Every innovative drug is a AAA masterpiece.

The term AAA masterpiece is an informal game evaluation term, usually used to describe a game that has three characteristics: high cost, large volume, and high quality.

Such attributes are the essential needs for every innovative drug.

The production of AAA games often requires a large-scale development team, a long research and development cycle, and the use of advanced technical support. These features also happen to be the necessary conditions for every innovative drug.

01

On August 20, 2024, Black Myth: Wukong was officially unlocked for players worldwide. This game, acclaimed by many netizens as the first AAA masterpiece in China, broke the record on the gaming platform Steam on the first day of its release, with over 2 million concurrent players.

As of today, the related topics continue to ferment, and the heat is still rising, with various brands rushing to collaborate.

A prosperous era of great prosperity, like a fire boiling oil and flowers embroidering brocade, has intoxicated the Chinese gaming industry and also attracted the envy of some people in the field of innovative drugs.

In the eyes of a few, making games is a profitable business, even AAA masterpieces are nothing compared to innovative drugs. Innovative drug development has a longer cycle, higher costs, and requires a higher level of professional talent.

And although game development also has the risk of failure, it is more controllable, and once successful, it will bring huge returns. However, the success rate of innovative drugs is uncontrollable, and after the product is launched, it still needs the long-term support of the commercial team, and it takes a long time to recover the cost.

Even the producer of Black Myth: Wukong, Feng Ji, has a background in biomedicine. Feng Ji graduated from the Biomedical Engineering Department of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and the studio he founded in 2014 is also named “Game Science.”

All the above has given a few people an illusion: from a commercial point of view, making drugs is not as good as making games.

Some insiders jokingly say: “Hurry up and change careers!”; Some people comment: “No need to change careers, drugs are the cure for the body, and games are the cure for the soul.”; Some people analyze: “Hurry up and develop drugs for game addiction,” and so on, a stone throws up a thousand waves.

However, this account cannot be calculated in this way.”

Please note that the translation provided is an attempt to convey the meaning of the original text in English, and some cultural or industry-specific terms may not have direct equivalents and are therefore translated in a way that best fits the context.

02

First and foremost, the most attractive aspect is undoubtedly the high returns.
According to Feng Ji’s previous disclosure, the development cost for each hour of gameplay in ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ exceeds 20 million yuan. The team estimates the overall game duration to be over 20 hours, with the R&D cost estimated at 300 to 400 million yuan, plus about 200 million yuan for marketing expenses, for a total cost of about 600 million yuan.
It should be noted that in terms of game revenue sharing, the developer accounts for more than 30%, the publisher about 30%, and the operator 50%. Among them, the publisher will receive a 30% share in the early stages of the game’s launch to compensate for marketing expenses.
Some professionals estimate that to recoup such costs, with the current game price of 268 yuan, at least a sales volume of over 2 million units is required.

According to the national bestseller list statistics, as of now, ‘Wukong’ has sold over 3 million copies on Steam, plus wegame, epic, and PS platforms, the current total sales have exceeded 4.5 million copies, with total sales exceeding 1.5 billion yuan.

Related co-branding and peripherals have been sold out, CITIC Publishing and Zhejiang Publishing Media have hit the daily limit, and shareholders Huayi Brothers have risen by more than 19%, with a cumulative increase of over 70% in the past five trading days.

This is the kind of return rate that all investors are delighted to see. But so what?

The significance of new drug research and development for public health needs no further explanation. Compared to the entertainment and cultural value provided by games, the value of saving lives, relieving pain, and improving the quality of life is immeasurable.

Moreover, the innovative drug market is more stable than the gaming market, not easily affected by popular trends or changes in player preferences; innovative drugs have a long-term stable continuous return, while the life cycle of games is relatively short and requires continuous innovation…

The value created by both is vastly different and cannot be compared, nor can a judgment of superiority be made.

The project initiation time for ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ was 2018, with a cost of 600 million yuan and a 6-year R&D cycle, which is indeed nothing compared to the “one billion dollars + ten years of R&D cycle” of innovative drugs.

However, each industry has its own operational rules, and compared to most games, ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ is definitely painstakingly crafted, with every bonsai and wine pot in the game’s visuals meticulously carved.

According to the industry standard, if compared to the field of innovative drugs, a cost of 600 million yuan and a 6-year R&D cycle could very likely become 1.6 billion dollars and 16 years, or even more.

Complaints are acceptable, but if those in the pharmaceutical industry were to make games, it wouldn’t necessarily be a dimensional reduction strike.”

Please note that the translation provided is an attempt to convey the meaning of the original text in English, and some industry-specific terms may not have direct equivalents and are therefore translated in a way that best fits the context.

03

Finally, I still want to talk about the company Game Science.

The name sounds a bit odd, but on its official website, the origin of the name is explained as follows: “Truth is indeed infinite, and there is joy in advancing an inch. So, why is it called Game Science? Because games, like other industries, are a rigorous discipline of 99% diligence + 1% inspiration, rather than a gambler’s business that follows the trend blindly.”

In the production of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’, the team has used NVIDIA’s panoramic ray tracing, DLSS 3.5, Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite virtual geometry technology, Lumen’s real-time lighting, virtual height field mesh, and many other top technical supports.

Games are also a science, which is the attitude of the production team towards their own products. What about innovative drugs that require high technical barriers?

Games have reversible results; if there are problems, they can be quickly fixed or updated, but innovative drugs cannot.

Developing innovative drugs is much harder, much more difficult.

Perhaps some people still envy the treatment of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’, with the support of the majority of netizens, official media interviews, and no sparing of praise. However, innovative drugs do not have this, and what they wait for is only medical insurance, centralized procurement, and a continuously compressed payment environment.

Is it just because it sells well? Or is it because it has scanned many ancient buildings and promoted Chinese traditional culture? No, it is not.

The core is its milestone significance. Before the emergence of ‘Black Myth: Wukong’, domestic AAA games were still a blue ocean, which means the opening of a new market.

In the pharmaceutical industry, this is the domestic first-in-class (FIC), the first PD-1, and the high scores awarded by major gaming platforms are equivalent to reading “excellent clinical trial data.”

Finally, although the country continues to introduce new policies to support the development of the life science field, the author still calls on the media and the public to pay more attention and support to innovative drugs and related enterprises.

After all, every innovative drug is a AAA masterpiece.

【Editor’s note】The above content (~7000 words) is a quick translation of a Chinese article by DrugTimes team. To read the original article, please click here. All comments are warmly welcome. Many thanks!