Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

Then, with the rise of the Internet and the emergence of the online video media industry, videotape rental and sales gradually disappeared from the tide of time.

Video games and movies also face similar problems when it comes to renting and selling videotapes.

People who buy video games can rent their physical game cartridges or discs to others at very low prices, and the copyright holders can do nothing about it.

Companies such as Surui Electronics and Brown Entertainment have attempted to sue several times, but have all suffered humiliating defeats.

Zhu Youxing was fully aware that this matter was impossible to win, and he had no intention of depriving players of their right to share, so he never participated in any such lawsuit.

However, the company's operations department has repeatedly expressed its hope that Zhuyouxing could take the lead in regulating this practice of reselling secondhand or renting.

For Youxing Electronic Entertainment, this method wouldn't be too troublesome.

All that's needed is to add some code to the existing game cartridges to lock the game.

For example, the cartridge can be data-bound to the game console it was first inserted into. Once a new game console is installed, the program data in the cartridge will be completely locked, making it inaccessible to anyone.

To go even further, they could lock the entire cartridge and render it unusable, leaving the original purchasers with nothing.

They believed that this would definitely increase sales.

Listening to the advice from the management team, Zhu Youxing looked at them and said, "I don't want to hear these kinds of things again, and I will never do such a thing. First and foremost, I am a player, and only secondly am I a game developer. This is a belief that will never change. As a player, I don't want the things you suggested to happen."

"I'm sorry, President, I won't bring it up again."

The person in charge of the business department immediately broke out in a cold sweat and apologized.

Zhu Youxing rarely appears so serious and indifferent, which jolted the people in the management department awake.

Zhu Youxing is the boss, and he has often emphasized his own player attributes. His department has made this suggestion many times, which is indeed challenging the boss's authority.

Several producers in the game development department expressed their strong agreement with Zhu Youxing's persistence.

Only in this way can we create better video games.

These are all things they firmly believe in.

"In fact, neither you nor I can completely prohibit the lending or renting of physical game copies. If you really do that, it will be going against the players' wishes. We may make some money in the short term, but we will lose more long-term benefits."

In fact, given the scale and size of Yuxing Electronics Entertainment, and the quality of its games, even if Yuxing Electronics Entertainment did do this and it caused widespread complaints from players, they would probably still grit their teeth and continue to buy the games, because Yuxing Electronics Entertainment's games are really fun.

Compared to other game companies, the difference in quality is still significant.

However, there are precedents in the original world.

Microsoft has done this kind of stupid thing before, ultimately handing over its market share to its competitors.

If I do this, my competitors will definitely take advantage of my vulnerability.

This is not something Zhu Youxing wants to see either.

"I have another way, which will be gentle and will also make players willingly buy more digital games."

"what?"

"It's very simple, it's just a discount."

"Discount?"

How attractive can a discount be? Yuxing Electronics Entertainment has done discounts many times before.

However, this is not enough to completely attract players to buy digital versions of the game.

"I know you're thinking that discounts might not be effective, but what I'm trying to say is that the reason they weren't effective before was simply because the discounts weren't aggressive enough."

"Not ruthless enough..."

Someone tentatively asked, "President, how ruthless do you want to be?"

"If you offer a 90% discount, a 20% discount, selling the game for only 10% or 20% of its original price, would they still refuse?"

As soon as Zhu Youxing finished speaking, everyone stared at him in astonishment.

That expression was very strange.

That expression seemed to say something.

President, are you crazy?

Can you really make money this way?

"Trust me, you can do it."

Zhu Youxing spoke with a firm gaze.

"If even this doesn't work, I have other methods up my sleeve."

Someone suddenly interrupted Takeyusei, who was about to say something, and quickly said, "President, but if there's such a huge discount, won't it directly affect the sales of our game's initial release?"

"You don't need to worry about that. These discounts are planned in a certain way. First of all, games released within the last year will definitely not be discounted this much. At most, they will be discounted to about 80% of the original price, unless the game itself is not very good and its sales are not good, then some adjustments will be made."

Zhu Youxing paused for a moment, then continued, "As for games that have been released for about two years, we can offer them at half price."

"For games that have been released for three years or even longer, we can sell them at a lower price. I have also come up with a discount strategy, which will be based on the four seasons. We will offer discounts during the time when players are most willing to spend money in each season. I call it: Special Sale Festival."

Chapter 959 Winning Again and Again

959

Generally speaking, video game sales often determine everything within the first week, and at most within a month.

Players who like this game will be eager to buy it as soon as possible and won't wait at all.

Players who are still hesitant, but really want to play, will usually think it through within a month of the game's release, and then try it out.

This law is even more evident in the case of Youxing Electronic Entertainment.

Yuxing Electronic Entertainment now has a very strong influence.

Furthermore, with over 20 years of good reputation, the games produced by them have received almost no negative reviews.

Even if there are negative reviews, it's the kind of game that's very selective in terms of players.

Strategy games, which used to be a popular genre, have now become niche games. If players know that a game is a strategy game, their first thought is simply that they are not interested and do not want to play it.

Or, games like Sekiro, which are highly difficult and can be so challenging that they can cause psychological trauma to many players.

Players who can't experience the exhilarating feeling after completing the game will hate it, while those who like it will love it; the polarization will be quite obvious.

Apart from these exceptions, most of the games from Yuxing Electronic Entertainment are very popular.

In short, you might occasionally encounter problems when buying video games from other companies. The game might be misleadingly advertised, and you might find it uninteresting after you receive it.

However, this problem generally does not occur when purchasing games from Yuxing Electronic Entertainment.

Even now, games from Youxing Electronic Entertainment have become something akin to financial products.

Physical games that you buy on release day often go up in price when you resell them.

This also demonstrates the game development capabilities of Yuxing Electronic Entertainment and the level of trust players have in the company.

Even so, generally speaking, the games released by Yuxing Electronic Entertainment will only account for 80% to 90% of their total sales in the first month, and it will be difficult for them to reach the sales level of the initial release for several years afterward.

However, one situation that has emerged is that video game sales are entering a period of stagnation.

Good games will still sell well, but the overall number of players has decreased significantly.

Therefore, the most efficient solution is the simplest and most straightforward method: discount sales.

In the past, the discounts weren't very significant, unless the game was really old, in which case Yuxing Electronic Entertainment would sell it as a package, or offer a monthly subscription model like Facebook Mobile for playing older games.

Now, Zhuyouxing has decided to adjust the game's sales strategy.

In the past, discounts rarely affected overall game sales, which was ultimately because the discounts weren't aggressive enough.

If 20% off doesn't work, then try half price. If half price doesn't work, then go for 20% off, or even 10% off.

If all else fails, giving it away for free isn't out of the question, but that would require some prerequisites. Players would always have to give something in return, like increasing their click count a little bit.

But there's no need for Yuxing Electronic Entertainment to force itself to do this; doing so would be too low-class.

Unless the competition is too aggressive, giving away games for free is unlikely to happen.

One of the managers asked, "President, are you really going to do this? If we do, won't we even be able to recoup the game's costs?"

"Cost? Weren't we already recouped our costs? I'm not talking about selling the physical version, I'm talking about the digital version. Don't you understand the significance of the digital version?"

"Digital version... but shouldn't the digital version also have a cost?" The person was still a little confused.

Zhu Youxing smiled and said, "It seems you still don't fully understand the significance of digital games. The purpose of selling digital games is to expand the player base. The biggest advantage of digital games is that they cost almost nothing."

"Zero cost? But our game..."

"You mean the game's development costs, right? Those can basically be recouped in the first week or month after the game's release. All the money from the remaining sales is profit. So whether you sell it at a 90% discount or at full price, you make the same money. But sometimes selling the game at full price can deter many players who want to play, thus reducing the player base. However, selling it at a discount can attract more players, which is the most profitable."

Once you have a solid foundation of public support, everything will be easier to do in the future.

The real concern is that as the economy slumps, more and more people will stop playing games because they are expensive.

This eventually creates a vicious cycle, and nobody plays video games anymore.

Therefore, discounts are inevitable.

"The biggest feature of digital games is that they are almost zero cost. Actually, I originally intended to use this method to deal with Surrey Electronics and Mikeford in the future, but now it seems that this method needs to be used in advance."

Actually, there's another advantage to this kind of discounted digital game sales, which Zhuyouxing hasn't mentioned yet.

That means gamers are human too, and so are housewives queuing up in supermarkets to snap up discounted items.

If we're all human, then we almost all share a common nature.

To put it bluntly, it's about being greedy for cheap deals.

It can also be described as the thrill of consumer stimulation.

Buying something cheap and affordable can produce a dopamine rush that's just as pleasurable as other things.

Back in the day, I would keep an eye on Steam's Summer Sale and Christmas Sale every year. For just a few hundred dollars, I could buy dozens of high-quality games that would normally cost thousands.

I still vividly remember the feeling of making a killing.

It has to be said that Gabe Newell (GabeN) is truly a business genius.

Special sales events are perfect for video games.

The near-zero cost of digital games makes it possible to create such incredibly affordable discounts.