Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 225 IGN?

Chu Chen was heading to the Blue Hole at the same time.

StarCraft's US branch, Fuller's office.

The atmosphere was somewhat solemn.

At this time, the person in charge of Star America had become Julia Fuller.

Fuller was not too surprised by his transfer to the United States to take charge of the American branch.

It sounds strange to say that.

But he was convinced that in a company like Xingchen, with a boss like Chu Chen, as long as he demonstrated the corresponding abilities, he would definitely reap the rewards.

that's the truth.

However, after a brief period of excitement following his successful appointment as U.S. fuller, he was immediately met with immense pressure.

Especially after the release of "The End Survival Guide".

For StarCraft Games as a whole, the success or failure of "Final Survival" is directly linked to whether StarCraft Tap can open a door in the European and American PC market.

This was even more important for the engine team, which was directly led by Fuller.

It's not just because "The Last of Us" was developed by Oasis Studios, which he led, but also because "The Last of Us" itself is an advertisement.

An advertisement for Star Engine.

For Chu Chen, "Final Survival" is a new attempt, but for Fuller, it is also a key moment to promote the Star Engine.

As an industry veteran who has worked in game engines for nearly twenty years.

Fuller was acutely aware that for a game engine to continue to grow, it needed to be used by a sufficient number of game developers.

The reason is very simple.

The more people use it, the more demand there is, and the more feedback there is, the faster the game engine will develop. Therefore, although the game "Final Survival" is not large in scale, it carries a lot of "expectations".

However, compared to the explosive reaction in China, the situation of "The Last of Us" in the United States is very delicate.

We often say that a game's popularity is largely based on the quality of the game itself.

In the real world, however, game quality is merely a prerequisite for becoming a hit.

Just as not every catchy song becomes a global hit, not every fun game becomes a bestseller.

Channels account for a very high percentage of this.

The game "Final Survival" can be described as a massive hit in China.

However, in Europe and America, "The Last Survival Guide" has not been released on Steam or consoles, and mainstream media has not yet begun to report on it extensively.
The lack of a promotional strategy for "End of the World"

It's currently in the stage of being hotly discussed within a small circle.

This situation puzzled Fuller, who knew that Starry Sky was not without publicity channels in the United States.

After nearly a year of development, StarTap has accumulated close to 50 million users in the United States. Considering that there were only 1.51 million Android users in the United States in 2017, this figure is actually quite impressive.

Roughly one in three Android users has installed Startap.

Strangely, after StarTap became a hit in China, it was incredibly successful, not only boosting the player base of its own games such as Final Frontline and FGO.

It has also spawned a bunch of anime-style games and even boosted sales of PC and Android games. But in the US...

When Fuller took over, he noticed that StarTap had a very poor effect on driving sales of other games under StarTap.
As StarCraft Games' flagship product, "Final Frontline" is frequently advertised on StarCraft Tap, a platform with nearly five million monthly active users in the United States.

"Final Front" just couldn't attract any players.
In the United States, "Final Front" not only failed to make it into the top 10 of Apple's best-selling list, but it was even surpassed by an American puzzle game on StarTap's own best-selling list in January of this year.

By February
"Final Front" even slipped all the way to fifth place.
One aspect of this was that in January of this year, many American companies sued Google, forcing Google to concede and retract its previous de facto "either/or" policy.

As a result, more American game developers joined StarTap.

However, the most crucial reason why "Final Frontline," a game developed by StarCraft, failed to crack the top five on its own platform's best-selling charts is...

It's still the gaming habits of American players.

In contrast to the 57% share of mobile games in the Chinese market in 2017, the US market only saw mobile games account for 27%, with the remaining 73% split equally between consoles and PCs.

Moreover, among the 27% share of mobile games, casual games still make up the majority.

Looking at the current US mobile game charts, the top 10, and even the top 20, are mostly casual and gambling games.

The number one ranked game, Candy Crush Saga, may be unfamiliar to many Chinese players.

Among the top 10 games, the only one that Chinese players are familiar with is probably "Clash Royale". In the North American top 20, elimination games and gambling games together account for more than 55% of the market share.

Then there are strategy games, such as Clash Royale, which account for 20% of the market share.

Simply put, most American gamers don't use their phones to play "large-scale games"; they use their phones to kill time in short bursts.

Under such circumstances, casual games and gambling games naturally occupy a place in the mobile game ecosystem.

This is why Startap was so popular in the US, acquiring over 50 million users with almost no marketing or promotion.
This is also why, despite its significant influence in the American casual gaming market, StarTap couldn't achieve the same level of dominance in games like Endgame in China.

In the US, mobile gamers and single-player gamers are from completely different circles.

Let's go back to the beginning.

The atmosphere in Fuller's office was somber because just minutes earlier, two days after the game's release, IGN had finally updated its review score for The Last Survival Guide.

And this rating...
Only 6 points

To be honest, Fuller was completely stunned when he saw the score. His first words were...

"How come you only gave it a 6 out of 10?!"

"Didn't we pay?"

As one of the world's most well-known review websites, IGN's reviews generally follow two core principles: one is to give low scores to games that are really bad.

In short, everyone was criticizing it, and IGN joined in the criticism.

This is why IGN's low scores are somewhat meaningful, while high scores are just laughable; a game that even IGN wouldn't dare to charge for is obviously of questionable quality.
Secondly, for ordinary works, or works above the ordinary level, if you want to get a high score, you have to "collaborate," which is why Fuller is willing to pay.

After all, at this point in 17, traditional media still had influence.

"Didn't we pay for the promotion?! F※CK!!"

Fuller's voice was a mix of confusion and anger; he even pointed to the possibility of creating hype after the IGN ratings went live.
Who could have imagined it would turn out like this?

(End of this chapter)