Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Zhou Shenyue took a screenshot and sent it to her small group chat with colleagues. This group was where she and a few other close friends chatted about their research institute leader.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the people working at the research institute are all highly educated.

But in this area, everyone is pretty much the same.

Zhou Shenyue posted this screenshot.

The group chat quickly became lively.

"Yueyue, where did you watch this live stream? I want to watch it too!"

"Satomi Ishihara? Yui Aragaki? They're doing live streams on TikTok too!? Really?"

"Don't you guys really watch the news? This is an event organized by Xinghuo."

"Is Xinghuo really that amazing? They can even get a celebrity of this caliber!"

"No way, you guys really don't watch the news? These two are the spokespeople for Spark Entertainment!"

"Wow!? Xinghuo is really amazing, they managed to get these two to be their spokespeople."

"..."

The only Spark fan in the group was speechless.

Zhou Shenyue, however, smiled as she looked at the comments in the group chat. She had achieved her goal; after all, she wanted her other friends to be astonished by this modern "spectacle" as she was.

It's like one day a Bilibili user opens a live stream and finds that a whole bunch of popular voice actors, like Ayane Sakura and Maaya Uchida, are streaming on Bilibili.

The reason is the same.

At first glance, it seems somewhat "dreamlike".

Chapter 526 Why It Succeeded

Not to mention, this time, Xinghuo invited not only Japanese and Korean stars, but also Western stars, as Zhou Shenyue was only familiar with those stars.

Judging from the popularity of those live streams, those celebrities must be quite well-known.

After sharing her surprise, Zhou Shenyue casually clicked into Yui Aragaki's live stream. Actually, at this point, she had already finished half of her game.

The main reason I clicked to take a look was because curiosity got the better of me.

There's a kind of curiosity about whether your familiar celebrity is really doing a live stream, and what they're actually doing.

Then you see Yui Aragaki, dressed in pajamas, sitting on her sofa, holding a controller, controlling a round, bouncy bean character bouncing around on the track.

Her livestream title was, "Spending time at home with Fall Guys!"

"It really is Gakki, this... this is too surreal!"

Yin Xiaoxue muttered to herself, her finger unconsciously clicking on the live stream. The screen zoomed in instantly, and Yui Aragaki's voice came from the speakers, carrying her signature gentleness and playfulness.

"Ouch! I've fallen again!"

Yui Aragaki covered her face.

The comments scrolled rapidly, with messages in various languages ​​intertwined:

"Yui-chan is so cute! She's still so energetic even after losing three games in a row!"

"Go Gakki! You'll definitely win the next round!"

"Haha, that roll was hilarious!"

"It's actually being streamed live? That's outrageous..."

Zhou Shenlin couldn't help but sigh, and then clicked on another live stream next to her.

This time it's a domestic celebrity, Yang Chaoyue.

She was shouting at the camera.

"Brothers, I'm going to get first place this round! Nobody can stop me!"

However, as soon as she finished speaking, her Fall Guy was hit by a giant rolling ball and sent flying off the track. Yang Chaoyue was stunned for a moment, and then a barrage of "hahahaha" comments flooded in.

"Is Xinghuo's gaming influence that great?"

In fact, for ordinary people, it is quite difficult to intuitively feel the influence of a company.

For ordinary people, there is a lack of intermediary references between large corporations and themselves.

Just like ordinary people, everyone knows that the nouveau riche are very wealthy, but before meeting a real nouveau riche, the concept of their wealth remains vague.

Now, Zhou Shenyue, an ordinary person who previously only had a vague understanding of Xinghuo, has gained a new understanding of Xinghuo's influence through this incident.

This realization, coupled with the fact that I've been seeing videos on CCTV News from time to time lately, and the mask with the Spark logo that my younger brother gave me, all contribute to this understanding.

It gradually became clearer.

Is Spark Games influential? This question has gradually transformed from a question into a statement of affirmation.

Especially after Fall Guys was officially launched.

Fall Guys is very different from other games by Spark. Before its release, other Spark games would promote themselves through marketing, IP, and reach most players and media.

In fact, even before the game is officially launched, you can generally guess or predict what its popularity will be like after its launch.

Leaving aside top-tier titles like Galaxy Paradise, Destiny's Path, and Eastern Fantasy World, most of the smaller, mid-sized games are probably pretty much predictable.

As a game invested in by Spark Capital, Fall Guys initially did not have high expectations from most players and the media.

But to everyone's surprise, it only took one day.

Fall Guys shocked the global media because on just the first day, the game's global concurrent online players exceeded ten million.

CCTV News directly categorized it as a phenomenal cultural event.

"Just one day after the launch of Fall Guys on the Spark platform, this seemingly simple yet addictive game quickly swept the globe, becoming the preferred form of entertainment for countless players while staying at home. Now, its concurrent online users have exceeded ten million, completely igniting the attention of global media."

It's no exaggeration to say that this statement from CCTV News completely ignited global media attention.

Because the game's developers are American, many American media outlets have also reported on it.

For example, The New York Times published an article titled "Joy Amidst Chaos: The New Darling of Gamers Worldwide."

"In this era of uncertainty, Fall Guys offers a brand new form of entertainment to players around the world with its chaos and fun."

The article mentions that Fall Guys' success lies not only in its simple gameplay and cute art style, but also in its ingenious combination of competition and cooperation, strategy and luck, creating a unique "chaotic aesthetic".

Whether you're an ordinary gamer or a celebrity, you're drawn to this nonsensical joy.

The BBC's headline, "From Beijing to New York, how did Fall Guys conquer the world?", remains as sarcastic as ever.

The Asahi Shimbun is much friendlier.

The title they gave was...

Fall Guys Phenomenon: A New Social Trend Among Japanese Gamers

This news article analyzes the phenomenon of Fall Guys' popularity in Japan from a local Japanese perspective.

The article states that Fall Guys is not just a game, but has become a new form of social interaction.

Since the University of Tokyo established a stay-at-home policy, some countries in Japan also want to promote such policies. The report also mentioned that the Japanese government is even considering including Fall Guys in the "Recommended Home Entertainment List" to alleviate public anxiety.

In addition to traditional media, Fall Guys has also become a craze on social media.

On platforms such as Twitter, Weibo, and Instagram, Fall Guy memes and short videos have gone viral.

From "Fall Guys being chased by a rolling ball" to "A New Year's Greeting Swordplay Showdown"

Players expressed their love for the game in various creative ways. Some netizens even made jokes.

"If you haven't played Fall Guys yet, you're really out of touch!"

The reason why Fall Guys' marketing campaign was so successful was not only due to the influence of the Spark platform itself, but also largely because of its low barrier to entry and fun gameplay.

In addition, during the promotional process, Lin Li also implemented a free-to-play strategy for the first three days of the game.

All of these factors accelerated the popularity of Fall Guys in this timeline. In addition, this version of Fall Guys was developed with a very clear understanding of what it wanted.

Compared to the original Fall Guys.

This version of Fall Guys offers more and richer gameplay; in some ways, it's a massive "party game," except that the old "party games" had incredibly high system requirements.

I need friends.

Fall Guys, by increasing the number of players, has increased the number of players in a typical "party game" to dozens or even hundreds.

Chapter 527 The Code of Traffic

The social aspect of the game has been weakened, while the competitive aspect has been increased, but at the same time, the fun of "party games" has been retained.

To keep players engaged, this version of Fall Guys features many new gameplay elements besides Fall Guys: The Holy Grail War, such as the "Playing with Fire" mode that Lin Li particularly enjoys.

In this game, all players are on a giant white sheet of paper, and sparks will fall from the sky. The Fall Guys need to dodge the flames.

There are many similar ways to play.

There are also many collaborative gameplay modes, such as the "Eastern Talisman Battle," where each player can hold a giant, bouncing Yin-Yang talisman on their head and smash it at others.

Actually, many of the gameplay options, when viewed in isolation, don't seem very interesting.

But when there are many people, it becomes very joyful.

In addition, during the development process, Lin Li repeatedly emphasized that Fall Guys should be made in a funny and comical way like the Minions, and that there should be no deformed skeletons or other such designs.

It's just an adorable jelly bean.

For this premise, Lin Li even prepared a follow-up animation IP plan, but all of this is on the premise that the production team does not do anything unexpected.

In their previous lives, the Fall Guys team did a lot of weird things after they became famous.

However, this timeline.

Spark was responsible for part of the gameplay and also held shares, so even if the Fall Guys development team went astray, Lin Li could still keep the IP going.

Therefore, a relatively aggressive publicity strategy was adopted.

However, Lin Li did not expect the effect to be so good.

The effect was even a little too good.

The market has once again proven that as long as your game has a low enough barrier to entry, you can access a wider market.

The broader market, however, is itself like a black hole.

After Fall Guys surpassed 10 million concurrent players on its first day, many players who hadn't played before or were still hesitant began to be drawn in.

"I'd like to see how much fun it can be."

As more and more people become addicted, the game's popularity continues to rise.

How popular is it?

It's so popular that even Spark's own Lunar New Year sale isn't generating as much buzz online; almost all players are talking about Fall Guys.

Especially on TikTok, various game tips and tricks often garner tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of views worldwide.

A large number of new players have flocked to the platform.

Overnight, casual games seem to have become the new key to attracting users.

~~~

While chaos reigns outside.

Lin Li had a very comfortable time these past two or three days. He spent his days at the seaside villa, watching the sea, drinking tea, watching anime with Su Shanshan, playing games, exercising with Su Shanshan, and occasionally reading books.

This was truly the most relaxing vacation he had ever had.

Although people would occasionally call to visit, due to policy, these were mostly phone visits, which avoided a lot of in-person reception.

This occasional peace and quiet is like drinking a refreshing glass of fruit juice after getting tired of drinking milk tea every day.

It really gives people a very strange feeling.

Inside the villa, there is also a rather large study.

This is a great place. Although you can find almost anything on the internet these days, it's really hard to find a place like this where you can face the sea, where it's warm like spring, quiet and peaceful.

It calms the mind and makes it easier to read.