Restart life

Chapter 291 0288 [Can you make money playing single-player games?]

There are actually a large number of single-player gamers in China.

But they either buy pirated installation discs or download pirated installation packages online.

Because the official price of domestically produced single-player games is basically set at 38 yuan.

After deducting the revenue share from distributors and publishers, as well as various production, warehousing, and logistics costs, the game developer can only earn 4 yuan per disc at this price of 38 yuan. And that's 4 yuan before tax.

The distributors make the biggest profits, taking a 50% cut!

Therefore, it seems reasonable for Chen Guiliang to sell a serving for 5 yuan on his own platform.

Other single-player game companies can do the same.

Because the Youke platform only takes a 20% cut, developers can sell their games for 5 yuan each on the platform, earning 4 yuan per game. This is roughly the same as their profit from selling installation discs for 38 yuan.

On the last day of 2006, Chen Guiliang simultaneously posted a message on his Renren and HaiNei accounts:

"Although Plants vs. Zombies can be played online, it is ultimately a single-player game. This game took 5 months to develop, with a development team of 6 people plus some outsourcing, and a total development cost of 100 million yuan. If it is sold for 5 yuan a copy, even without considering other costs (such as taxes), it would need to sell 20 copies to break even."

"As we all know, it's very difficult to sell 20 legitimate copies in China. So this game is destined to lose money. The company is too lazy to do any advertising; the more they invest in advertising, the more they will lose."

"I'm just promoting it on my personal social media account. Those who like single-player games can pay to download and play it."

"I only ask those brothers who make cracked versions to upload pirated resources again after three months, so that the legitimate versions can have some room to recoup their costs. If you drive all the legitimate versions out of business, you will only be able to crack foreign games in the future."

"Thank you!"

The announcement drew a strong reaction.

A large number of Chen Guiliang's fans, as well as single-player game enthusiasts, spontaneously reposted the article to Tieba and forums.

At this time, the WOW forum was full of World of Warcraft players, and there weren't many members who didn't play the game. This message was reposted, and within a day, there were thousands of replies.

"To be honest, after reading what Mr. Chen wrote, I felt very sad. The domestic single-player game industry used to be so prosperous, but it was all ruined by piracy. Xishanju, Target, Pixel, Softstar, Heluo, Ruishi, Huoshi... so many single-player game developers, now they have either gone bankrupt or switched to making online games. Those who can still stick to single-player games are extremely rare, and they are all barely surviving."

"Haha, I'm guilty. I've never spent any money playing single-player games."

"What kind of game can you make in 5 months with a budget of 100 million? It's definitely garbage."

"Screw you! These days, even with a million-dollar budget, you'll lose money making a single-player game. It's a sure-fire way to lose money, and it's already a miracle that people are even willing to do it."

"Sigh, I guess I'll have to give them a hand. Five yuan isn't even enough to buy two bottles of Coke. I spend tens of yuan on World of Warcraft game cards every month."

"Some people can easily top up their game cards with tens of yuan, but they think 5 yuan for a single-player game is too expensive."

"For those who have already pre-ordered, come back and tell me what you think after playing the game. I'm waiting for your reports online; if it's fun, I'll buy it."

"Damn it, you're waiting for the battle report for just 5 yuan? How desperate for money are you?"

"It has nothing to do with whether I'm short of money or not. I'm naturally willing to spend money on fun games. If a game isn't fun, I'd think even one dollar is too expensive."

"Are you sure it's genuine? The pirated game discs I bought when I was in junior high cost 10 yuan."

"Let's go, let's start the pre-order army!"

"It seems like the download will be available after midnight tonight. I won't be doing dungeons tonight; I'll download the single-player version first and see how it goes."

"..."

Tao Weize is a loyal World of Warcraft player.

But he is also a seasoned gamer.

I played Famicom and handheld consoles in elementary school, started playing arcade games in junior high, got into single-player computer games in high school, and didn't start playing online games until college.

His family wasn't wealthy, but they weren't poor either.

They are just an ordinary family in a small city.

"Hey, Lao Tao, you logged off so early tonight?" his roommate Hong Gang asked in surprise.

Tao Weize said, "We didn't even enter the dungeon; we would play for one or two hours at a time."

Another roommate was chatting online and said with a laugh, "Final exams are still more than two weeks away. You're not going to quit gaming to study, are you?"

Tao Weize smiled but didn't say anything.

Suddenly, the dormitory lights went out, and the campus network went down.

However, the sockets still had power, and the broadband internet they had installed was still available, so the students playing on the computers were not affected.

Tao Weize switched back and forth between the school's intranet and the WOW forum, browsing various blog posts and threads. After midnight, he clicked to download "Plants vs. Zombies".

He kept the download running while continuing to reply to posts.

He thought it would take a long time to download, but he heard a "ding" after only 40 minutes. He thought his roommate's porn had finished downloading.

"Damn, such a small game? I hope I've been scammed!" Tao Weize muttered to himself.

The original Plants vs. Zombies installation package was only about 60MB, but the actual game size after installation was over 90MB. It was extremely basic!
Chen Guiliang's version is slightly more refined and has more levels, resulting in a 220MB file size after installation. If connected to the internet, you can also see your ranking.

After installation, Tao Weize logged in directly using his Youke account.

The game begins with a prologue narration: "In a peaceful town, there lived a farmer. One day, while the farmer was munching on an ear of corn, he suddenly noticed zombies emerging from your yard. He rushed into your house in a panic, wearing a pot-lid helmet and shouting: 'Brother, the zombies are here! We need to plant some plants!'"

Next is the beginner's tutorial.

The farmer says to you, "Look, the zombies are wandering over from the other side of the road! Quickly plant sunflowers in the yard; they can produce sunlight."

Can sunflowers produce sunlight?

Can sunlight kill zombies?
Tao Weize found it both funny and interesting to plant sunflowers following the tutorial.

Then, following the tutorial, he planted peas and watched as the pea shooter killed the first zombie. Tao Weize thought to himself, "This game is ridiculous! Which clever little devil came up with this bizarre setting?"

As the tutorial ends, the game's subtitles will read: "You are about to enter Adventure Mode. Completing Adventure Mode will unlock Survival Mode (Normal). There are also hidden levels waiting for you to unlock."

Adventure mode is quite simple, but that's relative to experienced players.

Tao Weize had never played tower defense games before. He started to struggle after level 30, but still managed to complete level 50 without any major incidents.

"Adventure Mode Chapter 1 complete. Congratulations on successfully completing the game. Adventure Mode Chapter 2 is currently under development. You can now challenge Survival Mode (Normal) Chapter 1."

Tao Weize said, "Damn, this game actually has more updates? We've only finished the first chapter so far."

Tao Weize started playing Survival Mode (Normal), which has a map similar to Adventure Mode, but with some subtle changes. In particular, the zombies are faster and have thicker health bars.

"Damn it!" Tao Weize slammed his fist on the keyboard. This time, he was defeated after only seven levels.

The game screen also displayed the caption: "Your brain was eaten by a zombie..."

My roommates are all night owls. Since we don't have to go to class during the New Year's Day holiday, none of them are asleep yet.

Hearing Tao Weize's commotion, everyone looked over curiously.

But then I saw him switch back to survival mode, planting all sorts of plants to fight off the zombies.

"Wow, what kind of game is this? The art style is so weird."

"Stop wearing headphones, play it out of the speaker."

"Are these peas?"

"Old Tao, where can I download this game?" "Download my ass, just have Old Tao copy it over."

"..."

Tao Weize said, "This game costs money to buy; copying it won't work because it has a genuine verification code. If you want to play a free cracked version, you'll have to wait."

Upon hearing that they would have to pay to buy the original version, everyone else backed down.

Tao Weize added, "It only costs 5 yuan, it's very cheap."

"Five yuan is still money, I'll wait to play pirated games."

"Exactly, who would play the legitimate version if there are pirated copies? We'll talk about it when pirated versions come out later."

"..."

My roommates all said they wouldn't buy it.

Tao Weize was a little annoyed: "Old Zhou, you're always taking girls out to eat. Today you treat this one, tomorrow you treat that one, every meal costs tens of yuan? You even think a 5-yuan authentic drink is too expensive?"

My roommate argued, "Taking a girl out to dinner definitely costs money, but playing games doesn't necessarily require spending money."

"Hey, you guys, support the official single-player game," Tao Weize said, opening the school's intranet, going to Chen Guiliang's personal homepage, and clicking on the article. "Come and take a look."

Several roommates gathered around.

Tao Weize said, "Chen Guiliang is making games at a loss, knowing full well that he'll lose money but he's still willing to do it. That's his passion for single-player games, and we can't let him down. If sales are particularly bad, he'll stop making them, and there definitely won't be any more updates."

One of my roommates read the article and said, "Whether he loses money or not is none of my business, he has plenty of money anyway."

Another roommate said, "Once I have a job and income, I will definitely support him. Right now, I'm a poor student, and he's a big boss, so he should be the one supporting me."

The third roommate said, "Making games at a loss? Who is he kidding? He'll definitely make it back somewhere!"

The remaining two roommates quietly went to pay to download the official version.

There are six people in the dorm, and half of them are willing to pay, which is a very high percentage.

Of course, the main reason is that it's cheap; 5 yuan is really nothing.

If the price is 38 yuan, Tao Weize probably wouldn't be willing to buy it.

The next day, during the day.

On various online forums and message boards, many players have posted messages with screenshots to share their gaming experiences.

Some people even registered a "Plants vs. Zombies" forum.

17173 does not have a dedicated section for Plants vs. Zombies because it costs money to subscribe to that service.

The Gold Online Game Zone costs 50 per month.

Even the test zone for new online games costs between 5 and 8 yuan a month.

The single-player game section was rather meager, with only three editors responsible for hundreds of single-player games. They were simply overwhelmed.

New single-player game launch zone, priced from 1 to 3 per month.

Classic single-player games section, free of charge.

The uncommercialized indie game section is free, but players must sign a revenue-sharing agreement with 17173.

As the number of Plants vs. Zombies players increased, they started posting in the classic old single-player game section.

Will promoting Plants vs. Zombies in the "Chinese Paladin" section cause dissatisfaction among "Chinese Paladin" players?
will not!

Moreover, the atmosphere is particularly harmonious, evoking a sense of "good people live a peaceful life."

As any single-player game enthusiast knows, there are fewer and fewer developers willing to make single-player games these days, almost none left. Regardless of the game, even H-version mini-games, people are willing to support them.

In just a few days, promotional posts for Plants vs. Zombies flooded the classic single-player game sections of 17173.

So much so that 17173 proactively contacted Game Science: "Why don't you open a dedicated section for the first release of a new single-player game? It won't cost much, and it'll prevent players from getting lost... What? You don't want to increase costs? I have the authority to give you the lowest price, 1 yuan a month... Okay, okay, I'll apply for a discount."

17173 is also helpless; the single-player game section hasn't had any new releases for a long time, and it's been operating at a loss. That's why they had to reduce the number of editors to three.

Two days later, the 17173 section for "Plants vs. Zombies" finally opened. It was as cheap as 3000 yuan a month.

But the special section is extremely popular!
"How much did you say?" Chen Guiliang asked in surprise.

“8万3千份。不到10天时间，《植物大战僵尸》卖了8万3千份！”

"Damn, at this rate we can break even."

"It's probably because it's cheap. It's only 5 yuan, so a lot of people just buy it on a whim."

In previous years, the best-selling game was "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 3" (30 copies), followed by "Xuan-Yuan Sword 4" (15 copies).

However, in the past year or two, the single-player game market has almost died out, with the best-selling game "Qin's Legacy" only selling 8 copies.

Plants vs. Zombies surpassed the sales of Qin's Legacy in less than 10 days.

Chen Guiliang posted another article on his personal account, this time with only one sentence: "This crappy game can't possibly break even, right? Are you guys forcing me to update it quickly? Or are you forcing me to keep making single-player games?"

Plants vs. Zombies hasn't broken even yet, and even if it does, it won't make much money.

However, it has attracted great attention in the industry.

A large number of well-known game developers have been forced to switch to making online games. Now they are all actively recommending Plants vs. Zombies, like a mother who has lost her child and wants to comfort someone else's cute child.

Many game developers have also registered accounts on HaiNei.com and interacted with Chen Guiliang's account.

The three remaining single-player game editors at 17173 went to great lengths to praise Plants vs. Zombies, exaggerating its merits. Because, besides this game, there were no other single-player games for them to rave about.

So, a cracked version was released.

In just over twenty days, a hacked version of Plants vs. Zombies was available.

Frustrated, Chen Guiliang posted again: "Seriously? It's only been a few days! Can't you guys who make the cracked version show some mercy? I haven't even broken even yet, and you want to kill me off with one blow?"

Many netizens downloaded pirated versions.

However, many netizens also vehemently criticized those who released pirated resources. In their own words: "Playing a pirated game that costs only 5 yuan? They're practically desperate for money. They can produce a pirated version in just over 20 days, they can't even wait a month! Those who crack games are all bastards!"

This is really going too far.

It was rare to find a company willing to make a single-player game, and the initial sales were quite good, but pirated versions appeared after only 20 days.

Numerous offline and online media outlets, including Popular Software and 17173, collectively condemned the crackers and urged players to purchase legitimate copies of the game.

It quickly sparked heated discussions.

Many netizens who had never heard of "Plants vs. Zombies," either out of curiosity or out of indignation, actually went to download the official version. It only cost five yuan anyway, so they considered it a way to support domestically produced single-player games.

For some inexplicable reason, Plants vs. Zombies sold over 30 copies.

Not only did they break even, they also made a small profit.

Chen Guiliang posted for the fourth time, only typing a string of ellipses: "..."

The legitimate players, however, were celebrating wildly in the comments section of this article, as if they were celebrating a huge victory.

(End of this chapter)