Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 280 You're awesome
Those who managed to snag the collaboration edition are frantically showing off their orders.

Even those who missed out on the in-stock items but had their pre-orders shipped early are still posting pictures of their orders.

Users who managed to snag the regular version would normally be showing off their purchase at this time of year, but now they feel terrible. They feel like they've only won a consolation prize, while everyone else is showing off the collaboration version, and the regular version is just not presentable!
They compromised by saying that if they could buy the back cover separately, they would buy the regular version and replace it themselves.

As for users who didn't manage to snag anything, they're even more upset.

This trend came out of nowhere, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. Because the collaboration with Starry Night Games is indeed very beautiful, it's not just Xiaomi's Weibo that's buzzing about it tonight...
The Weibo accounts of major mobile phone manufacturers were flooded with comments.

The worst off is Oppo. Their new phone, the R11, was just officially announced recently. They hired some of the most popular celebrities to endorse it, and the pre-launch ads were everywhere. The topic's popularity on Weibo has also remained quite high.

As soon as Xiaomi's press conference ended today, their operations team discovered that the number of @mentions, comments, and private messages on their Weibo account skyrocketed.

At first, the OP was quite happy, but when they took a closer look, they were completely dumbfounded.

Everyone's asking if they'll do a collaboration...
The most ridiculous thing is that a group of onlookers not only jumped around on other domestic mobile phone manufacturers' posts, but also asked about collaborations under Xingchen's official posts. Some even tagged all the manufacturers, asking when Chu Chen would collaborate.
Lei Jun's expression was quite subtle as he looked at these comments.

Even more subtle is the constant stream of updated headlines across various tech media outlets. Tonight, almost every tech media outlet was dominated by Xiaomi and Xingchen, with each headline more sensational than the last.

"Over 20 units were pre-ordered in just 2 hours – what's the magic behind the Starry Sky collaboration?"

Redefining Collaboration! Chu Chen and Lei Jun's Team Up Teach All Mobile Phone Manufacturers a Lesson!

Since the shopping malls around Xingchen can display the real-time full-payment pre-sale volume, many media outlets are citing this number to report on the exaggerated first release of the Xiaomi 6.

Moreover, the persuasiveness of full payment pre-sales is significantly stronger and more impressive than any amount of pre-orders on JD.com.

In particular, the pre-sale volume of Xingchen Mall is visibly increasing.

The Ultimate Value of IP! Starry Sky tells you that game collaborations can go beyond just skins and gift packs!

Players vote with their wallets! How terrifying is the "love power" of FGO and Final Front players?

The "Torrent" System is showing its power; the war against scalpers in the stars has only just begun!

After scrolling through all the trending news in one go, and with everyone present, Lei Jun put down his phone.

The first thing I asked was to the person in charge of the supply chain.

"How many units have Xingchen sold?"

"It's almost 300,000."

Upon hearing these words, several executives gasped in shock.

"Huh? So many?"

Immediately afterwards, someone subconsciously uttered three words.

"How to do?"

If you don't see things from Xiaomi's perspective, it's hard to understand why a Xiaomi executive would say those three words.

However, the people at the scene understood almost instantly, and then everyone's attention was focused on Lei Jun. The explosive sales of the Starry Sky co-branded product were a sweet trouble for Xiaomi.

Before today, everyone considered that the Starry Sky collaboration edition might be a hit.

But no one expected it to explode like this.

The big sales of the co-branded version are naturally "sweet" for Xiaomi, but this "sweetness" is followed by troubles. The total stock of Xiaomi 6 is limited, and it will take time for the supply chain to ramp up its production capacity.

Providing an extra premium model unit for the Star series means that Xiaomi will have one less standard model unit.

This is not just a matter of the left and right hands fighting each other.

For co-branded products, Xiaomi has to give profits to the Starry Sky channel and pay for the IP costs. The standard version is sold through its own channels, and all the profits are its own.

This is why Xiaomi deliberately releases less stock on platforms like JD.com and Taobao during peak sales periods, in order to guide consumers to the Xiaomi Mall and Xiaomi Home stores.
After all, Xiaomi's own channels offer higher profits.

This is a matter of profit.

There's also the issue of reputation; the better the Starry Night co-branded version sells, the more awkward it becomes for the standard version.

The fact that so many voices on the internet in such a short period of time are hoping that Xiaomi will release a replaceable back cover is irrelevant, regardless of whether it is due to short-term "consumer impulse".

But there is no doubt about it.

Just like the question raised by the head of the public relations department, even users who managed to snag a Xiaomi standard edition still harbor resentment.

This is even more evident on second-hand platforms. For example, even though they are both Xiaomi 6 models, the co-branded version will command a much higher markup from scalpers.

While this benefits ordinary consumers to some extent, the "resentment" generated by the explosive sales of Xingchen products needs to be addressed.

so..
The question then arises: how do we solve it?

Should we increase the stock of the Starry Night Edition to meet current user demand for the Starry Night Collaboration Edition? Should we produce separate back covers?

These decisions can only be made by Lei Jun.

However, even Lei Jun, who is usually quite decisive, was somewhat confused when faced with this problem.

He wasn't sure whether the Xiaomi 6's explosive popularity was due to its product strength or the incredible appeal of Starry Night Games.
If you're unsure about this, it's hard to make a decision.

If you believe in your product's capabilities, you don't actually need to respond to public opinion now. Just continue selling according to the previous logic, and users who can't buy the crossover version will naturally buy the standard version.

Moreover, if production capacity is now heavily allocated to co-branded products, and this trend fades, the loss will be real profits and the morale of our own distribution channels.

Therefore, keeping things unchanged is not necessarily a bad thing.

But if it's the latter, if the current explosive popularity is due to the Starry Sky collaboration, then doing nothing might actually drag down sales.

All right
Now the question has been thrown back at us: should we sacrifice our own profits to increase supply to the Star Channel? If you were the boss of Xiaomi, what decision would you make?
"Mr. Lei?"

After a long while, Lei Jun sighed.

"You can't gamble..."

After thinking for more than ten minutes, Lei Jun began to set the tone.

"First of all, increasing production capacity is something that must be done as soon as possible. The subsequent production capacity of the first batch should be prioritized to meet the pre-sale orders of Xingchen. In addition, we should talk to Xingchen about whether we can grant separate IP licenses and create a standard upgrade plan that allows users to upgrade their back covers at the after-sales service center."

"This personalized upgrade? Do we pay for the IP and material costs?"

Let's set the price at 199.

"Will this put pressure on our after-sales service?"

"Probably not. I feel that most people just want it and make a lot of noise, but if you really ask them to spend money to upgrade, not many people will actually do it. Besides, this is something we have to do, otherwise it might cause a backlash from public opinion."

"OK.."

"Mr. Lei, are you really going to prioritize supplying Xingchen? What about our own channels...?"

"Let's stabilize sales first!" Lei Jun interrupted him. "If we increase Xingchen's production capacity and they can still sell, then they're amazing. I'm willing to sacrifice some profits!"

　I accidentally wrote a bit too much.
　　Tomorrow we'll get back to the main topic: new game content!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)