Black Myth: Wukong launched alongside reports of increased interest in Journey to the West, the classic novel that inspired the game. The available figures point to a notable short-term jump on one Chinese bookselling platform, but they do not establish a huge worldwide sales surge.
What the reported sales figures show
The evidence comes from two separate measures: a small eBay count across four English-speaking markets and a reported surge on China’s Dangdang platform. Their locations, time windows and source chains differ, so they should not be combined into a single global estimate.
| Measure | Reported result | Scope and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| eBay UK, US, Canada and Australia | 93 sales in the three months before launch; about 122 in the first 22 days after launch | TheGamer analysis, as reported by Gamebrott on September 12, 2024. The post-launch window is much shorter, so these totals are not comparable rates and do not demonstrate a worldwide surge. Gamebrott’s report |
| Dangdang, China | Sales reportedly quintupled within 48 hours; the book reached No. 8 on the fiction bestseller list | A 2025 academic article relays the figure from a November 15, 2024 China Publishing & Media Journal item. It is a short-term, single-platform report; the cited trade-journal item was not independently accessed. Academic article reporting the Dangdang figures |
How to read the eBay comparison
TheGamer analysis, as relayed by Gamebrott, gives these counts for the three months before the game’s release and the first 22 days afterward:
| eBay marketplace | Before release | After release |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 20 | 28 |
| US | 65 | 85 |
| Canada | 0 | 2 |
| Australia | 8 | 7 |
Those are counts over unequal periods, not sales rates. They suggest more recorded sales in the shorter post-launch window across the four markets combined, but the sample is small and covers neither all retailers nor all countries. It cannot show how many copies sold worldwide or establish that the game caused each purchase.
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What the Dangdang report adds
The larger reported change is from China: the 2025 academic article says Journey to the West sales on Dangdang rose fivefold in the first 48 hours after the game launched, and the title reached No. 8 on the platform’s fiction bestseller list. The article attributes those figures to a November 15, 2024 item in China Publishing & Media Journal. That makes the claim more substantial than the small eBay counts, but it remains a brief launch-period result from one platform, not a measure of all Chinese book sales.
Why players might seek out the novel
Black Myth: Wukong draws on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, which gives players a natural reason to look up the story and its characters. Guinness World Records describes the game as based on the novel. Guinness World Records on the game’s literary basis
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also linked the game to the classic at a press conference: “I do not know much about video games, but thank you for drawing my attention to this game. The name of this game suggests that it is inspired by the Chinese classic novel ‘Journey to the West.’ I think this speaks to the appeal of the Chinese culture.” The quotation was reported by Shenzhen Government Online, sourced to Shenzhen Daily. Shenzhen Government Online’s report
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Game sales are not book sales
The game itself sold on a very different scale, but those figures cannot be used to estimate novel purchases. Game Science announced more than 10 million game copies sold across platforms by 21:00 Beijing time on August 23, 2024, in an announcement reproduced by GamerSky. Guinness World Records later recorded 20 million copies in the first month, by September 20, 2024. Both numbers refer to the game, not Journey to the West books. GamerSky’s report of Game Science’s announcement; Guinness World Records on first-month game sales
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What can—and cannot—be concluded
- The launch coincided with reported short-term growth in book interest, including a fivefold Dangdang increase reported for the first 48 hours.
- The eBay comparison is a limited set of counts from four markets, with unequal before-and-after periods.
- Neither measure establishes a comprehensive worldwide sales increase or proves that the game alone caused the change.
- These launch-period figures do not establish a current trend or a lasting effect on book sales.
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