Sloclap’s kung fu brawler Sifu has sold over 500,000 copies in just 48 hours.
That’s an impressive sales record for an independent game studio, and it’s also a sales figure that manifested even as the game faced criticism for its depictions of Chinese culture.
Said criticism has come from a varied number of writers–TheGamer’s Khee Hoon Chan offered a nuanced look at what felt off about Sifu’s setting and story, while The Verge’s Ash Parrish asked the team directly about concerns voiced by some critics from the Chinese diaspora.
Sifu executive producer and company co-founder Pierre Tano seemed to acknowledge this topic in the sales announcement, thanking consulting partners Kowloon Nights and Kepler Interactive for helping Sloclap “make a game which felt authentic and respectful of Chinese Kung Fu culture.”
Sloclap’s evolution as a developer with expertise on developing martial arts games is no mean feat. Realistic close-quarters fighting can be difficult to render in video game form, and the studio has now done it twice over with the success of Absolver and Sifu.
This article has been updated to reflect that Sifu is a self-published title.