Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 775 Cultural Invasion and Cultural Confidence

"As for my thoughts on 'Onmyoji,' I'll just say a few words at the end."

"First of all, NetEase is a respectable technology company whose R&D strength and product quality are evident to all."

Onmyoji has indeed reached an industry-leading level in terms of art style and game quality.

Mr. Ding Lei, as an entrepreneur, also deserves respect for his business achievements.

"But I don't understand one thing: why do people have such a treasure trove but not use it? Why do they lose the watermelon and pick up a sesame seed instead?"

We clearly possess the world's richest cultural treasure trove.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas records more than 400 kinds of gods, monsters and strange beasts, the Investiture of the Gods constructs a complete mythological system, and the Search for the Gods records a large number of folk legends.

The monster images contained in these cultural treasures are not only numerous but also highly characteristic of the East, fully capable of supporting a magnificent fantasy world.

From a cultural perspective, about 80% of the Japanese monsters can be traced back to prototypes in ancient Chinese books, while Japanese monsters only account for about 10% of them.

For example, the Tengu originally originated from the image of the mountain god, which was modified to form the current "Kara Tengu" or "Yamabushi Tengu" with supernatural abilities.

For example, the nine-tailed fox in the Investiture of the Gods evolved into "Tamamo-no-Mae", and the "Yama" in the concept of hell became "Yama the Great King".

These are just a few examples.

We possess boundless resources, which we should utilize and adapt to the characteristics of our times. This was the initial consideration behind the creation of *Gods and Demons Chronicles*. However, even in its current public beta, less than 10% of its potential has been explored, demonstrating the vastness of the legacy left by our ancestors.
Unfortunately, we seem to be more interested in borrowing than innovating.

Some current phenomena deserve our deep reflection:
Some colleagues would rather go to Kyoto for inspiration than take photos of the beautiful landscapes of China; they would rather spend a lot of money to hire Japanese voice actors than support the local dubbing industry; they would rather use foreign terms like "shikigami" and "spell" than dare to openly use terms like "heaven and earth" or "mythical beasts of mountains and seas" for naming.

They even draw a 'pentagram' when it comes to gacha pulls.

This lack of confidence in cultural expression is truly regrettable.

If this were a product of a Japanese company, it would be understandable. But since it was created by Chinese developers, regardless of their initial intentions, it inevitably evokes the feeling of "begging with a golden bowl in hand."
In the past, such behavior would have been universally condemned and stoned to death. It just goes to show that society has progressed and everyone is more civilized now.
In the context of cultural export, games are not only entertainment products, but also cultural carriers.

We look forward to seeing more outstanding works that are rooted in local culture and aimed at the world, allowing global players to understand the true Chinese culture through games.

Oops, I meant to keep it simple, but I accidentally went off on a tangent.

The above views represent only personal opinions and are not intended to negate any company's business choices. Every team has its own creative freedom and development path.

When any topic rises to the level of national and familial righteousness, all other issues will crumble on their own, and plagiarism and borrowing will no longer be problems.

The recent DLG championship victory and the resulting celebrations at universities demonstrate the younger generation's desire for cultural confidence.

The interview with the president of Bi'an Games was released in a place that the public could see, without any public relations efforts to promote it.

Naturally, many netizens voiced their support and debated his views.

This presents a stark contrast on Zhihu's trending topics: on one hand, there's the controversy surrounding the Japanese culture of "Onmyoji," and on the other hand, there's the collective defense of the "Higanbana" series.

"From Black Myth to Glory of the World, from Monkey King: Hero Is Back to the other shore flower area, these benchmark works of cultural export are building national confidence."

"In a special era, such behavior would probably be..."

"You can't say that. The game itself is indeed well-made and shows a lot of effort."

"What's the point of a fun game if you're biased? Is it because China doesn't have enough kinds of monsters?"

"If you ask me, isn't raising pigs in a pig farm a good thing? Mr. Ding, stop making games and go back to your old business of raising pigs."

This clash of opinions precisely demonstrates that when cultural confidence becomes a defining issue of our time, the public's criteria for judging cultural products have long surpassed entertainment itself.

Even without Chen Mo's personal involvement, a few words from Sun Ziwei, the head of Beyond Games, in an interview were enough to stir up a storm that could turn the tide.

Beneath Ding Lei's gloomy face lay not only anger but also an unspeakable apprehension.

Since the collaboration between the other side and Baidu in the middle of the year, it has caused a great uproar in the industry.

This guy surnamed Chen suddenly started to keep a low profile, which was completely unusual for him.
The recent uproar over the Beijing retail incident and the fact that at most, only a few of the key figures from Beyond Games could be seen, with Chen Mo nowhere to be found.

Now, Sun Ziwei's interview has plunged NetEase's strategic project "Onmyoji," which took two years to develop, into an unprecedented crisis.

Am I not even qualified to compete against Chen Mo anymore?

Ding Lei began to question the meaning of life.

Now, Ma Huateng and the other side of the strait are keeping to themselves, each pursuing their own development, and life is peaceful.

Did he foresee the irresistible force on the other side all along?
Last year, NetEase's revenue reached 2 billion yuan, with a net profit margin as high as 30%, most of which came from games.

Although NetEase has a good relationship with Alibaba, Alibaba had previously made some moves in the gaming sector, but ultimately abandoned them after realizing the risks, resulting in virtually no benefit to NetEase's gaming endeavors. The only advantage it brings is the cooperation between NetEase Yanxuan and Taobao, which provides comprehensive support to NetEase.

However, it only accounts for about 15% of revenue, far lower than the gaming business.

So how should NetEase handle this situation going forward?
Is it like Baidu, joining forces when you can't beat them?

Is it like Tencent, where if I can't afford to mess with them, I'll just avoid them?
Should we maintain the status quo, continue cooperating with Alibaba, and wait and see?

Damn, raising pigs is much simpler than this.
For a moment, Ding Lei was caught in a dilemma.

The person in charge of the Onmyoji development team next to him watched as his boss fell into deep thought and did not come out for a long time, and did not dare to make a sound to disturb him.

After all, as an employee, he only cares about how to make the game better, while the boss has many other considerations.
"You need to quickly draft a statement explaining our motives for doing this, and we must get rid of the negative labels that public opinion has placed on us."

"Yes, I'll get your approval as soon as it's done."

After the other party went out to handle some business, Ding Lei decided to continue cooperating with Alibaba. After all, the cost of choosing sides and changing course was too high, and most importantly, it was still unknown who would prevail between Alibaba and the other party in the future.

Meanwhile, in the gaming industry, NetEase is not the best but not the worst either. Even though Onmyoji ultimately failed, it can still thrive thanks to Fantasy Westward Journey, a perennial cash cow that brings in over 10 billion yuan in revenue every year.

Moreover, they also collaborate with Blizzard to operate its games. Blizzard IPs help NetEase solidify its image as a "premium game operator" and contribute 20 to 30 billion yuan in revenue annually, accounting for 10% of total revenue.

Based on these two points alone, NetEase is far from being at its wit's end.

But even the longest product lifecycle has its day of decay. The baton he had placed high hopes on, Onmyoji, only lasted two days before it fizzled out. He was unsure whether the product could continue to thrive.

Since that's the case, we still need to prepare early. Ding Lei glanced at the list of internal studios and, after comparing them, finally chose Lei Huo, which had the strongest overall strength within the company.

This studio excels at developing high-definition, large-scale games and has a proven track record.

The large-scale 3D MMORPG "Revelation Online", which features an Eastern fantasy MMO style, was launched at the end of last year and received a good response.

The studio is currently developing the MMO martial arts world "Against the Current," a long martial arts novel by Wen Ruian, belonging to the "Four Great Constables" novel series.

Today, in terms of martial arts novels alone, although "The Four Great Constables" is quite well-known, it cannot compare to the audience of Jin Yong and Gu Long.

The reason for choosing "Justice Online" was that, during the initial stages of the project, their research revealed that the IP rights to Jin Yong and Gu Long were completely monopolized by Beyond Online.
"Select an elite team," Ding Lei instructed Hu Zhipeng, the person in charge of Lei Huo, who had rushed over.

"Didn't they just announce they're developing an FPS? We'll make one too."

"But they only announced the game genre, without mentioning any other details. How can we use that as a reference?"

Ding Lei sneered: "It's nothing more than stitching together elements from popular shooting games on the market."

Just like their "Record of Gods and Demons," not only did they piece together features from their own product, but they even 'borrowed' the essence of our "Onmyoji," only with slightly better tailoring skills.

"Just follow my prescription. I think Overwatch is pretty good. Blizzard doesn't care about the mobile game market, which is our opportunity."

"Understood. I will submit the project proposal to you for review as soon as it is completed."

After Hu Zhipeng left, Ding Lei rubbed his head, which was throbbing from overthinking.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the Wei Kingdom was powerful, and the allied forces of Wu and Shu defeated Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs.

The current internet landscape is remarkably similar.

If they can join forces with Tencent, they might be able to shake the dominant position on the other side.

"Perhaps we should take advantage of the industry summit to find an opportunity to have a serious talk with Pony Ma."

Ding Lei gazed at the night outside the window, secretly making plans.

Shenzhen, Tencent.

Mr. Ding was finally relieved to have his beloved Ma Ge on his mind. After a week of discussions in the president's office, a draft of a cooperation plan with the other side was finally finalized.

Sometimes, comprehensive cooperation is worse than comprehensive confrontation, and expanding the market pie is a win-win situation for all parties.

Moreover, to avoid the risk of monopolistic practices, most of the cooperative proposals in this plan are technology cooperation, non-exclusive joint operations, and environmental governance suggestions for sound and healthy development.

However, we still need to meet with Chen Mo to exchange specific opinions before we can make a final decision.

Now, only one question remains for Little Ma: how to bring it up and what attitude to take when facing the other party's questions.

In comparison, how exactly to cooperate is not such a crucial issue.

In the days leading up to the conference, Ma began to cultivate his mind and prepare for what he considered the most crucial 'battle' in his lifetime in social situations.

(End of this chapter)