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Game Science
August 27, 2026 at 05:09 AM
Added the studio's own statement of its August 20 progress-report tradition and corrected the audio lead's title to the studio's own wording
Game Science (游戏科学) is a Chinese video game development studio. They are the developer and self-publisher of Black Myth: Wukong and Black Myth: Zhong Kui. The studio was founded on June 13, 2014, by seven former Tencent employees from Quantum Studio.
The founding team was led by Feng Ji and Yang Qi, who had worked together at Tencent's Quantum Studio on the MMO Asura (a Monkey King-themed game). In 2014, when Tencent restructured its studios (merging Quantum with Light Speed Studio to form the Photon Studio Group) Feng Ji, Yang Qi, and five colleagues chose to leave rather than stay.
They wanted to make single-player, narrative-driven games with high production values. That was a risky bet. The Chinese market at the time was dominated by free-to-play mobile and online games, and the conventional wisdom said Chinese players would not pay full price for a single-player title.
Their early projects included 100 Heroes (a mobile game inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms, published by NetEase, which attracted 500,000 players in its first month and nearly 800,000 in its first year) and Art of War: Red Tides (an RTS/MOBA hybrid that launched on Steam in September 2017 and was recommended in 154 countries). Neither prepared the industry for what came next.
The studio maintains dual offices in Shenzhen (Nanshan District) and Hangzhou (Xihu District). The Black Myth development team moved from Shenzhen to Hangzhou in late 2019, drawn by the city's slower pace and lower living costs. At the time of Wukong's viral 2020 gameplay reveal, the team numbered about 30. By Wukong's launch in August 2024, the team had grown to approximately 140.
Game Science raised approximately $8.71 million in tracked funding from investors including 5Y Capital, GL Ventures, Tencent Investment, and Hero Games. Hero Games acquired a roughly 19-20% stake in 2017, later selling it in 2022. Tencent acquired a 5% minority stake in March 2021, committed to not interfering with the studio's operations. After the Tencent investment, ownership was split: Feng Ji held 38.75%, other team members 37.1%, Hero Games 18.99%, and Tencent 5%.
In August 2020, Game Science released a 13-minute gameplay trailer for Black Myth: Wukong that went viral worldwide. The trailer showed an Unreal Engine-powered action RPG based on Journey to the West with production quality that nobody expected from a studio of 30 people.
The game launched on August 20, 2024, on PC and PlayStation 5 (Xbox followed on August 20, 2025, exactly one year later). Total development cost was approximately $70 million over six years ($42.5M development, $27.5M marketing). For the full story, see the Black Myth: Wukong article.
After Wukong shipped, Game Science initially began working on DLC. But Feng Ji has talked openly about feeling directionless ("confusion, emptiness, and fear") after completing his long-term goal. Rather than pushing out an expansion, he decided the team should start fresh.
The studio's official website notes that "the westward journey won't end here," confirming Wukong's story will continue at some point. Zhong Kui is a separate project in the same Black Myth Series, not a replacement for Wukong content.
Co-founder and art director Yang Qi set out the studio's position on generative AI in August 2026, telling a fan that Zhong Kui's design and asset production stages will stay away from AI-generated content. He described the choice as standing the last watch for traditional techniques rather than resistance, and added that there is no rush: the technology can wait, and nothing is lost by not chasing it now. The comment is stage-specific rather than a studio-wide ban.
Feng Ji CEO and co-founder. The primary creative force behind both games. Biology degree from Huazhong University, former Tencent Quantum Studio.
Yang Qi Chief Design Officer and co-founder. Art director who conceived the Zhong Kui concept. China Academy of Art, former Tencent Quantum Studio.
Game Science releases significant content every August 20th (the anniversary of Wukong's 2020 gameplay reveal). The studio has since put the practice in writing, stating that "every August 20, we check in with everyone and share our latest progress". The 2026 instalment was a roughly fifteen-minute gameplay demo for Zhong Kui. They also release themed videos for Chinese New Year; the 2026 edition was a six-minute in-engine show.
Game Science's audio lead is Li Jiaqi, whom the studio's head refers to as its head of sound, and who led audio on Black Myth: Wukong and is directing the score for Black Myth: Zhong Kui. In 2026 the studio took its music on a global concert tour, playing arrangements of its game soundtracks at venues in China and abroad, with a programme of more than twenty pieces. The programme closed with the main theme for Zhong Kui, the first time any of the new game's music had been performed in public.
Speaking around the tour, Li set out a deliberate change of direction for the new score, away from the large, high-intensity writing of the previous game and toward something lighter and closer to everyday life. See Music and Sound for details.
