Restart life

Chapter 315 0312 [We won an award, and sales are about to explode!]

Cannes, Palais des Festivals.

It's the place where the awards are presented at the Cannes Film Festival.

The venue for IMGA changes every year; the first edition was held in Barcelona. This year, it has become even more influential, having already afforded to rent the Palazzo Fête.

Like film festivals, IMGA also has a bunch of booths.

In the days leading up to the awards ceremony, mobile phone manufacturers and mobile game developers were already actively promoting their products and services at the exhibition area.

Nokia secured the naming rights this year, and its logo was visible everywhere. Nokia's booth was enormous, showcasing a wide variety of mobile devices, and attendees could experience various mobile games using Nokia phones.

In the mobile game exhibition area, Zhile Software's booth was the largest.

This company is a subsidiary of Ubisoft and went public in 1999. Last year, its revenue was nearly $100 million. This year, it also brought the well-known IP "Prince of Persia" to mobile for the first time.

Dingguo Technology's booth was relatively small. Of the company's seven-person team, only Tang Kai and Zhang Lei came; the others remained in China.

Well, I don't know which year Xia Siyuan joined Dingguo, but he claims to have participated in the development of "Seven Nights" and "The Road to the Underworld"—although the timing doesn't quite match up.

You ask who Xia Siyuan is?

The producer of "The End of the Ming Dynasty: The Feather of the Abyss"... It's tough.

Xia Siyuan left Dingguo Technology in 2015, by which time Dingguo had already dissolved and reorganized two or three times. Apart from the founder being Tang Kai, the rest had little to do with "Seven Nights," and it was probably just him trying to embellish his own image.

"Oh! Pluton, Sezanne!" A French player, while playing "Seven Nights," was both praising and criticizing.

The French phrase he spoke was a swear word, roughly translated as "Fuck, that's fucking awesome."

Tang Kai asked Shen Weilun in a low voice, "Brother Shen, there aren't many English speakers here. Can you understand French?"

Shen Weilun was an employee sent by Game Science, previously responsible for publicity and marketing at Yitang.com's Jinling branch. He was recruited by Qu Guohao and is one of the core members of Game Science's Jinling faction.

“I don’t understand what they’re saying, but judging from their expressions, they must be having a blast,” Shen Weilun said. “I’ve already spoken with the competition organizing committee and made preliminary contact with other game companies about distribution. Judging from their reactions, Seven Nights still has a good chance of winning an award.”

Tang Kai asked curiously, "Can a company influence the awarding of prizes?"

Shen Weilun said, "The market can influence the awarding of prizes. Of course, the premise is that 'Seven Nights' is of high quality; otherwise, there's no way to use underhanded tactics."

Tang Kai remained silent, feeling that winning the award in this way was not entirely genuine.

Shen Weilun said, "Even if 'Seven Nights' doesn't win Best 3D Game, the judging panel might still award it a special prize. A special prize specifically for the Chinese market!"

"It would be good if I could win an award," Tang Kai consoled himself.

As the days passed, the awards ceremony officially began.

At the guest registration area at the entrance to the red carpet, there was a huge Nokia billboard.

Compared to the Cannes Film Festival, IMGA seemed too deserted, with fewer than one-tenth the number of journalists.

Tang Kai, Zhang Lei, Shen Weilun, and others, dressed in suits, walked onto the red carpet, smiling and waving to the photographers on both sides.

"Little Tang, look over here!" a Chinese reporter suddenly shouted.

Tang Kai was stunned for a moment.

Shen Weilun explained, "The reporter from *China Computer News* was sent by a leader from the Ministry of Information Industry. *Seven Nights* didn't pass the State Administration of Press and Publication's review this time; it was only registered for sale with China Mobile and China Unicom. Do you understand?"

Tang Kai didn't understand politics and didn't quite grasp what he was saying.

Shen Weilun didn't bother to explain; anyway, all of Dingguo Technology's games were distributed and published by Game Science. Whether it was the Internet Culture License issued by the Ministry of Culture or the SP license issued by the Ministry of Information Industry, Game Science could simply use its relevant licenses.

Mobile games actually fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Information Industry!

Previously, there was a lack of significant mobile game products, and the Ministry of Information Industry itself didn't bother to pay attention to them. Now, upon hearing that a game might win an award, the Ministry of Information Industry immediately sent a reporter from its subordinate publication to interview the game.

Chen Guiliang submitted "Seven Nights" to the Publication Administration for approval immediately, not to obtain a license, but to show Director Kou that he would not easily switch sides.

Director Kou personally instructed that the approval process be expedited to demonstrate his emphasis on Youke. The final failure to pass the approval was because he didn't want to take away the Ministry of Information Industry's (MIIT) business—although the MIIT doesn't directly supervise Youke, but rather delegates review authority to China Mobile and China Unicom.

Shen Weilun said, "Regardless of whether you win the award or not, please give an exclusive interview to China Computer News afterwards."

“Okay, I promise to cooperate,” Tang Kai said happily.

As they spoke, the group entered the awards hall.

The awards ceremony officially began with speeches from leaders.

The French official gave a speech, the gist of which was that Cannes was honored to host this year's IMGA, and that he personally enjoys playing mobile games and will pay more attention to IMGA and mobile games in the future.

Next was a speech by the chairman of IMGA, who discussed the development of the global mobile game industry and stated that the global market size increased by 47% last year.

The first award to be announced was the "Technician's Choice Award".

As the name suggests, the judges for this award are all industry professionals.

It was awarded to Metal Gear Mobile.

The "Player's Choice Award" was chosen by player votes and awarded to WRC 3D.

Next up was the "Best Licensed IP Game," which was awarded to "Phoebe Island Adventure."

The nomination of "Seven Nights" for "Best 3D Game" was one of the highlights of the evening. The presenters were two French celebrities, a man and a woman. They introduced the five nominated games in detail and also chatted and joked on stage to liven up the atmosphere.

Finally, the male celebrity said, "The winner of Best 3D Game is..."

The female guest opened the envelope: "7days from Dingguo Technology in China!"

The representative from PatiGames, a South Korean company, looked incredulous and immediately searched for the South Korean judges.

They couldn't understand why, despite having Koreans on the judging panel and Korean games being nominated, the award was ultimately given to a Chinese game.

Amidst applause, Tang Kai walked onto the podium.

His English was much more fluent than Chen Guiliang's: "Thank you IMGA, thank you to all the judges, thank you to all the players... When I quit my job to start my own business last year, I couldn't imagine that I would be standing here so soon. Our team has seven people, and at the beginning, each person's monthly salary was 2000 RMB. Regardless of position, everyone received this salary..."

"Later, even the monthly salary of 2000 yuan couldn't be paid anymore, and everyone worked for free for their dreams. Some even ate instant noodles for a week straight... Just when we ran out of funds, we were very fortunate to receive investment from Mr. Chen Guiliang. Mr. Chen made 'Seven Nights' even more perfect; otherwise, we wouldn't have had the resources to fix the bugs later on..."

Tang Kai's storytelling skills are quite impressive, drawing applause from the audience multiple times.

The reporter from China Computer News was hearing this story for the first time and was deeply moved.

I was moved, but also deeply touched.

Because Tang Kai sought help from more than one company and emailed more than one company owner. But in the end, only Chen Guiliang responded.

The awards ceremony is still ongoing.

The ultimate award is called the "Mobile Game of the Year Award".

The winning game is Metal Gear Mobile.

Although this game is based on the IP of "Little Days," the mobile version development was outsourced to the French company Zyxel. In a way, the grand prize was awarded to the host country.

Of course, the distribution rights are still held by Konami.

You Ke sent Shen Weilun to Cannes, one of his tasks being to discuss the Chinese agency for the award-winning works.

Prices must be driven down, otherwise it will be difficult to break even, and soon piracy will be rampant.

There will be a reception after the awards ceremony.

The reporter from China Computer News returned to the hotel after only two drinks and sent the article to domestic authorities via email.

Today's announcement is about the awards.

The main focus is on introducing the basic information about IMGA, including the award-winning works and their companies; otherwise, domestic readers will be completely confused when reading the news.

Of course, we must also give a special introduction to Dingguo Technology and "Seven Nights", especially Tang Kai's acceptance speech.

I'll do another interview with Tang Kai tomorrow; the article will be in the follow-up report next time.

……

China Computer News is a newspaper under the Ministry of Information Industry. It is published twice a week, with a circulation of more than 20 copies per issue.

It also has a website called CCIDnet, which claims to be China's No.1 IT portal website.

Whether they're exaggerating or not, newspapers and websites are considered industry authorities and frequently publish guiding articles from the Ministry of Information Industry. Or, these articles may contain directives from the Ministry of Information Industry.

Anyone involved in the IT business in China must pay attention to this newspaper and this website. In a sense, it serves as an industry trend indicator.

The latest issue of China Computer News was published, and the next day it was reprinted on CCIDnet, with a full page dedicated to the report on IMGA!

In addition to reports from frontline reporters, there were also articles from the newspaper's senior editors.

The global mobile game industry is booming, with its market size increasing by 47% last year. The number of mobile internet users in China also increased by over 30% last year. The number of mobile game players in China increased by nearly 80% last year (excluding users using pirated software)... Like the current online game industry, the mobile game industry has extremely promising future prospects... The Ministry of Information Industry will provide policy support to the mobile game industry...

Only then were articles by frontline reporters published.

Different readers have different focuses.

Executives at large and medium-sized internet companies are focusing their attention on "policy support from the Ministry of Information Industry" and on the growth data of the mobile game market.

Last year, Shanda Games entered the mobile game market with the release of the mobile version of "Legend of Mir 2". Now, with policy support from the Ministry of Information Industry, it's likely that a large number of companies will enter the market!

Small internet companies and ordinary readers, however, focused their attention on the award ceremony coverage and Tang Kai's acceptance speech.

In just two or three days, Chen Guiliang's work email account received dozens of emails.

Small game companies or studios have sent messages claiming their game ideas and content are incredibly impressive, but they lack funding and distribution channels, hoping Chen Guiliang can help them.

Tao Chenggang was the first to succeed in starting a business because of Chen Guiliang's investment, Tang Kai was the second, and they hope to become the third.

The major gaming communities were equally bustling with activity.

This is the first time a Chinese mobile game has won an internationally recognized prestigious award, instantly igniting a surge of national pride.

The number of paid downloads of "Seven Nights" also surged.

The story of Chen Guiliang investing in a startup game company has also been widely discussed by netizens.

(End of this chapter)