Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 244 One Breath
Chu Chen didn't even differentiate the price domestically. On Steam overseas, it sells for $29.9, and the Starry Night Games platform simultaneously launched a coupon for $5 off purchases over $20.

The actual price was $24.9.

In the "Hong Kong and Taiwan region", the Steam price is 98 yuan, and the Starry Sky Games platform price is also 98 yuan, except that the Starry Sky Games platform provides a separate "Asian region" server.

As Chu Chen predicted, after PUBG became popular, its sales on Steam in China should initially be higher than those on the Starry Night Games platform.

After all, Steam can be accessed directly right now, while StarTap requires a VPN.

However, problems arose during actual operation.

Although Steam does indeed outsell StarCraft in China in terms of sales volume, the fact that StarCraft requires an accelerator has actually created a business opportunity for some accelerator companies.

These manufacturers themselves have connections with some "single-player" game bloggers.

Now that they see the Starry Sky gaming platform needs an accelerator, wow, their noses are incredibly sensitive! Chu Chen hasn't even invested in domestic promotion yet, and they're already eager to get started.

When a bunch of single-player game bloggers were promoting PUBG, they all gave the same answer, praising the StarCraft gaming platform as better and having more stable servers.

They actually wanted to push their accelerator.

This led to a very "magical" result.

That is, while long-time Chinese players on Steam chose to buy PUBG on the more familiar Steam platform, a large number of players who watch streamers and follow their streams opted for the StarCraft gaming platform.
Remember what we talked about before? Chu Chen initially planned to use higher-quality servers to attract domestic players, so the Starry Sky version of the server was deployed by Starry Sky, which is better optimized for domestic use compared to the Steam servers deployed by Bluehole.

Moreover, Starry Sky Games has a much better reputation than Tencent Games in its previous life.

Furthermore, domestic media outlets, never one to shy away from sensationalism, equated the explosive sales of PUBG with StarCraft in their pursuit of profiting from the game's popularity.

Another blockbuster hit from StarCraft: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds sells millions of copies worldwide!

"Unveiling the Secret! The Biggest Winner Behind the Phenomenal Game is Actually Him!"

Starting with Bluehole's 30% stake, let's look at StarCraft Games' global ambitions!

"Mr. Chen, this is playing with fire. We need to find a way to cool things down."

Li Yifeng's tone was somewhat urgent.

When Li Yifeng said this, he himself thought it was nonsense. Every game developer hopes to become a huge hit.

Unfortunately, the PUBG issue was too sensitive, and its sudden surge in popularity left him completely uncertain. Not only domestic media, but also Japanese media were praising Xingchen's "miracle" once again.
Then you'll know how outrageous this is.

Last night, he casually checked Douyu and was even more alarmed by what he saw. Basically, more than half of the game streamers were playing PUBG on the Xingchen Games platform.
The more I look at this guy, the more scared I get; the more uncertain I feel, the more afraid I'll suddenly get a phone call asking me to meet with him.
Li Yifeng's concerns were not without merit.

He is a veteran who has been in the industry for more than a decade and knows that making games in China is inseparable from the two major obstacles of "game license" and "regulation".

He already felt that Chu Chen's actions were like dancing on the edge of a cliff, and now it felt even more so, so he knocked on the door as soon as he arrived at the company this morning.

They just hoped that Chu Chen would take this matter a little more seriously.

However, Chu Chen's face still maintained that calm and indifferent expression.

He even chuckled, leaned back in his large executive chair, crossed his arms over his stomach, looked at the ceiling, and casually asked, "Brother Feng, do you know why I'm so determined to create a gaming platform?"

Li Yifeng was stunned.

He didn't expect that Chu Chen would suddenly bring up such a seemingly unrelated question when discussing such an urgent and crucial issue.

He opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to answer.

Why build a platform?
For distribution channels, for a stronger voice, for breaking free from dependence on other distribution channels, and for higher profit sharing, these standard business answers flashed through his mind.

But as a seasoned veteran with nearly ten years of experience in the industry, he knew very well that his boss wasn't asking him this question because he wanted to hear what he had to say, so he shook his head.

"do not know"

Chu Chen turned his gaze away from the ceiling.

Actually, Chu Chen himself had been somewhat unclear about this issue before.

Especially after the success of FGO last October, the entire StarCraft's cash flow suddenly became abundant, and the amount of money Japanese people spent on in-game purchases was truly astounding.

After the reset, the number of players in the Chinese version of FGO is twice that of the Japanese version, but the Japanese version of FGO still accounts for more than half of the global revenue from microtransactions.

FGO players themselves joke that the Chinese server is full of free-to-play players, while the Japanese server is full of pay-to-win players.
Besides *Fate/Grand Order*, StarCraft also has *Final Battlefront*.

The profits from these two games alone are already an extremely staggering figure, not to mention the revenue sharing from the marketing and distribution of other games such as "Onmyoji" and "Honkai Impact 3" in China.

This is not all. Thanks to Xingchen Tap's reputation, since October last year, the 5% "promotion" revenue sharing model has become the norm for Xingchen Tap.

Compared to Hardcore Alliance's 50%, Startap's 5% is negligible.

However, the 5% from Starry Sky is not the 5% that goes out through Starry Sky channels, but rather 5% of the total revenue of the entire game on Android, excluding Apple. So although the number is low, the profit from the share is not small.

Not to mention, some games have already started trying to be directly distributed by Xingchen.

Not only domestic agents, but also a large number of game developers choose Xingchen as their agent when going overseas, relying on Xingchen's 50% revenue sharing model.

It has essentially become a "bridge," a "bridge" connecting Chinese games to overseas markets.

Although the toll fees are cheap, the increased number of vehicles crossing the bridge can generate a considerable income.

So when Chu Chen learned from the finance girl last year that his company's cash holdings had exceeded 10 billion yuan, he himself was a little confused, let alone others.

Keep in mind, that's 10 billion!
It's no exaggeration to say that at this point, money was just a number to Chu Chen. When he realized this, Chu Chen became confused.

"For a startup, especially a content creation company, what is the most valuable thing? It's not money, it's not technology, it's a breath of fresh air."

"A fierce drive to prove ourselves and create something amazing. That's the spirit that has brought us to where we are today. From 'Final Battlefront' to 'Fate/Grand Order' and now 'Final Survival Guide,' we've always been holding our breath."

(End of this chapter)