Volume 2: Storm Rising 2015 Chapter 411: The Battle of Ideas
"Free!?" The smile on Brandon Green's face suddenly disappeared, and he felt like he had heard something incredible.
Of course, Brandon Green knew that the so-called "free" games have always been the operating strategy that Chinese game companies are best at.
Two internationally renowned game companies, Tencent and NetEase, have made huge profits by launching many games under the banner of "free", and have gradually become one of the world's top game companies.
From this we can see that the word “free”, the biggest trap on the Internet, is indeed not exaggerated.
Although Brandon Green knew that this strategy was very profitable, it was still difficult for him to accept it when the time came.
This feeling is as incredible as telling players who are used to free games that they need to pay to play the game. For Brandon Green, who is used to the paid market, free?
Isn't this an insult to your painstaking work?
The difference in thinking naturally leads to different perspectives on the problem. Behaviors be a fantasy in foreign markets, and vice versa.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Brandon Green had such a reaction.
However, Zhou Dongsheng naturally had his own considerations, and said calmly: "Free, of course it can't be free, this is just an operating strategy to increase the audience of our game and improve our competitiveness in competing with "H1Z1"..."
"Boss, I have absolute confidence in our game. We don't need to rely on this strategy to improve our competitiveness. Players will naturally make the most fair response..." The old man Brandon Green said a little stubbornly.
It has a bit of the flavor of "low grain prices hurt farmers", as if for him as a game producer, paying for the game is the last bottom line of dignity.
Although both are about making money, there is naturally an essential difference between making money while standing and making money while kneeling.
In the eyes of old man Brandon Green, free money means earning money by kneeling down. This money is so cheap, so fucking cheap!
Zhou Dongsheng, a veteran, obviously sees further. After all, in the future, both "H1Z1" and "PUBG" will eventually be forced to become free and open.
Despite this, it still couldn't save the two major games from decline. They fell from the altar that was once popular all over the world, and the player base continued to decline, becoming niche games.
This is certainly due to problems with the gaming environment itself. Whether it is the endless stream of plug-ins or the various mysterious operations by the official operators, they all gradually exhaust the players' patience.
Of course, this may also be related to the historical trend of the gradual shrinkage of the PC game market and the rapid expansion of the mobile game market, but it is obviously not advisable to blame the overall environment.
The overall environment is not good. They are both PC games and both e-sports, but why is the League of Legends so popular and has achieved the status of a permanent league while online games are constantly changing?
There is no doubt that the e-sports ecosystem created by League of Legends and the extremely successful commercial events have injected endless vitality into this game, allowing it to remain active in the gaming field for a long time.
Just as games have a lifespan, a player's passion for a game will eventually run out.
However, if a game is no longer limited to the game itself, but is sublimated into a kind of sentiment, then the value of this game will naturally no longer be limited to the game itself, but will rise accordingly.
After all, games have a price, but feelings are priceless.
This may also be the reason why the game Legend allows people to be reborn and live a second life.
Although it may sound a bit funny, sometimes the lifespan of a game is often not determined by whether the game itself is fun or not, but by some factors outside the game.
For example, Fantasy Westward Journey...
Back to the game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", Zhou Dongsheng, who has grasped the tip of the future iceberg, obviously does not want to "simply" make money and then leave.
The greedy Zhou Dongsheng wants to try and see if he can grow a long-lasting...money tree!
It's like the alliance next door.
Of course, even if there are good examples in the past, this successful experience is obviously not that easy to learn. Any successful case often has its own unique and irreplaceable attributes.
Even if you copy others, you often end up with something less than perfect.
However, regardless of whether it can be achieved or not, if one wants to develop in this direction, the first step is undoubtedly to build a reputation, allow countless players to become the game's audience, and form a basic base.
This process, if a payment threshold is added, will undoubtedly be like boiling a frog in warm water. It requires a process of accumulation and development before it can eventually form a word-of-mouth effect, so that more players are willing to pay.
Even though this process is relatively slow, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" has still steadily become a phenomenal game , and has set off a chicken-eating craze at home and abroad.
At the same time, the paid model has another great advantage, which is to fight to support the war, first recover some funds to continuously optimize the game, increase the number of servers, etc.
There is a reason why this model can become the mainstream in overseas markets, and Zhou Dongsheng does not want to deny it completely.
Just as he said, free is not possible, it is just a prelude to making more money. After all, the purpose of making games is to make money!
Zhou Dongsheng tried to appease Brandon Greene's stubbornness and said, "My old friend, even though you are the developer of this game, after today's trial play, I feel that my confidence in this game is no less than yours."
"Not only that, in my opinion, our game has unlimited potential. Even if such an excellent game adopts a paid model, there will definitely be countless players willing to pay for it, and it will become a popular game that is both well-received and sells well."
"There is no doubt that we can make a fortune from this, but, my old friend, have you forgotten our original dream?" Zhou Dongsheng changed the subject and looked at Brandon Green with affectionate eyes.
Brandon Green was stunned for a moment, then he broke away from the ideological dispute and recalled the scene of his first meeting with Zhou Dongsheng.
Although they needed to use an interpreter to communicate, it did not prevent them from having a good chat. In particular, the blueprint for the future that Zhou Dongsheng described made Brandon Green very excited, and then he made up his mind...
Zhou Dongsheng reminded him: "We said at the beginning that we wanted to make a phenomenal game that could rival League of Legends... To achieve this, it's not just about making money!"
"And in my opinion, the game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds now has such potential!"
Brandon Green then woke up from his dream, looking into his boss's deep eyes, which seemed to contain lofty ambitions, which made Brandon Green feel a little ashamed.
It turned out that the boss had never forgotten what he had said, but it was him, the game producer... who had long forgotten about the matter.
After all, words like being on par with the League of Legends are like pie in the sky drawn by the boss, which is out of reach, so Brandon Green naturally didn't take it seriously.
But judging from the boss's reaction, he seems to be serious?
This couldn't help but ignite Brandon Green's heart. As a game producer, who hasn't had such an "unrealistic" dream?
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