Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Many Spark players were even more displeased after seeing these reports.

They flocked to Tencent Games' official Weibo account and WEGEAM's official platform.

"What's there to be proud of? It's not like the half-life Alyx was developed by Penguin."

"Li Weixi? Who's that? Ah, a bandwagoner? I get it."

Besides these players who directly launched attacks, there were also rational and objective people.

"While VR games are popular, not everyone likes them. Handheld consoles have their advantages: they are portable and can be played anytime, anywhere."

The flood of comments from players caught Li Weixi off guard.

He originally only wanted to put some pressure on Xinghuo through his remarks, while also boosting Penguin's reputation in the public sphere.

Unexpectedly, these remarks sparked such a strong reaction.

Xinghuo's reputation among players was even stronger than he had imagined, but Li Weixi did not back down in the face of these players' feedback.

After all, Tencent's stock price is indeed rising.

Therefore, he quickly adjusted his mindset and continued to emphasize Tencent's layout and advantages in the VR field during the interview.

"I don't deny the current success of the Spark handheld console, but I still maintain that when VR games become mainstream, the market for handheld consoles will shrink."

"We at Tencent will continue to increase our investment in the VR field to bring more high-quality VR games to players."

Chapter 563 Raising the Big Flag

"Mr. Lin, does Spark have any VR-related plans?"

"Mr. Lin! What are your thoughts on Steam's VR alliance?"

"Is it true that Velford invited Spark when it established the VR Alliance?"

As soon as he got off the plane, a large group of reporters wearing masks saw Lin Li and it was like wolves seeing sheep. Flashbulbs went off non-stop, and microphones were thrust in front of Lin Li, bombarding him with questions.

Although Lin Li was already used to this, airport security had already started to urge people to leave.

But sometimes, Lin Li couldn't help but admire the dedication of these reporters. Goodness, they were so fierce even with masks on. They really dared to rush forward for traffic.

As a long-time friend of the media.

Just as the security guards were about to disperse the crowd, Lin Li still answered one question.

"Steam has indeed contacted us, but Spark's strategic layout has always been based on its own judgment and user needs. We will not change our pace because of external pressure. In addition, the StarCore handheld console will be officially released tonight. If you don't have any news, please report on it."

This answer clearly failed to satisfy the reporters' appetites, and another round of noisy questions arose from the crowd.

Unfortunately, Lin Li had already reached the car that was supposed to pick him up, and his assistant timely blocked the reporters who wanted to continue asking questions.

"Everyone, please stop chasing. There will be a press conference after the meeting."

The assistant shouted commands while maintaining order.

Lin Li had already gotten into the car, and the window slowly rolled up, shutting out the noise from the outside world.

Lin Li flew to Suzhou and Hangzhou today to attend the first StarCore handheld game developer conference, which is also the launch ceremony for the official sale of the StarCore handheld game.

This was originally supposed to be an online meeting.

However, thanks to the relatively effective control of mask-wearing in China at present, the meeting was ultimately changed to an offline event.

Before coming, Lin Li had been thinking about what to say.

After all, those who can attend this conference are all core partners of the Spark platform, and they were also among the first manufacturers to support the optimization of the StarCore handheld console.

He also considered talking about VR, and even prepared a video presentation.

As mentioned before, Lin Li is not optimistic about the current development of VR.

However, during this period, with Steam and Tencent spending money on promotion and alliances, regardless of whether it's a hoax or not, they have actually made this topic a hot one.

Moreover, the current level of interest in VR is quite different from the previous popularity of VR games.

The reason is simple: this time, the hype wasn't caused by tech companies, but by game development companies.

Call of Duty VR, Dead Space VR, plus Valve's promised new title, and a whole host of other VR games that may follow suit.

Although Lin Li can draw conclusions now.

In a few months to a year, all of these news stories will become old news.

The current cost and experience of VR equipment are still insufficient to support the ambitions of Steam and Tencent.

It's like trying to build a house on a river that hasn't completely frozen over yet; that's simply impossible.

On the other hand, putting aside the competition, the current hype and concept-driven activities by Steam and Tencent will, in a sense, accelerate the popularization of VR games.

Therefore, although Lin Li casually replied just now that Xinghuo would proceed at its own pace,

In fact, Xinghuo was indeed affected.

Even though Xinghuo is not a listed company, it is a platform company. Lin Li is not in a hurry, but a large number of his subordinates are extremely anxious.

Many domestic game developers also have mixed feelings of anticipation and anxiety about VR.

If VR games prove to be a hot trend, then this is a relatively less competitive field, considering that it normally takes at least one to two years to develop a game.

If you want to get involved, now is the last chance to board the train.

If we don't develop it now, it will be too late in two years when VR devices become more widespread!

But in the face of this crisis, Xinghuo remained frighteningly calm, not only sitting back and not disclosing any information.

Logically speaking, since the Spark platform lacks an ecosystem related to VR games, these small and medium-sized manufacturers who want to develop VR should simply gravitate towards Steam and WEGAME.

But as time has progressed to the present.

These "little brothers" have already developed a path dependency.

They weren't sure if they didn't follow Xinghuo.

In other words, they are indeed optimistic about VR and have been swayed by Tencent and Steam, but when it comes to implementation, they are reluctant to jump ship with Spark, always feeling that Tencent is unreliable.

Since you're reluctant to jump ship, the best way is naturally to find the captain.

Therefore, Lin Li has received a lot of calls lately from his own Spark platform, Bilibili, Twitter, Weibo, and Zhihu, all asking when Spark will release VR.

Lin Li also asked some manufacturers, such as Ding Lei from NetEase.

"Others join in the fun because they can't see the situation clearly, why are you joining in?"

Ding Lei's reply was also quite interesting.

"But everyone's doing it now. If we don't, what if we miss the opportunity?"

Lin Li then offered further advice.

"Old Ding, the VR craze is fueled by capital, not by technology. Current VR devices are expensive and offer a poor user experience, so users simply won't buy them. What will you gain by entering the market now, besides burning money?"

Ding Lei was silent for a moment before answering.

"Mr. Lin, you're right, but the market waits for no one."

"Everyone is scrambling to get into the VR market right now. If VR really succeeds, wouldn't we miss out if we don't follow suit?"

After hearing this, Lin Li did not try to persuade him further.

By this point, Lin Li had already realized what was happening. The reason he could remain calm was because he knew what the future held, but others did not.

Standing in the torrent of the times, no one knows how the future will unfold.

What if Tencent and Steam actually pull it off?

Moreover, even Lin Li, who has a vision for the future, wouldn't dare say that Steam is 100% doomed to fail, let alone anyone else.

Lin Li was unaware of this until now.

After speaking with Ding Lei, Lin Li was completely sober. Even NetEase was blinded by the VR craze, let alone small and medium-sized developers.

At this point, Lin Li finally changed his attitude towards internal affairs.

The VR project was initiated.

As the saying goes, "three men can make a tiger," and when everyone was saying that VR was coming, Lin Li believed that the best thing to do was obviously not to say no, that VR hadn't come.

Instead, we should raise a banner and seize the opportunity to rally people's hearts.

As for the hype fading a year later... let it be. VR is indeed a path to the future, so it's not a bad thing to lay some groundwork.

Chapter 564 Strategic Deception

After having the idea of ​​making a big splash.

Lin Li immediately realized that Spark was indeed somewhat trapped by Steam at the moment.

The best and most rational approach to VR is to start with low investment, proceed gradually, and develop slowly.

What the market needs right now is high investment, throwing money at it, and burning through cash.

Now that Tencent and Steam have already ignited the market, if Spark launches some kind of five-year VR plan, it will not only fail to produce any positive effects.

Conversely, they might completely lose this public opinion stronghold.

The reason why Tencent mocks Spark is also because they believe that Spark has no reserves in VR and can only be beaten in this battlefield set up by Steam and Tencent.

Lin Li also had to admit that, to some extent, this was indeed the truth.

However, they forgot something very important: Linli's original business was playing with concepts and making grand promises.

Although Spark has been continuously releasing new games since 19.

Lin Li's so-called "pie-in-the-sky" title has gradually been forgotten, but the fact that he created a Destiny Trails demo in a month and tricked the FGO developers into selling the game is still fresh in everyone's memory.

If it was like this back then, it's even more terrifying now.

His commitment to solid development doesn't stop him from enthusiastically making grand promises.

Furthermore, when Lin Lizhen seriously began preparing for this "strategic fraud," he also discovered a very interesting fact.

Compared to the strategic deception of FGO a few years ago, the current Spark's energy is truly a bit too exaggerated.

Even Lin Li himself was unsure whether the final product was real or fake.

~~~

美国

San Francisco

A high-end hotel

VR Alliance First Round of Formal Talks

Of course, although it was called a meeting, it was actually more like a gathering.

Even the location of the meeting was interesting; it was in an open-air private garden.

In March, San Francisco is sunny, breezy, and filled with the faint fragrance of flowers.

In the garden, the grass is lush and green, and the flowers are in full bloom.

Several tall palm trees added a touch of tropical flair to the space.

In the center of the garden stood a long table covered with a pristine white tablecloth, surrounded by comfortable wicker chairs. The table was laden with delicate pastries and drinks, and champagne glasses sparkled in the sunlight.

As mentioned earlier, this so-called formal meeting was less of a serious business conference and more of a high-end social gathering.

The reason why this result is presented is...

It is precisely because Steam has no binding force on the so-called VR alliance that it wants to make a big splash. So, it has to use various methods to attract major manufacturers to send at least one executive to talk.

At this moment, representatives from various game companies stood in twos and threes, holding champagne and chatting casually.

Gabe Newell, the founder of Steam, stood in a corner of the garden, chatting with a representative from EA, occasionally letting out a hearty laugh.

Since the remake of the game festival failed to achieve the desired results, Newell has been spending significantly more time in the public eye lately.

"This is a really good location."

As Li Weixi sipped his champagne, he spoke to Aldridge with a hint of smugness in his voice.

"This environment is more relaxing than a conference room."