Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 291: Armed with sharp weapons and murderous intentions

Leng Zefeng rarely praised Zhao Ming, which made the atmosphere in the conference room much more relaxed.

After a few more words, Leng Zefeng told Zhao Ming to figure out how to "attack" and then report back to him before leaving the meeting room.

It is said that armed with sharp weapons, murderous intention arises from within.

With the copyrights to a whole bunch of games in hand, Zhao Ming felt like someone in Overwatch who had been buffed by a healer, believing himself to be invincible.

With Leng Zefeng, the "big leader," gone, the already relaxed atmosphere in the meeting room became even more relaxed.

"We snatched several games from StarCraft this month. I heard their director in charge of overseas business turned green with anger."

"Haha, it's good that it's green. In business, everyone relies on their own abilities."

Zhao Ming laughed along with him.

In recent days, talking about Xingchen's "losses" has become a regular topic on WEGAME.

"Currently, the PC Chinese versions of these games will only be available on our XGAME platform. They will not be available on Steam, let alone the Starry Sky Games platform."

"Language is our inherent barrier. Domestic players who want to play in Chinese have no choice but to come here."

Hearing Zhao Ming's praise, others immediately echoed his sentiments.

"In that case, won't we be dangling the Star Hammer?"

A burst of cheerful laughter filled the office, and everyone felt triumphant and refreshed.

Over the past year, it wasn't just Zhao Ming who was frustrated by being suppressed by Xingchen; the entire WEGAME studio was affected, from performance evaluations to reporting work and attending external meetings.

There's no one who isn't being suppressed by the Starry Night game.

And all that pressure vanished at that moment.

Zhao Ming waved his hand, but his smile grew even more smug. He cleared his throat.
"Haha, you can't say that. We still have to thank StarCraft Games. Without StarCraft Games paving the way in China, we wouldn't have this opportunity, would we?"

Yes, the road is a tree that Xingchen painstakingly planted using "PUBG," and now Tencent is coming to reap the rewards.

That's fair enough.

No, this is very "Tencent" (referring to Tencent's) style.

"Chu Chen is still too young."

As Zhao Ming looked at the report, his tone carried a hint of regret from a senior to a junior.

"He thinks that building a platform is enough with just one or two self-developed hit games? That's too naive. The foundation of a platform ecosystem is a massive amount of high-quality content. As long as you cut off the Chinese copyright and make other platforms unable to use Chinese, whether it's Steam or StarCraft, they're useless."

"If I don't speak first when spring arrives, which insect dares to utter a sound? In the domestic gaming industry, there is only one voice now! And there will be only one voice in the future!!"

A group of people in the meeting room were "opening champagne" for about ten minutes.

If the administration department hadn't reminded them to be mindful of the meeting room's "usage time," the group wouldn't have gotten down to business.

Tencent has a great hand of cards, but how to play them is a big question.

First of all, direct promotion is definitely out of the question. Tencent is proceeding cautiously, and StarCraft Games has never directly promoted or distributed "PUBG" in China.

To some extent, the existence of "gray industries" reflects a tacit understanding between the nation and its practical development needs.

Respecting this "tacit understanding" is fundamental, and Tencent is clear about this. Based on this "tacit understanding," it also means that Tencent's channels cannot be used directly.

At the very least, you can't openly promote or sell a bunch of games that shouldn't even "exist" through QQ or WeChat.

However.
Preventing Tencent from using its own channels is like telling a smoker not to smoke.

So, after going around in circles, the people in the meeting room decided to use the "group channels" for publicity, but in a more subtle way.

"Isn't there supposed to be a China Digital Game Expo in Suzhou and Hangzhou in July? How about we use an offline-to-online hybrid model?"

Offline to online.

Just like Tencent's previous promotion of the XGAME platform, it's all wrapped in an outer shell, seemingly promoting "industry trends" but actually promoting XGAME.

Such promotional efforts are certainly much less effective than direct outreach, but they can still achieve some results.

"China Digital Games Expo? What the heck is that?"

The only problem was that Zhao Ming was a little unfamiliar with the name of the exhibition.

However, he soon saw the relevant information about the exhibition.

The "China Digital Games Expo" is an international comprehensive game expo that has been fully upgraded from the "China Digital Games Industry Summit" in Jiangsu and Hangzhou, and is open to ordinary players for the first time.

In layman's terms.

This is a game expo jointly initiated and organized by the Suzhou and Hangzhou governments and private companies, just like CNJOY, which is guided by the General Administration of Press and Publication and the Shanghai government.

The game expo was held at the Suzhou-Hangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center.

In fact, there are many such exhibitions in China; almost any city with a gaming industry will hold one.

For example, there's the Guangzhou International Game and Amusement Expo, the Chongqing International Game Industry Expo, the Shenzhen International Video Game Festival, and the Sichuan International Digital Entertainment Expo.

It's not surprising that Suzhou and Hangzhou are going to hold a game expo.

Or rather, this exhibition only started this year, which is actually a bit "late." However, this is also in line with reality. Since the area has an "advantageous industry," it is natural to follow the technology development path along this industry.

Therefore, when you open the official website, the largest logo at the very top is the logo of Starry Night Games.

"This exhibition? Could it be Starry Sky's home turf?"

The exhibition in Suzhou and Hangzhou is, of course, the home ground for Xingchen.

"Then let's not go. I feel like CNJOY in August is a safer bet."

Everyone in the meeting room nodded in agreement with the suggestion.

Zhao Ming, however, smiled and gently tossed the report in his hand onto the table with a soft "thud," attracting everyone's attention.

"It's great that Xingchen is playing at home! We should definitely go to their home stadium!"

"??"

"Mr. Zhao, isn't this a bit too risky?"

A department manager cautiously broke the silence.

"We've finally managed to win a game, is there any need to go to their territory and fight head-on? What if they take advantage of their home field and do something underhanded?"

His words represented the sentiments of most people present.

Having suffered losses at Xingchen's hands for almost a year, even though they seem to have the upper hand now, everyone is still somewhat afraid of Xingchen's attacks. You might say they want to confront him head-on.
Before they even started analyzing whether they could win, they were all feeling a bit apprehensive.

Seeing the hesitation on everyone's faces, Zhao Ming was not angry at all; instead, his smile deepened.

He enjoyed the feeling of being the only one sober in a world of drunks, especially when he was about to announce a brilliant plan that could turn the tide of the battle.

"Everyone, let's look at this problem from a different perspective."

(End of this chapter)