Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 562 Stellar Economics

In fact, miHoYo was mentally prepared for StarCraft to develop an open-world game.

As early as last year, Chu Chen had discussed this topic directly with Dawei, saying that he wanted to visit Mihayou, which surprised Dawei at the time.

Now it's just that the boot has finally fallen to the ground.

In this timeline, due to the success of StarCraft, miHoYo is actually more confident in the anime and manga industry, including the fact that the number of people developing Genshin Impact and the manpower and resources invested are much higher than in the previous life.

So this list is both bad news and good news for David.

The bad news is that Mihayou will also have to compete with Xingchen, but the good news is that if Xingchen is really doing this and not just lying to them, then they definitely haven't gone down the wrong path.

Old Cai walked over as well, his gaze falling on the list, and he sighed softly.

"Fortunately, if we consider the project's initiation timeline, Xingchen should only be in its early stages."

For an open-world project, a development cycle of one or two years is not even enough to lay the foundation. Starting from 2016, miHoYo has been working on it for almost two years, and the progress is only just over halfway.

No matter how powerful Xingchen is, it cannot violate the laws of development.

However, David just smiled wryly and shook his head.

"Just getting started?" He took out his phone and put it on the table. "Chu Chen just sent me a message, inviting me to a meeting in Suzhou and Hangzhou tomorrow."

"A meeting? What kind of meeting is it in Suzhou and Hangzhou?"

"They said they wanted to discuss the idea of ​​everyone teaming up to participate in E3 in the United States."

"Exhibiting at E3? Going to Suzhou and Hangzhou?"

Old Cai still didn't quite understand, because last year at the Tokyo Game Show, Xingchen's group participation had a very good effect.

With Steam and EPIC coming on strong, it seems quite normal for StarCraft to band together again to go global in response to the national call. But the question is, why go to Suzhou and Hangzhou to discuss this?
Why not hold the meeting online, or go to the Starry Sky headquarters?
"I don't know either, but what I'm worried about isn't participating in the exhibition..."

David stood up and paced around the office.

"I'm worried that StarCraft is going to pull that derivative-within-the-original-body thing again."

In simple terms, the so-called derivative works with the original IP are about splitting a big IP into several derivative games of different types and sizes, and then promoting them in a matrix-style manner.

This model isn't actually unique to Xingchen.

Before StarCraft, many well-known IPs had derivative works. For example, Capcom's Monster Hunter series has countless derivative works, such as the Monster Hunter Stories series, Palico Village, Palico Cube, and a whole bunch of derivative games.

In addition to these, the Pokémon series also includes titles such as Pokémon Quest and Pokémon Rumble, as well as spin-offs from the Final Fantasy series like Brave Exvius and Dissidia, and the Fallout series like Fallout Shelter.

Once an IP becomes popular, making money by creating derivative games is actually a very normal business logic.

However, the "derivative zone body" of the stars is different.

Their "derivative single-player games" often do not pursue profits, but instead use coupons to drive traffic to the main game. Take StarCraft's undisputed number one IP, "Final Battlefront," for example.

In addition to continuous updates to the main game, they have maintained a pace of releasing a high-quality spin-off single-player game almost every year.

"Final Descent" focuses on expanding the storyline, while "Final Squad" emphasizes tactical squad gameplay.

These spin-off single-player games, though small in scale, are truly capable of attracting new players and allowing veteran players to gain a deeper understanding of the world's lore. Of course, other IP spin-offs can also achieve this, so ultimately, the biggest difference between StarCraft and other developers lies in the concept of "reverse progression after completion."

Whether it was the initial price of 38 for "Final Source" or the price of 69 for "Final Squad"...
Once you complete the level, the points will be returned to the base game.

For Chinese players, this mode is simply the perfect comfort zone.

When you ask someone to buy something directly with money, they will hesitate. But if you offer something as a free gift with purchase, the appeal is completely different.

Many Chinese gamers, accustomed to free-to-play online games, first encountered and became familiar with buy-to-play single-player games through this "clear-level-and-get-coupons" model.

They were surprised to find that games that don't force players to spend money or grind excessively, but simply allow them to enjoy the storyline and gameplay, are incredibly appealing.

After Xingchen's success, many people analyzed Xingchen's combination of tactics. Most people praised Xingchen's approach, and some even applied the "three arrows" theory of Abenomics, which was very popular at the time, to it.

They created a "stellar economics" concept and even took a jab at the "Starry Sky is losing money" meme, saying that Starry Sky's move was a triple win.

The first carving cultivated the market and players.

Through its near-free-to-play spin-off titles, it has managed to cultivate a massive single-player gamer community in China who are willing to pay for high-quality content.

The second point was to promote the game itself.

These derivative works are the best advertisements in themselves. They use solid content to build upon the worldview of the original IP, making the foundation of the IP more and more solid.

The third step was selling the game.

Although the points were refunded, the sales of the spin-off were actually included in the financial report. More importantly, these points were ultimately spent in the main game, forming a perfect business loop.

Although this statement, mainly the term "astronomical economics," made Chu Chen feel somewhat "unlucky."

However, this method of playing quickly became popular in the country.

Many game developers like to use a smaller spin-off title to generate buzz for the main game, or to maintain the IP's popularity with a spin-off single-player game after the main game is released.

The direct consequence of this is that the Starry Sky Games platform has seen a large number of "useless single-player games"—cheap, with rebates, but not fun.
Ultimately, the "derivative with the main body" approach sounds simple, but in practice, it's full of pitfalls.

Fundamentally, the difference lies in the approach to developing online games versus single-player games.

Teams accustomed to developing online games are focused on retention, daily active users, and conversion rates. How can you expect them to develop a single-player game that's a "one-off" business?

It's very difficult.

For example, the single-player game "Touhou: Hirano no Kogoro" made by Nishisugi in his previous life.

The core of this game is "management simulation", but the final gameplay is a level-based adventure game.

Players need to complete specific economic goals within a limited time in order to successfully pass the level.

Anyone with even a slight understanding of game logic knows that simulation management and level-based games, if we consider the five elements' mutual restraint, are absolutely mutually exclusive.

The planner who came up with this idea clearly didn't understand the appeal of simulation management games at all.

(End of this chapter)