them withholding," said Plante. "It would have to be proven, though, I’m guessing, [because] talent management firms would go after the brand for denial of pay otherwise."
"I’ve broken the ‘no swearing’ rule by accident a handful of times before and have never seen any enforcement, nor even any negative feedback,” noted Aftermath subscriber (and content creator and writer and actor) Alanah Pearce told Aftermath. “Generally if a brand wants to sponsor a creator, they know who that creator is and know their audience can tell when they aren’t being authentic; if you talk about politics or you swear, they wouldn’t want you to stop doing that to the extent that it goes against your established brand."
But not all companies are created equal in this regard. In May, Jeff Hoogland, a Marvel Snap streamer, was invited to join the creator program for upcoming Overwatch-alike Marvel Rivals, which, like Black Myth: Wukong, is being published by a Chinese company, NetEase. The program would not have paid Hoogland any money. Despite this, he was sent a “commitment letter,” which Aftermath has viewed. Among other things, it required a signature and included language like "I pledge not to disseminate any content associated with misinformation, hate speech, discrimination, politics, pornography, or other objectionable subjects" and "not to publish any illegal content, distorting game facts with malicious intent or insult to others." Hoogland objected to the “politics” restriction and asked a company representative if that language could be removed. The rep, Hoogland said, ended up ghosting him.
“Effectively policing what I post on social media in general just to be a part of a creator program is a huge overreach,” Hoogland said. “Code of conduct for no hate speech and hostile stuff is typical [for these sorts of creator programs]. Blanket no 'politics' as an incredibly vague catch-all is a first for me.”
Game Science and Hero Games have yet to publicly comment on Black Myth: Wukong’s content creation restrictions. They’ve also remained tight lipped about other, similar subjects. Aftermath asked the PR firm representing the game on the press side of things, One PR, for more details, but did not receive a response. Given the outcry around Black Myth: Wukong’s approach, however, other companies employing heavy-handed tactics might want to reconsider.
"Simply put, what that studio is requiring just for a key is absolutely insane," said Plante, "and they should get called out for it."
