Black Myth: Wukong Dominates Steam Awards 2024, Solidifying Player-Voted Game of the Year Status

The Black Myth: Wukong phenomenon achieved a significant milestone by being crowned Game of the Year (GOTY) at the community-driven Steam Awards 2024, which concluded in early January 2025. This victory, alongside wins in the “Best Game You Suck At Award” and the “Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award,” confirms the title’s immense popularity and critical reception among the PC gaming community. While other major industry ceremonies, such as The Game Awards 2024, may have awarded GOTY to different titles, the Steam Awards result underscores the power of a dedicated player base and positions Black Myth: Wukong as the definitive player’s choice of the year (Source: PhongVu, January 2025; TechPowerUp, December 2024).

Beyond GOTY: Black Myth: Wukong’s Clean Sweep of Top Categories

The success of the action RPG, developed by the Chinese studio Game Science, was not limited to the grand prize. Its multi-category sweep highlights the game’s strong appeal across several high-value aspects of game development and player experience. This is particularly notable given the competition from other AAA games and major expansions.

• Outstanding Story-Rich Game: The game’s intricate narrative, rooted in the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West, resonated deeply with players, demonstrating the high demand for compelling, mythology-driven storytelling in the modern gaming landscape.
• Best Game You Suck At Award (Most Challenging): Winning this category acknowledges the title’s challenging Soulslike gameplay and punishing boss encounters. High-difficulty games continue to be a strong niche, driving significant engagement and content creation (Source: GamesMarket Global, January 2025).
• Game of the Year: Black Myth: Wukong surpassed nominees like Helldivers II, STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, showcasing the community’s strong preference for this new IP.

SEO Impact and High-CPC Gaming Keywords for 2024 Winners

The awards season is a critical period for high-CPC keywords and search engine optimization within the video game industry. Content surrounding the winners and nominees drives peak traffic from both consumers and advertisers focused on key trends. The Steam Awards results provide valuable data on player priorities and future investment areas:

• “Soulslike Action RPG Review”: The critical and commercial success of Black Myth: Wukong ensures that this genre-specific search term remains highly valuable for publishers and content creators throughout 2025.
• “Chinese Mythology Video Game”: The game’s massive success validates the high potential and market demand for games based on non-Western mythologies and folklore, a key area for digital transformation strategies in content.
• “Best PC Games 2024” and “Steam Deck Optimized Games”: High sales and award recognition (despite God of War Ragnarök taking the specific Steam Deck award) solidify the game’s long-term presence in high-traffic buying guides and PC gaming hardware reviews.
• “Game Awards Controversy”: Discussions comparing Black Myth: Wukong’s player-voted Steam win with Astro Bot’s jury-voted win at The Game Awards create valuable, high-engagement content for advertisers focused on gaming news and opinion pieces (Source: IGN, December 2024).

Market Performance and Cultural Significance

Launched in August 2024, Black Myth: Wukong quickly established itself as a commercial powerhouse, with reports indicating it was one of the most-played single-player games in Steam history and generating revenue in the billions across all platforms (Source: GamesMarket Global, January 2025). The game’s stunning visuals, leveraging advanced next-gen graphics, and its deep connection to a globally recognized cultural touchstone, the Monkey King, contributed to an unprecedented global response. The game’s success is not just a commercial win but a cultural statement, proving the immense appetite for high-budget, high-quality AAA titles originating from non-traditional gaming markets like China.

The enduring popularity and critical accolades—including the Golden Joystick Ultimate Game of the Year 2024 (Source: Reddit, December 2023)—suggest that the title’s impact on the global gaming market will continue to be a dominant topic of discussion and analysis throughout the year. The sequel is already highly anticipated, promising to capitalize on the Wukong brand and Game Science’s established reputation for technical and artistic excellence.

You can see the announcement of the winning games in ASTRO BOT Wins the Game of the Year Award at The Game Awards 2024. This video covers the results from The Game Awards 2024, providing context on the other major award ceremony of the year which often contrasts with the player-voted Steam Awards.