IGN Used Mistranslated Comments From Black Myth: Wukong Developer
Games journalists are embarrassing themselves in their zeal to take down any game developer that doesn’t submit to their ideology. The other day, a rumor about games journalists and consulting firms like Sweet Baby Inc. joining forces to extort developers, specifically the company behind Black Myth: Wukong, made the rounds. While there was no hard evidence that it was true, IGN and The Gamer had run pieces decrying developer Game Science’s sexism, particularly producer Feng Ji. These charges were based on supposed accounts of the Chinese gaming industry in general, Game Science in particular, and translated comments from Feng. Now, it looks like those translations were faulty; in a video, Asmongold talked about IGN’s hit piece, and his producer put up evidence that the quotes from Feng were mistranslated and made to look like he was making lewd sexual remarks when he wasn’t. You can see the clip from Asmongold’s video below:
Screenshots of the citations from the video are here, courtesy of Mark Kern, aka Grummz:
After that mishandled translation debacle on Black Myth: Wukong hit-piece, @IGN needs to issue a retraction and apology along with the authors who smeared them.
The authors @duckvalentine and @crapstacular (Rebekah Valentine and Khee hoon) have gone protected but should instead… pic.twitter.com/Tv76ycGhIf
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 15, 2024
The mistranslations even earned IGN’s X post of the article a community note:
Indie souls-like Black Myth: Wukong has seen widespread acclaim since its reveal, but the studio behind it, Game Science, has long been plagued with accusations of sexism that reflect wider issues in the Chinese games industry. Our report: https://t.co/TuU8MeMPVl pic.twitter.com/7Zwmg9YP2w
— IGN (@IGN) November 20, 2023
And for the cherry on top of the scum sundae, the person who “translated” those quotes for IGN claims he hasn’t been paid; this is based mostly on comments to an X post of his, as his account is protected:
It appears that @IGN never paid for the mistranslated text used to slander Black Myth: WuKong.
While translator and co-author @crapstacular has gone protected, other "journalists" are still responding to his tweets where it seems he complains of not being paid by IGN. pic.twitter.com/e9E2qzP0E2
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 16, 2024
This makes me more inclined to believe the narrative that games journalists are in cahoots with consulting firms to shake down video game developers. Why go this far out of your way to smear innocent people unless you have a specific reason? And if this is what happened, Game Science played it exactly right by telling them to shove it. Now, not only did they save $7 million, but they’ve made fools of their extortionists and got tons of attention for their game. Black Myth: Wukong is now perceived as anti-woke, not so much because of the game itself (which is probably simply not woke as opposed to actively anti-woke, which is all gamers are asking for) but because they refused interference from those who would make it a pandering, DEI-compliant bore. Much like Shift Up before the Stellar Blade censorship fiasco (which they will likely still come out of well, but it was a hurdle they didn’t need), Game Science is seen as a bulwark against Sweet Baby Inc. and its ilk. And the early signs point to this paying off:
Black Myth: Wukong is now Number 1 on Steam's Wishlist, beating out Monster Hunter Wilds and Space Marine 2 by nearly 5x.
IGN's hit piece(s) are backfiring. pic.twitter.com/dTBkyFzty3
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 16, 2024
As for IGN, they’re doubling down on their abhorrent behavior, much to no one’s shock:
IGN releases a statement via original Black Myth: WuKong hit-piece author, Rebekah Valentine:
– Fails to address the mistranslated text.
– Demands developer address her false claims against them.
– Demands the developer she attacked to defend her personally for making those… pic.twitter.com/Inb3vVfy6W— Grummz (@Grummz) June 17, 2024
And fine; let them lose whatever credibility they had left while the people they tried to smear make a ton of money from their game.
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