Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 169 Iron Fist
It sounds ridiculous, but it's the truth: in overseas markets, NetEase's influence is far inferior to Xingchen's.
Because besides *Final Battlefront*, StarCraft Games also owns *Fate/Grand Order*.

Thanks to the reduction of burden, resetting, and optimization of "FGO"...
At that time, StarCraft was practically considered a "god" by Japanese gamers.

Don't laugh, there really are die-hard FGO players in Japan who have erected a shrine for the game. This was so abstract that it made the news and even trended on Yahoo! Japan.
Although abstract, Starry Night Games has a strong appeal to Japanese players.

Especially after StarTap was banned by Apple, Japan became the only country in the world where players spontaneously organized protests at Apple's headquarters in Japan.
Of course, you could say this is because there are many Apple users in Japan, and the protest actually had no effect whatsoever; it dispersed as soon as the police arrived.
This also reflects the positive reputation of Starry Night Games among Japanese gamers.

Incidentally, to thank Japanese players for their contributions, when the PC version of StarCraft was launched on TapTap, StarCraft also held another event for Apple users in Japan to give away the game for free.
In short, looking at the domestic market, Starry Night Games is one of the few game companies that truly has a certain "global" influence.

That's why Chen Fan asked about the other party's overseas channels.

"For overseas channels, Starry Sky has offered us a Starlight Alliance contract, with a 50% commission on revenue."

"How many??"

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, feeling that he must have misheard.

"Yes, Mr. Chen, you heard right, it's 50%."

"They're trying to overturn the table."

The 50% commission on revenue is actually the same as the Star Standard Agency Operation Contract that Chu Chen provided at the previous alliance press conference. This contract is still valid now, and even in the future.

Actually, it's all a rather exaggerated number.

Even 25 years later, domestic agents still use either 91% or 82% of the total revenue as a percentage.
Nine out of ten are taken by the operators, and one out of ten is taken by the developers.

This pattern has been discussed many times before, so I won't go into detail here.

In a time when this model is the mainstream, Starry Sky Agency and the developer splitting the profits 50/50 is practically throwing the table.
In fact, after the Star Alliance press conference yesterday, many traditional manufacturers who rely on "agents" to leech off this news immediately cursed.

If it weren't for the fact that Starry Sky Games' agency required an application...

I reckon they're not just cursing now, they're really going to fight Xingchen to the death.
After all, if Starry Sky Games were to actually use this ratio and open up all agency opportunities, it wouldn't just be a temporary fix; it would be taking over the entire mess.
50% of the revenue is split, excluding channels, operations, and marketing.

Traditional distributors don't make much money at all, and may even lose money.

Taking a game with a monthly revenue of 1000 million as an example, in the Starry Sky mode, the game developer first takes 50%, which is 500 million, leaving 500 million. Then, the channel fee is calculated at Apple's 30%, which is 300 million, leaving only 200 million!

After deducting operating costs and marketing expenses, how much profit is left? They might even lose money!

"Xingchen is very confident in its channels."

Chen Fan sighed.

As a senior executive at NetEase, Chen Fan may not be good at making games, but he's quite capable at operations.

Almost instantly, he understood why Xingchen was doing this and why they were able to do it. Because Xingchen itself was a distributor; their channel costs on Xingchen Tap were zero. Although after becoming an agent, they might only earn a small profit margin on the Apple portion, Xingchen was making a killing on the Android portion.

Considering that 80% of users in China are Android users.
This deal is definitely possible.

This 50% revenue-sharing agreement is very well-structured; it's like cutting off all the distributors without distribution channels in one fell swoop.

Aside from Tencent, other traditional manufacturers that rely on distribution for their livelihood are probably doomed after this blow.
"No wonder there's an application restriction; without it, Chu Chen would probably need bodyguards everywhere he goes..."

Although in theory, NetEase also makes a living through its agents, Xingchen's move was a mistake.

This is actually acceptable for NetEase, since they have already completed the basic accumulation, and more than 90% of their games are developed in-house by their own studios.
Therefore, in the short term, the agency agreement with Starry Night Games is even beneficial to NetEase.
This means that at least the Japanese version of Onmyoji can benefit from this, considering that 60% of Japanese players are Apple users, and the remaining Android users are all through Google's channels.

If Wang Yi were to do it himself in silence...
Considering marketing and distribution costs, the profit margin might not even be able to maintain 50%.
This is indeed a contract that is hard to refuse, even if it requires "betraying" the Hardcore Alliance and jumping to StarTap.
The only thing to hesitate about is whether the other party can really push "Onmyoji" to such a high level.

have no idea..
But since Xingchen is willing to try, why shouldn't he?

~~~
Since the September Starry Night Games Alliance press conference.

Beneath the surface of the entire Chinese gaming industry lies a turbulent undercurrent, with "dirt" on Starry Night Games gradually appearing on the internet.

The biggest accusation is that some "enthusiastic citizens" have started reporting that Starry Night's "Final Front" glorifies German firearms from World War II and disrespects history.

Also reported was FGO, which was being promoted at the same time, for similar reasons: that FGO distorted historical figures.

In fact, both of these accusations were baseless.

After all, if we're really going to talk about these things, then wouldn't the historical figures in Honor of Kings be even more ridiculous?

As for the so-called weapon beautification, that's even more absurd, because Final Frontline stated from the beginning that in the setting, these weapons are not anthropomorphic; they are just humanoids who happened to use these weapons as codenames.
However, these things are completely unimportant in the eyes of the "enthusiastic masses".

For them, and those behind them, as long as they escalate the situation, Starry Sky Games will not be able to withstand it, even if they don't shut down the servers, even if they only make some adjustments.
We also need to let this "young upstart" know that there are always people more capable than him, and there's always something beyond his reach.

Don't go to such extremes when doing things.

This matter began to escalate rapidly after the Starry Sky Games Alliance press conference ended, and by September 20th, before the release of version 1.2 of "Final Front".

Chu Chen rejected the negotiation invitation from the Hardcore Alliance and also refused the advice of some industry veterans to increase the revenue sharing ratio to 80%, a move that was supposedly beneficial to both of them.

"What a shameless bastard! Who does he think he is?!"

"A mere kid who's got two hit products and thinks he's all that? Does he really think you can survive in this industry just by having good products?"

"Fine, he thinks he has a good reputation and that all the players are on his side, right? I'd like to see if those players can protect him when the iron fist comes down!"

(End of this chapter)