Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 389 Make a friend
As for Takehito Tenda, his thoughts were relatively simpler. As the head of Sony China, he had discussed some collaborations with Starry Sky a long time ago, but just like Sony and Starry Sky, he hesitated a bit.

Chu Chen was actually a little hesitant.

Sony's initial request was to invest in StarCraft, but after being rejected, it immediately turned to cooperation.

The proposed cooperation plan includes many aspects, but at its core, it hopes that StarCraft can "port" several of its games, especially FGO, to the console platform.

Furthermore, a Sony-exclusive partnership was established on the console platform.

Chu Chen had previously refused this condition.

In essence, business competition is a contest of information asymmetry and strength.

Chu Chen's initial idea was to become a "fisherman" (a term used to describe someone who works as a fisherman).

Starry Sky Games has proven itself in the mobile game field and is also making great strides in the PC game market. As time goes on, Starry Sky's advantages will only become greater.

At that time, they will fight each other from both sides.

Using Sony to pressure Microsoft, and using Microsoft to pressure Sony.

Getting yourself a relatively suitable contract shouldn't be a problem.

After all, Sony's 30% commission on the platform is not low, and consoles are not like Apple, which does.

There are also web page recharge, PC platform recharge activities, and the most classic Starry Night merchandise "gift box rebate" method that can bypass some of these options.

The so-called "gift box rebate" refers to a dedicated "gift box recharge interface" in the Starry Night merchandise store.

You can receive a gift box by recharging a certain amount. Although it appears to be a "promotion" activity, the main purpose of Xingchen in doing this is to circumvent Apple's commission.

These practices did indeed help StarCraft avoid some of the Apple tax.

However, due to the closed nature of the host computer.

There is virtually no possibility of going around it.

Considering that the cooperation will definitely be long-term, even just 1% would represent a rather staggering profit figure. In addition to money, Xingchen also hopes that its partners can help it widen its competitive moat.

For example, if StarCraft takes its games and makes them exclusive to consoles, can games ported from consoles to PC also be made exclusive to the StarCraft gaming platform?
You should know that when it comes to game lineups, Sony's first-party studios are quite impressive.

Naughty Dog made Uncharted, Santa Monica Studio made God of War.

Rangers Studios, the studio behind Killzone and Horizon series, and Sucker Punch, the studio behind Infamous and Ghost of Tsushima.

The Japanese studio behind *Shadow of the Colossus* and *Bloodborne*, Bend Studio (*Syringe* and *Days Gone*), and Media Molecule (*LittleBigPlanet* and *Dreams*).
Not to mention, Sony also has a large number of third-party studios. Although Sony's current strategy is still complete exclusivity, in the future, as Microsoft abandons its exclusivity strategy and the PC market becomes more active.

In its previous life, Sony's PC strategy began with the trial of Days Gone in 2020. At that time, the PS4 game was released on Steam as a "timed exclusive" and unexpectedly achieved sales of over 300 million copies.

Having tasted success, Sony subsequently accelerated its expansion. In 2023, God of War 4 PC version sold over 150 million copies in its first week, and in 2024, Horizon Zero Dawn: Resurrection achieved a peak concurrent user count of over 7.7 on Steam.

As of 2025, Sony has ported 18 first-party games to PC.

If StarCraft can bring all these games to its PC platform for exclusive PC distribution, it will undoubtedly be a huge boost to StarCraft's globalization strategy.

What's even more ingenious is that...

PC game platform exclusivity is different from console exclusivity.

Players need to pay a huge price to play exclusive games, while PC game platforms are software exclusives with almost no barrier to entry; it's simply a matter of downloading software.

However, Sony declined the request for the port almost without hesitation.

In short, it's not that Chu Chen didn't want to talk to Sony.

Rather, the two are not on the same frequency band.

Chu Chen wanted the PC porting rights to Sony's first-party exclusive games, but the problem was that Sony currently had no intention of porting its first-party games to PC.

Moreover, Chu Chen didn't have enough "bargains." Microsoft had absolutely no interest in Xingchen and its attitude towards Xingchen joining Microsoft was "take it or leave it."

Using Microsoft to pressure Sony? That's not going to happen.
Secondly, Chu Chen discovered that Sony's current initiative in cooperating with Starry Sky was not very high.

The logic is simple: StarCraft is a tiger in the mobile game market, but in the console market, it's more like a "newcomer" who has never been in the water but claims to be a super swimmer.

Console gamers and mobile gamers are two completely different groups.

Can a "mobile game" that is free to download and allows in-app purchases for gacha pulls really make players willingly turn on their PS4 and get used to the group-based payment model of buy-to-play?

No one can guarantee it.

In its previous form, Genshin Impact was announced for PS4.

Some angry players even smashed their PS4s at the exhibition in protest, believing that this "mobile game" that "copied Zelda" tarnished the sacred console platform.

Who would have thought that this game would make Sony a fortune?

The current StarCraft doesn't have Genshin Impact to prove that this path is viable.

As the first person to try something new.

Chu Chen quickly realized that many of the "empty chips" in his mind were not working. Since he didn't have enough chips, Chu Chen changed his strategy.

"First of all, on behalf of StarCraft Games, I would like to thank Sony for its attention and recognition. Sony is a legend in the gaming industry, and it is our honor to cooperate with a legend."

"We are 100% sincere about cooperating with Sony."

Chu Chen's new strategy is to first give Sony a taste of success before discussing subsequent exclusive ports and more collaborations.

In other words, instead of pursuing a one-time agreement, the goal is to give Sony a stunning free-to-play anime game in the first year.

Sony probably never imagined that in the future, second-generation games would appear on the download and best-selling charts of Sony PSN, and the free game charts would be dominated by domestically produced second-generation games.
Although the graphics of StarCraft games are not as impressive as those of open-world games, the FGO IP is a stronger asset, and who is Chu Chen?

He had already devised a strategy for marketing.

With 4K full HD resolution, full-scene special effects, and an exclusive weather system, Chu Chen can make the PS4 version of Starry Night game incredibly fun if he wants.

The only problem remains the same.

Just like baiting a fish.

You have to cast your line first before you can catch a fish.

Since it's fishing and baiting, the groundbaiting should be done openly and generously. Therefore, Chu Chen came out strong right away and directly presented his plan, or rather, his bait.

StarCraft can agree that all games launched by StarCraft to date will be released on the PS4 console in conjunction with Sony, and will be completely exclusive to the console platform.

"Eh!??"

Although it was a fairly formal meeting, a murmur of surprise still rang out in the room after Chu Chen finished speaking.

What does this mean for Sony?

It's like when you confess your feelings to someone you like, and before you can even say anything, they pounce on you.

Hirai Kazuo was also surprised to hear this, after all, whether it was the fact that Xingchen could adjust the negotiation time to after the anniversary version of "FGO", or the report that his subordinates had given him before.

In his view, today's meeting would inevitably drag on for a while.

Can..
It's obvious that Xingchen didn't play by the rules.

"Mr. Chu, you mean..."

“Mr. Hirai, my meaning is very simple.”

"We want to be friends with Sony. Real friends, friends we can build a long-term relationship with."

(End of this chapter)