Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 479 Steam Chooses "A Powerful Blow"

This picture went viral instantly.

It accurately captured the absurd yet hilarious atmosphere of the incident.

Starry Night Games was clearly the eye of the storm, the fuse that ignited the whole affair, but in the end, the flames of war perfectly bypassed it and spread to others.

The sense of innocence of "I didn't do anything, why are you fighting?" combined with the players' protective stance of "we're on the same side, don't say anything" created a wonderful chemical reaction.

Countless players were laughing hysterically in the comments section.

[Hilarious, this picture is so accurate!]

[Star: I'm scared, don't come any closer! Player: Don't worry, as long as you don't change your mind, bullets will fly around you.]

[The best gaming meme of the year, bar none!]

The most brilliant touch was that Chu Chen also reposted the picture, without adding any complicated captions, just a few words.

"The picture is collected; hang it in the office."

Then, after a while, Chu Chen's account actually took a picture, framed it, and hung it in his office.

"Starry Sky Games, Staying True to Our Original Aspirations"

Both of these Weibo posts received a lot of replies.

Moreover, all the responses were positive, making other companies' operations staff grit their teeth in envy, yet they were helpless.

Unfortunately, StarCraft is now in the same boat as Blizzard was in the past, and Game Science was in the same boat 25 years ago, where the level of mutual trust between players and developers is at its highest.

Beyond the game's reputation, Chu Chen's long-standing reputation as one of the "insiders" on the internet also makes many players believe that what Chu Chen posted is genuine.

~~~
Early November 2017.

It all started in such a magical internet atmosphere.

Besides Starry Night Games appearing on the news and being relentlessly attacked by players for its "heinous crimes," there are many other interesting things happening.

For example, perhaps in an attempt to divert players' attention, Tencent suddenly announced two battle royale mobile games currently under development: "PUBG Mobile" and "PUBG: Army Attack".

They also stated that both games have entered the final sprint stage.

Immediately following, NetEase tweeted, announcing that its battle royale mobile game "Knives Out" would soon begin its Android closed beta test.

Promotional articles flooded the media, and soon after, many industry news outlets began to "report" on the global success of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds." By this time, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" had sold 23 million copies worldwide.

Of these, Starry Sky Games sold 15 million copies (that's why everyone says Starry Sky Games is the PUBG launcher).
While these media outlets reported on the phenomenal sales of "PUBG," their real intention was not what it seemed; they wanted to emphasize the enormous potential of mobile "battle royale" games.

Whoever gains the upper hand in this "mobile battle royale" competition will undoubtedly have a huge advantage, especially since Starry Sky Games has not yet announced the official mobile game.

Currently, it's clear that Tencent and NetEase, the two "big brothers," are ahead.

Just when all the media's attention was focused on this "real-life" battle royale game, an unexpected "dump truck" suddenly drew everyone's attention away.

mid-December.

Steam suddenly updated its official website with a huge promotional page for an event.

One of the posters features Gabe Newell's iconic friendly smile against a backdrop of bright red lanterns and auspicious cloud patterns, exuding Chinese charm.

The announcement further boosted the morale of all Chinese gamers. Steam announced that it will be including a "Chinese Games Special" in this year's Christmas Sale for the first time.

At that time, not only will thousands of games be offered at record-low discounts, but exclusive coupons will also be distributed to players in the China region, along with a special "mystery event".

Moreover, this occurred after the Steam event was announced.

Overnight, several Bilibili content creators with millions of followers updated their videos, and the cover images were surprisingly consistent: the same broad-shouldered, smiling man, accompanied by eye-catching large text.

[Gabe Newell is on a killing spree! The biggest Christmas sale ever is here, is your wallet okay?]

[The firm never lies! Top 10 must-buy games for the Steam Winter Sale – don't miss out, or you'll have to wait another year!]

What is China's Special Sales? Ten things you must know!

Similar events have also appeared on some gaming forums, clearly indicating that Steam has been promoting and distributing content specifically for the Chinese market.

This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event for veteran gamers who are used to "freebies" on Steam.

In the past, although Steam has done some things for the Chinese market, most of the time, Steam China has been left to its own devices.

And now, Gabe Newell (GabeN) is not only personally endorsing the event, but he also has the money for promotional activities!!

Amazing.

This level of amazing skill is comparable to Gabe Newell (GabeN) being able to count to 3.
What's even more surprising is that after these promotional materials were released, the most frequent comments under many of the videos weren't cheers for the arrival of discounts, but rather a question from many players.

What is the purpose of the Steam platform?

These seemingly "absurd" discussions actually reflect a fact: in today's Chinese market, especially in the market of new users.

The influence of StarCraft Games has quietly surpassed that of Steam.

For many new players, the world of PC gaming was opened by the stars.

If we're talking about market share of PC game platforms in China, StarCraft is undoubtedly number one, followed by Steam, and then Tencent.

Moreover, Steam's ability to beat Tencent is thanks to Gabe Newell (GabeN) for setting China as a low-price region starting in 15, integrating Alipay and WeChat, and renting separate servers specifically for the domestic network environment.

These adjustments brought Steam benefits in 15 and 2016. In 16, Chinese players accounted for 7.23% of the total players in Shadow Warrior 2, ranking third in the world.

Including the famous GTA, Chinese players once ranked second in global purchasing volume.

Furthermore, last year, in 2016, Steam held its first "Chinese New Year Sale" event, which achieved fairly good results.

These foundations have enabled Steam to gain a share of the Chinese market.

However, with the arrival of 17 and the later influence of StarCraft and Tencent, a wider range of players may not necessarily know about Steam, since Steam rarely does promotion.

Moreover, the game that was the biggest contributor to Steam's entry into China in the previous life, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", was also acquired by StarCraft, which resulted in a large number of streamers who used to work for Steam for free now all using the StarCraft platform.

In addition, registering and using foreign software is much more troublesome.

All of these factors contributed to a significant slowdown in Steam's growth in the Chinese market throughout 17, with some even showing a downward trend.

to some extent.

This is why Steam chose to "strike hard." However, while players are still somewhat confused about Steam, gaming media have already sensed the impending battle.

(End of this chapter)