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

"certainly!"

With a slam on the table, Lu Chen stood up, his tone firm and unwavering.

"Susie, call everyone in, we need to have a meeting."

"oh oh."

Seeing Lu Chen's enthusiasm, Susie felt a little more at ease.

Soon, seven people were crammed into the small office.

They consist of three people from the programming team, two people from the art team, and two people from the sound effects team.

The crowd looked puzzled. Hadn't they just received their salaries? Why were they all gathered together again?

Under the desk, a few people were whispering amongst themselves.

"Why do you think the boss called us here?"

"Isn't this announcing the company's dissolution?"

"No, no way... Didn't we just get paid? We also got a bonus."

……

Lu Chen glanced around and, seeing the bewildered looks in everyone's eyes, tapped the table and said in a serious tone:

"Everyone, the situation at our Conquer Online Technology is not optimistic. If nothing changes, we might have to close down next month!"

"Old Wu, could you tell me about the two games you're currently running?"

A man in his thirties, wearing glasses and a plaid shirt, stood up from the audience.

He is Wu Zhixuan from the programming team, who was previously responsible for the overall coordination of game development, liaising between the programming team and the art and sound effects teams.

Now, being in charge of the overall operation of two games, I have the clearest understanding of the company's current situation.

"Boss Lu, our company currently operates two games, 'Rapid Fire' and 'Heartbeat Rhythm'."

During development, we benchmarked ourselves against Tencent's "Penguin Racer" and "Penguin Dance".

In the early stages of the game's launch, we did achieve good results and were able to compete with Tencent.

But now…

Wu Zhixuan paused for a moment and looked around.

"How are things now? Continue!"

Lu Chen gestured for Wu Zhixuan to continue.

"Right now... we haven't even earned back the electricity bill..."

These words immediately caused an uproar in the office.

"What?!"

"Boss, what do we do?!"

"yes!"

"Quiet! Listen to what Old Wu has to say!"

Lu Chen banged on the table forcefully, and the scene gradually quieted down.

Although they didn't say it, everyone's face was filled with anxiety, fearing that Lu Chen would directly announce the dissolution of the company.

After all, the reason I chose to work for a game company in 2008 was because I had some dreams and wanted to make a difference in the game industry.

"Our game 'Rapid Fire' has had an average of over a hundred players per day for the past month."

And "Heartbeat Rhythm"... has less than a hundred participants...

After recounting these two stark statistics, Wu Zhixuan didn't even dare to look up at the crowd.

Upon hearing the truth about the company, everyone's last hope was extinguished, and they all hung their heads.

"But our games are better than Tencent's!"

In what way are our art and music inferior to Tencent's?

Our game content is also richer than Tencent's!

Let's hang in there a little longer, maybe we can even cover the electricity bill next month!

Tao Manwen from the art group, with her small frame, seemed to possess an inexplicable stubbornness as she clenched her fists to encourage everyone.

"Yes, let's hold on a little longer, maybe things will turn around."

"Yes, yes!"

Seeing that the company members were still encouraging each other, Lu Chen was very gratified.

But the truth is that the two games are beyond saving, and Lu Chen couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

Tencent's "Penguin Racer" and "Penguin Dance" are still very successful games even by today's standards, and there are still a large number of players playing them in 2025.

Because this is not a game in the traditional sense; it has more social elements.

It is a phenomenal game created by Tencent, relying on a nationally popular social media platform in China.

Therefore, Journey Technology chose the wrong direction from the very beginning.

Lu Chen's original idea was to work for a big company and get some benefits.

Thanks to its high-quality games, it can maintain operations even if it can't compete with Tencent on equal footing.

But the truth is that Lu Chen's idea was too naive.

In the gaming industry, the winner takes all, leaving no room for Journey Technology to survive!

Having sorted out his thoughts, Lu Chen sighed.

The weak Journey Technology absolutely cannot go head-to-head with Tencent; it must avoid its sharp edge for now.

And find a way to change course and ultimately achieve a comeback!

"Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me."

Lu Chen took the initiative to speak, and the people around the desk immediately fell silent.

Several pairs of eyes were looking at him, and there was still a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

"Sigh, everyone knows the current state of ZhengTu Technology. If we don't make changes, our tomorrow will surely be death!"

I'm preparing to change direction and move into a new gaming field.

So, I'm announcing the first thing:

Both games currently in operation have been shut down!

"What?!"

"Boss, our game, which took us a whole year to launch, is being shut down after less than three months?!"

"Then what should we do?"

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

No one expected that Lu Chen's first action would be so bold.

This is equivalent to all the company's efforts since it started operating going down the drain.

The company was once again in a state of complete poverty.

Wu Zhixuan was also shocked when he heard Lu Chen's bold decision.

But he quickly extricated himself from the situation because he was the game's operator and knew best what the two games were really like.

In Wu Zhixuan's view, persistence may have long been meaningless, nothing more than self-indulgence!

It's better to concentrate resources early and give it one last shot.

Success means everyone is happy; failure means closing down and going out of business.

"Boss Lu, have you figured out what the new game is about?"

Wu Zhixuan asked in a low voice.

"Of course, the direction of the games we're going to work on next will be ones that will exist for the next ten, twenty years, or even longer," Lu Chen said confidently.

"this……"

Wu Zhixuan was speechless for a moment; he couldn't think of any game that could remain popular for so long.

"To be precise, we're not making PC games in the future, we're making mobile games!"

Lu Chen said firmly.

"Mobile games?!"

"Snake? Tetris?"

"Wouldn't that be even worse?!"

Upon hearing that Lu Chen had actually switched to making mobile games, everyone's first reaction was to think of the classic games that came with Nokia phones.

No one realized that a large number of players would flock to mobile games in the future gaming market.

This is also a limitation of the times.

In 2008, Apple's groundbreaking product, the iPhone, had not yet entered the Chinese market.

"China Union" includes a massive number of counterfeit smartphones that have not yet appeared on the market.

All strength is still being accumulated.

Lu Chen, the reborn individual, secretly activated a cheat code.

Find the optimal solution in the unknown!

"Don't misunderstand, everyone," Lu Chen continued to explain, "The mobile games I'm referring to are smartphone games!"

In March of this year, Apple announced the launch of an application called the App Store.

This app is designed for all developers, allowing everyone to upload their own apps and receive revenue sharing from paid downloads.

This is our opportunity!

After hearing Lu Chen's words, Wu Zhixuan looked completely bewildered.

Everyone else in the office was just as confused as he was.

Some people at the event had heard of Apple's smartphones, and some tech enthusiasts had also attended Steve Jobs' presentation.

But no one had actually used it before, let alone imagined developing a game on a piece of glass!

They couldn't even imagine how games would work on smartphones!

No one expected Lu Chen to have such a forward-thinking idea.

"Everyone." Lu Chen tapped the table.

"In the future, everyone will have a smartphone, so developing games for smartphones is a way for us to gain a competitive advantage!"

This is a golden opportunity for us to surpass Tencent!