Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

"There really is." After saying that, Lin Li seemed to have flipped a switch to start a new conversation.

"Brother Dawei, do you think mobile games are fun these days, especially the ones that have come out in the last few years?"

"It depends on how you define fun."

Although the answer is not explicitly stated, it is actually quite clear. After all, things that need to be defined are often not the real things.

Just like those promotional advertisements, those that add a qualifier for "first" are often not actually the first.

The same applies to games.

When the word "fun" needs to be preceded by a modifier, it's actually no longer very fun.

However, David's answer did not completely negate the entire market, which shows a certain level of emotional intelligence.

Lin Li smiled and nodded.

"For most games, they are actually made according to a formula. When they see that others are making money, they will try to use the same formula again."

"In the entire domestic gaming industry, most people don't care whether the game is fun or not; they only care about whether they can make money."

"China's player base is so large that many game companies can sell even the worst games by adding chocolate to poop, and they can sell them quite well."

"But I think that players will eventually mature, and if game developers haven't matured by then, they'll have to pay the price sooner or later..."

At this point, Lin Li suddenly recalled the mobile game market in 23 and 24.

That year was known as the mobile game battle royale.

Countless mobile game developers haven't shifted away from the mindset of making money effortlessly; they still think it's the era when drawing two pretty girls as mascots was all it took to make money.

The storyline wasn't polished, the gameplay was just copied from a popular game, the pay-to-win aspect was completely Genshin Impact-like, and then they just waited to make money.

pity.

Players back then weren't fools anymore.

Therefore, 23 became a year of entertainment for players, with almost every new anime-style mobile game release causing some kind of trouble, providing plenty of entertainment for spectators.

Chapter Fifty Lugus

Throughout 23, a bunch of games were launched. Leaving aside miHoYo's Star Railway, the only one that survived relatively well was Return to the Future 1999. And even that game had some problems when it was first released.

Later, through long-term operation, they managed to salvage some of their reputation.

Others include Girls' Frontline 2, Godslayer, Millennium Green, and even the Dust White Forbidden Zone and Naruto in the testing phase.

Without exception, they had all experienced major public relations crises.

Why does this happen?

It's actually because the market has changed and players have evolved.

If you bring out a plate of chocolate with poop on it, nobody will eat it.

For a game developer, it's not just a carrier of data, a tool for dealing with players, or simply a means to make a living.

Just as a film is to a director, an album to a singer, and a novel to an author, for any aspiring creator, it is a form of expression, and that is its core meaning.

Once a person's most basic physiological and safety needs are met, they will seek more recognition and respect from others, as well as self-actualization.

That's all Lin Li can say now.

It was actually built on the success of "Girls' Frontline".

This is something that happens after the company has a healthy cash flow.

Actually, there were many things he didn't say to Dawei, and he didn't think that miHoYo would change anything because of what he said today.

Ultimately, we want to change the world.

He has to do it himself.

Just like the Chinese automobile market in its previous life.

Relying on the government to shout slogans is useless. Only when a few real giants emerge in the industry can the myth of joint venture cars be broken.

Only then can those once-arrogant joint ventures experience the pain of repeatedly lowering car prices and still not being able to sell them.

The same reason.

Words alone cannot change the timeline or change miHoYo.

Only when Linli becomes powerful enough, and when he becomes the standard, will other companies understand this and perish if they don't adapt.

Only then will the market follow Lin Li's wishes.

This is very difficult to do.

Lin Li wasn't sure if he could do it.

But he felt...

If he manages to accomplish this, it will definitely bring him an unimaginable sense of accomplishment.

Of course, he had never mentioned these ideas to anyone, and now was not the time for that.

Lin Li wandered around the scene again, listening to a cacophony of sounds.

Revenue, turnover, paying user rate, conversion rate, how to squeeze players dry, how to increase paying users—all of this instantly killed my interest in chatting.

I greeted a few people I got along with at the meeting, then went out to go back to my room.

Want to say.

The organizers of this exhibition were quite good.

The banquet was held inside the hotel; you could go back to your room by taking the elevator after exiting the hotel.

Press the elevator button.

The door opens.

As soon as I stepped inside and pressed the floor button, two people followed me into the elevator, one after the other.

Lin Li then habitually stepped back and stood in the inner part of the elevator.

Then he looked at the people who came in.

Quite a coincidence.

The person in front of me, Lin Li, is a senior executive at Ubisoft Shanghai. We chatted briefly during lunch.

They talked about some things related to Chinese single-player games, and also mentioned that Ubisoft is currently considering adapting Heroes of Might and Magic into a mobile game.

Coincidentally, Lin Li was also a fan of Heroes of Might and Magic.

The two had a long and in-depth discussion about this matter.

However, based on the executive's development plans and project positioning, Lin Li felt that Ubisoft's mobile adaptation of Heroes of Might and Magic would likely face difficulties.

After all, this IP has high brand recognition.

However, most fans are PC game fans and want to use a lightweight mobile game approach with monetization incentives to create Heroes of Might and Magic...

this..

In addition, Lin Li recalled carefully that Ubisoft had never released a mobile game version of Heroes of Might and Magic in his previous life.

There are a lot of licensed developments, though.

If he were to do it himself, he could ask Ubisoft for a license and make a female version of Heroes of Might and Magic or something, which might be interesting?

Um..

Let's forget about it. Since we're already making a female version, we might as well borrow the idea and completely modify it.

After all, it would be criticized to moe the Heroes of Might and Magic IP.

A complete overhaul might even attract some fans of the original work to join the fandom.

When Lin Li saw this executive, the Ubisoft executive also saw him, and the two greeted each other.

However, judging from this person's expression, it seems they've encountered some problem.

The answer to this question didn't take Lin Li long to arrive.

Because it's fast.

The middle-aged man behind him spoke.

"Sir, please take another look at our product. It has really been greatly improved compared to before."

The middle-aged man who came in with the Ubisoft executive looked and dressed somewhat like Borg. He was about thirty years old, with short brown hair and a big beard.

He is also quite robust in build.

Based on the fact that he dresses and looks very similar to Borg.

Lin Li judged that this might be an Icelander?

The man spoke slowly and in English with the Ubisoft executive, though his English had a strange accent, but Lin Li could still understand him.

Ubisoft executives were clearly not interested in what he was saying.

His expression was stern, and his reply was equally cold: "I already said, your engine doesn't meet our requirements. Besides, Ubisoft has its own engine team..."

The middle-aged man said with a mournful face, "But sir, this project was started in the first place because of Ubisoft. How can you just abandon it after we've finished it?!"

Ubisoft executives sighed.

"Lugus, the company's development direction has changed. What we need now is an engine that supports multiple platforms, but yours only supports PC, and the art style is too cartoonish..."

"But we've already done the porting work for the mobile game according to your new requirements. As for the engine's art style, that can be changed, as long as the money is right..."

"Alright, that's enough. The company's overall direction has been decided. Ubisoft won't be paying for this project. Give up on it."

The middle-aged man named Lugus wanted to say something more, but the Ubisoft executive had already reached his floor and left without looking back.

Lugus wanted to say something more, but she was powerless to.

He stood blankly at the elevator entrance for a while, then dejectedly pressed the button for the first floor.

He is the owner of an engine development team from Iceland, and was previously the head of the engine department at CCP Games, the largest game development company in Iceland and the developer of the space-themed MMO EVE Online.

He was doing well at the company at the time.

Ubisoft approached him, asking if he was interested in collaborating with Ubisoft to develop a lightweight game engine.

that's it.

He then went independent, secured initial investment from Ubisoft, and gathered a group of people to begin research and development.

Chapter 51 Game Engine

As a result, Ubisoft changed its mind halfway through development.

First, they asked me to develop some inexplicable functions, then they asked the engine to have cartoon rendering capabilities, saying it was for developing a cartoon version of Heroes of Might and Magic. Later, they asked it to be compatible with mobile platforms, and then they simply stopped contacting me.

They made a lot of demands, but the money has been cut off for more than a year.

The promised additional investment has yet to arrive.

That year, Luggs spent all her savings to pay her salary.

But there was still no word from Ubisoft, so Luggs had no choice but to contact the person who had originally been in contact with him.

After learning that this person had gone to China, he followed him there and inquired along the way before finally catching up with him here.

If it were put into a TV series.

This plot deserves an award for best tragic male lead.

However, as the old saying goes...

A simp will end up with nothing.

All that relentless pursuit resulted in a heartless response.

Lugus was disheartened. If Ubisoft didn't buy the engine, then their company's future... no, it had no future at all.

He can't even afford to pay next month's salary.

Just at this time.