Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 564 Setting the Stage for a Show
As the saying goes, every family has its own problems.

Just as Dawei was sighing deeply, Chu Chen was also scratching his head in his office.

At this moment, Chu Chen was receiving a special guest.

The woman was in her early thirties, and her well-fitting business suit accentuated her capable figure. She exuded a composure and elegance cultivated from years of working in a government office.

She is a classic beauty.

However, what makes this woman special is not her appearance or temperament.

Rather, it was because of her background; she was a secretary in the Propaganda Department's Secretariat.

Although it's just a secretary position, the words "Publicity Department" in front of it make a completely different impression, especially considering that the Publicity Department has recently started managing publishing licenses.

This is absolutely a great Buddha to the stars.

However, at this moment, the words spoken by the Bodhisattva left Chu Chen feeling somewhat at a loss for words.

Just as Mihoyo didn't quite understand why they were gathering people in Suzhou and Hangzhou this time, Chu Chen himself was also confused about what Starry Night Games' organization of domestic manufacturers to participate in E3 had to do with the cultural tourism of Suzhou and Hangzhou.

This sounds like a completely unrelated thing.

But the reason Liu Xin is here is none other than for the E3 gaming expo that will be held in April this year.

"President Chu, we have been paying close attention to your activities at the Tokyo Game Show last year. Our leader commented at the time that Starry Sky Games has explored a new path for our country's cultural export."

"It's too praised, it's too praised."

Chu Chen waved his hand modestly, but his mind was racing with calculations.

Last year's Tokyo Game Show was indeed quite successful. With Yui Aragaki, Satomi Ishihara, the first reveal of the Touhou Project IP, and the collective appearance of the Star Alliance, the unified design and promotion really made "Chinese games" a force to be reckoned with.

This incident had a significant impact not only on the Japanese gaming community at the time, but also sparked considerable discussion in China, leading to a series of chain reactions for Starry Night in Japan.

Later, after Chu Chen appeared on the evening news, many official media outlets praised him by name.

Is the propaganda department trying to set up a model again?

Just as Chu Chen was pondering this, the Bodhisattva spoke again.

"We've done our research. E3 stands for Electronic Entertainment Expo, and it's the world's largest and most well-known interactive entertainment expo, right?"

"Correct."

"So what's your goal for this trip? Is it simply to showcase your products and expand your influence, like you did in Tokyo last year?"

Chu Chen nodded, saying that it was both right and wrong.

In 2018, many domestic manufacturers went to E3 just to "gild their resumes." What does "gilding their resumes" mean? It means that regardless of the actual situation, they just went there and started to boast.

The company's products were showcased at top international exhibitions, causing overseas media to exclaim in amazement and players to line up to try them out... This series of moves was not aimed at making any moves overseas, but simply at creating hype in China.

For over a decade, domestic manufacturers have treated E3 as a way to enhance their image, leading many gamers to develop a strange sense of "premium" associated with it.

So much so that when Xingchen didn't attend E3 last year, many competitors and media outlets made sarcastic remarks about it.

They hurled all sorts of accusations at him, such as "being a bully at home," "not adapting well to overseas environments," and "only having influence domestically, completely ineffective in Europe and America."

The person who said these things obviously didn't know that at that time, StarCraft was just starting out, the Star Project had just begun, and the Japanese market had only just begun to open up a niche for itself with FGO.

Chu Chen had too many things to do to play the "gilding" game. One must eat one bite at a time.

But this year is different.

With Steam officially entering China, EPIC also sharpening its knives, and established giants like Tencent and Wanmei encircling and suppressing the PC gaming market, it's foreseeable that this year's domestic PC gaming market will be a bloodbath.

Even Chu Chen couldn't be sure that he wouldn't lose market share this year.

This has nothing to do with how many cards Chu Chen held.

Many people do not have a clear understanding of Huaxia's 14 billion betting volume. Maintaining influence in such a large market is a very difficult thing.

Many Chinese companies have become dominant simply by capturing a core group of users.

In the past two years, Xingchen has captured the relatively easy-to-acquire markets in China. The remaining markets will require time and products to accumulate, taking small bites today and a little more tomorrow.

If they stay in the country and fight Tencent to the death, will they be completely defeated?

It's not that it's impossible, but it's unnecessary.

The best defense is always offense. Not to mention, anyone who has been in war knows that if you're going to fight, you have to fight on the enemy's home turf.

Why is TikTok so successful globally? Because TikTok is one of the few companies that excels on a global scale, like Microsoft, Google, and Apple.
If you look closely, you'll find that there aren't many global internet companies like this in China.

Tencent, the so-called world's number one internet giant? Well... forget about the US, even Japan and South Korea couldn't beat LINE.
"We can't always just defend our home turf. We also need to go out and flex our muscles, to let overseas players and publishers see what level our Chinese games are at."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xin's eyes lit up instantly.

"That's the kind of momentum we're looking for!"

"Before I came here, the leaders told me that your Starry Sky Games' overseas expedition is the 'Zheng He's voyages to the West' of our time!"

Chu Chen: "?"

"However, what you are taking out is not silk and porcelain, but digital products that represent the symbols of Chinese culture in the new era! It is our story, our aesthetics, and our technology!"

Chu Chen's eyelids twitched upon hearing this.

Wow, this is quite an achievement! It's gone from commercial competition to the export of national culture.

"So," Liu Xin changed the subject, finally getting to the point, "such an important 'expedition,' the pre-departure rally should have some explanation, right?"

"A rally?"

In short, the way Starry Sky Group went global together at the Tokyo Game Show inspired some "wonderful" ideas from some leaders.

It's called a rally, but of course it won't actually be called that. The specific name doesn't matter; what matters is that the leader wants to host it.

"Our publicity department and the Suzhou and Hangzhou authorities want to provide a starting point and a stage for this collective appearance."

Listening to Liu Xin's words, Chu Chen's mind raced.

The idea of ​​providing a starting point and stage for game developers in the Star Alliance might be hard for people to understand these days, but it's not new to Chu Chen.

It's simply a matter of incorporating Starry Sky Games' self-organized overseas expansion into a grander, more official narrative framework.

It has transformed from a purely commercial activity into part of a national-level cultural export strategy.

It's not like Black Myth didn't do this in its previous life. It's just that some leaders may have always wanted to do it. In its previous life, it bumped into Genshin Impact and Black Myth, but in this timeline, it bumped into the stars...
Therefore, what Chu Chen needed to consider were the many details that arose from this matter.
(End of this chapter)