Rebirth 08: Can a mobile game company also build a tech empire?

"Social media apps used by foreigners?"

Facebook!

Everyone said in unison.

Then, as if a breakthrough had been made, he understood the Fruit Swordsman's method to break the deadlock.

"To date, Facebook has surpassed 100 million monthly active users worldwide!"

How can we waste such a huge user base?

We can use the penguin's approach to expand Fruit Swordsman's user market!

Lu Chen banged on the whiteboard and explained the whole story.

Last year, Facebook allowed apps to access a user's complete friend list with the user's authorization.

So what we fruit swordsmen have to do is very simple.

Create an in-game system that connects to your Facebook friends!

"A genius!"

"How could I not have thought of that?"

"This perfectly solves the problem of the Fruit Swordsman."

The crowd's praise was overflowing, their eyes filled with admiration for Lu Chen.

"Don't rush to celebrate, everyone. I haven't finished speaking yet."

We've added a feature to the game where friends can compete for scores.

Previously, there were only global rankings.

While it can create competition between players, it's all about matches between top-level players.

It's too far removed from the average player;

This time, however, we can bring players into closer battles!

Isn't this a form of advertising that doesn't cost a penny?

And it was the strongest promotion from those around me!

Imagine competing with your classmates, colleagues, and online friends for scores.

It even led to offline interactive games.

This is such a massive publicity effect; it's something no amount of money could achieve!

Following Lu Chen's description, everyone imagined the scene in their minds.

Indeed, the previous global leaderboards were too far removed from the average player.

But this time, they're using Facebook friends to create battles between players who are close to them!

Furthermore, Facebook has consistently ranked first in downloads on the App Store since its launch!

Therefore, judging from the number of Facebook installations among foreigners.

Even if it's not many, as long as one-tenth of the people can be influenced by the players around them to download the game.

That's already a terrifying number!

The viral spread of this kind of effect is truly unimaginable!

"This is a brilliant idea!"

"I really admire Boss Lu!"

"How did Boss Lu come up with this idea?"

Everyone couldn't help but sigh in amazement.

It's amazing that Lu Chen was able to withstand immense pressure in what seemed like a dead end and still find a wider path!

Everyone recalled Lu Chen's ambitious words at the Angry Birds victory celebration party.

Perhaps, under Boss Lu's leadership, we can really achieve this step by step!

Hearing the crowd's praises, Lu Chen patted his hand and continued:

Therefore, Fruit Swordsman will not lower its prices, nor does it need to spend money on advertising;

These initial 5.5 players are our most valuable initial users.

It was they who supported us with real money during the most difficult moments of the game.

They will also help us with publicity and promotion in the future!

Lu Chen drew another circle on "5.5".

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

These 5.5 players carry the hopes for the rise of Fruit Swordsman; whether the game can be downloaded by more players depends entirely on their help in promotion.

"Alright, the most urgent thing now is to put the method I mentioned into practice;"

While Fruit Swordsman has only been online for half a month, there's still a chance to salvage the situation.

Penguins used to copy others, but this time we'll take advantage of their success too.

Let's add fuel to the fire of our game!

"good!"

Everyone agreed in unison, their faces showing long-lost relaxed smiles.

……

As Lu Chen determined the direction of the game next.

Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief; all they had to do was follow Lu Chen's instructions.

Soon, a Facebook-based friend system was added to Fruit Swordsman.

After the update, players can import their Facebook friends with a single click, as long as they have Facebook installed on their phone.

And you can view the scores of Fruit Swordsmen between your friends in real time.

In addition, a battle system has been launched in the game.

It supports one player initiating a challenge, and another player agreeing to join, enabling a battle between two players.

This Facebook-based friend and battle system is Lu Chen's solution to this crisis!

After all, Facebook's benefits are right there, so why not take advantage of them?

Tencent has set a good precedent for the social + gaming model.

Otherwise, Lu Chen wouldn't have been able to think of such a solution in such a short time.

……

three days later.

10 month 11 day.

The game update was pushed to the mobile phones of every Fruit Swordsman player.

That day, Jeremy, as usual, prepared to play a couple of rounds of Fruit Swordsman during break.

As soon as Jeremy took out his phone, nearby classmates swarmed over like sharks smelling blood.

"Jeremy, get started!"

"Yeah, let me try in the next round too."

"Don't push, I was here first."

Under the eager gazes of the crowd, Jeremy slowly turned on his phone.

But this time, the interface of Fruit Swordsman is completely different.

A dialog box pops up on the game's start screen, prompting you to authorize Facebook for a better gaming experience.

Jeremy clicked "agree" without even thinking.

Upon entering the game, a highlighted peach appears in the lower left corner, surrounded by concentric circles with the word "Friends" written on them.

Out of curiosity, Jeremy accessed the friends list.

A long list of friends' names popped up on the screen.

"I didn't add any friends in the game, where did this come from!"

Jeremy panicked for a moment.

But when he saw the names at the very top: "Tommy: 9136 points", "William: 9020 points", "Harrison: 8312 points"... there were many more names without scores.

They are all his Facebook friends.

The top three people on the list each wore a gold, silver, and bronze crown respectively in the upper left corner of their business cards.

"Oh my god!" Jeremy exclaimed in realization, "So the chat window just now directly accessed my Facebook friends list! That's amazing!"

He was lamenting that no one was playing Fruit Swordsman with him.

As a result, this update directly added his Facebook friends to the game.

Jeremy noticed that each name with a score was followed by a "battle" button.

"What does this mean?"

As he spoke, he tentatively pressed the button that belonged to William.

A dialog box popped up in the game, displaying the message "Waiting for friend's approval..."

"Um?"

Upon seeing the notification, Jeremy instantly realized that this was a game that could be played by two people at the same time!

He immediately became interested and shouted as he walked towards William:

"William! Check if you've received the message!"

"What news?"

William was still confused.

"News from Fruit Swordsmen! They updated their friend system today, go check it out!"

Unable to resist Jeremy's urging, William also lit up his phone and opened Fruit Swordsman.

Similarly, a dialog box appeared for William, asking to add him as a Facebook friend.

William also chose to agree.

Upon entering the game, a dialog box pops up with the following message:

"Your friend 'Jeremy' has issued a challenge to you. Will you accept?"

"Quick, quick! This is it! Select 'Yes' now."

Jeremy, who was standing to the side, was already impatient.