Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 14 Tencent's Gaze

"Understand people's hearts?" Huang Yu's lips twitched, a smile that also seemed like a spasm. "We don't understand?"

The meeting room fell silent once again after Huang Yu said this.

"30 daily active users..."

Huang Yu seemed to be talking to himself, yet also seemed to be asking everyone.

"It's only been five days!"

Jealous? Of course I'm jealous, but more than that, I feel a deep sense of frustration and resentment.

Why? They worked so hard, only to have all the attention stolen by a nobody who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Mr. Yu, what's our next step..."

Huang Yu didn't say anything, but simply waved his hand to indicate that the meeting was over and that he needed to be alone.

~~~
The next day, Xiang Lixuan, as usual, put on a suit and tie and went to the company.

He is the Senior Investment Director of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group (IEG).

He is also a core business personnel in Tencent Games' investment and M&A department.

Just saying that might not make it clear what his position or status is at Tencent, so when introducing him to others, Xiang Lixuan would often tell them another piece of information.

That was his team, which reported directly to Yao Yu, the vice president of Tencent Group and head of its gaming business.

Normally, his supplementary introduction would have drawn admiring glances and praise from others.

Xiang Lixuan really enjoys his job.

Leaving aside the income, the key point is that this position is really prestigious.

What does he usually do? It's actually quite simple: he travels around to investigate game studios in China, writes reports, and works with his colleagues to assess their potential.

It's no exaggeration to say that in the Chinese gaming industry, whether or not many game development teams can secure investment from Tencent depends on his word.

Especially since last year.

Tencent's game business investment sector is beginning to strategically transform from "agency-driven" to "ecosystem holding".

Xiang Lixuan's power is growing.

Naturally, his earnings also increased.

This is actually an unspoken rule in the industry, or even a tacitly accepted form of gray income, as long as you don't do what Li Mingyuan of Baidu did in acquiring 91 Mobile Assistant for $19 billion.
That's outrageous! They're treating Baidu like an idiot. If they don't get in, who will?

I arrived at my office.

Xiang Lixuan pushed open the glass door to his office and saw his assistant sitting in front of the computer typing documents.

“Morning”

Good morning, Mr. Xiang.

Xiang Lixuan nodded, casually took off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and tapped his knuckles on the solid wood table.

"Give me a cup of coffee."

The young woman sitting in the assistant's seat immediately stood up and replied, "Okay."

He then jogged to the coffee machine in the corner of the office, skillfully took out and put in the coffee beans, and soon a cup of coffee was delivered to Xiang Lixuan.

Smelling the aroma of coffee and looking at the city street scene outside the window, Xiang Lixuan felt much more energetic.

This scene perfectly embodies the image of a successful man straight out of a TV drama.

Just then, the man's phone rang. Xiang Lixuan didn't think much of it at first, but when he looked at the caller ID, it was his boss, Ming Zhiyu, the head of Tencent Games' investment and M&A department.

He then quickly answered the phone.

"Hey! Brother Yu, yes, yes, I'm at the company."

"Ah, I know, Starry Sky Games?"

"Yes, I've heard of it. How could I not have heard of it?"

"Yes, I understand what you mean. Anime/manga games, the new hot topic, I know, I know."

While answering the phone, Xiang Lixuan kept bowing and scraping, even though the person on the other end couldn't see his movements. "This... I have no dealings with Starry Sky Games."

"Huh!? Sixty million, a valuation of two hundred million, isn't that too high..."

"No, no, Brother Yu's affairs are my affairs!"

"Okay, okay."

I'll report to you tomorrow.

Xiang Lixuan agreed repeatedly, and only after the phone went dead did he breathe a sigh of relief and slump into his chair.

Then he glanced at his assistant's strange look.

"What are you looking at? Mind your own business."

After sending his assistant away, Xiang Lixuan rubbed his temples, feeling a surge of irritation.

It's really frustrating to encounter something like this right after starting work.

"Starry Sky Game? What is that... that makes Brother Yu take it so seriously?"

Despite his annoyance, Xiang Lixuan suddenly became curious about the game company mentioned on the phone, and soon he turned on his computer and started searching.

"Wow!? The biggest dark horse in the Chinese gaming industry! Over 300,000 daily active users!? Over 10 million in monthly revenue?! Really!?"

As the news on Baidu was being praised and raved about, Xiang Lixuan became more and more astonished.

In particular, it has more than 300,000 daily active users.

While this data is within the Tencent ecosystem, it's not particularly surprising. Games like Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Dungeon Fighter Online, and CrossFire all boast tens of millions of daily active users.

However, if we lower our gaze slightly...

For someone like Xiang Lixuan, who deals with domestic game startups and developers year-round, 300,000 daily active users is already a rather exaggerated number.

More than 90% of domestic games will never reach this level in their entire lives.

Not to mention, this game has only been online for less than a week!?

This means that these 300,000 daily active users are likely just the beginning, not the peak.

"No wonder, no wonder this matter could alarm Brother Yu."

After searching through all the information...

Xiang Lixuan gasped.

Even by the most stringent investment standards of Tencent's investment department, this game called "Final Front" is a top-tier "asset," especially since it is a dual-platform game.

It's worth noting that Tencent has shown a strong interest in investing in mobile games over the past two years.

As the dominant force in the PC game era, Tencent is actually a little scared after seeing the success of a bunch of new mobile game companies. What is it scared of? Of course, it is afraid that it will not be able to replicate its status in the mobile game industry.

This is why Tencent has been rushing to acquire mobile game developers in the past two years. As far as I know, Tencent is currently negotiating the acquisition of Supercell, the developer of Clash of Clans, for several billion US dollars.
Therefore, when "Final Battlefront" began to show some "dark horse" potential, Tencent's people naturally reacted very quickly.

"However, this matter isn't actually that easy to handle..."

Xiang Lixuan has met and talked with many domestic game startup teams. In most cases, once the other party has achieved results, they will be able to start their own games.

Then it will become relatively difficult for him to talk about investment or mergers and acquisitions.

This is especially true for small and medium-sized studios.

After all, Tencent's reputation in the domestic gaming industry is well-known, even though Tencent Investment is undergoing internal transformation.

However, at this time, the penguin's reputation was still not good.

The idea that "Penguin Games may not be doing well, but the investment is still worthwhile" is simply out of the question.

So much so that in most cases, Tencent's investments and acquisitions are all about throwing money at the problem. What does "throwing money at the problem" mean? Well, it means throwing money at the problem.

So, conversely, which type of studio is Tencent's investment department most afraid of?
For studios that are already focused on making a profit, securing this collaboration is already quite difficult.

But difficulties, to some extent, also represent profits.

Moreover, if it were that simple, Brother Yu certainly wouldn't have let him go in person, especially since the other party is in Shanghai, which isn't a long trip.

(End of this chapter)