Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 342 A Surprising Result

Without a doubt, "Neko Neko" is a game created for dissemination.

The year 17.

This was indeed the peak of the "live-streaming e-commerce" game.

In terms of gameplay, the gameplay of Goat Simulator in 14 was actually more "boring", but thanks to the promotion by streamers, it sold 100 million copies in its first year and reached 16 million copies in 250.

In addition, there's something real in "Neko Neko".

With the end of the test for "Floating Dreams" and the push from TikTok, the spread of Starry Night Games' summer new product "Cat Cat" has begun to rise.

Although not many people actually buy the games.

After all, most Titok users don't have the habit of buying games, which is similar to how many TV series that become popular on Titok don't actually convert many viewers into paying members.
However, Titok's promotional efforts are indeed very strong.

Even though Titok wasn't at its "strongest point" yet, its promotional power was already quite exaggerated. Many people didn't buy the game, but they watched the videos non-stop.

The town scenic area, which was also the real filming location for "Neko Atsume," suddenly became very popular, with tickets selling out almost every day.

~~~
The next day, the United States.

Epic Games headquarters, North Carolina.

9 am

Like many American tech companies, EPIC's office area also has many rest areas, and Davis Miller particularly likes one of the round sofa lounges.

Even when it's a meeting, as long as there aren't many people, he'll choose to hold it here.

Especially in the morning.

The sunlight streams through the large trees outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting dappled shadows that fall perfectly on the soft sofa. It's the perfect spot to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee.

That kind of comfort and atmosphere.

It's really hard not to like it.

Davis usually enjoys chatting with his colleagues here, discussing everything from the latest technological breakthroughs to last night's game.

But today, or rather, the atmosphere of the “morning” meetings these past few days has been somewhat different.

"Has the result of the competition between StarCraft and Tencent been announced?"

Just like yesterday, after several EPIC executives and Davis sat down, the core topic of their discussion was still the "big news" from across the ocean.

Their focus is on this competition in the Far East.

The main reason is that EPIC itself is also implementing a platform strategy, and Davis is in charge of this plan.

In the previous timeline, the EPIC Games Platform was launched at the end of 2018. However, in this timeline, with the emergence of the StarCraft Games Platform and the explosive popularity of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, EPIC's platform strategy needs to be accelerated.

"I guess I'm out now."

"So what's the conclusion?"

"The conclusion is that the global PC platform market is expanding rapidly, and Star is more threatening than we thought."

"From a strategic perspective, both Starry Sky and Tencent's strategies are very effective."

At this very moment, both sides are still fiercely vying for the top spot in online publicity and distribution in China.

Overall, whether from player discussions or the overall platform's popularity, most people are still discussing StarCraft's new game.

Following "Floating Dreams and Long Songs", "Cat Cat" also successfully topped the Weibo hot search list. Coupled with the promotion on TikTok, most people felt that Starry Night gained more traffic.

However, according to EPIC's executives, although Tencent was constantly on the defensive and did not gain more traffic, the sales of its older AAA games were only mediocre.

However, this does not mean that Tencent's strategic thinking is flawed.

"Using absolute capital advantage to squeeze the market, and through high subsidies, forcibly converting AAA game users from other platforms to their own platform." "Although the cost is higher, the results are quick. In the past few days, the number of installations and active users on the XGAME platform in the China region has indeed increased significantly."

"If Tencent is willing to continue to implement this high-cost tactic, it should be able to capture a portion of the domestic market in China."

However, in the global market competition, Tencent is still at a significant disadvantage.

"Yes, StarCraft's global activities are significantly more extensive."

Another vice president in charge of strategic partnerships added.

"They even extended their subsidies overseas. Our people checked the price of Civilization VI on the StarCraft platform, and after applying a 6% off coupon, it was $5 cheaper than the lowest price ever on Steam."

"Strictly speaking, both platform providers are spending real money to gain market share, regardless of cost."

"If we want to compete with Steam in the future, this might be a path we can refer to, of course, provided that we can convince the board of directors."

Although, for Chu Chen, the war tactics employed by Starry Sky and Tencent were quite obvious.

However, for an "outsider," it is actually quite difficult to understand what has happened in the past few days, yet the EPIC executive team is able to discuss and analyze it so calmly here.

A large part of the reason is that they had been observing this "battle" for a very long time.

At first, everyone thought that Tencent could crush StarCraft with its capital, but in reality, Tencent was on the defensive from the very beginning of the battle, which means that Tencent had a lot of capital.

That's why they haven't been defeated yet.

This result was actually quite unexpected for them.

This was especially unexpected for Davis.

"StarCraft's strategic vision for its platform is truly unlike that of a new company."

Davis Miller, who was selected by EPIC to lead the platform game strategy, didn't say much just now, but that doesn't mean he wasn't thinking.

Ultimately, the reason EPIC decided to pursue a platform strategy ahead of schedule was because of StarCraft.

And this time, the "Far East Platform" war in August.

This greatly shocked him.

Davis Miller wasn't surprised that Tencent was using its financial power, because back in 12, Tencent invested $3.3 million in Epic Games, acquiring a 40% stake.

Therefore, when it comes to Tencent's financial resources, no one knows better than EPIC.

Although Tencent's investment does not involve the company's operations, EPIC and Tencent actually cooperate more in practice.

EPIC also has a relatively better understanding of Tencent.

But Starry Sky's use of its "money power" is indeed quite bold, considering that Starry Sky not only launched the campaign in China, but also in the global market.

The Starry Sky Games platform has a much larger user base globally than Tencent.

In other words, in addition to incurring significant costs domestically, Xingchen will also need to invest heavily overseas in this round of coupon issuance, just like Tencent.

Even for a typical startup with good cash flow...

Few dare to "bet" like this, but Xingchen not only bet, but bet heavily, not just following the trend, but also actively promoting itself in the European and American markets.

More importantly, there's the cost-effectiveness ratio between the two sides.

Xingchen can be said to have completely crushed Tencent.

While both companies spend money on marketing and subsidies to attract users, Xingchen's strategy in China is a super combo of "early bird + dream song + burden hero + cat".

Overseas, StarCraft is also using this Far East platform war as a gimmick to promote the idea that "if you don't take advantage of it now, you won't get any later" in its marketing.

Moreover, although "Floating Dreams" is not that popular overseas, the combination of a hero and cats is quite popular in Europe and America.

(End of this chapter)