Seizing the opportunity of the first anniversary of the BLACKMYTH brand's offline store, Yang Qi, co-founder of Game Science, recently published a post responding to public criticism accusing the team of "milking fans" and "neglecting their main business" due to their extensive merchandise releases and focus on offline cultural and creative products. He also officially announced plans to close and renovate the Hangzhou offline space.
The Hangzhou offline store will be closed for renovation from August 31st to September 2nd, and will reopen to the public on September 3rd. The exhibits inside will undergo a large-scale comprehensive refresh. Looking back at the journey of bringing the IP into the physical world, last spring "Black MYTH - Steam Edition: Wukong" held a game-themed art exhibition at a national-level art museum, displaying nearly a thousand physical exhibits. This was the first time a domestic art museum held a special exhibition dedicated to a single game. That autumn, an offline retail store spanning nearly 1,000 square meters officially opened. Despite its relatively remote location, it still attracted foot traffic and player check-ins far exceeding expectations.
Yang Qi revealed that over the past year, collaborating artists have continuously produced a large number of physical works including sculptures, installations, paintings, and arts and crafts, with the collection size almost filling up the warehouse. This refresh only selects a portion for public display, and there will be more complete offline presentation plans in the future.
Yang Qi frankly admitted that the team is aware that physical derivatives are not to every player's taste, as many hardcore players focus solely on the game itself. However, in an era where generative digital content is泛滥 (flooding), digital virtual content can easily iterate and dissipate. Game Science believes that games are a comprehensive art form, and physical carriers can preserve the Chinese aesthetic and creative warmth of the game. The offline space is not just a store selling merchandise, but a载体 (carrier) for players to gather and immersively touch the virtual worldview. They hope to achieve the accumulation and inheritance of Chinese game aesthetics through this, exploring new models for the long-term operation of domestic AAA IPs.
The company has not shied away from commercial value, but emphasizes that the core purpose of physical cultural and creative products is not just profit, but rather extending the mythological world within the screen into reality. Currently, Game Science's new title "Black MYTH - Steam Edition: Zhong Kui" is still in development.
The original text is as follows:
Time flies, and it has been over a year since the establishment of the BLACKMYTH brand. The Hangzhou offline space is about to welcome the first overall refresh of its exhibits and displays. The site will be closed for three days of construction from August 31st to September 2nd. Incidentally, some old and new friends have been curious before, asking "What kind of merchandise are a bunch of damn game developers making?" So here's a brief report~
Last spring, we held an "Black MYTH - Steam Edition: Wukong" art exhibition by the West Lake, with nearly a thousand physical exhibits of various sizes transported there. This was the first single-game themed exhibition in the history of national-level art museums. By autumn, the BLACKMYTH retail store had landed, with a space of nearly 1,000 square meters designed and planned from scratch. Although the location was remote, we were fortunate to encounter more players and tourists, which was a pleasant surprise. Over the past year, our collaborating artists have never stopped working, continuously producing a large amount of physical artistic creations, including sculptures, installations, paintings, and various arts and crafts, nearly filling up the warehouses near the city center...
Coinciding with the anniversary milestone, a selection of works has been chosen to redecorate the offline space, with the exhibition completely replaced and updated; this is only a small part, and more complete presentation methods will follow in the future, so we'll leave it at that for now.
We are well aware that these items are not the focus or interest of all players. However, games are inherently a comprehensive art form encompassing Everythinggj, and they still lack formal recognition. Moreover, with the impending flood of generative digital content, the texture of physical objects is important, the diversity of interaction is important, and tangible proof is important. Therefore, gathering together is especially important.
Sincere thanks for everyone's support and love. Let's meet again on September 3rd~
