Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Bilibili did the same thing in its previous life. As of 2020, Bilibili had exclusively distributed 43 mobile games and had hundreds of other mobile games co-operated with it.

Although..

It wasn't until 24 that, through a series of unexpected events, they acquired the rights to "Three Kingdoms: Strategist's Guide to the World," a non-anime-style mobile game that, in a darkly humorous way, shed its reputation as a "graveyard of mobile games."

Why is it described as a twist of fate?

Because of the essence of Bilibili's role as the agent for "Three Kingdoms: Strategist".

It's a story of a group of skilled SLG players who have long been struggling with the game, using the Mixue Ice Cream model to crush traditional SLG games and achieve a comeback.

The main character is actually the Sanmou Studio, which initially had only 6 people.

The studio expanded to 17 people in 22. Initially, they didn't even have a test server QQ group because they were short-handed and no one had the time to manage the QQ group.

The entire game's marketing and promotion relied on the lead planner's posts on TapTap.

The production team behind "Three Schemes" is actually the main character; it's just that in the end, Bilibili becomes the distributor of "Three Schemes."

Of course, Chen Rui was unaware of this story at the time, or rather, if he had known, he would probably have found it both laughable and absurd.

currently.

Bilibili's core gaming focus remains on anime-style games.

Therefore, logically speaking...

Chen Rui should stand on the opposite side of Xinghuo.

But...

Bilibili's current agent's job is not very secure.

The whole year of 18.

Bilibili leverages its ACG community ecosystem to launch mobile games such as "Ark Order" and "Song of Time".

However, none of these works could replicate the success of FGO.

The historical Azur Lane has now been taken over by Xinghuo.

Two years have passed, and apart from FGO, Buster still doesn't have a single game that's worth mentioning.

Although FGO has achieved far greater profits in China than in its previous life due to the major changes made by Lin Li, the problem is that Spark's share of the profits is also quite high.

Bilibili's revenue is not much better than in its previous life.

Therefore, last year.

Chen Rui had already begun building a large-scale Bilibili proxy system.

The intention is to monetize Bilibili's own active traffic.

The problem is that even though Bilibili's monthly active users have reached 9280 million, nearly 1 million people across the country log in to Bilibili once a month.

Despite such massive traffic, it was impossible to make even one game a success.

Therefore, Chen Rui can only draw one conclusion.

That is, users of anime-style games have relatively high requirements for game content, so we cannot rely on Tencent's experience.

Chen Rui then analyzed Xinghuo.

I feel that importing traffic from anime-style games is difficult.

However, once the traffic is successfully imported, the retention rate of these players is quite terrifying.

They really love the games they like.

Moreover, as the investment costs increase, this retention rate will continue to rise.

It's difficult to put emotion into those mediocre works.

This is why Bilibili has traffic but no way to monetize it.

Even if many users download the game because of the promotion, they will quickly leave because the game quality is poor.

Therefore, Chen Rui hoped to create or distribute a high-quality game.

Due to a lack of confidence in Bilibili's self-developed technology.

Chen Rui has pinned his hopes on the agent.

But unfortunately...

“Yesterday, Lin Li called me again to inquire about the platform cooperation. Before giving a specific reply, I would like to hear your opinions.”

"This is the cooperation proposal from Xinghuo. Please take a look."

This cooperation plan is mainly divided into two parts.

One is traffic exchange.

After the cooperation was reached, within the Spark platform.

On each game introduction page, a "More Videos" button will be embedded. After clicking, players will be redirected to the embedded browser to play the relevant game videos.

Players can directly view gameplay videos uploaded by Bilibili users, content creators, and others on this interface.

Meanwhile, all of Xinghuo platform's future self-produced game programs, previews, and other content will only be released on Bilibili.

Of course, after its release, it will also appear as an embedded feature on the Spark Games platform.

Chapter 419 Don't actually drive a Land Rover!

At last.

The Spark platform will also integrate Spark accounts with Bilibili.

This isn't specifically for domestic users, but rather for global users, allowing them to directly log in to Bilibili using their Spark accounts.

With the growth of the Spark platform among users worldwide.

Bilibili can also take this opportunity to acquire a wave of overseas users. Whether it's expanding overseas or going global in the future, this user base will be helpful to Bilibili.

In addition, Bilibili's self-developed and licensed games can be logged into the Spark platform.

Spark will also allocate a certain amount of traffic.

However, after these resource connections, Xinghuo also needs quite a lot.

On the one hand, Bilibili's advertising and promotional resources will be tilted towards Xinghuo.

Spark must have priority in purchasing Bilibili's advertising resources.

Second.

Bilibili will also allocate more traffic to the promotional content of Xinghuo's self-produced variety shows, videos, etc., including leveraging its algorithm to drive traffic.

Finally, all future Bilibili games on PC will be exclusive to the Spark platform.

"Mr. Chen, this cooperation agreement completely blocks our path to becoming an agent! I don't think this will work."

The first to voice their opinions were people from Bilibili's agency department.

As the saying goes, the butt determines the head.

Those who act as agents are the first to sense the changes in the market; the manufacturers who used to fawn over them are now paying little attention to them.

A series of gray income sources have also plummeted.

He hated Xinghuo with a passion.

But for every person who criticizes someone, there is someone who loves them.

The head of Bilibili's self-operated business believes this is a good thing.

"This is not actually a bad thing. Whether we cooperate or not, in the current ACG market environment, no one is looking for agents anymore; everyone is just watching and waiting."

"From what I understand, some people at large companies are even planning to leave and start their own businesses."

"If Spark succeeds, the future will definitely see more self-developed technologies than those produced through agents."

"At this moment, the other party is on the verge of success, which can be described as providing timely help. It is the perfect time for Bilibili to join us."

"Moreover, if we take the path of self-developed technology, Bilibili has an even greater advantage."

"Because compared to other games on the Spark platform, in addition to being able to leverage Spark's marketing and promotion efforts, we can also promote our games on our own platform."

"As for the allocation of advertising resources, it will definitely be tilted towards our own games."

Regarding this statement.

Chen Rui didn't entirely agree.

In his view, Bilibili's current level of self-developed technology is a complete mess.

However, there is one correct point in this passage.

That is, the overall environment for anime and manga game developers has changed.

Since the establishment of the Spark platform in April.

Major domestic manufacturers have clearly felt that fewer small distributors are seeking agents simply because they lack distribution capabilities.

More manufacturers are seeking investment, but fewer teams are willing to sell themselves and directly join the factory.

To use a recent financial news report as an example.

"The entire gaming industry has shown tremendous vitality."

But for many "giants," what they fear is vitality.

Vitality means that newcomers may not be on their side, and once there are many newcomers, their position becomes unstable.

Compared to those traditional giants.

Bilibili doesn't have as many burdens as other platforms, so it's still an option.

The afternoon's discussion came to an end.

In the end, Chen Rui still couldn't make up his mind.

The only direction was to quickly find domestic teams that could be acquired to strengthen Bilibili's self-developed capabilities.

End of the meeting.

It's very late.

Chen Rui looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows of the conference room at the view.

I know perfectly well what's going on in my head.

The current collaboration between Bilibili and Xinghuo is more than the sum of its parts.

The two companies have complementary user groups, but different business models, so the competition is relatively less intense.

Bilibili's main business is, after all, video; it's not a gaming company.

not to mention.

Bilibili and Spark have collaborated on projects like FGO, Bleach, and One Piece. The two IPs have already brought a significant number of overseas users to Bilibili through previous Spark online events.

But at the same time.

Chen Rui was well aware of why he was conflicted.

This mindset is actually very simple.

I'm worried that my brother will suffer, but I'm also worried that he'll drive a Land Rover.

Chen Rui personally guided Xinghuo step by step, even personally.

Countless nights.

He kept asking himself these questions.

When the president of DEWORK asked him if he wanted to buy FGO, what would have happened to Bilibili if he had agreed?

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this world.

So, Chen Rui could only sigh.

"How did Spark become such a behemoth?"

~~~