Within days of its debut last month, the popular Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong sold over 10 million copies, and its popularity has been heralded as a soft-power victory for the Asian giant.

But as a Chinese proverb puts it, "the drunkard's intention lies not on the wine, but on other purposes."

China's foray into the gaming sector also serves a "harder" form of power: the need to support homegrown chip production following US sanctions on semiconductor exports that were intended to stifle Chinese AI research.

The game Black Myth: Wukong is set in the world of the Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West. Based on an ancient Chinese fable, the player assumes control of Wukong, the Monkey King, in riddles and combat. The game is the first of its sort to be created in China and go on to become an international success. With assistance from Tencent, Game Science developed it. It is a source of pride in their nation and a cultural export for Chinese gamers.

Hardware bottlenecks brought on by the US-China tech conflict have an impact on Chinese officials, tech firms, the gaming industry, and players. Because of these limitations, fewer cutting-edge chips—which are essential for AI and high-end games like Black Myth: Wukong—are being exported to China. Leading American chip maker NVIDIA touts the game's superior graphics and technology and says it was influenced by them.

There is a tight relationship between computer games, semiconductor microchips, and national security. Encouraging the gaming sector will drive up demand for sophisticated processors and expand the capacity of manufacturers. This progress is being driven by both government investments and private sector activities.

There are more motivations behind Chinese state media and social media influencers' promotion of the game than only elevating the gaming sector and promoting Chinese culture. China's strategy plan to win the chip war includes the game. They hope to eventually take the lead in advanced chip manufacturing by initially concentrating on the video gaming sector.