The Chinese declared war on Western AAA games. Phantom Blade Zero became Steam's biggest hit

Chinese journalists have accused Western studios of releasing “trash games” and urged them to follow the example of Phantom Blade Zero, which became the biggest Steam release of 2026.

Phantom Blade Zero showcases high-quality gameplay, offers beautiful graphics even without ray tracing, and demonstrates good performance on Unreal Engine 5. This approach resonated with the audience.

The game by studio S-Game set a 2026 Steam record for concurrent players — over 720,000 people. Meanwhile, the user rating continues to rise and currently stands at 86% positive reviews.

The success was commented on by journalists from IGN China, who sharply criticized the Western gaming industry:

It is time for Chinese developers to teach a lesson to their Western colleagues, who are bogged down in stagnation, have become hostages to political correctness, and churn out more trash games on an assembly line. It is time to let creators from China remind them how to make quality products and what content-rich AAA games should actually be.

IGN China gave Phantom Blade Zero a maximum score of 10/10.