Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

However, this is the appeal of being free.

However, offering something for free doesn't bring any benefits.

In particular, the collapse of YOO the previous year made most investors realize the existence of the internet bubble.

They now have a great deal of distrust regarding the so-called number of people online at the same time or the number of registered users on the internet.

Hayakawa Ueto felt the same way; he also believed that this was probably just a flash in the pan and couldn't prove anything at all.

But the Battle.net platform itself is having a great time.

With so many people online at the same time, the pressure on the server is enormous, and the demand for the server is increasing rapidly.

As a result, Youxing Electronics Entertainment had to temporarily allocate some of the GS1's network servers.

At the same time, Zhu Youxing immediately ordered people to expand the server capacity, as he was very concerned about network services.

Players are very sensitive. For games like Counter-Strike, even a slight network delay can greatly affect the gaming experience, not to mention crashes caused by network service fluctuations, which would severely damage players' trust in the Battle.net platform.

Chapter 608 The Best Creative Workshop

608

Can the online debate platform recoup its profits in the future?

Online, some articles with similar titles have appeared at some point.

Some of these people are so-called economists.

As traffic to the Battle.net platform surged, these people set their sights on this brand-new gaming platform.

Game console users are real people. If you want to become a game console user, you must first become a game console buyer, and you also need to buy a game.

However, the Battle.net platform on PC has no download barriers; as long as you have internet access, you can download it and play games on it.

Therefore, the number of concurrent online users recorded on the Battle.net platform appears somewhat inflated to these individuals.

After the dot-com bubble caused by YOO last year led to a collective halving of the stock prices of internet companies, many people became so afraid of the internet that they kept their distance from it.

Now they've discovered that Youxing Electronic Entertainment, which had previously maintained a steady and reliable business model, seems to have suddenly started adopting an internet-based approach.

This is really quite puzzling.

They are now actively investing in things that others avoid at all costs.

According to these so-called economists' estimates, Youxing Electronic Entertainment spent at least tens of millions of dollars to attract these free players.

These tens of millions of dollars were all invested directly, and at that time, economists felt that it was a waste of money.

However, Yuxing Electronic Entertainment ignored these concerns and continued to add servers to the Battle.net platform, while also adding more service windows and strengthening the Workshop.

During the free week, the Workshop page was filled with all sorts of mods.

Players' imagination and creativity are fully unleashed at this moment.

It's a feeling of freedom.

Freedom can sometimes be a powerful attraction.

While only a few of these mods are truly interesting, that doesn't matter to players who enjoy creating.

Out of curiosity, an unknown player used simple tools to create a Counter-Strike weapon model.

It was just a model, but it was downloaded thousands of times within a day of his submission.

Meanwhile, there are many comments under the mods he made, most of which praise the gun model as very good-looking and express their love for the new model.

The player who created this weapon mod experienced an unprecedented sense of accomplishment.

The feeling of being praised and liked is completely different from the feeling of beating a game.

This also inspired the player's creativity, and he began to frantically create all sorts of mods, hoping that more people would like what he made.

This is gradually starting to have a positive effect.

Kazumi, Aiko, and Oto-chan are probably among the biggest beneficiaries of this creative workshop model.

Because of a sudden whim, He Mei threw their farm defense game, which the three of them had created, into the Counter-Strike game.

Moreover, HeMei submitted his work very early, making him one of the earliest Counter-Strike mods, and thus received more attention.

Players quickly gave high praise to the Counter-Strike Farm Defense mod created by Hemei.

Then they noticed that there was a game with the same name on the Battle.net platform, and it wasn't expensive, only 1,000 yen, which is about ten US dollars. The kids could afford it if they saved up a little, so they bought the game without hesitation, intending to play this more complete farm defense game.

During the short-term free trial of Counter-Strike, sales of Farm Defense surged again, with the game, which originally only had tens of thousands of sales, quickly reaching 100,000 sales in a short period of time.

With 100,000 sales, after deducting the platform's 30% cut, that means approximately $700,000 in revenue went into the pockets of the three girls in a very short period of time.

The three girls were overjoyed.

Oto, who used to bicker with Kazumi all the time, was speechless at this moment, while Kazumi strutted around arrogantly for a long time.

And soon it was a week after the limited-time free offer ended.

Before this, many online experts believed that once the free period ended, the number of users would drop rapidly, and only a minority of internet users would be willing to pay, especially since they would never easily pay again after experiencing free content, just like after watching free movies and TV shows.

Even if a film or television series is a classic, people will only think about downloading pirated versions to watch repeatedly, and only a minority of people will buy the genuine version.

But reality slapped them in the face.

When the week-long free period ended, the number of concurrent players for the several free-to-play games did decrease, but it didn't plummet as they had anticipated; instead, it remained at a very high level.

Even after the free period ended, Counter-Strike maintained a user base of 700,000 concurrent users. This is likely because Counter-Strike itself has high sales, so maintaining this number is not surprising.

The same applies to the other games.

However, this proves that the number of players online at the same time is real.

If they can maintain a consistent online presence, then the number of users will definitely exceed tenfold.

This moment silenced some of the economic experts who had previously mocked the situation.

what happened?

Why does my own rich experience and judgment not work on the Battle.net platform?

Why don't many of these people go and experience free games in return?

Zhu Youxing felt that these guys were incredibly boring.

Why waste time researching yourself when you have nothing better to do? Ultimately, they are limited by the times, so they don't fully understand the saying that free is the most expensive.

Free access acts as a stepping stone, telling players that only legitimate players, or even those playing the legitimate version for free, can experience the most complete Steam Workshop experience.

While mods can certainly be distributed through piracy, the Battle.net Workshop has been perfectly designed by BambooGame from the very beginning, providing an excellent experience. In other words, no one would be willing to give up a great legitimate Workshop experience.

Moreover, games like Counter-Strike and StarCraft weren't particularly expensive to begin with, and to promote esports, they even underwent several rounds of permanent price reductions.

Therefore, even fewer people would be willing to give up such a great experience with an officially licensed game.

All of this is actually just a byproduct.

Bamboo Star's initial goal was to discover more people interested in game development through module creation.

Based on feedback from several game workshops, some players have gained attention in the workshops and have begun to develop an interest in video game development. Among them are some talented game developers. Yuxing Entertainment has extended an olive branch to these individuals without hesitation, inviting them to develop games on the Battle.net platform. Yuxing will provide a complete set of engine and other development tools. Before revenue reaches one million US dollars, Yuxing Electronic Entertainment will not charge them a single penny, in order to encourage them to establish themselves on the Battle.net platform and deeply integrate with them.

Chapter 609 New Host

609

The creative workshop was a great success in the end.

The number of concurrent online players surged as a result, and the number of people interested in game development rapidly increased to a new level after this event.

Zhu Youxing felt that he could look forward to these talented people developing interesting games.

He's always wanted to play more fun games.

However, this kind of thing can be done gradually. After the initial work in the Creative Workshop is completed, the rest can be completely handed over to the Battle.net platform department to handle, and he doesn't need to get involved anymore.

Now he has another thing to focus on: the development of the latest game console.

While they were setting up their own Battle.net platform, the development of the new console had already entered its later stages.

"Bamboo Game, this is our final version of the game console. We have also negotiated the price with the chip manufacturer. We will supply 100 million chips for five years, and the price can be reduced to $270 per chip."

Hayazawa Airi stood next to Takeyusei, who was holding the controller and trying out the new console, and carefully explained the features of the brand-new game console to him.

Now that some of the key technologies for game consoles have been realized, the remaining task is to stack performance to make game development and production easier.

After hearing Hayazawa Airi explain the chip's purchase price, Takeyusei simply grunted in response and continued to seriously experience the latest console.

This latest console boasts performance close to that of the PS4, representing a slight improvement over the initial console experience.

This is thanks to the highly experienced hardware development teams we have today.

These people are now top talents with more than ten years of experience in game console development.

If any one of these people were to be stranded elsewhere, they could become a guest of honor for other game companies.

Especially Su Rui Electronics, they drool over the hardware and game development teams of Youxing Electronics Entertainment every day.

They had extended olive branches to these people more than once, inviting them to join Surui Electronics.

However, most of them refused without hesitation, while a few were tempted, since the salary was indeed high. But in the end, most of them resisted the urge to leave.

Because we've been with Youxing Electronic Entertainment for many years, the benefits they offer are quite generous.

I've become so used to this environment that moving to a new one just for a little more money isn't necessarily a good thing.

Some of the advice came from their wives.

These people's families are now very harmonious and happy.

Yuxing Electronic Entertainment has never had an overtime policy, so you can go to work happily every day and come home to chat happily with your wife and children about the day's work. It's very relaxing.

In Japanese society, Yusei Electronics Entertainment is like an anomaly.

Many people are now desperate to get in, and if they really wanted to leave, they would be crazy.

Their wives also strongly advised their husbands not to act rashly, saying that if they were unhappy at work, they might as well continue working there for the extra salary.

Yuxing Electronic Entertainment isn't on the verge of bankruptcy; it's actually thriving.