Overcoming “stereotypes” is one of the main challenges faced bringing Eastern games like CrisisX to global audiences

Hero Games is a “leading Chinese developer and publisher,” and its latest release is CrisisX places itself on the West Coast of the United States in the 90s. According to its announcement press release, it’s a “story of chaos and danger; the consequences of a scientific expedition gone awry.”

We recently spoke with Hero Games on other challenges faces when ushering Eastern games into the hands of a global audience, which is especially relevant in light of the mixed response that Black Myth: Wukong has received from press and audiences.

“Overcoming cultural barriers is particularly challenging,” Hero Games CEO Daniel Wu said. “The stereotypes and expectations between Western and Eastern cultures add complexity, especially for CrisisX, which is set in 1990s US culture,” he continued.

“The process of integrating our understanding of US history and culture into CrisisX is both exciting and demanding, offering an unique opportunity to deepen our cultural insights. This is quite different from one of our other external invested project, Black Myth: Wukong, which aims to introduce Eastern culture to the West.”

The premise of CrisisX places a heavy emphasis on unpacking the Western US terrain in the context of a zombie apocalypse. While it’s not exactly as culturally significant as Wukong’s mythic origins, there’s still a need for the developers to place emphasis on accurately representing the people of its setting without falling into the trap of caricature and stereotype that has caused many others to fall before it.

We also spoke to Hero Games on the potential opportunities that a global audience brings. We’ve previously seen the Honor of Kings developers bringing what was the biggest mobile game in the East over to the West recently, though it didn’t pick up anywhere near as much as it had done in its place of origin.

“Of course, with every market or platform expansion, revenue growth is naturally expected. However, we also think building a strong brand and earning trust will bring us long-term opportunities. It fosters a loyal user base and opens the door to new, broader partnerships globally. As a result, our development studios can just focus on enhancing the game further without the constant concern of sales numbers or user acquisition.”

Hero Games leaves us hanging with an extremely promising proposition. CrisisX isn’t here purely to drive numbers, revenue, and user acquisition as so many mobile and live-service games have done before it, but rather it’s focusing on building a trusted, reputable brand of which quality products are its USP. A refreshing change, really. Let’s see how well the company can hold up that promise.