Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 202 Everyone Wins

When something happens that is beyond a person's understanding, the first thing they think of is denial.

However, Zhao Ming's mocking words received no response, and the office remained deathly silent.

"Mr. Zhao..."

Another employee in charge of marketing spoke up, his voice dry.
"It's true. This news has been reported by Japan's Asahi Shimbun and also by CCTV in China."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ming's smile gradually froze.

~~~
Given the frenzy surrounding FGO in Japan yesterday, the Japanese media reacted extremely quickly, at the same time Zhao Ming entered the company.

On the newsstands of major convenience stores in Tokyo, any financial section will more or less mention the astonishing fact that FGO's revenue has exceeded 17 billion yen.

The headline given by the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun was even more alarming.

[Japanese IP "Fate/Grand Order" ignites the global market! 30 billion yen in 11 hours, creating a Japanese miracle!]

Hmm... I've seen this far.

Attentive readers may have already realized it.

Something's not right! This 1 million RMB turnover, converted to Japanese Yen, shouldn't it be 17 billion Japanese Yen?

How come it became 3 billion when I read the news?
That's almost doubled.

It turns out that the editors at ReadBuy felt that 17 billion didn't sound impressive enough, so they included the sales of FGO's game gift boxes in the revenue figures.

Yesterday, approximately 7 new FGO gift boxes were sold in Japan. With an average price of about 1 yen per box, that's 7 million yen.

That's not even three billion!?
Hey, don't panic. After FGO was launched yesterday, a lot of players in China made impulsive purchases for the skins, plus the price of 299. This wave probably added 10 sets.

These 10 units sold correspond to approximately 3000 million RMB, or 5 million yen.

Adding it all up, and rounding it slightly, it comes to 30 billion yen!

To be honest, this estimation method is quite absurd.

Putting aside Japan and China, many people who buy FGO gift boxes don't actually play FGO; they are fans of the FATE series and buy them purely for collection.

Secondly, a large portion of these 10 additional orders domestically also came from scalpers, as Starry Night Games implemented a refund policy for pre-orders to avoid complaints.
Therefore, many scalpers who couldn't even get a hot meal from the "defense" only "realized the business opportunity" after seeing the popularity of "FGO" and quickly placed orders.

Of course, this increase of over 100,000 units must also include real users.

However, such figures are clearly not suitable for promotional purposes, and in fact, Starry Sky Games has not used them to calculate revenue.

Moreover, what Doobuy News did was itself illogical.

As the manufacturer, Xingchen only mentioned 17 billion yen in its marketing materials.

Why would Japanese media outlets help manufacturers create "false" advertising? One reason, of course, is that the Yomiuri Shimbun received money.
This is normal.

Although the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association (JIPA) requires media outlets to maintain editorial independence and prohibits paid news.

But theory is theory, and practice is practice.

Since Yomiuri Shimbun frequently reported on FGO in his previous life, and Shiokawa had connections, Chu Chen naturally wouldn't be stingy with publicity expenses.

But besides collecting money.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported it this way in an attempt to attract more attention.

In fact, it wasn't just the Yomiuri Shimbun, which received money, that had alarming headlines; another newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, which didn't receive money, also gave exaggerated headlines.

[How did Fate/Grand Order (FGO) conquer players worldwide? A deep dive into the global influence of Japanese anime culture!]

Further on, those didn't get their own dedicated space.

The newspapers that only published small articles about FGO all had the same basic style.

They all share a similar core message with the Yomiuri Shimbun, which can be summarized in one sentence.

"The stars have arrived!! FGO has succeeded! Japanese anime culture has won big!!!"

what?
You said that the company that made the FGO remake was not a Japanese company.

Then let me ask you this! Isn't FATE a Japanese IP?! Isn't the development team for the FGO remake in Japan?

Then let me ask you this! Is the producer of the FGO remake Japanese?
answer me!
Of course, apart from Yombuy, other newspapers didn't mention Stars much.

In short, since Japanese culture won, 17 billion yen seemed a bit insignificant, so the claim of 30 billion yen from Yomiuri Shimbun quickly became the mainstream view in Japan.

On the Japanese internet, when reposting news from traditional media, the figure of 30 billion has been largely adopted instead of 17 billion.

This detail reveals that the Japanese media genuinely believe that FGO's rebirth, which has garnered some positive feedback in China and even in Europe and America, is a victory for Japan.

Coincidentally, Chinese media felt that the explosive popularity of "FGO" meant that China had also won big!

For example, CCTV's news report this morning had this title.

[A New Breakthrough for China's Game Industry: FGO Generates Over 100 Million Yuan in Global Revenue Within 11 Hours of Launch, with Nearly 70% of Revenue Reportedly from the Japanese Market]

The article emphasizes Starry Night Games' outstanding capabilities in research and development, operation, and global promotion as a "Chinese home company".

The success of FGO can be defined as a landmark event that marks a new stage in the industrialization of the Chinese game industry.

It is the most successful work in Huaxia Games' overseas expansion strategy.

Aside from CCTV.com, other official media outlets in China also echoed this sentiment.

Some online self-media and websites, on the other hand, use much more unrestrained headlines.

The front page of the homeless forum was the most outrageous.

The article, titled "[Cultural Reverse Export! Starry Sky Games Conquers Tokyo with Japanese IP!]", has garnered significant attention, primarily due to its unique and intriguing angle.

"An interesting fact is that nearly 70% of FGO's revenue comes from the Japanese domestic market."

"Yes, you read that right. A Chinese company, using Japanese IP, has stirred up a storm in the Japanese domestic market, making a fortune of yen from the pockets of the Japanese themselves."

"Starry Sky Games has shown the world through its actions that Chinese games have embarked on a path of high-quality production. We can not only create excellent products, but we can even surpass the original creators of IPs! This is inspiring!!"

Even media outlets like "Baijiahao," which didn't previously report much on games, are jumping on the bandwagon.

[Shocking! Chinese companies are making a fortune off Japanese people using Japanese IP addresses!]

[A Japanese otaku stayed up all night to send money to Chinese games! The reason behind it is heartwarming...]

[Waking up to find Chinese games having conquered Tokyo? Japanese developers plead: Please stop interfering!]

all in all.

Chinese media outlets generally share the same view: the global success of *Fate/Grand Order* is a huge boon for the Chinese gaming industry.

And it's not just the media.

Even the players are pretty much numb from "winning" so much.

On the Japanese internet, yesterday's frenzy continues. As a large number of news articles are being reposted, the popularity of FGO on Japanese Twitter has not only not subsided, but has become even more exaggerated.

Most of the comments below these posts are from players.

"That's awesome! I knew our FGO was the best in the world!"

"That's right, I saw a lot of Chinese IDs and also IDs from Europe and America on the Imaginary Number Maze leaderboard yesterday."

"Huh?? I didn't expect Chinese players to like FATE too??"

"WWW, does the Chinese market also have spending of over a billion yen? That's outrageous. I thought all 30 billion yen was spent by Japanese people."

"Haha, let those Chinese also experience the charm of the 'Moon World'!"

"That's normal, after all, Starry Sky Games is a Chinese company."

"Huh? Is Starry Sky Games a Chinese company?"

Japanese players generally believe that the FATE IP belongs to Japan, so FGO's popularity in China is a result of their winning strategy.

It's a bit like if one day, Koei's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" or "Total War: Three Kingdoms" becomes a huge hit in Japan, selling over ten million copies...
Chinese players will also marvel at how much the Japanese love the Three Kingdoms, and will have a certain fondness for Japanese players who like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Japanese players' "winning strategy" logic is similar to this approach.

On the other hand, for Chinese players at this point, logic is unnecessary.

No matter what, StarCraft Games is a Chinese company. Just like if Showa American Story were to become a global hit in the future, Chinese players certainly wouldn't say that the game was just a good choice of IP.

That must be because Huaxia Games is awesome; their cultural influence was a huge success.
can only say.

The science of "winning" can indeed create miracles; it can truly create a world where "everyone can smile."

At least at this moment, FATE players worldwide are very happy.

This is similar to how, after a secondary game becomes wildly popular in China, as long as you play it, regardless of your nationality, your basic favorability rating will at least increase by 10.
Then the problem is coming.

Since the game "Fate/Grand Order" was such a huge success, everyone felt like they had won big...
So, who lost?

(End of this chapter)