Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 295 Tencent's Fist

The live stream was noisy, and even though it was "garbage time," the popularity of the official live stream room not only did not decrease, but actually increased.

The first comment from newcomers is usually asking if Xingchen has passed yet. After confirming that Xingchen hasn't passed yet, they start complaining.

Just as the audience was about to riot.

The host returned to the stage with a professional smile.

"Thank you for the wonderful presentation that just now, which showed us the infinite possibilities of domestically produced games."

"Next, let's give a warm round of applause to Mr. Zhao Ming, head of Tencent Interactive's WEGAME platform, who will bring us the latest developments!"

All the lights in the venue instantly focused on one side of the stage, where Zhao Ming walked confidently to the center.

Zhao Mingyi appeared.

The audience finally stopped dozing off and quickly perked up. Although most people were there for the stars, Tencent was also considered a "protagonist" this time.

The online comments also suddenly accelerated.

As Zhao Ming took the stage, the large screen behind him instantly switched to the logos of Tencent and WEGEME.

Then the people below were confused?

Huh? Why is it being advertised as WEGEME? But soon, this confusion dissipated as Zhao Ming's voice came through the microphone.

"Good afternoon, fellow gamers and media friends!"

"I'm very happy to be standing here and share some good news with you all. Next month, our XGAME platform will officially launch its international open beta!"

Hey, isn't this still XGAME?
After a few pleasantries, a meticulously produced promotional video began playing on the big screen.

The promotional video begins with a deep horn sound.

On the vast Toussaint Plain, Geralt the White Wolf rides Carrot at breakneck speed, with a fairytale-like vineyard behind him.

The scene shifts to Nioh, where players are battling monsters in a courtyard where cherry blossoms are falling. Then, 2B leaps nimbly through a ruined city, her skirt and thighs swaying so beautifully that it's hard to look away.

Close-up of Senua's contorted, pained face in Hellblade; Talion riding an orc into battle in Middle-earth.

One breathtaking scene after another bombarded the giant screen.

The promotional video is extremely fast-paced and packed with information, giving viewers no chance to breathe.

It has no narration, no introduction; it simply and brutally presents the essence of these top-tier masterpieces, like an arms display, slamming them one by one into everyone's faces.

The promotional video abruptly ended as lightsabers and blasters from Star Wars pierced the night sky.

The screen went black instantly.

The next second, XGAME's black and green logo suddenly appeared, accompanied by a high-tech sound effect, and took up the entire screen.

A brief silence fell over the scene, followed by a deafening roar of applause and cheers.

Don’t say anything else.

This promotional video looks pretty impressive.

Zhao Ming stood in the center of the stage with a perfectly timed smile on his face. He didn't speak immediately, but instead opened his arms as if to embrace the wave of cheers that had risen for him.

He was thoroughly enjoying the feeling.

Once the commotion from the audience had subsided slightly, Zhao Ming raised the microphone to his mouth.

"What you just saw is merely the tip of the iceberg of the future XGAME platform's content library." His tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable confidence.

"Our goal is to bring the best gaming experience and the most complete content ecosystem to players around the world."

"To celebrate the open beta launch of XGAME International Edition, and to thank our players for their continued support and anticipation."

Zhao Ming paused deliberately here. "We've decided that during the first month of XGAME's open beta, all newly registered users worldwide can receive three..."

He dragged out the sound, enjoying the breathless anticipation of the audience.

"Get coupons for up to 50% off any game!"

"boom--!!!"

If the promotional video just now ignited the atmosphere, then this sentence directly set the entire convention center ablaze.

"Fuck!!"

"What the heck? 50% off? Any game?"

"Did I hear that right? Three?!"

"Has Fujiko F.S. gone mad?! The Witcher 3 just released its Game of the Year Edition, and now it's 50% off? And those other games from earlier can still be used?"

"No, didn't you hear it's a maximum 50% discount? There's definitely something fishy going on here..."

"At most, it's just doing some tasks or something, but this 50% discount is still a bit outrageous..."

The players in the audience went wild, and the online comments flooded in like a tidal wave.

A 50% discount on all items is quite attractive, especially for new games and for players who like to buy games at launch.

"Are they really going to start a price war?"

In the media section, many people, like Kong Yao, didn't quite understand why Tencent was taking such a strong approach right from the start. Chen Mo, sitting next to him, had his hands moving like phantoms, frantically typing on the laptop keyboard.

"Price War! Tencent Launches Platform Price War!"

"Unprecedented! XGAME is giving away three 50% off coupons during its open beta?!"

"Burning cash on subsidies! Tencent declares war with its 'money power,' potentially ushering in a major transformation for the domestic single-player game market!"

Not only Chen Mo, but the entire media section was taking pictures; everyone understood what Tencent was doing.

From May to July.

In just two months, the Steam version of PUBG gained over 100 million domestic users, while the StarCraft gaming platform raked in nearly 700 million PC paying users.

This figure is higher than in the previous version. In the previous version, PUBG sold 2600 million copies in 2017, with Chinese players contributing about 1008 million copies.

But this is data for the whole year.

In this timeline, it's only July, and sales in other parts of the world are similar to those in the previous life. Because the Starry Sky Games platform is more compatible with the domestic market, players can even use their domestic Starry Sky accounts directly by using a VPN.

Payment was made through WeChat and Alipay, and the collaboration with "Final Battlefront" created a live-streaming frenzy.

With just over half of 17 gone, sales in China, including Steam, had already reached 800 million copies. It is expected that this number will be even more staggering by the end of the year.

Keep in mind... this is a paid single-player game.

Even if the price in the Chinese region is extremely low, only 98, these 8 million units would still generate 800 million in revenue. And it's not just revenue, but also the domestic user base.

Many domestic single-player game users got hooked around this time.

This data also fully demonstrates that most players are simply looking for convenience and following trends; they use whatever platform others are using to make purchases.

Everyone says that the PUBG game on the Starry Sky platform is the platform's favorite child, so more people buy it on the Starry Sky platform.

anyway.

It was precisely because of the phenomenal success of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" in China that Tencent decided to wage this "capital war" against StarCraft.

(End of this chapter)