What happened with the Luckin Coffee and Black Myth: Wukong tie-up?
Luckin Coffee announced a co-branded partnership with the Chinese action game Black Myth: Wukong, launching a limited-edition Cloud-Riding Americano and themed merchandise scheduled to go on sale the following Monday. The news topped social media trending charts within hours, but it also drew criticism after users resurfaced past sexist comments attributed to members of the game's core creative team.
The tie-up rides on the game's commercial momentum. Black Myth: Wukong, billed as China's first 3A single-player title, opened pre-sales on June 8 and took close to 400 million yuan in its first month. Metacritic showed an average score of 82 from 52 outlets at the time of writing, and the coffee americano release put Luckin at the centre of the debate over brand risk.
Luckin Coffee recently officially announced a co-branding collaboration with the domestic single-player game "Black Myth: Wukong," with a limited-edition drink, Cloud-Riding Americano, and themed merchandise about to launch. The news quickly trended on social media, and players were eagerly anticipating it. However, as the collaboration's popularity climbed, some netizens dug up past sexist remarks by the game's core creative team, sparking widespread controversy. Some believe that while Luckin can ride the momentum of China's first 3A blockbuster, it may also suffer a backlash due to the public opinion storm surrounding its partner. Is this collaboration a win-win or a risk? Let's take a closer look.
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Yesterday, Luckin officially announced a co-branding collaboration with the domestic single-player game "Black Myth: Wukong," launching a limited-edition drink called "Cloud-Riding Americano" and a series of themed merchandise, with the event set to officially launch next Monday. As soon as the news was released, related topics quickly shot up the trending charts.
In fact, as early as the end of last month, netizens on the Black Myth Tieba forum had already leaked that the game would collaborate with Luckin, attaching photos as evidence. At the time, Luckin responded by saying "don't believe rumors," which kept many players from getting their hopes up too high. Now that the collaboration has been finalized, images of the limited-edition merchandise have spread widely on social platforms, and many gamers are naturally thrilled.
It is reported that "Black Myth: Wukong" is the first domestic 3A single-player game, and it has been a hot topic in the industry since pre-sales opened on June 8. According to 21st Century Business Herald, the game's first-month pre-sales far exceeded expectations, with sales approaching 400 million yuan.
In addition, according to global game review aggregator Metacritic, as of early Saturday morning, the average score from 52 global media outlets was 82, with several outlets even giving perfect scores. Many single-player gamers worldwide have high hopes for this 3A title from a Chinese domestic developer.
As is well known, 3A games represent the highest standard of the gaming industry, typically requiring massive investment of cost, time, and manpower. In the past, only developers in Europe, America, and Japan had the capability to venture into this territory. Therefore, for China's gaming industry, "Black Myth: Wukong" can be considered a milestone.
Luckin chose to collaborate with it and scheduled the event to launch the day before the game's official release, its intentions are self-evident. However, most gamers don't mind this at all; instead, they are happy that Luckin is "collaborating with something they like," and many said upon hearing about the collaboration that they couldn't wait to place orders in support.
However, in the comments section of the official announcement, quite a few people took a reserved attitude toward the collaboration. Some netizens pointed out that Luckin's previous collaborations mostly took a cute and fun approach, with a consumer base primarily made up of female customers. This time, the collaborating IP is a single-player game, involving an area that some consumers are unfamiliar with, which may leave non-gamers lacking the willingness to spend.
Not only that, but some netizens also dug up old grievances: according to a related report published by IGN official last year, some developers of "Black Myth: Wukong" had posted vulgar remarks with sexist overtones on public platforms, such as "3A blockbusters don't need female players," which was seen as the core creative team showing a lack of respect for women. These inappropriate remarks have made the game unpopular among female netizens since pre-sales began, and it has even faced boycotts.
(Screenshots of some remarks by the "Black Myth: Wukong" core creative team)
Therefore, many people believe that while Luckin's choice to collaborate with "Black Myth: Wukong" can ride the "east wind" of China's first 3A single-player game and attract more attention, it may also suffer harm from the public opinion storm that the partner brings with it, causing disgust and resistance among some consumers.
Image source: Internet
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
