Volume 3: Taking Roots 2016 Chapter 656 Dream Linkage
As soon as we walked into the headquarters of Mihayo Company, which was still considered a "small workshop", Cai Haoyu had already heard the news and hurried over.
As soon as he saw Zhou Dongsheng, the gentle Cai Haoyu immediately smiled brightly and said very cordially: "What's the wind blowing today that brought Mr. Zhou, the distinguished guest, here to us!"
Even though Mihalyo has been concentrating on the development of "Honkai Impact 3", the final chapter of the Honkai trilogy, he seems to be "turning a deaf ear to the world outside".
However, as the helmsman of the company, Cai Haoyu naturally cannot really not care about anything happening in the outside world. At the very least, he must fully understand some changes and news in the industry.
As the helmsman of the company, this is his unshirkable responsibility.
Among them, Cai Haoyu is naturally very concerned about the company's only two investors, who is also the most famous one.
Especially since Zhou Dongsheng's heartfelt words successfully moved Cai Haoyu, he became the second investor of Mihayova besides the angel round.
From that time on, Cai Haoyu has been paying attention to the movements of this investor. After all, those words that touched Cai Haoyu from the bottom of his heart have always left a deep impression on him.
In the eyes of Cai Haoyu, who is deeply influenced by the “second dimension”, those who are good at “mouth-to-mouth combat” are generally the protagonists (funny)!
Therefore, Cai Haoyu believed for no reason that Zhou Dongsheng, the "protagonist", would not simply remain unknown, and would most likely do something beyond his expectations.
Even though he was mentally prepared, the series of actions Zhou Dongsheng caused was more or less beyond Cai Haoyu's expectations.
In less than a year, when Mihayova hasn't even finished the "Honkai Impact 3" project, Zhou Dongsheng has already created so many big events.
Originally, Cai Haoyu felt that the relationship between himself, the founder of the company, and Zhou Dongsheng, the investor, was absolutely equal.
After all, both parties are of similar age, and he is even a few years older than Zhou Dongsheng. Moreover, after all these years of hard work, the Mihayo company has achieved some achievements.
What no one expected was that in just less than a year, Zhou Dongsheng's rise had reached the point where Cai Haoyu had to look up to him.
The huge impact brought by the disparity in this world further strengthened Cai Haoyu's "middle school" thoughts.
Therefore, the attitude towards Zhou Dongsheng is naturally extremely enthusiastic. Last time, such an enthusiastic attitude even helped the company obtain the mobile game adaptation license for the phenomenal game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" that is currently sweeping the world!
The value of this authorization alone, no matter how conservatively estimated, is calculated in billions. After all, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is now making a fortune.
If such a profitable game were put on an even more profitable mobile game platform, would it create a more intuitive profit miracle?
Even though he insisted on the company slogan "Tech geeks save the world!", Cai Haoyu had no intention of going against money.
After all, unlike the two-dimensional world, in the three-dimensional world, whether it is saving the world or changing the world, it requires sufficient economic foundation as support.
Instead of a "dream" that can be achieved simply by the protagonist's mouth and empty slogans.
Therefore, if there could be another powerful " cash engine" as a driving force, it would surely allow the company Mihayo to go further, right?
Moreover, Zhou Dongsheng was not just talking. Shortly after the verbal authorization, PUBG Company directly sent the authorization to Mihayo Company.
Whether to do it or not depends entirely on Cai Haoyu's personal decision.
For this purpose, Cai Haoyu also specially held an internal meeting, and finally everyone reached a consensus to speed up the completion of "Honkai Impact 3", the final chapter of the Honkai trilogy, and finally, depending on the operation of "Honkai Impact 3", transfer personnel to work on the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds project.
If necessary, we will recruit more staff to supplement the team. After all, Mihayo’s current staff is not enough to support multiple projects running simultaneously.
Even so, Zhou Dongsheng kept his word and was willing to give Mihayo this opportunity. Cai Haoyu naturally kept this favor in mind.
Therefore, his enthusiastic attitude towards Zhou Dongsheng is naturally genuine and sincere.
"If you have nothing to do, can't you come and chat with me, Old Cai? Let's go to your office and talk." Zhou Dongsheng said cheerfully, putting his arm around Cai Haoyu's shoulder and calling him brother.
"Well, of course I welcome it, but Mr. Zhou, you are a busy man, but you don't seem to be idle. I have watched a lot of your short videos..."
Cai Haoyu did not feel uncomfortable at all with Zhou Dongsheng's intimate attitude. Instead, he enjoyed it very much. A middle school thought popped up in his mind: Am I also considered a member of the protagonist group?
Arriving at Cai Haoyu's office, the two sat opposite each other. Zhou Dongsheng had long been accustomed to the office with an excessive concentration of two-dimensional elements, but he couldn't help but feel moved when he saw the Pokémon ornaments.
He picked up a Pikachu and said cheerfully, "You should know about the Pokémon mobile game that has been popular overseas recently, right?"
Cai Haoyu seemed to have been greatly insulted. "Mr. Zhou's words are simply a questioning of our two-dimensional world. Not only do I know about it, I also play it!"
After saying that, he showed his mobile phone screen. Zhou Dongsheng was naturally familiar with the slightly familiar interface on the screen, although he had never played it before.
But even if you haven't eaten pork, you have seen pigs run!
Zhou Dongsheng couldn't help but marvel at it. He took the phone and fiddled with it. "Isn't this game released yet? There are still restrictions like region locks..."
"That's right, but these problems can be solved with just a little bit of technical means. Of course, I am only limited to my personal experience... ahem!"
Cai Haoyu said this very proudly, but then seemed to think that this method was not worth showing off, so he quickly made up for it.
"It's quite interesting. Mr. Cai, what do you think about the application prospects of this AR technology that combines virtuality and reality in gaming?" Zhou Dongsheng asked with interest.
Zhou Dongsheng was very curious about the different opinions that an insider like Cai Haoyu might have compared to himself as an outsider.
"Emmm, at present, it is more of a gimmick. Based on the current hardware foundation, AR technology is still just a flashy means, and its application in games is also very lackluster."
"Just like this mobile game, it is more about satisfying the fantasies of Pokémon IP fans who have accumulated over the years about catching Pokémon. Combined with AR, there is a sense of impact that fantasy becomes reality."
"But from the perspective of gameplay alone, once the novelty wears off, it's actually quite boring..."
As an industry insider, Cai Haoyu gave an almost incisive opinion. In fact, this phenomenal mobile game, relying on Pokémon, one of the best IPs in the world, created a series of impressive mobile game records...
Its lifespan is not even as long as Fruit Ninja back then. The fundamental reason is that the gameplay is too simple.
Just like a so-called sentimental masterpiece, once the sentiment is consumed and there is no other hard goods to support it, the number of users will soon drop sharply.
"I believe Mr. Cai's analysis. This is just like Avatar back then. As the first movie to use 3D projection technology, it reaped the benefits of the times with its epoch-making feat. But looking back, it seems like an ordinary story of alien colonists in America."
Zhou Dongsheng made a joke casually, and the two of them couldn't help but laugh at each other.
"How is the progress of Honkai Impact 3? Not only does Mr. Cai have high hopes for this game, but as an investor, I also look forward to this game bringing a different change to the mobile game market..."
"After all, although we don't have a phenomenal IP like Pokémon to support us, we have the company Mihayo!" Zhou Dongsheng made a powerful statement out of nowhere.
Even Cai Haoyu couldn't help but feel excited. "That's enough, thank you for the compliment, Mr. Zhou. I can't take it seriously, but Honkai Impact 3 has already entered the testing phase and will soon enter the closed beta phase. By then, we will invite a group of loyal players of Honkai Impact 2..."
It has to be said that Cai Haoyu is well versed in the essence of the two-dimensional world, and he does have many ingenious and unique ideas in maintaining and operating his own Honkai Impact 3rd IP.
For ordinary games, these ideas may not have any miraculous effects, but for two-dimensional mobile games that target the two-dimensional group, they are undoubtedly ingenious ideas that appear in a flash.
Listening to Cai Haoyu's story, Zhou Dongsheng more or less understood why the Yuanshen of the Master could sweep the world. Cai Haoyu knew too well what the two-dimensional players wanted.
But for Zhou Dongsheng, a vague idea was about to emerge in his mind. It seemed that he could take this opportunity to try to link several projects he had in hand with each other, and perhaps there would be a chance to create a different publicity effect.
Thinking of this, Zhou Dongsheng immediately became interested. After all, as his business grew bigger and bigger, Zhou Dongsheng sometimes couldn't help feeling powerless and incapable of doing things.
Therefore, Zhou Dongsheng has always hoped to find an idea that can connect these projects together to achieve the effect of 1+1 being greater than 2 or even greater than 3.
Among them, the connection between Internet celebrity media and the TikTok platform, or the connection between [Papi Jiang] and Mobike, are the simplest and most direct ways of superimposing two by two, and the effects achieved also more intuitive.
Attempts are always made step by step. Moreover, Zhou Dongsheng only plays the role of an investor with a certain say. If there is an opportunity, he can act as a bridge to enable both parties to benefit from each other and share what they have.
But if the founding team has its own ideas and persistence, it will not help even if Zhou Dongsheng is an investor.
Fortunately, considering Zhou Dongsheng's current reputation and achievements, his suggestions still have some weight.
"In that case, I believe Mr. Cai should do the pre-promotion and other related work for Honkai Impact 3, right?" Zhou Dongsheng asked back.
Upon hearing this, Cai Haoyu immediately perked up, "What's the matter? Mr. Zhou, do you have any ideas? I'm all ears!"
With his attention and understanding of Zhou Dongsheng, Cai Haoyu knows very well that Zhou Dongsheng is a famous "marketing genius"!
The effects of those marketing ideas were immediate, so if Zhou Dongsheng really had any suggestions, Cai Haoyu was willing to listen.
"I have an immature idea that just happened to come up at the right time. I'd like to give it to Mr. Cai for reference..." Zhou Dongsheng said suddenly.
"Is there any future for AR technology?" Zhou Dongsheng leaned over and asked in a gentle and persuasive manner.
"It's promising, but not mature." Cai Haoyu answered seriously.
"It's not mature enough to use it in games, but what if it's just for promotion?" Zhou Dongsheng continued.
"Emmm, it seems to be quite interesting, and then what?" Cai Haoyu said thoughtfully.
"I don't understand the technology , but you see, Pokémon randomly refreshes Pokémon on the map through the interaction between virtual and real world, in order to induce players to capture them..."
"From a technical perspective, this shouldn't be difficult to implement, right? If we use it for promotion, can we replace Pokémon with some rewards to encourage players to explore?"
Zhou Dongsheng's idea of taking a different approach suddenly opened up Cai Haoyu's mind. From a marketing perspective, it was indeed a fresh and unique attempt.
However, for a game promotion, it is a bit thankless...
"The technology is not difficult, but it still takes some time to do. And it's just for promoting the game. It's like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. And it also requires a platform to support it..."
Cai Haoyu bluntly raised several of the key points.
"Pokemon mobile games can encourage players to go out of the house and play games outdoors, but it is obviously difficult to do so with just Honkai Impact 3rd..."
"But if we directly combine it with the mode of travel, this problem will naturally be solved, right..." Zhou Dongsheng said with a smile.
"Shared bikes! So this is what Mr. Zhou meant, to let us work together with shared bikes?" Cai Haoyu's eyes lit up slightly, it seemed like this was indeed a good gimmick.
"That's right. The prizes can be activation codes, cash red envelopes, or in-game props. Mobile game players are highly similar to office workers, which is almost the same as the user group of shared bicycles..."
"In this way, the publicity effect will certainly be able to achieve the maximum conversion effect, and shared bicycles require scanning QR codes, isn't this a ready-made AR technology entrance?"
"Besides, who says we can only do game promotion?"
Zhou Dongsheng said with a sharp gaze that this method of using rewards as a sweetener to attract new customers has always been a common marketing method.
How much money is spent and how many users can be converted are both very intuitive data reflections, which is also the most important core of advertising.
However, when it comes to players who have innovated and applied this common method to perfection, we have to mention a famous Internet e-commerce company that makes people grit their teeth, love and hate it.
Coincidentally, Zhou Dongsheng is also one of the investors in this project.
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