Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Chapter 509 Inexplicably Effective

Li Weixi has been with WeGame for a year now.

Today, we have finally achieved some results, and these results are a timely boon at this point in time.

This applies to both him and Ma Xiao.

After being repeatedly thrashed by Xinghuo, this press conference went incredibly smoothly.

Li Weixi arrived smoothly, smiling but also feeling somewhat guilty.

"Brother Li, some media outlets have discovered that our overseas channels aren't listed on Steam, and they're wondering if we're withdrawing from the overseas market..."

Li Weixi frowned.

"Go and negotiate; there's no need to report these things."

Tencent will naturally withdraw from overseas markets, but this is something that can be done but not said. After all, the country was vigorously promoting the export of games, and Tencent's current situation is obviously not right.

However, for Li Weixi, the overseas market is really not important. Moreover, the reason why Tencent was able to cooperate with Steam is because Tencent gave up the overseas market.

Gabe Newell (GabeN) isn't stupid; how could he let Tencent take over Steam's library and compete with Steam for business?

"By the way, has Xinghuo made any moves?"

Compared to these media reports, Li Weixi was more concerned about Spark's progress, even though according to Steam's estimates, Spark's core was still an unfinished product at the moment.

But don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the eventuality.

"Oh, nothing much, just posted a tweet."

"What tweet?"

"Hmm, let me see. They say the Star Core launch event will be held tomorrow afternoon..."

"ah!!!?"

The launch event for Xinghuo's Star Core handheld game console came quickly and urgently.

Many media outlets hadn't even finished publishing news about Steam Dack when they already saw the announcement for StarCore's launch event.

The press conference will be held at 2 p.m. the following day.

Although the announcement came suddenly, the venue and press conference schedule for Xinghuo had been prepared well in advance.

Not only were many game companies invited, but also many journalists from general newspapers. In addition to offline invitations, there were also online invitations, including Asahi and Tokyo, which are old acquaintances.

The press conference was held at the Shanghai Opera House, the same venue where Spark held its first game press conference.

The scene was very lively.

Although the press conference was scheduled to start at 2 p.m., the venue became busy after 12 p.m., with a large number of media outlets asking each other for information and looking for interviews.

Everyone was hoping to release some news in advance.

The most bustling spot on site was the twelve prototype machines displayed in the hall. Although there were twelve machines, they were all enclosed in glass cases.

But this number is still quite surprising.

"Hey, do you think these star cores are already in mass production? They've put twelve machines in one go..."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration. Before, they only released a PV, but this time they're getting a real machine..."

A large group of people surrounded the scene and started taking pictures.

At the same time, these photos were uploaded to the internet immediately.

Overall, the StarCore machine looks quite harmonious. The biggest difference between it and the Steam Dack is that there is a long slot at the bottom of the machine.

This socket has a cover that can be opened, but I don't know what it's for.

Shen Wansan from 1717 took two more pictures of the socket and then sent them to the 1717 work group. Soon, a related news article appeared on the website.

After taking these photos, Shen Wansan went inside again.

People outside kept discussing what surprises Spark would bring them today.

At this time, Lin Li was backstage making final preparations with Xu Dengke for going on stage.

"Our system still has some bugs on the handheld console, so please be careful when you go on stage later, boss. If it freezes, just plug it into the dock, and our backend will output the screen synchronously..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Li asked a question.

"Aren't you being deceitful?"

Xu Dengke scratched his head.

"I don't want to either, but optimization takes time."

Lin Li sighed.

"Since there's a possibility of problems during the hardware demonstration, we should prepare more. Anyway, we have a lectern on stage, so if there's a problem, we can just replace it while we're getting a drink. We don't lack hardware."

After Lin Li finished speaking, he saw Xu Dengke looking at him with an admiring gaze. Xu Dengke thought to himself, when it comes to shamelessness, it has to be his boss. No wonder he can do big business. He doesn't even blush or skip a beat.

However, this kind of preparation is actually quite normal.

A product launch is, after all, a product launch. What matters is the effect the product aims to achieve, not its current performance.

Even giants like Apple, back when smartphones were just starting out, would often hide Wi-Fi signal transmitters under the stage to shorten the distance of wireless signal transmission.

They might even modify the phone's signal display so that during the launch event, regardless of whether the signal is good or bad, the screen will show a full signal strength.

~~~~

2 p.m.

Lin Li opened the miniature microphone clipped to his collar, jogged all the way, and stood in the center of the stage.

Four years ago, he also stood on this stage to announce the new version of Battlefront Girls and the improved version of FGO. At that time, the spark was really just a tiny spark.

Now, four years have passed.

The influence of Xinghuo has become so great that even Lin Li himself dares not think about it too much.

Looking at the barrage of comments from around the world hanging behind him, and then at the media and guests, Lin Li smiled and waved.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the StarCore press conference."

There was no need for applause here, but Ding Lei from NetEase Games led the applause, which brought applause from the audience at the press conference.

If we're talking about the biggest impact of Tencent's complete defection and introduction of Steam on the domestic market, it's actually NetEase.

Following Tencent's official announcement, Spark immediately contacted NetEase, and the two parties reaffirmed their cooperation mechanism and signed a new cooperation agreement.

Lin Li did this.

It's purely because NetEase, in China, still has some R&D capabilities, and with the success of the Guimingyue project, the reformists within NetEase have gradually gained control of the discourse.

If Tencent manages to poach NetEase through its partnership with Steam, Spark will be in a difficult position.

For the younger generation at NetEase, Xinghuo's sudden strengthening of its cooperation with NetEase is exactly what they wanted, since outsiders often have an advantage.

It is for this reason.

Ding Lei was also present today, and from the moment he entered until now, whether he was being interviewed or still here, he has demonstrated the unbreakable alliance between Xinghuo and NetEase.

NetEase is a listed company, while Xinghuo is not. So, starting from the end of 19, Ding Lei discovered a very interesting phenomenon.

That is, conveying the message that NetEase and Xinghuo have a close relationship to the market actually boosted NetEase's stock price...

For example, when Gui Mingyue was released as a demo some time ago, it received rave reviews from the market, and NetEase's stock price also rose. At the time, Ding Lei thought that this was NetEase's own achievement.

Later, I heard from some investors that the reason they invested in NetEase, besides Gui Mingyue, was mainly because of the cooperation between NetEase and Xinghuo.

"So, you guys were just using me as a stand-in?"

Ding Lei joked about it at the time, but after he got back, he tested it himself and found that if he mentioned Xinghuo and its cooperation with NetEase more often in interviews, the stock price would really rise.

It's inexplicably amazing, yet incredibly useful.

Chapter 510 Two-in-One

After several attempts.

Now, whenever Ding Lei encounters an opportunity to showcase the relationship between Xinghuo and NetEase, he is always at the forefront.

Even after he had just led the applause, the people around him were saying, "Damn, you're the boss of NetEase, is it really necessary?"

However, when Ding Lei saw the camera coming towards him, he knew that he had achieved his goal. Facing the gazes of others, Ding Lei was completely calm and collected.

That look in his eyes seemed to say, "You young people don't know anything."

Lin Li's speech was interrupted, so he could only smile and wait for the applause to stop before continuing.

"Today, we will all witness history together, and witness the future of our StarCore handheld console."

"Before we officially introduce the StarCore handheld console, let's watch a short video."

The scene fell silent.

Everyone assumed that the short video Spark was showing was an introduction to the StarCore handheld console, but when the screen lit up, everyone was stunned.

Because what's shown isn't a short introductory video about the star core, but rather a short video of a production line.

However, the audience and viewers on the live stream quickly realized what was going on.

"Huh!? Holy crap, the StarCore handheld console has already started mass production!?"

"Wouldn't that be even faster than Steam Dack? Dack orders placed now won't be delivered until June."

"That's amazing!?"

"Where are those people who say the StarCore handheld is just a PowerPoint presentation handheld?"

"It's already in mass production!?"

As the short video ended.

Cheers erupted at the scene. Those who were able to attend the press conference were either fans of Xinghuo or collaborators of Xinghuo. Therefore, they were surprised to see Xinghuo announce its production line as soon as it came on stage.

I immediately understood that this was a response to the mockery posted on WeChat Moments yesterday by the head of Tencent Games, who accused Spark of following suit.

It must be said that this counterattack was indeed clean and efficient.

The short film has ended.

The camera returned to the stage, where Lin Li smiled and announced another number.

"I am pleased to report to you that our StarCore handheld console has completed the trial production ramp-up phase and entered the mass production phase. We expect to start selling it after the Spring Festival this year."

"Getting back to the main point, from the moment we decided to make a handheld console, we started thinking about what kind of handheld console gamers really need. The video that everyone saw at the New Year's Eve party wasn't just a comedy; we actually conducted a large-scale survey in 18 major countries around the world."

"In the end, we obtained a lot of information, but of course, we had to select some of it; otherwise, we would really become a monster."

"Pure handheld consoles are no longer enough to meet the needs of today's gamers."

"Many ideas were impossible to realize in the past, but with the development of technology, we believe the time has come."

"I'm also very happy, and it seems that other manufacturers feel the same way."

Lin Li spoke eloquently.

At this moment, the screen behind Lin Li displayed some classic handheld consoles, as well as the Steam Dack, which was only announced yesterday, but with a silhouette added and the name hidden.

"Now, let's take a look at the hardware of the StarCore handheld console."

Soon, a host of details appeared on the screen.

Lin Li turned around and pointed at the screen.

"Actually, I really didn't want to include this PPT, but my colleague told me that the other two companies also included it, so I'll include it here as well, and also make a comparison."

"In terms of 3DMark scores, we are about 8% better than our competitors. This is not a number to be proud of. I just want to tell everyone that Starcore's hardware is world-class. You can rest assured."

"Therefore, today we will mainly talk about another thing, which is how the product made up of these hardware components differs from other handheld consoles and Android phones in the current industry?"

"Most importantly, what can it offer users?"

The image on the back screen changes again, and there's only one line of text on it.

What exactly constitutes a next-generation handheld console?

Yes, after defining what a next-generation gaming platform is a few years ago, Spark is now going to define what a next-generation handheld console is.

A few seconds later, a rocket appeared on the screen.