Rust and GTA 5 Beaten on Steam by a Chinese RPG
Yesterday, a Chinese RPG Tale of Immortal has conquered Steam, overtaking even Rust and GTA5. This is an even greater achievement as it is an indie game that is not available in English.
Another Chinese hit has been revealed on Steam - Tale of Immortal, an open-world RPG set in a universe inspired by the mythology of the Middle Kingdom. The game debuted on January 27 in early access and for now is only available in Chinese.
Yesterday, in the hottest moment of the day, Tale of Immortal was played on Steam by 172,487 people at the same time. Such a result made the game the fifth most popular Sunday title on Steam. The title overtook even such big players as Grand Theft Auto V or Rust.
At the time of writing this news, Tale of Immortal is being played by over 128 thousand people, which gives the game the fourth position on Steam. The title currently has 16k user reviews and 86% of them are positive.
This is another release showing how fast the Chinese market is growing. According to estimates, the biggest bestseller on Steam in January 2020 was Sands of Salzaar, which so far has not lived to see an English-language version. Such productions as Chinese Parents, Bright Memory, Amazing Cultivation Simulator, Gujian 3 or The Scroll Of Taiwu also turned out to be big hits. The last of these titles has sold over a million copies.
All these games have many features in common. They are works by small independent teams, which take full advantage of Chinese culture and history. These titles tore into Steam's biggest bestseller lists despite competition from big-budget Western titles.
Tale of Immortal itself looks interesting. In addition to classic RPG fun, the game focuses on spiritual development. The hero starts as an ordinary mortal and their goal is to transform into an immortal deity, which is achieved through meditation, discipline and practicing martial arts.
Valve's service operates in China without official permission, but so far the local authorities have not blocked it. Steam in this country lacks forum, but offers players access to uncensored titles that did not have to go through a rigorous registration process and get permission to be published.
Currently, Steam already has over 30 million users in the Middle Kingdom, and simplified Chinese is the second most popular language on the platform. This results not only in local hits, but also in good Chinese localization becoming a standard for PC games.
CD Projekt RED, for example, spent a lot of money on preparing a version of Cyberpunk 2077 for this market, hiring well-known actors and celebrities. In total, more than 150 characters were voiced by four recording studios, despite the fact that the game never saw an official release in China.
