Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 429 A Triumphant Victory
So even after hanging up the phone, Chu Chen couldn't quite suppress the smile on his face.

I placed my phone on the coffee table. At that moment, only a warm yellow floor lamp was on in the living room, its soft light spilling onto the light gray fabric sofa.

Song Yueying sat cross-legged to the side, holding a soft cushion in her arms, still wearing her home clothes, her long hair casually draped over her shoulders.

Since that somewhat rushed "date" two weeks ago.

The unspoken understanding between the two has finally been broken.

They already knew each other well, and with their mutual affection, their relationship progressed very quickly. From occasionally having dinner together, to Chu Chen later learning that Song Yueying's landlord was going to raise the rent for her current place.

Using the excuse of sharing rent and living near the company being more convenient, she took the opportunity to propose living together.

Song Yueying was well aware of this lame excuse, but she didn't point it out. After struggling with it for a few days, she finally agreed.

Then, on their first day of living together, they got together.

Moreover, the whole process was quite natural and went smoothly.

The two did consider applying the brakes halfway through, but it would be strange if they could actually stop them.

After they got together, although they still maintained a bit of a facade at work, they had already gotten used to each other's presence at home, even though they had only been living together for a few days.
"Did Yuwan hear my voice just now? Could he be talking nonsense at the company?"

“He wouldn’t dare. I already warned him about what happened last time. If he doesn’t want to work in Africa, he should know what to do.”

Believe it or not, StarCraft is actually preparing to establish a game operations division in Africa, primarily targeting relatively stable markets such as Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria.

However, these things obviously have nothing to do with fish balls.

Clearly, Chu Chen was telling a "cold joke." Although it wasn't funny at all, the fact that it came out of Chu Chen's mouth still made Song Yueying smile slightly.

This is probably what they mean by "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

After chatting about gossip for a while, Song Yueying brought up the topic of reaching the top of the Japanese server of "Azur Lane".

"Honestly, I still feel like it's a bit unreal."

"Yesterday, 'Night Spirit' seemed to be on a strong upward trend, even reaching the top 10 of the bestseller list. How did it collapse in less than a day?"

Song Yueying's tone was very serious.

Before confirming her relationship with Chu Chen, Song Yueying enjoyed discussing the company's development with him. Although she is reviewing the situation now, the reason she is so attentive is that it allows her to spend more time with Chu Chen.

Moreover, it gives you a feeling of being very close to Chu Chen.

But as time went on, the fake act became real, and since she was also a very ambitious person, it had now become a habit. In the end, Song Yueying was really confused.

"In the past, Tencent's plagiarism, with its massive traffic, always worked. How come it lost so badly this time?"

This is actually a very good question.

Chu Chen didn't answer immediately. He got up, took two cans of cola from the refrigerator, handed one to Song Yueying, pulled the tab, took a sip, and sat down next to Song Yueying before speaking.

"Because their path was wrong from the very beginning."

"Or rather, they never even considered taking the right path."

Some couples are together to express their love, but when Chu Chen and Song Yueying are together, it's one of him "showing off" and the other "supporting him." Whatever Chu Chen says, Song Yueying always looks at him with starry eyes, as if to say, "You're so amazing!"
Therefore, when Chu Chen is facing Song Yueying, he will subconsciously "pretend" to be something he's not.

~~~
time flies.

In the blink of an eye, it's already the second day of the open beta of Azur Lane. If the launch of Night Spirit was the beginning of the storm, and the pre-launch promotion of Azur Lane was the start of the storm, then at this moment, the storm in the gaming world has reached its most intense point.

Because at this point, the battle between Night Spirit and Azur Lane had actually ended, and the result was surprising.

Almost simultaneously, major gaming media outlets released reports on today's "battle of the century."

[A Tale of Two Extremes! Azur Lane Tops Japan's Bestseller Chart on its First Day, Star Alliance Creates Another Blockbuster Success!]

[A Retrospective on "Night Spirit's" High Start and Low Finish: When Traffic Is No Longer a Panacea, Has the Era of Product Dominance Arrived?]

Online media outlets still have some reservations and can't write too bluntly.

The self-media platforms comprised of major video bloggers, Weibo, and Zhihu are directly engaging in cutthroat competition.

Tencent is dead, stars must rise! The defeat of *Night Spirit* marks the end of an era!

[A 10,000-word analysis explaining why Tencent will never succeed in the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) market!]

[A video shows you how Night Spirit turned a winning hand into a complete disaster!]

Articles and videos with sharp wording and sensational titles sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

The articles are largely similar, comparing and contrasting the success of Azur Lane with the disastrous failure of Night Spirit.

From marketing strategies to game content and player reviews.

The reason why the media and a large number of independent media are paying so much attention to this matter is that "Night Spirit" has attracted a lot of hatred before its release, and this wave of traffic is quite sensational.

On the other hand, to put it bluntly...

In 2017, this was a true "black swan" event.

Although from the perspective of 25 years, from Chu Chen's perspective.

It's no surprise that Tencent can't succeed in the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) market.

But in the eyes of most practitioners in this era, this is simply a fantasy; Tencent's loss this time is far too abnormal.

Even the most optimistic employees of Manjiu Network, including Yuwan, envisioned the best possible outcome before the game's launch: Azur Lane would have a back-and-forth battle with Night Spirit, thanks to StarCraft's marketing advantages and its unique gameplay.

Ultimately, with the help of the stars, they may "win" by a narrow margin.

After all, "Night Spirit" is a work created by Tencent based on "Final Battlefront," a mature product that has already been proven in the market, using its most proficient "Shadow Eye" replication tactic and pouring in massive resources.

And what about Azur Lane? It wasn't even a flagship title from StarCraft Games, but rather the debut game of "Manjiu Networks," a relatively unknown subsidiary of the StarCraft Alliance.

Tencent vs. Manjiu.

To anyone else, this should have been a one-sided, crushing victory.

Even though Manjiu received tremendous support from Xingchen in terms of publicity, this perception remained unchanged.

How could a giant be tripped up by a toddler who has just learned to walk? This perception was the absolute mainstream view in the Chinese gaming industry in 2017.

But reality delivered a resounding slap in the face to everyone.

Azur Lane not only didn't lose, but won decisively.

(End of this chapter)