One of the IGN writers who smeared Game Science as sexist called for gamers to boycott Black Myth: Wukong ahead of the game’s release. Interestingly, this same writer has previously admitted to hating white people.
A screenshot from Black Myth: Wukong (2024), Game Science
As reported by YouTuber Smash JT, writer Khee Hoon Chan who co-wrote an article with Rebekah Valentine at IGN accusing Game Science of being sexist based on crude recruitment posters the company used back in 2015 as well as social media posts that have been heavily disputed and criticized for using uncharitable translations called for gamers to boycott Black Myth: Wukong right before the game released.
Chan posted to X, “I’m so f***ing pissed off. This has gone too far. Dont play Black Myth Wukong. If you must, go and pirate it. If you enjoy it, I do not want to know it. F*** Game Science and all the grifters who are doing this to one of my fave people in the industry.”
This post clearly calls into question whether or not Chan had ulterior motives when writing the article at IGN smearing Game Science and accusing the company of sexism.
Khee Hoon Chan on X
Chan’s comments are not out of the ordinary. Back in January 2022 as part of a lengthy thread discussing Sloclap’s Sifu game, Chan denigrated white gamers and even admitted his hatred for white people.
In one post, he wrote, “White gamers have zero nuance, zero understanding of the world, and it’ll forever be like this because the world bends over to meet their expectations. And if they’re upset, they just scream at their targets until everything works, miraculously, in their favour.”
Khee Hoon Chan on X
READ: ResetEra Users Get Depressed After ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Breaks Concurrent Player Number Records
In another post, Chan wrote, “Do I hate white people? Yes. And if you’re a friend, you’ll understand why this is never personal. I hate white privilege so much, their ability to scream reverse racism when faced with a tiny bit of criticism. The world revolves around them, even in Singapore. Everyday.”
Khee Hoon Chan on X
In an article published by First Person Scholar titled “Decolonising Queer Games And Play” in April 2022, Chan wrote, “Filtering games through the language of queer design may be a powerful and crucial step towards embracing diversity, but what is usually lacking in these discussions is intersectionality. Despite the growing prevalence of queer narratives in games, the bulk of these stories are still based around casts of queer white characters.”
Later in the article, he stated, ” In other words, queer games should be further decolonised from a predominantly white, Eurocentric paradigm, and decoupled from the coloniality enforced by Western European thoughts across the world.”
A screenshot from Black Myth: Wukong (2024), Game Science
Despite Chan’s call for a boycott, Black Myth: Wukong broke the record for the single most concurrent Steam players for a single player game. In fact, the game currently sits as the second most played game on Steam based on concurrent player counts behind PUBG: Battlegrounds.
It hit a peak concurrent player count of 2,415,714 on August 22nd.
SteamDB concurrent player data for Black Myth: Wukong
Game Science also reported via Black Myth: Wukong’s official account on X that the game had sold 10 million copies across all platforms on August 23rd.
Black Myth: Wukong has sold 10 million copies across all platforms.
(Data as of 21:00 Beijing time, August 23, 2024)Thanks to all players worldwide for your support and love.
Have a great gaming weekend!#BlackMythWukong pic.twitter.com/mp3mk9JxrX— Black Myth: Wukong (@BlackMythGame) August 23, 2024
What do you make of Chan’s call for a boycott while being the person who co-wrote an article smearing the developer as sexist?