My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 147 New Opportunities
Zhou Kuang pushed the door open and entered his office, only to find Niu Tieming staring at something in his hand.

He walked over and took a look, and found that what he was holding in his hand was the photo frame on his desk.

"Handsome, right?"

Zhou Kuang laughed.

In the photo frame is a group photo of all employees of Megvii Games before the project started, including everyone from the subsidiary company.

This is a "family photo" within the company.

Zhou Kuang felt a little emotional when he thought about how Kuangshi Games had just expanded its staff by nearly a hundred people at that time. Apart from the vision for the future of Netherworld Mountain and Sea, everything else was unknown. All the employees were also relatively unfamiliar with each other, so there was naturally no question of any degree of coordination.

"It's like looking at some historical photos." Niu Tieming smiled slightly and put down the photo frame in his hand.

"This might end up in textbooks."

"I can imagine that the caption below the photo is a group photo of all members of Megvii Games in its early days."

Zhou Kuang shook his head.

"But please don't. We've only just started, and you've already put this into history textbooks."

Niu Tieming sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and said, "You have no confidence?"

"It has nothing to do with confidence. I just feel that everything written in the book is already confirmed." Zhou Kuang walked around him calmly and sat down in his boss chair. The boss chair turned around and faced Niu Tieming.

"We are far from reaching a final conclusion, so let's not talk about it."

Niu Tieming chuckled.

"You kid, you have a bad temper towards me." He paused and continued, "I have news for you."

"I'm getting a promotion."

When Zhou Kuang heard this, he was shocked, but a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Congratulations, it's finally time." Then, he asked the question he cared about most: "Will you still be at Antarctic Interactive Entertainment after your promotion?"

"No, headquarters transferred me back to Antarctic Group."

Hearing the other party's answer, Zhou Kuang felt a little disappointed.

I have a very pleasant cooperation with Niu Tieming, and the trust between us is growing day by day.

During the development stage of "Youming Shanhai", Niu Tieming helped me a lot. Although a lot of it was also to help himself, not everyone would be as easy to talk to as him.

Sometimes, he even forgot that he was facing the Antarctic Group, which was as powerful as the sky and the sea.

If Niu Tieming returns to Antarctic Group, there will naturally be no more contact between the two parties, and Antarctic Interactive Entertainment will definitely nominate a new person to replace Niu Tieming's current position.

However, whether this person can be as reasonable as Niu Tieming is what Zhou Kuang is most worried about.

Niu Tieming seemed to have read Zhou Kuang's mind and said, "But don't worry, I will still be responsible for Kuangshi Games' affairs from now on."

"Oh?"

Zhou Kuang showed a puzzled expression when he heard this.

Antarctic Interactive Entertainment is the company in Antarctic Group responsible for the gaming business. Since Niu Tieming is about to leave Antarctic Interactive Entertainment and return to the headquarters, how can he be responsible for the affairs of Kuangshi Shanhai?

"This is the good news I want to tell you." Niu Tieming cleared his throat with a slightly proud expression.

"The headquarters is going to set up a new company. The specific name is still under discussion, but it will definitely be directly under the Antarctic Group."

"It's on the same level as Antarctic Interactive Entertainment, both are direct subsidiaries of the group."

"And I..."

"He is the president of this subsidiary."

Zhou Kuang was shocked after hearing this.

This is almost a step to heaven!

You should know that at Antarctic Interactive Entertainment, Niu Tieming was just one of the vice presidents of the company's gaming business.

Counting from the top to the bottom, the ranking must be at least in the double digits.

But now, he has become the founder and head of a subsidiary directly under the Antarctic Group.

Since it is a new company to be established by Antarctic Group, the salary will definitely not be low. After all, if they do not value this company, based on its size, there is no need to place the company directly under the group.

However, Niu Tieming did not finish his words.

"The main responsibility of this company is to incubate distinctive domestic 3A stand-alone game teams for Antarctic Group."

"And provide support for the game team throughout the development process."

"What we want to do is to become an incubator for domestic 3A stand-alone games."

Zhou Kuang suddenly realized that it was obvious that Antarctic Group had seen the huge success of "Netherworld Mountains and Seas" and had full faith in the potential of this market.

Contrary to what many players imagine, for large companies, game revenue is not the only reference indicator.

Risk is also a very important part.

In the past, game companies believed that stand-alone games, which take a long time to produce, were a riskier investment.

Because mobile games and online games can be tested while they are being made, if the feedback after testing is not good, the game content can be modified based on the feedback, or the project can be canceled directly to reduce losses.

As a product that requires a complete experience, stand-alone games rarely use testing to verify the game content.

At most, we can release a game demo to see the players' interest.

Through the success of "The Netherworld", Antarctic Group realized two things.

1. Domestic players' demand and desire for domestic stand-alone games far exceeds their expectations.

The quality of the game "Netherworld Mountains and Seas" is indeed very good, but if someone says that "Netherworld Mountains and Seas" has not benefited at all from the title of "domestic 3A", then they are absolutely crazy.

3. The production cost of A stand-alone games is far lower than their expectations.

During the past two years, Niu Tieming has been following the development progress of Kuangshi Games the entire time, so apart from Zhou Kuang himself, Antarctic Group is definitely the one who knows best how much money was spent on "Youming Shanhai".

When the game was released, looking at the rising sales of "Netherworld Mountains and Seas", as well as the manpower, time, outsourcing costs, and marketing costs they needed, the top management of Antarctic Group was surprised to find that stand-alone games were really cheap to make!

"The Netherworld" took only two years to produce and involved a team of one hundred people. Compared to the bloated projects within Antarctic Interactive Entertainment, it was nothing compared to them.

Although part of this is due to the help provided by the system, Antarctic Interactive Entertainment is unaware of this.

In their opinion, compared to Megvii Games, a company that was making a 3A stand-alone game for the first time, they had more money and more people. Since it was also their first time, there was no reason for them to do worse than the other party.

I can do it too.

So starting from the group level, Antarctic Group chose to place a heavy bet on the domestic stand-alone game market, and Niu Tieming's subsidiary may just be the first step.

"Meishi Games will be the first target of our company's services."

Niu Tieming said with satisfaction.

"We will become closer partners in the future, and I will be able to mobilize far more resources than before." Niu Tieming blinked, "After all, my authority will be even greater in the future."

"For you and Kuangshi Games, I can provide even greater assistance."

"Headquarters has high praise for you and believes this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Netherworld Mountains and Seas is a very good start."

"With this favorable trend, we want to fully revitalize the domestic stand-alone game market." Niu Tieming said with his eyes sparkling with longing for the future.

What he meant was, of course, that Antarctic Group wanted to become the leader in the domestic stand-alone game market.

Zhou Kuang doesn't care. He just wants to make good games and create masterpieces or even masterpieces that will go down in history.

It doesn't matter who dominates this market.

That's something for the big companies to consider.

As long as Zhou Kuang can control his own company and continue to produce good works, no matter which company is the market leader, they will not be stupid enough to compete with him.

The Antarctic Group’s plan seems to be the same as what they are doing, but in fact it does not conflict at all.

The other party wants to expand the scale to make money, while I just want to raise the upper limit, so the relationship between the two parties is mutually beneficial.

"Great!"

Zhou Kuang was also very excited. The other party was right. This was really good news for him.

"Let me tell you the lowdown: the funding and personnel provided by headquarters are more than sufficient, and the project we're in charge of has a special privilege."

"privilege?"

Zhou Kuang raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

"Yes, since we want to incubate domestic 3A stand-alone projects, we have a very high degree of autonomy in project selection."

"In the past, at Antarctic Interactive Entertainment, if you wanted to start a new project, you had to prepare everything in advance and then submit it for approval at every level. It was very cumbersome."

“Sometimes the market trend changes for a short while, and if you miss it, you’ll miss it completely.”

Zhou Kuang nodded. No wonder Antarctic Group boldly recruited Niu Tieming.

As the vice president of Antarctic Interactive Entertainment's game business, he has always been doing front-line work and discovered the project "Youming Shanhai".

Under pressure from the entire Antarctic Group, he chose to invest in Megvii Games against all odds.

This has proven his vision and unique ability in selecting game projects.

Therefore, from the perspective of the Antarctic Group, he has both the ability and the experience, but the only thing he lacks is the qualifications to be the top leader.

But after "Netherworld Mountains and Seas" sold more than four million copies, this is no longer a problem.

"Then I congratulate you again, Mr. Niu."

"I have to call you President Niu from now on?" Zhou Kuang said with a joking smile.

"Hey, you're welcome. It's all thanks to you, bro!"

Niu Tieming's face was beaming with joy, and what he said was from his heart.

The two continued chatting, and Zhou Kuang nodded repeatedly as he listened to Niu Tieming's plans for the company.

He was worried that the other party would leave his current position one day, but now he doesn't have to worry about that anymore.

As long as Niu Tieming is still the president of this "incubator" company, he can rest assured.

As for the other party's request to have Kuangshi Games send people to incubate these projects to share experience, Zhou Kuang agreed without hesitation.

His interests are the same as Niu Tieming's, so naturally he has to help the other party secure this position.

Moreover, he also hopes that his domestic counterparts can improve their level and always stand out. Facing many excellent game projects from abroad is also a lonely thing.

As he was talking, Niu Tieming began to talk about the Star Wheel Company.

"I happened to meet an executive from Starwheel Global Development Management this time."

Zhou Kuang listened and nodded.

"Their intention was very direct. They wanted to sign Netherworld Mountain and Sea as an exclusive game for the GS4 platform."

"Exclusive games here mean that you can't play them on other console platforms, and PC platforms are certainly not included."

GS4, the fourth generation of Starwheel's console platform Game Station, has been widely praised by console players.

Zhou Kuang touched his chin and thought carefully, his brows subconsciously frowned.

The influence of the gs4 platform in the console field is unquestionable, and it is also a great help for "Youming Shanhai" to further expand the influence of the game.

However, signing an exclusive contract is not as simple as imagined, and the pros and cons must be carefully considered.

The console war is in full swing now. If I rashly join one side, what will happen if things change?
"What do you think?" Zhou Kuang raised his head and looked at Niu Tieming.

Since the other party found Antarctic Interactive Entertainment first, rather than himself, there must be a reason behind it.

"I think this is a very clever move. They're clearly eyeing the reputation of Netherworld Mountain and Sea among domestic players and want to use exclusivity to attract domestic players."

Niu Tieming said this, but then changed the subject.

"However, I feel their sincerity is still insufficient. Apart from the standard exclusive contract, they haven't offered anything else."

"It seems that what they value more is the influence of this game in the domestic market."

Zhou Kuang's eyes flashed.

There are still many foreign players, media, and even game manufacturers who believe that the popularity of "Netherworld Mountains and Seas" is due to "national sentiment" rather than the quality of the game.

He scoffed at the idea.

Emotions can only add icing on the cake, not provide timely help.

If they could make money simply by exploiting emotions, domestic and foreign game companies would have long ago shouted "Long live China" and sold some junk games to Chinese players.

"Is it possible to negotiate with Xinglun for the limited-time exclusivity of "Youming Shanhai" in GS4?" Zhou Kuang asked, tapping the table subconsciously.

Before he traveled through time, limited-time exclusives had replaced exclusives and became the choice for many games that were originally platform exclusives.

The advantage of this is that you can get financial benefits while leaving yourself room for choice.

"Limited-time exclusive?" Niu Tieming was stunned. He hadn't expected the other party to say that. "That's a really novel term."

He lowered his head and thought.

Obviously, in this world's console market, the overall pace of development is slower than that of Zhou Kuang's original world.

Limited-time exclusivity is obviously not a mainstream solution.

"You really are a good businessman. However, I'm afraid Xinglun won't agree to such a plan."

Niu Tieming stood up and looked out the window.

"Xinglun wants it all, and this solution seems to them like a snake and a rat."

Zhou Kuang shrugged after hearing this. It seemed that limited-time exclusivity was indeed inappropriate here.

"Next week, the president of Star Wheel Asia Pacific will be here. I suggest you meet with them."

"It won't do you any harm."

Zhou Kuang nodded after hearing this.

Star Wheel, isn't it coming just for him?

(End of this chapter)