BEIJING, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Chinese state media threw

its back behind China's most successful single-player video game

to date, saying its adaptation of the Ming dynasty epic "Journey

to the West" would force Western players to learn more about the

country's culture.

"Black Myth: Wukong", based on a mythological monkey king

from a Chinese literary classic who can shape-shift into humans,

animals and inanimate objects, was being played by 2.2 million

concurrent players on Steam, a major online gaming platform, on

Wednesday, a day after its release.

"Chinese players in the past have gone through this process

of cross-cultural understanding, now it is the turn of overseas

players to learn... and understand Chinese traditional culture,"

China Central Television wrote in a blog.

Drawing heavily on the story of the beloved magical monkey,

Sun Wukong, who acquires supernatural powers by practicing

Taoism, "Black Myth: Wukong" can only be enjoyed if players are

familiar with the plot of the 16th century classic, the national

broadcaster said.

The game was launched on Tuesday by Game Science, a

Tencent ( TCTZF )-backed startup to much fanfare on Chinese

social media. Hashtags on the video game accumulated 1.7 billion

views on China's X-like microblog Weibo.

"This release marks a bold foray by Chinese game developers

into a market long dominated by Western triple-A titles," state

news agency Xinhua wrote in an editorial on Wednesday.

"With this breakthrough, the default language of a triple-A

game is no longer English, but Chinese," it added.

"Black Myth: Wukong" would "attract more global players to

pay attention to domestic games", said analysts at

Shanghai-based Topsperity Securities, adding that companies

across a wide range of sectors could expect to profit off

intellectual property tie-ins.

Ride-hailing firm Didi, Lenovo Group ( LNVGF ) and Luckin

Coffee are incorporating elements inspired by "Black

Myth: Wukong" into their promotional campaigns.

Be that as it may, gaming stocks were unchanged on

Wednesday, with concept stocks linked to the game's development

down after having risen considerably over the past month.

"Black Myth: Wukong" was widely lauded as China's first AAA

game - high development costs, long production cycles and

immense investment. But unlike other Chinese games that are

played on mobile devices and involve endless micro-payments, the

game is a one-time purchase with a price tag of 268 yuan

($37.58) for the standard version and 328 yuan for the premium.

Pre-sales, which began in June, had reached 400 million yuan

as of Tuesday when the game was launched, according to Citi.

"It is unclear whether "Black Myth: Wukong's" business model

can bring more profits... the important thing... is that China

is finally getting it's own AAA game that can excite the world,"

state-owned tabloid Global Times cited an industry insider as

saying.

"Global players will be able to get a deeper understanding

of traditional Chinese culture while having fun," Global Times

declared.

($1 = 7.1318 Chinese yuan renminbi)