Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 224 Intercepting Bluehole
"Then, shall I have the driver go to the Blue Cave first?"

Chu Chen's most important purpose in coming to South Korea this time is that Bluehole, which he previously invested in, is about to release a new game. This game, which seems unremarkable at the moment, is quite important to both Bluehole and Chu Chen.

For the Starry Sky game at this time.

Chu Chen's strategy actually involves three steps. The first step is to continue to consolidate the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) market. This part is Xingchen's basic foundation and the cornerstone for Xingchen's future rapid development.

Although many people in the industry believe that the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) market is currently in a period of explosive growth.

However, for Chu Chen, the current secondary game market still has a lot of room for development. A large number of players are in a situation where they can no longer play traditional reskinned pay-to-win games and want to find new alternatives.

Therefore, Chu Chen will further expand the product line of ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) products.

Secondly, there are attempts at non-anime/manga style games. For example, "Final Survival" is, strictly speaking, more of a single-player game disguised as an anime/manga style game.

Finally, there's the development of distribution channels.

This is what Chu Chen values ​​most. If he only wanted to make games, he could have given up.

However, if Starcraft wants to change the market, change the environment, and even reach the top of the gaming industry, then distribution channels are something it must master.

After a year of hard work, Xingchen Tap has achieved some success on the Android platform, but it still lags far behind on the iOS and PC platforms.

In overseas interviews, Chu Chen always says that StarTap is not a competitor of Steam, as the two have different positioning and markets.

In reality, this war without gunpowder had already begun the moment the PC version of StarTap was launched.

Of course, given its current size, StarTap is indeed insignificant compared to Steam.

Especially on PCs.

It's too early to say that it will affect Steam's position in the global PC market; however, while the offensive may be insufficient, the defensive measures must be taken.

The first and most crucial step in this defense is to cut off, or rather slow down, Steam's core catalyst in the Chinese market—PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG).

前世2017年4月《绝地求生》上线后，华夏steam用户4个月内激增700万，从1500万飙到了2200万。

The peak concurrent online player count for PUBG on Steam reached 325 million, and about 50% of Chinese players first encountered Steam because of PUBG.

In addition, a large number of streamers, while promoting "PUBG", have also increased the popularity of Steam.

Chu Chen understood perfectly.

If "battle royale" continues to develop in this timeline, then the landscape of the domestic PC platform game market will be completely rewritten, just like in the previous life.

If he tries to get involved later, the costs and difficulties will increase exponentially.

Therefore, he had to act in advance.

Cut off!

To dismantle, or rather, to hold in one's own hands, this nuclear bomb that is about to detonate the market.

For Chu Chen...

The "Final Survival Guide" project was essentially an appetizer for "PUBG," at least to let overseas PC players know about the StarTap platform.

Only then can we drive traffic from Steam.

Yes, even though Chu Chen had previously acquired a 30% stake in Bluehole through investment, PUBG will still be available on Steam, and this will not change because of his shareholder status.

What he can do is, on the one hand, obtain domestic copyrights to circumvent Tencent's path.

Secondly, it could be listed on StarTap to avoid the situation where Steam, after the initial success of PUBG, began to snowball in China.

The method for attracting traffic is also very simple: discounts.

Players are very pragmatic, and given the current decent reputation of StarTap, as long as the prices on StarTap are cheaper than on Steam, they will naturally flock to StarTap.

As a shareholder of Bluehole, Chu Chen could also lower his share of the profits, allowing for some room for concessions.

However, the biggest problem is not how Chu Chen attracts traffic, but that selling "PUBG" in China is inherently complicated.

In its previous life, Tencent acquired the distribution rights for "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" in 17, but it was unable to launch the game because the game license was blocked.

Chu Chen believed that although he had received some praise for his overseas strategy, it would still be troublesome to obtain a game license. Chu Chen had tried it before.

Before the game's official release, they renamed it "Peacekeeper Elite" and submitted the version, hoping to "slip through the cracks," but it still didn't work.
It is not impossible.

Anyway, it's been stuck there, with no indication of when it will be available. So, his first major problem is the game license.

At that time, he even went to see the leaders of Suzhou and Hangzhou Broadcasting and Television separately. He even went to see Wang Jianmin, the former leader who was transferred from Yufeng to the province after the Spring Festival in February of this year and was in charge of the cultural and creative industries.

However, aside from some words of comfort, there was actually no progress.

After all, if he can find connections, surely Tencent in his previous life could too?

It's interesting that these foreign-owned companies, such as Steam and Epic, can sell games in China without needing a game license.

It can even directly operate online games.

Furthermore, contrary to what many people say about Steam being "illegal," they can actually do this without breaking the law, because China has joined the WTO, and according to the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services...

Transactions involving the purchase of games on digital distribution platforms are legal and protected based on cross-border micro-software sales.

Therefore, as long as a country is a member of the WTO, it can enjoy the benefits of the WTO.

This is equivalent to opening up its game market to the world. In other words, as long as game platforms comply with local requirements for cross-border services, they can sell games all over the world.

This is why Steam was able to sell games globally in its previous life.

In practice, there is a major bug here. In the past, Steam and Epic Games did not need a game license to sell games in China because what they sold belonged to the category of cross-border small-scale software.

On the contrary, Chinese companies, even if they build global platforms, need to be regulated by relevant domestic departments if they want to sell games in China. Games without a license cannot be sold.

It's like a domestic platform fighting Steam. Before the fight even starts, their hands and feet are already tied. It would be a miracle if they could win.

Although in theory, Chu Chen could also establish or acquire a company in the United States or Europe.

Create an "international version" of the Star PC platform, and then guide domestic players to purchase PUBG through accelerators or by directly accessing the international version of the Star PC platform.

After all, theoretically speaking, Tencent held a 40% stake in EPIC in its previous life, so it wouldn't be wrong to say that the EPIC gaming platform was half a Tencent gaming platform.
The international version of StarCraft is also the international version.
But theory is always just theory.

Chu Chen knew very well that if he really dared to do that, there would be a lot of people stabbing him in the back.

However..
This doesn't mean Chu Chen is completely helpless.

Firstly, the management of PC single-player games in China is lagging behind; secondly, there is a major opportunity this year.

Around the middle of this year, there will be a major reform at the ministerial level in China.

The details of the reforms will not be discussed.

The key point is that after the reform, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will be stripped of its news and publication management functions, and news and publication management will be transferred to the News and Publication Administration under the Publicity Department.

There is a gap period in between.

This period of inactivity was a lucky break for Steam. By the time the government tried to reinstate the "Full-fledged Steam Workshop," Steam had already become a hit.

You can ban Steam from advertising.

But how do you prevent players from making choices with their feet?
At its most extreme, even players using VPNs had to log into Steam.
Furthermore, as the number of domestically produced games on Steam increased, by 25, it was practically accepted in China that games could be sold on Steam without a game license.
At this point, domestic PC platforms are basically no longer able to compete with Steam, and all domestic single-player game manufacturers can only let Steam collect taxes.

Therefore, for Chu Chen...

We should at least try to find a way to do this. Even if we fail, the worst outcome will be that everything will be the same as in our previous life.

Moreover, in Chu Chen's view, this situation is not necessarily completely hopeless.

On the one hand, the new license holder is the Press and Publication Administration under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so if Chu Chen can prove as soon as possible that the Starry Night Games platform has a certain competitive potential overseas, then...

It's not impossible to achieve some understanding.
Just like in the previous life of "Black Myth".

Secondly, even if he fails this time, even if he is summoned for questioning, he will still have a chance to try again when Steam starts to exploit the Chinese market in the future.

In China, nothing is absolute, especially things that are not definitive. This is why "The End of the World Survival Guide" is priced at only $6 overseas, the same as in China.

The $6 "Final Survival Guide" wasn't made to generate revenue, but rather to give StarTap a certain level of influence on the overseas PC platform.

Ideally, PUBG would sell hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of copies overseas on StarTap. Only then would Chu Chen have something to say.

You can ask me to shut down the domestic channels, but I can't exactly shut down the international channels too. If I don't shut down the international servers, and domestic players use VPNs, then you'll have to find VPN sellers.
If I can actually sell games overseas, you can't expect me to ignore the millions of foreigners who bought games on StarTap.

If I really close down, who will give me a refund?

Chu Chen's approach was to muddy the waters and raise the issues first.

In any case, in China, parents, teachers, and the government all prefer to favor those with good grades.
The plan is great, the only problem is whether Startap can use "Final Survival Guide" to open up even a small piece of the PC market for Chu Chen overseas.
Chu Chen doesn't know the answer to that question yet, but what he does know is that he needs to go to the Blue Hole first.

Let's try again and see if I can use my status as a shareholder to persuade them to list the game on StarTap for a while before listing it on Steam.
(End of this chapter)