Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 574 The Divided America
Chartering flights, booking hotels, and dozens of Chinese game companies participating in the exhibition—these keywords combined make for a sensational news story that needs no embellishment.

It wasn't just American gaming news outlets like IGN; even newspapers like the Los Angeles Times covered it with a straightforward headline: "The Eastern Dragon Knocks on the Barrier at E3."

"While traditional giants like EA selectively skipped or scaled back their E3 appearances, the Star Alliance from China announced their arrival in an unprecedented way."

“A chartered plane carrying over 400 developers, an entire hotel that was booked, and dozens of games, ranging from highly anticipated AAA titles to indie games of various styles, covering almost all genres.”

Will this massive "gaming army" be the next rival to the American gaming industry?

In addition, there are many other reports.

If we categorize these reports slightly, we can see that mainstream media tend to promote the "threat theory of China's gaming industry."

The gaming media, on the other hand, reacted with a mix of anticipation and praise, and mockery and indifference.

This “schizophrenic” phenomenon is also related to the American news industry. On the one hand, E3 is, after all, an exhibition held in the United States.

For many ordinary players, especially fans of Starry Sky Games, seeing Starry Sky Games participating in the exhibition as a group is even more exciting than celebrating the Chinese New Year.

In particular, I heard that this chartered flight also carried a large number of limited edition merchandise.

Besides StarCraft's fans, the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), the organizer of E3, was overjoyed by StarCraft's arrival.

With EA's departure in 2016 and the rise of Nintendo's online presentation format, there has been much talk that E3 is declining in popularity.

The Star Alliance's large-scale collective participation in this exhibition has undoubtedly given a strong boost to the increasingly declining E3.

In an interview, the Vice President of ESA was lavish in his praise: "We are thrilled to welcome the full participation of the Star Alliance. Their unprecedented scale demonstrates the global vitality of the gaming industry and proves that E3's status as the world's premier gaming stage is unshakeable. This is a grand event for gamers worldwide."

These words both flattered Xingchen and elevated himself, making them perfectly watertight.

In addition, Xingchen is not without a foothold in the United States. Over the past two years, Xingchen has collaborated with dozens of anchors of all sizes on American social media platforms.

Without exception, these anchors announced their visit to the StarCraft booth well in advance, expressing their excitement about StarCraft's arrival in the United States.

Among them are bloggers with millions of followers.

"Oh-My-God! Look at this! LOOK AT THIS!"

For example, in late 17, Cameron Cam Rivers, a newly emerging top-tier game streamer, pointed at the screen with an exaggeratedly distorted expression on his face.

As a blogger specializing in the mobile game "PUBG", he mainly focuses on being a "pig on the wind" (a metaphor for someone riding the wave of popularity). He became famous for his exaggerated expressions and for breaking a Samsung phone in anger after losing a gunfight.

His signature beard trembled with his excitement, as if it had a life of its own.

The video playing on the screen was a montage of promotional videos released by the Star Alliance for E3.

"Guys! Guys! Calm down!"

After confirming that StarCraft would be releasing a new game at E3, he even performed his traditional skill of breaking his phone to express his excitement. This abstract act of breaking his phone once again landed him on the homepage of his YouTube gaming channel.

In fact, the reason why Kam was so excited was not only because he was a fan of Star, but also because it was closely related to his own interests. Star came to the United States, so he naturally had no shortage of business opportunities. In addition, Star's fans were very loyal, so it was a win-win situation.

The scene described has already played out in countless live streams and video channels across the United States since StarCraft officially announced its participation in the exhibition.

Finally, Starry Sky's US branch is also quite capable in generating revenue. They've been cultivating relationships and spending money to buy news and create hype, so Chu Chen didn't even need to teach them.

StarCraft's own partnered streamers, the official E3 promotion, and StarCraft's own fans combined to create positive reviews on the American internet. Of course, wherever there are people, there are rivalries; wherever there is business, there are competitors.

In the first half of this year, both Steam and Epic increased their investment in the Chinese market. Interestingly, these two competitors also have "partners" in China.

Therefore, there are many sarcastic and cynical comments in the media, including those from Xingchen News, such as...
"WHAT? Starry Sky, you're going to E3? Do we get another free $2.99?"

"OH! NO! I don't want to stand in line at E3 to try out mobile games."

"The hype outweighs the substance. I bet they can only come up with three things."

"Chinese manufacturers are going to make 3A games too? Hahaha, that's hilarious."

"Are they going to announce another new battle royale game? I'm sick of it..."

"I only care whether they will sell phones at the launch event."

"I bet five dollars that they'll spend half their press conference talking about gacha games."

There are many such arguments.

E3 is, after all, a comprehensive exhibition, even though StarCraft previously held events such as Remastered Game Hall of Fame and Starry Night, and so on.

However, many American players' impression of StarCraft is still that it's a casual game given away for free on TapTap. In addition, the habitual "China threat" rhetoric of mainstream American media has also brought out many "extreme anti-China fanatics" who originally didn't care about the game.

These people mingle in the comments section of the internet, and you can't tell if they're actually gamers.

In short, regarding Chu Chen's chartered flight to the United States, the American media's reaction was truly "three parts praise, three parts the threat of Chinese industry, and four parts indifference."

Different media outlets have different perspectives.

The emotions of liking and disliking are so intense, and they clash fiercely with each other. There are even some Chinese people from who-knows-where who specifically bypass the Great Firewall to argu with American fans.
All of these factors combined to create a hot and surreal topic.

~~~
Pacific Vision Hotel, buffet restaurant.

Hai Mao and Yu Wan were huddled together with several other producers from the Star Alliance, scrolling through their phones.

"These foreigners are really shameless. They took the game from our StarCraft TAP and are still making sarcastic remarks."

"That's considered good."

At another table, Bai Ruilin from the "Lost in Time" studio also waved his phone, which displayed an American news report.

"Look at this article, it praises openly but criticizes subtly."

"Don't be angry, other people can say whatever they want."

These comments are actually quite normal, but having lived in China for a long time, it's really hard to get used to seeing them.

After all, in China, Xingchen is truly a "flower in a greenhouse," relying on Chu Chen's personal charm, as well as the near-dominant position of the anime and PC gaming platforms.

In China, the name "Starry Sky Games" is almost synonymous with "the pride of domestic games." Players cherish it like a precious gem.

(End of this chapter)