Huayu: When the director changed his major

Chapter 293 The Ambition of the "King"

Chapter 293 The Ambition of the "King"
Of course Cheng Xi was just pretending to be a foresighted person.

Cheng Xi has seen this movie and it has a very high return rate, with a box office of over 4 million yuan.

Now Zuibai has been pushed a bit, and the current box office ceiling has also been raised by Cheng Xi.

If nothing unexpected happens, it should be possible to maintain the original level, and even exceed 5 million.

Guo Fan was stunned, feeling that Cheng Xi didn't seem to be joking.

Because even if it's comfort and encouragement, it shouldn't be so exaggerated.

Cheng Xi now finds it funny when he thinks of Guo Fan's shocked and unbelievable look on his face.

Film Academy.

Cheng Xi and Reba were walking on the road.

Both of them have been very busy recently and it has been a long time since they have hung out on campus together in the evening.

"Brother, I've finished reading the script for Mojin: The Lost Tomb. I like the character Shirley Yang!"

"I'm glad I like it. I'm finally going to play the leading role in a movie. What's it like to interview the eldest princess?"

"Yeah, she's just a movie heroine, that's all!"

"Oh, you little cutie, you're so arrogant!"

"Hehe, that's right. I'm an old actor now. Besides, this movie wasn't directed by my brother. I want to shoot a movie directed by my brother next time."

Next movie.
Cheng Xi himself didn't even know where he was.

"Brother, if I go to film 'Mojin: The Lost Tomb', it will conflict with the crew of 'Love O2O'."

"That's a problem. After all, the two will start filming not too far apart, at most a month or so. Can you, my dear, handle it?"

"I'm afraid it will affect the quality of the filming. Brother, I've read the script, and I think Nazha is quite suitable."

Cheng Xi scratched his head and said, "You consider your little sister better than I do."

Nazha is capable of acting in "Love O2O", and Yang Yang's contract is almost finalized.

Between asking Yang Yang to pay compensation for breach of contract and buying out the contract at a premium, Zuibai Entertainment chose the latter.

Now that he has money, Yang Yang's price is not high.

Getting the contract safely at two or three times the price is more reliable than anything else.

Nazha is currently recording "Running Man" and has already recorded the third episode.

It will probably take another month or so to finish recording.

It is about the same time as the start of filming of "Love O2O".

After she finished the recording, she did not arrange any new film or TV series.

Thinking of this, Cheng Xi said:
"Okay, I'll listen to the Princess!"

"Hey, thanks, brother. I also want to visit Nazha on set. I heard the next episode will be filmed in Korea."

"Okay, then I'll arrange a guest appearance for you. You've been tired from running around lately, so I'll take you out to relax."

"Take me? Brother will go too!"

Reba turned around and looked at Cheng Xi curiously with her big eyes.

"I have to go. There are no good people in Korea. I'm worried about you being alone!"

He would never admit that he actually missed Nazha a little.

Just like that, the two of them chatted happily as usual and walked around the campus for half the night.

The wind blowing on my cheeks is so gentle that it seems to come from my freshman year.

When he returned to the dormitory, Cheng Xi had two more lip marks on his left and right cheeks.

The handsome guys in the dormitory were envious.

Zuibai Entertainment Company.

Cheng Xi convened meetings of the IT department for several consecutive days and began to study the project of mobile League of Legends.

IT department manager Ma Hongjing was reporting from a PowerPoint presentation:
"Boss, after market research, I found that there are already three similar mobile MOBA game products, namely..."

"The most outstanding one among them should be Dota Westward Journey, which far surpasses the other two in terms of both the number of registered players and the degree of game completion."

Cheng Xi knew about Dota Westward Journey and downloaded it to play it a few days ago.

To be honest, the basic functions and interface are already very similar to those of Honor of Kings.

Or it can be said that later on, Honor of Kings also borrowed from this game to a certain extent.

"Dota Westward Journey was developed by Yunnan Tianzhiyou Technology Development Co., Ltd., with a R&D team of more than 20 people. The R&D cycle took four months and the R&D cost was less than 30 million yuan."

It is mainly an imitation of Dota, with some elements of Journey to the West added.

It also attracts some players who like Dota.

But the number of downloads is only around 100,000 at the moment, so even if it ranks first among MOBAs, it can still be considered a complete flop.

Previously, Dota was the most popular MOBA game, but now League of Legends is catching up.

"Unfortunately, due to funding constraints, the game's 3D modeling, original art, and hero design are all relatively crude, and promotion and traffic generation are also the company's shortcomings."

Cheng Xi listened to Ma Hongjing talking and it seemed that he had spent a lot of time on research.

Cheng Xi is also aware of this. Ultimately, no big company has entered this field yet.

They all like to play it safe.

When you don't see any benefits, you won't be willing to spend a lot of money on something.

So now only some small and medium-sized companies are struggling.

However, several products are obviously poorly operated and are in a state of heavy losses.

It also dampened the enthusiasm of major game companies for development, making them believe that the era of mobile MOBA games is still far from coming.

But as a reborn person, Cheng Xi knows it very well.

In a year or two, this now deserted track will be crowded with competitors.

Whoever can seize the first-mover advantage and do a good job of attracting traffic will be able to catch up. It is important to cultivate players' habits first.

The only MOBA games that Cheng Xi knew that survived were NetEase's "Onmyoji Arena", Penguin's "Honor of Kings", and the mobile version of League of Legends.

Of course, it is also important to have the support of a large company.

You know, with the support of Penguin, Honor of Kings later managed to create a phenomenal mobile game with a monthly turnover of 20 to 30 billion and an annual income of 30 to 40 billion.

So Cheng Xi has to seize the time and seize the opportunity.

Make the layout before the penguins react.

By then, let alone getting 300 or 400 billion a year, even if we can get 10%.

To put it bluntly, even one percent is a huge profit!

"After analysis, our department believes that the future trend of MOBA games is mobile phones. The pace of urban life is getting faster and faster, and people are becoming more and more dependent on mobile phones. Playing games on computers will become very expensive, and you can't play a game anytime, anywhere."

"And if our company develops this project, we will at least have an advantage in terms of funding and promotion."

"Boss, Mr. Li, colleagues, my report is complete."

After listening to it, Cheng Xi took the lead in applauding as encouragement.

"Hongjing has done a good job. It seems the IT department has put in a lot of effort."

"Well, let me emphasize a few points."

"First, the project officially launched today, with an estimated initial investment of 2 million yuan. However, I hope the R&D cycle can be completed within six months, which means I want to see version 1.0 around National Day."

The development cycle of the other three MOBA games, including Dota Westward Journey, is about 3-4 months.

The largest capital investment is only 3 million.

The initial R&D cost of "Genshin Impact" was 7 million, and the R&D cost of "Black Myth: Wukong" was 3-4 million.

Cheng Xi had 2 million yuan in funding and half a year to make a 1.0 version of a moba game, which was more than enough.

Of course, Cheng Xi is not rigid and will definitely adjust the project's R&D progress according to actual conditions.

Loosen when it’s time to loosen, and tighten when it’s time to tighten.

"Secondly, the company established a mobile game department, transferring half of the staff from the IT department, and then recruiting game-related talents to expand the department to 80 people. Ma Hongjing will serve as the department manager concurrently, half a level higher than other departments, and report directly to Li Wentao."

The IT department is now mainly responsible for daily maintenance work. After the development of the "Zuibai Reading" APP was completed, the staff workload was often not saturated.

Now is the perfect time to invest in the mobile game department.

My childhood friend Gao Chunyang also studied computer science, so I asked him to be a team leader or something to get some training.

The initial R&D team of Honor of Kings had only forty or fifty people, and it expanded to more than 100 people later.

When Cheng Xi saw the report that each member of the R&D team Tianmei received a monthly bonus of 100 yuan, he was extremely envious.

After several iterations, Zuibai Entertainment Company now covers multiple departments including office, production department, artist department, original department, administrative department (including personnel and finance), publicity department, marketing department, legal department, IT department, Guo Fan Studio, etc.

There is also one general manager, Li Wentao, and three deputy general managers, Liu Hongtao, Zhao Qiang, and Zhang Yunhui, who are responsible for Zuibai Mahua, Zuibai Chinese website, and internal affairs of the head office respectively.

Subsequently, department adjustments will be made based on necessary functions to adapt to future group operations.

Zuibai Studio has not yet been incorporated into Zuibai Entertainment and is an independent department.

Salaries, etc. are issued separately.

Now adding a mobile game department, which reports directly to Li Wentao, is considered an over-specification.

Although Li Wentao had discussed this with Ma Hongjing in advance, he knew that he would be the head of two departments.

And when he was the new head of the mobile game department, his face flushed red, he stood up and immediately stated:

"Thank you, boss, and the company. I will definitely keep working hard to complete the task!"

After hearing the statement, Cheng Xi nodded and gestured for him to sit down.

"Third, pay attention to originality and avoid plagiarism. Try to borrow from multiple games, such as MOBA, Dynasty Warriors, League of Legends, and even Dota 2 Westward Journey."

Cheng Xi attaches great importance to the issue of plagiarism. Don't develop it well and become famous.

If you get sued and fail, it will be a waste of time.

"Finally, regarding content, the interface should be kept as simple as possible, and hero inspirations can include historical figures from various dynasties in China, and even mythological systems."

"Hero artwork must be beautiful, players can gain online economy without last-hitting, game time must be shortened to 8-15 minutes, skills must be reduced from 4 to 3, and players can buy equipment without returning to the city, etc."

"The main thing is simplification! We are not trying to create the most competitive project, but to retain a certain degree of competitiveness to attract female players and players of all ages to join the game."

"A game that allows even a clumsy player to reach Diamond and enjoy both competitive and social fun!"

When everyone heard the boss's specific requirements, they were delighted to hear that they had at least been given a clear direction in all aspects, big and small.

It can be seen that the boss is serious.

It’s really good to come, so that the support will be greater.

Moreover, the direction is clear, and the subsequent steps are to quickly copy and add details, which can shorten the development cycle.

After the meeting, Cheng Xi kept Li Wentao and Ma Hongjing alone to give them some special instructions and encouragement.

"This will be the company's top priority project. We will provide you with both funding and personnel."

"Hongjing, do you have confidence?"

"Yes, boss!"

After Ma Hongjing finished speaking, he asked again:
"Boss, please give our project a name!"

Cheng Xi nodded and thought about it. The name was simple and ready-made.

"Let's call it 'King of Glory'!"

"King! Glory! What a great name! As expected of the boss!"

Cheng Xi also laughed after hearing this flattery.