Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 496 The Journey of Starry Sky's Figurines

Furyu is a figure manufacturer that, while not among the top in Japan, is certainly well-known.

This company has an interesting history. It started by making photo booth machines, and later its business gradually expanded to arcade games, claw machines and other fields.

Their figurine business originated from the prize items sold in claw machines.

The term "prize item" refers to the item placed in a claw machine as a prize for players to win.

In order to control costs, the materials, paintwork, and level of detail used in prize figures are naturally not comparable to those high-end figures from GSC or Alta that cost thousands of dollars.

But Furyu's strength lies in its ability to produce above-average quality products at a relatively low cost.

In the world of collectible figures, Furyu has always been known as the "shining light of prize figures".

The main reason for choosing to acquire Furyu is that Chu Chen and Yue Xiuyuan both believe that Furyu's business philosophy is very compatible with Xingchen's.

What is the core competitiveness of Starry Sky?
It is about "small profits but quick turnover," using the ultimate cost-effectiveness to transform what was originally a "luxury" product belonging to a few core players into a "fast-moving consumer good" that the general public can afford.

The same applies to games and related merchandise.

Even the most exquisitely crafted figurine priced at 1999 yuan is still an unattainable dream for the vast majority of ordinary players.

They will appreciate it and admire it, but they rarely actually spend money to buy it.

But what if a figurine costs 199 yuan? The quality might not be as top-notch as the former, but it would still be "quite good".

More importantly, when the price of a figure reaches 199 or even 99, the attributes of the figure change.

Many collectible items have low unit prices, which makes collectors want this and that. Perhaps an average collector wouldn't buy a single figurine that costs 1999.

There are plenty of people who buy a lot of figurines that cost 199 each.

This is the market that Xingchen wants to target.

Furyu is the best key to unlocking this market.

Therefore, upon learning that Furyu was experiencing financial difficulties due to setbacks in its attempt to expand into the high-end sub-brand F:NEX, Yue Xiuyuan, after obtaining Chu Chen's consent, decided to take action.

Without saying a word, he led his legal and financial teams directly to Japan.

From negotiation to signing, it took no more than half a month.

In the end, Xingchen spent 5 billion yen, which is close to 80 million yuan, to buy 80% of Furyu's shares and the contract manufacturer that cooperated with Furyu.

The bulk of the purchases isn't actually from Furyu, because while Furyu is a well-known figure manufacturer, figures are a niche product.

Even for top-tier companies, revenue is only so-so.

Especially compared to Xingchen, a "freak" company with monthly revenue of billions, Furyu is no different from a little girl; she can be easily pushed over.

Moreover, just like with their own studio, Starry Sky also reserved 20% of Furyu's shares, which is essentially a dividend.

Therefore, the main reason for spending so much money was actually to acquire the OEM factory that Furyu collaborates with. This manufacturer located in China is not only a OEM factory for Furyu, but also an OEM factory for several other Japanese figure manufacturers, so it is quite large in scale.

Because it was an OEM factory, it didn't make much money. Xingchen raised the price slightly, and the other party's boss sold it, afraid that Xingchen would regret it.

In short, with the acquisition of the Furyu figure now finalized, Yue Xiuyuan was in a state of high excitement.

In the span of half a month, he spent nearly 500 million yuan, a sum that left him both excited and apprehensive.

I'm excited because I personally handled an acquisition worth over 100 million RMB.

Although the money only passed through my hands briefly, the feeling was completely different. Moreover, the figurine factory I acquired was not a small factory; it had hundreds of workers.

However, at the same time, he was also a little uneasy. The reason for his unease was that although Chu Chen had given him the 500 million yuan readily, how to recoup the investment was a big problem.

That’s five hundred million!
Although FGO can earn this amount in a month, 500 million is definitely not a small number for the real economy.

Upon returning to Shanghai, Yue Xiuyuan rushed into Chu Chen's office almost immediately.

"Why are you panicking?"

At that moment, Chu Chen was leaning back in his chair, playing with a Type 95 Q-version clay sample in his hand. It was a prototype made from scraps by the OEM factory that he had acquired.

"I've already paid, can't I just return it? This isn't Pinduoduo."

"I'm not panicking, I'm just unsure. Five hundred million, Mr. Chen, how many figurines do we need to sell to break even?"

Yue Xiuyuan was an honest man, and he knew very well that Chu Chen must have his own reasons for agreeing to the acquisition.

So after the acquisition was completed, he came to Chu Chen, seemingly to "complain" but actually to "seek instructions".

You know, those who rise to the top are all shrewd and calculating.

Faced with Yue Xiuyuan, who was "tingling with fear," Chu Chen had no interest in playing the "seeking advice and talent" game with him and simply handed him a document.

Chu Chen has planned three lines for collecting figurines.

One is a standard PVC figure, which is what we usually call a normal high-precision figure.

The price will be between 399 yuan and 699 yuan depending on the difficulty of production. The profit per piece is about 200 to 400 yuan. The larger the quantity, the higher the profit.

Because the cost of figurines is high at the beginning and low at the end, the initial costs of mold making, sculpting, and supervision all contribute to the cost.

But once mass production begins, the more you sell, the lower the initial costs become.

Moreover, StarCraft has a major advantage in making its own content, which is that there are no IP costs. All the characters are their own, so even if they only sell for 400 yuan.

The revenue that Xingchen received was not much different from the revenue of over 1000 that was authorized to Alta to sell.

Although the income is not large, it is foreseeable that the sales volume of the two will be vastly different.

After all, a genuine figurine priced at over 400 would be a complete game-changer nowadays, which is why Chu Chen not only had Yue Xiuyuan buy Furyu, but also the factory.

In addition, although it sells for 399 to 699 yuan in China, it can be sold in Japan for around 8,000 to 10,000 yen depending on the market price.

Even with price increases, this price is enough to make a killing in the Japanese market, giving Japanese figure manufacturers a taste of what it means to be "armed with millet and rifles" (meaning they're outnumbered and overextended).

Besides the standard PVC figures.

Chu Chen also gave two tiers of items, one of which was called "figure blind boxes," with different series launched based on different IPs.

Its production cost is roughly equivalent to that of a high-quality prized item.

You can either draw blind boxes or buy them yourself. The price of blind boxes is fixed at 199 yuan, while the price of self-selected items is 259 yuan. This is actually in the same category as prize items.

And the last and cheapest option is the "blind box doll".

This is interesting. It was made by Chu Chen based on the concept of "Pop Mart". It can be understood as a Pop Mart with the added benefit of the Star IP.

These dolls, which resemble chibi clay figures, have a lower precision, so the main cost is the raw materials.

Therefore, the cost is also very low.

(End of this chapter)