Reborn on the Internet: Starting with Games

Chapter 225 Blizzard Meeting

NetEase's Ding Lei had an uncertain face, but in the end he couldn't shake it off and made a decision to change it day and night. "Westward Journey 2" remains free.

"Fantasy Westward Journey" has a traditional point-and-click time-based fee. It has recently started to show improvement and has steadily increased online. It has now reached 20 people and has been charged by time. Plus the item fee, it is estimated that if you do this, you will be scolded by the players. He didn't want to seek death.

He regrets that Century Interactive Entertainment would not have launched it two months earlier, so that he would no longer use point card system for "Fantasy Westward Journey".

Other online game manufacturers that rely on traditional point card charging are also a little embarrassed. Although they are eager but unable to do anything, they are thinking about having a free model for their next game, because each of their business ups and downs can be seen in the hands of Century Interactive Entertainment. There is huge profit potential hidden there.

As soon as these games were updated, players sparked huge discussions on various game forums.

Some players think that after this update of Century Interactive Entertainment, various recharge purchases to guide users to consume and make money are too ugly.

And more players believe that Century Interactive Entertainment is doing something to benefit the people. There are additional gifts for the first recharge, which is equivalent to buying three and getting one free. Where do other manufacturers' online games come from this policy.

Moreover, it is not a compulsory consumption like point cards. You cannot play the game without spending money. It is all voluntary. Moreover, skins are just more beautiful than practical, and they do not add attribute points or destroy the balance of the game.

This kind of Zhou Yu's yellow cover is done consensually, and the players' acceptance is relatively high.

Even some players who bought the new skins, whether they are players of Three Kingdoms, Three Kingdoms OL or Bubble Hall, said they are very satisfied.

Some of the characters or characters who have changed their skins are clearly visible in the game, and they have a sense of superiority that makes them stand out from the crowd, giving these players a sense of immersion.

Everyone said that it was excellent value for money, and only a few players slightly complained that the price of the permanent skin was a bit high.

Nowadays, in games like Century Interactive Entertainment, there are generally only two types of people with skins, the rich bosses and the powerful gods.

For example, in Three Kingdoms OL, only those who are very familiar with this hero and have a very high level will buy the corresponding skin, otherwise they will easily be ridiculed and talked about.

As for the rich bosses, it doesn't matter, they just buy it when it comes out. Unfortunately, there are only a few skins in the game.

So the impact is that when many players see a skin on the opposite side, they are timid before fighting. Anyway, they are either a master or a big boss.

Online game manufacturers are secretly "learning", netizens are discussing it, and game media are reporting on it.

Even some experts and scholars have discovered this pattern and began to discuss it from economics, philosophy, and human nature.

Within two days it was overshadowed by another piece of news.

On March 2003, 3, Blizzard Vice President Bill Roper held a meeting to visit China at the Dongmei Comprehensive Entertainment Center in Xintiandi, Shanghai.

This is the first time for Blizzard executives to visit China. Bill Roper alone has visited South Korea more than three times.The reason is that South Korea is the sales center for Blizzard games, especially StarCraft.As for China, due to the impact of rampant piracy on the domestic stand-alone game market, China's market share of Blizzard's global market is actually not high.

Although the market share is not high, the Chinese market potential is very huge. The rapid performance of Korean online games in the Chinese market in the past two years has made Blizzard executives very jealous and wants a share of the pie. Moreover, World of Warcraft is another product that Blizzard has spent huge amounts of money on in recent years. It is a key project where funds are invested in research and development, which directly affects and changes the attitude of Blizzard executives towards the Chinese market.

According to Blizzard's original plan, Bill Roper and his party originally planned to visit the Gulf Province for inspection. In the end, due to a sudden change in the plan, the mainland became the primary destination of the trip. This was also the highest-profile marketing event in the history of Blizzard in the Chinese market. .

Blizzard began to pay attention to the Chinese market, and China reciprocated.

The official media also reported on this event. Although it was only a few sentences, it also represented the attitude towards the matter: "This is an affirmation of the achievements of all colleagues in the domestic game industry who care and work hard. I believe this event will have a positive impact on the game industry." It is a milestone for the domestic gaming industry."

At the meeting site, in fact, Blizzard only opened 50 player slots for this meeting, and there were more than 1300 applicants. On this day, more than 2000 people gathered outside the venue.

Many Blizzard players gathered outside the door, silently waiting for the first-hand news to come out.

It is far from being like Messi, the future world champion, who came to China for several days. He was blocked in the hotel by crazy fans and did not dare to go out for several days. He even canceled the scheduled training activities, let alone wanted to visit the mysterious Eastern attractions.

This is not bad, but what is even more amazing is the tenth anniversary concert of a certain boys group. The three little fans were divided into more than a dozen sects, which was even more exaggerated than a martial arts competition.

Tickets for the first few rows are sold for hundreds of thousands or millions, and even tree tickets cost 5000 each, and they are charged by the hour. It is called youth only once, youth without regrets!

There is nothing wrong with chasing stars. Every generation has its own star to chase, whether the star is in politics, business or entertainment (Juan), but everything must be done according to one's ability. Going too far or falling short will be self-destruction.

It seems that the magic power of King Thunder and Lightning is sometimes beyond his reach.

Fortunately, Blizzard has not yet fallen. Seeing the enthusiasm of the players outside the venue, we decided to build a temporary stage outside so that everyone can participate and experience the gifts that Blizzard has brought to everyone.

After the stage is set up.When Bill Ropa appeared, he wore a black Tang suit with a red dragon pattern embroidered on the outside. He opened a couplet on a steel bridge five meters above the ground and wrote "I love China." The Blizzard players at the scene cheered.

What made the players even more excited was that Blizzard brought promotional videos for the Warcraft 3 expansion pack The Frozen Throne and World of Warcraft.

All the players at the scene were shocked by the picture of the promotional video. After a brief silence, applause, cheers and whistles were mixed together to vent their enthusiasm.

Sun Baiying, president of "Home Computers and Games" magazine, took the stage to speak, welcoming Blizzard to China; Xu Wenhan, editor-in-chief of "Popular Software" magazine, presented the "2003 Most Popular Foreign Game Dealer Award" to Blizzard on behalf of the game media.

This meeting expressed a signal from Blizzard that it will shift its focus to the Chinese market.

This shows that World of Warcraft is Blizzard's focus in the next few years, and they are very confident in their own products.

(End of this chapter)