Restart life

Chapter 292 0289 [Hope for Domestic Single-Player Games]

Next to Wansheng Bookstore is Xingke Cafe.

Li Jian stirred his coffee spoon and said, "When I was in school, I used to go to Sculpting Time Cafe. I think that shop opened when I was a junior in college."

“It’s as if the time of carving is still here,” Chen Guiliang said.

Li Jian said, "Your game is good. I'm also playing Plants vs. Zombies."

Under Chen Guiliang's persuasion, Li Jian, who rarely uses the internet, had already registered an account on HaiNei.com and would occasionally post his thoughts on books and music reviews. He would also occasionally show off his collection of records.

Chen Guiliang was in high spirits: "It would be good enough to break even, I didn't expect to actually make a profit."

After chatting for a while, Li Jian said, "I've contacted the seller for the first signed vinyl record of 'Zhi Hu Zhe Ye'. But they're asking for 50,000 yuan right off the bat. The music store helped me bargain, and so far we've only gotten it down to 38,000 yuan."

Chen Guiliang was speechless.

He originally planned to give Christmas gifts, but now New Year's Day has been over for a long time, and if he delays any longer, it will be almost Chinese New Year.

Li Jian felt a little embarrassed: "The market price is indeed 15,000 yuan, but most collectors won't sell it. If you think it's too expensive, you can buy the unsigned one. It's also a first edition vinyl record, made in the same batch. There are quite a few people willing to sell this one, and it only costs a few thousand yuan. The one I have at home doesn't have Luo Dayou's signature either."

Signed records worth tens of thousands of dollars are usually owned by collectors who are not short of money.

Whether you can get your hands on it really depends on luck, or you might need to use your financial power to offer several times the price.

After all, the first edition vinyl record of "Zhi Hu Zhe Ye" from 82 is a treasure in the eyes of Chinese rock fans, even without Luo Dayou's signature.

It's signed, like a sacred object!
Chen Guiliang didn't absolutely have to buy it, so he was starting to think he didn't want to anymore.

But Li Jian felt embarrassed for not being able to help the person, so he made a special trip here today to explain the situation in person.

He added, "If you're willing to pay 38,000, you won't have to pay for airfare and accommodation. I have a friend from Taiwan who works in music and will be coming to Beijing after the Spring Festival. I've asked him to bring some vinyl records over."

If we can save on the delivery person's airfare and accommodation, the price will be about the same as originally agreed, but we'll have to wait until after the Spring Festival.

Seeing Li Jian's expression, Chen Guiliang couldn't refuse any longer: "Then I'll trouble you and your friend."

“It’s no trouble, just a few phone calls,” Li Jian said. “My new album is just finished, and I’d like to promote it on Renren and HaiNei. Especially Renren. The record company will cover the promotion costs, but I don’t know the best way to do it. Do you have any suggestions?”

Chen Guiliang said, "There are very few ads on Renren.com, mainly for selling electronic products. You can use soft advertising for your songs. Choose a title track from your album and post it in the larger music interest groups on Renren.com when the album is first released. Don't say it's official promotion, just recommend and discuss it as a student."

"Is that all?" Li Jian asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "The campus network groups recently added a new feature: popular topics in the groups will be displayed on the group channel's homepage. Half of them will naturally appear on the list based on their popularity. The other half will appear on the list because they have some popularity but not enough, and because the discussion content is interesting or insightful, they will be featured by editors. These lists are not for sale, and I won't charge you any advertising fees. I'll ask the editors to recommend them."

Li Jian was quite pleased: "Thank you very much."

“We help each other out,” Chen Guiliang said.

Li Jian's solo career has created an awkward situation. He has a loyal fan base, decent album sales, and has won numerous music awards, but he just can't seem to achieve mainstream success.

For example, his song "The Wind Blows the Wheat" from his new album will only become popular again in six or seven years thanks to the Spring Festival Gala.

Li Jian added, "I switched record companies. This record company wanted to cooperate with ByteDance, but only on a non-exclusive basis, which would allow us to list the ringback tone download service on the HaiNeiWAP website."

“These days, not many record companies actively seek out SP service providers; they mostly sit at home and wait for the SP service providers to come to them,” Chen Guiliang asked with a smile. “What kind of record companies?”

Li Jian said, "Sirius Records."

Chen Guiliang was ignorant and had never heard of this company before.

The CEO of Sirius Records has a very innovative distribution philosophy. They are about to change the traditional distribution model, converting the entire physical album into a digital single. Furthermore, they are beginning to focus on online promotion and sales.

The main reason was that they tasted success; the song "Come Back, My Love," released by Tianlang Records, ranked third in the number of ringtone downloads nationwide in 2005.

They are now aggressively collaborating with SP service providers, and only doing non-exclusive collaborations, while also actively expanding their online promotional channels.

Otherwise, why would Li Jian have thought of asking how to promote on Renren.com?

Chen Guiliang gave Huang Xinyuan his phone number and suggested, "You can list your new album on Dangdang.com. Once it's promoted on Renren.com, netizens can order directly from Dangdang.com. If you let netizens buy the album offline, they might just put it off and not buy it at all."

Li Jian nodded: "That makes sense."

Dangdang.com only started to vigorously develop its audio-visual products business last year, and many record companies had not thought about selling albums online.

What will be commonplace in the future is considered innovative in the present. Chen Guiliang can help people avoid detours with just a few words.

Li Jian was extremely grateful. He felt that Chen Guiliang had helped him a great deal, but he had only helped Chen Guiliang buy a vinyl record, and was even being overcharged.

After thinking about it carefully, I still don't know how to repay them.

The only option is to give Chen Guiliang a few front-row tickets when I hold a campus tour concert at Peking University next time.

Chen Guiliang also benefits; the HaiNei.com WAP site gains a new record label as a partner. Although it's not an exclusive collaboration, every little bit helps, and making a small profit would be quite good.

After finishing his coffee, Li Jian waved goodbye and left.

When Chen Guiliang returned to the company, he talked to Huang Xinyuan about the matter.

Huang Xinyuan said, "Recently, a major event has occurred in the online music industry. Aigo and Huaqi have launched the 'China Digital Music Industry Alliance' and are looking for members everywhere. I plan to have HaiNei.com's WAP site join the alliance. If possible, Xiami Music can also join the alliance."

"What's the deal with this alliance?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Huang Xinyuan explained in detail: "Aigo Music and Aigo are both subsidiaries of the Aigo Group. They make music and hardware devices, such as Aigo MP3 players."

"Isn't the government failing to crack down on music piracy? Then record companies, legitimate music websites, and hardware playback devices should unite and stop piracy. Let's work together to fight against those who do piracy. Right now, the main target is Baidu MP3."

"They are preparing to file a joint lawsuit against Baidu MP3 for copyright infringement in two months."

"Companies within the alliance can sign cooperation agreements privately if they want to collaborate. Whether it's an exclusive agreement or a non-exclusive one, the cooperation negotiations will be smoother."

Chen Guiliang said, "This model is good. How many record companies and music websites will join?"

Huang Xinyuan said, "There aren't many yet; it's only just started. Only Sina, Sohu, and a few record companies have joined. As for music websites, only the initiator, Patriot Music Network, has joined. Because music websites are pirated, they would have to pay to join."

“I’ll call Wang Hao,” Chen Guiliang said.

Wang Hao's ideal model for Xiami Music is that the website and the copyright holders share the revenue based on the amount of downloads paid by users. However, the copyright holders are unwilling to engage in a gradual revenue stream and only want to sell the copyrights outright in a lump sum.

After listening to Chen Guiliang's explanation, Wang Hao said, "I'll join if you're willing to share the profits. We need to buy the copyright in one lump sum; the company doesn't have that much money in its accounts right now."

Chen Guiliang said, "You can talk to the record companies that have joined the alliance."

"Okay, I'll give it a try," Wang Hao agreed.

I had just finished a call when Game Science called again.

"Boss, Plants vs. Zombies is about to surpass 40 copies sold! It's unbelievable, no single-player game in mainland China has ever sold so many legitimate copies!"

"Haha, I'll post another update."

It's really outrageous data. In the past two years, the best-selling single-player game in China has only sold a paltry 8 copies.

Plants vs. Zombies sold 40 copies in just one month!

The price of 5 yuan was indeed effective.

Of course, Chen Guiliang did a good job of promoting himself. He didn't spend any money on advertising, just posted a few updates on his personal account.

Then let's continue with the updates. "My staff just told me that Plants vs. Zombies is about to surpass 400,000 copies sold. This figure is second only to The Legend of Sword and Fairy 1, which was released in the 1990s. Thank you to all the legitimate players; your support is not only for Plants vs. Zombies, but also for the entire Chinese single-player game industry."

"I believe that seeing the success of Plants vs. Zombies will rekindle the hope of making single-player games for those who were considering giving up on them. Perhaps a phenomenal single-player game that will shock the world will emerge in the future."

"I will also ask the project team to speed up the development of the second chapter of Plants vs. Zombies. When it's released, it will only cost the price of a 3-dollar Coke to update."

"I bow in gratitude!"

The news sparked a lively discussion not only in the comments section but also on various forums and online communities.

The GamerSky website already has a Plants vs. Zombies section, which mainly provides pirated download resources in addition to chatting, joking, and showing off battle achievements.

This is the second forum to have pirated copies of Plants vs. Zombies.

Users of Youxia.com have a complicated attitude towards this; they download pirated resources while simultaneously advocating for the legitimate version.

Some people even took the initiative to help promote the game, saying in their own words: "Although I play pirated versions, I have also done my part for domestic single-player games."

Of course, there are also quite a few oddballs who play pirated games themselves but then mock legitimate users.

Chen Guiliang's post was shared, and surprisingly, the Youxia.com website also started celebrating.

"Awesome, 40 copies sold!"

"Domestic games will only get better and better. I'm still a student, so I can only help promote them. Brothers who can afford it, please support the official versions."

"I'm still waiting for the sequels to those single-player games."

"..."

Speaking of sequels...

The target software company.

Liu Tie ran to his boss, Zhang Chun: "Can't the 'Qin's Legacy 2' project really be restarted? 'Plants vs. Zombies' sold 40 copies." (The previous chapter mistakenly wrote "Qin's Legacy 2" instead of "Qin's Legacy," which has been corrected.)
Zhang Chun sighed, "That game only cost 100 million yuan to develop, so it was sold for 5 yuan a copy with a low profit margin but high sales volume. The development cost of 'Qin's Legacy 2' is much higher."

Liu Tie said, "But we used to only make four or five yuan per installation CD. Why not price it at five or six yuan and sell it on the Youke platform?"

Zhang Chun said, "Let me think about it some more."

"You're just giving me the runaround again. How many times have you given me that runaround?" Liu Tie was very unhappy.

The Qin's Legacy 2 project had already been launched, but it was shelved because it was switched to being an online game.

Although online games are more profitable, Liu Tie still wants to develop single-player games.

It's not about money, it's about dreams.

Zhang Chun said, "I'll test it out with my newly registered HaiNei.com account."

He sat back down at his computer, logged onto Haiwainet, and posted a message: "I am Zhang Chun from Target Software. If 'Qin's Legacy 2' were listed on Youke and priced at only 8 yuan, would you be willing to buy the legitimate version?"

He doesn't have many fans on the Chinese internet, less than a thousand, but they are all hardcore single-player gamers.

This news quickly caused a sensation.

Countless players of "Qin's Legacy" flocked to the game after hearing about it, leading to a significant increase in registered users on HaiNei.com.

The vast majority of these guys are pirates!

However, under Zhang Chun's account, they all replied that they were willing to buy the original.

Whether we buy it or not, let's first convince Zhang Chun to make "Qin's Legacy 2".

The next day.

Zhang Chun saw his followers had grown to over 6, and the comments section was filled with unanimous support. He wavered.

Zhang Chun often says that she doesn't play games; what she likes most is driving around and traveling.

But he gave up his green card and returned to China to dedicate himself to developing single-player games for many years. Did he really not like playing games?

Liu Tie went to the boss's office again and bluntly said, "If you don't reboot 'Qin's Legacy 2,' I'll switch to Sohu Changyou. They've sent people to poach me several times, and the salary is much higher than here! Or I'll switch to Game Science; Chen Guiliang has talked to me about it several times."

“We’ve been friends for so many years. Why are you still playing that power play? You’re making more money making online games now than you used to make single-player games,” Zhang Chun laughed.

Liu Tie said expressionlessly, "I'm serious, I'm not joking with you. The reason I've stayed here and refused higher salaries is because I'm waiting for the reboot of 'Qin's Legacy 2'."

He was serious; he later switched jobs to Sohu Changyou.

After saying that, Liu Tie turned and left.

If the single-player game market doesn't improve, Liu Tie will have no choice but to quietly switch jobs.

The current success of Plants vs. Zombies has given Liu Tie hope for single-player games. Chen Guiliang's post has ironically come true, truly igniting the flame of hope for Chinese single-player game developers.

Zhang Chun sat alone in her office, weighing the pros and cons for a long time, before finally letting out a sigh.

Oh well, so be it if we lose money. Let's just treat it as one last crazy spree.

He also wanted to continue making single-player games, but as the boss, he also had to consider his employees' livelihoods.

I've made some money developing online games in the past two years, and I can always reinvest those profits. If I end up losing everything, I'll completely give up on single-player games and never develop them again.

Anyone who does that is an idiot!
Zhang Chun posted a second update on his Haiwainet account: "The Qin's Legacy 2 project has officially restarted."

The single-player game world was in an uproar, and fans of "Qin's Legacy" cried and ran around telling each other the news.

Liu Tie saw the notification and rushed in without knocking, grinning as he said, "I knew you'd agree. Haha!"

Upon hearing the news, Chen Guiliang wondered to himself: Am I ripping someone off, or helping someone fulfill their dream?

In any case, Youke platform has a new client, and "Qin's Legacy 2" will definitely be listed for sale on Youke.

If Qin's Legacy 2 can break even, the already dying domestic single-player game industry might be able to recover a little.

Popular Software magazine even wrote an article specifically about it: "The huge success of Plants vs. Zombies has ushered in a new model for China's single-player game industry. Although this model already exists abroad, it has never been successful in China. It is hoped that more and more domestically produced single-player games will be able to earn profits on the Youke platform in the future..."

Whether "Qin's Legacy 2" will be a hit is still unknown, but "Plants vs. Zombies" is definitely a hit.

If 40 legitimate copies are sold in a month, how many people are playing with pirated copies?

There are even pirated system vendors like Tomato Garden who pre-install Plants vs. Zombies directly into their systems in order to increase their sales.

By purchasing the pirated Microsoft operating systems pre-installed on a computer, users could directly play Plants vs. Zombies. Of course, like the computer operating system, the game was also pirated.

This has led to older people who never play games before clicking on "Plants vs. Zombies" to give it a try when they first get their hands on a computer.

The most popular occasions are in government agencies and companies.

When I'm sitting in the office and have nothing to do, I play a few games when the boss isn't around, and then I quickly turn them off when the boss comes back.

This thing spreads very quickly, just like a virus.

Hmm, virus...

Panda Burning Incense has completely exploded!
(End of this chapter)