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

"Oh, okay then."

I could tell from Boss Lu's words that he didn't approve.

The light in Tao Manwen and Chu Yu's eyes slowly faded.

The others breathed a sigh of relief.

If it were made into a realistic horror film, even the creators wouldn't be able to accept it, let alone the players.

"Of course, our game will still retain a certain level of horror, but not too much!"

Lu Chen did not completely reject their ideas, but only wanted to keep them within a reasonable range.

After all, everything has to give way to game sales.

"Alright, let's put the game's art style aside for now; I'll oversee the entire production process."

Now let's talk about other aspects of the game.

"Are there any other scenarios?"

Everyone was terrified of Lu Chen.

At this rate, the difficulty of game development will probably skyrocket.

Can I really make the game with my own abilities?

"Don't worry, it's just a simple copy and paste from here on out."

The core gameplay is simply what I just mentioned.

Lu Chen first reassured everyone, and then spoke.

"Plants vs. Zombies will be larger than the two games we developed before."

The game includes five scenes: daytime, nighttime, swimming pool, dense fog, and rooftop.

Some plants and zombies even have unique functions depending on the scenario.

The game contains at least fifty types of plants and thirty types of zombies;

It should also include a boss level, several mini-games, and puzzle levels.

The entire game has over 100 levels.

So you all have a lot of work to do.

Lu Chen recounted the entire game in one breath.

Everyone gasped in shock.

At first, they heard that Lu Chen was going to make casual games.

They thought it would be similar to Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja.

Lu Chen will propose new gameplay ideas, but the production process will not be too complicated.

But the game Plants vs. Zombies.

It's much larger in scale than the previous two games.

Such a massive game size will inevitably cause development difficulties.

Of course, the core gameplay remains the same, but the difficulty of each part varies.

Therefore, the three members of the programming team had relatively light workloads.

All they need to do is link the game assets to the duplicate program.

But this put a strain on the remaining art and sound teams.

At least five scenes, fifty kinds of plants, and thirty kinds of zombies.

Each plant and zombie requires texture painting and animation creation.

And add different sound effects to them.

Background music also needs to be created for different scenarios.

It's easy to imagine how demanding the tasks are for these two groups.

"Don't worry, everyone."

"Plants vs. Zombies has a lot of content, so we'll extend the development cycle and finish it by the end of this year."

But the public wasn't much more optimistic.

If we start counting from now, there are only about two months left until the end of this year.

To develop Plants vs. Zombies in two months.

The difficulty can be imagined.

"The new game is so big, can we really make it?"

Before the project has even entered the development stage, some people have already started to back out.

"Of course, don't be intimidated by the game's large size."

With proper planning, it's not impossible to complete production by the end of the year.

Lu Chen encouraged everyone.

But everyone shook their heads, not believing it was possible.

Seeing that the results were not good, Lu Chen had no choice but to change his strategy.

"Think about it, everyone."

Why am I insisting on developing a large-scale game this time?

It's all for the company's further development.

Therefore, I've decided that the company's next strategic move is to enter the technology sector.

Lu Chen dropped a bombshell right from the start, leaving everyone speechless.

"what?"

"What?"

"Aren't we a game company?"

"Boss, why did you suddenly want to make tech products?"

Wu Zhixuan was also shocked by the sudden news.

He had anticipated that Lu Chen would make a next move.

But I didn't expect it to come so quickly.

He wasn't ready yet.

Sure enough, everyone perked up immediately upon hearing that the company had made a new move.

"Let's talk about the product later, let's finalize the new game first."

Lu Chen set aside that for the moment and continued talking about the new game.

"Our company has successfully developed two games."

so far,

The combined revenue from the two games reached tens of millions.

So I want to use this money.

Try venturing into the technology field.

Everyone should understand,

Only by maintaining high prices can more funds be generated.

So I decided,

Plants vs. Zombies is priced at $8.99!

"Well... Mr. Lu, if we continue to maintain the high price, won't the players not accept it?"

It was Jiang Chang who spoke; he was still annoyed by the last time the game's price was raised so rashly.

This time he thought it best to play it safe.

"Yes, although the Fruit Swordsman succeeded, he might not be able to do it next time."

Indeed, sometimes success only happens once, and it's too difficult to replicate it.

Moreover, what everyone was hiding in their words was...

Lu Chen's sudden decision to have the company enter a new field carries enormous risks.

At the same time, they also created Plants vs. Zombies.

Will this put too much pressure on the company?

We might mess things up completely.

They bankrupted the company again.

ZhengTu Technology is a small, unassuming company; they can just focus on game development.

There's no need to go through the trouble of making physical products.

Is it possible that Boss Lu has become arrogant after making some money?

But Lu Chen didn't think so.

Starting a company is like rowing against the current; if you don't move forward, you fall behind.

Time waits for no one.

No one will stand still and wait for the slow development of Journey Technology.

All Lu Chen could do was keep the company's direction in mind.

I will do my best to lead the company to develop in a wider world.

The future world is full of grandeur and wonder.

Who wouldn't want to see it?

Perhaps when that time comes, these employees will thank Lu Chen.

Of course, Lu Chen also understands the current mentality of employees who are closed off from the world.

After all, who would willingly step out of their comfort zone?

Lu Chen could only patiently persuade everyone.

"This time, I'm proposing a large-scale game like Plants vs. Zombies."

It's all for the purpose of further increasing the price.

Only large-scale production can justify high prices.

"But our price is too high, wouldn't $4.99 be better?"

Jiang Chang said cautiously.

He's right.

From the time the App Store launched in 2008 until around 2012.

Paid apps in the App Store are not very expensive.

More than 70% of the apps are priced between $0.99 and $2.99.

Therefore, the $8.99 price that Lu Chen decided on is definitely a high price.

This might lead to another situation like the Fruit Swordsmen.

The high price resulted in low initial sales.

Low initial sales prevented it from making it onto the App Store charts.

This eventually creates a vicious cycle where no one cares.

Last time, by adding a friend system, 5.5 players spontaneously spread the word and salvaged the situation.

Are they going to use the same trick again this time?

I'm afraid players won't accept it.

Upon hearing Jiang Chang's question, Lu Chen fell into deep thought.

He was wondering how PopCap Games managed to price its products at a hefty $19.95.

They also sold over 50 copies in a year.

Did I miss some details?