Chapter 41 The stand-alone game market is a big pit
Qin Shaoyan is a psycho!
Although he always felt that Qin Shaoyan was unconventional, Zhang Pingyi never expected that his ideas would be so weird.
If you don’t build a good website, think about making games.
It is also a stand-alone game.
"What are you doing making a stand-alone game? Drinking the northwest wind?" Zhang Pingyi said with a sneer, "If we make it and let pirates sell it on the streets, we might as well just go to the streets and sell pirated discs."
" It omits the intermediate links, gets it right in one step, and can still make some money."
Qin Shaoyan nodded in agreement, "It makes sense. Instead of selling domestic products, we can sell more European and American products, as well as Japanese and Korean products. Yes, these are the most popular ones in China.”
“I’m talking about pirated game discs!” Zhang Pingyi said angrily.
“I’m also talking about pirated games.” Qin Shaoyan looked confused, “What do you think it is?”
"..." Zhang Pingyi took a deep breath, "I know a senior who joined a game company right after graduation. He worked for a year and was owed three months of salary, and the boss ran away."
"You Do you know how small stand-alone games are nowadays? "
"Yes." Qin Shaoyan nodded.
Not only does he know how miserable the stand-alone market is this year, but he also knows that it will be even worse next year.
According to the 2003 China Computer Game Industry Report released by Popular Software, the total domestic stand-alone game market reached 300 million yuan, while the actual sales revenue of the online game publishing market reached 1.32 billion yuan.
By 2004, the total stand-alone game market was 277 million yuan, of which the market value of new games released in 2004 was only 103 million yuan.
There were 201 new stand-alone games launched in 2004.
It’s terrible.
“Do you know how many stand-alone games are produced in China in a year?” Zhang Pingyi asked again.
“About 230 models.”
"Calculated based on 200, that is equivalent to 1.5 million for each game. After taking away the share and development costs, how much is left?" Zhang Pingyi calmed down and patiently persuaded, "And not all stand-alone games can Success, some of them were so popular that they were gone as soon as they were launched on the market."
Qin Shaoyan nodded and said with a smile, it is indeed difficult, "The number of single-player games this year is 118 less than last year. It means there are fewer competitors.”
“They are all quitting and switching to online games.” Zhang Pingyi retorted.
"Others are afraid but I am greedy." Qin Shaoyan's expression remained calm.
Zhang Pingyi was speechless. You just can’t get enough oil and salt.
Mr. Qin, do you have any idea?
"Mr. Qin, have you been under too much pressure recently?" Zhang Pingyi pondered for two seconds, "How about you take two days off?"
Qin Shaoyan still maintained a smile, expressing his Emotionally stable.
Zhang Pingyi couldn't stand it any longer, "Forget it, tell me directly, who are you going to lie to this time?"
"Correct me, I'm not lying." Qin Shaoyan smiled replied, "I work with others to achieve win-win results."
"Brother Yi, the server crashed again!"
Xu Lei's voice came from the corner again, Zhang Pingyi turned around and ran over to start processing.
Qin Shaoyan understood Zhang Minyi's resistance very well.
The current domestic stand-alone game market is indeed a trap. No wonder he has a rebellious mentality.
Domestic stand-alone games started on the PC side and have been rooted in the computer platform since their birth.
Generally speaking, everyone thinks that MapleStory in 1978 was called the world's first PC game. In 1986, Jingxun Information Co., Ltd. released its first self-made commercial game "Ruyiji" in Taiwan
Next In the past few years, game companies such as Zhiguan, Third Wave, Daewoo, Spectrum, and Hantang have appeared one after another on the island, and many high-quality stand-alone games have emerged.
The first stand-alone game in the Mainland began in 1994. It was "Condor Commando" produced by retired Military Research Institute researcher Yang Nanzheng. This game was also the first domestic military game.
A set costs 120 yuan, and 20,000 sets have been sold. This game has no encryption measures.
In the same year, Mainland China’s first specialized electronic game magazine “Electronic Game Software” was launched. This was the first domestic professional game publication. With the establishment of several pioneer media outlets for domestic computer games, companies specializing in the development and production of computer games such as Jinpan and Qiandao have also been established and put into operation. Domestic games have also ushered in a golden period of great development.
Hong Kong and Taiwan companies that have been paying attention to the mainland immediately followed up. Some Taiwanese game manufacturers such as Zhiguan Technology, 3rd Wave, and Spectrum Information also entered the mainland and opened branches.
In 1995, the pinnacle of Chinese games "Legend of Sword and Fairy" was born, with 800,000 copies sold, breaking records.
Oh, 20 million copies were pirated, which also broke the record.
This record was not broken for many years.
In 1996, "Guandu" came out. It was the first large-scale game software based on Windows 95 in mainland China. It was also the first game software in mainland China to be exported overseas in large quantities.
The success of a game does not mean that the company can make a profit. This is a huge problem that has plagued domestic game companies for a long time until now.
1996 can be said to be the golden age of the stand-alone game market in mainland China. A game of medium or higher quality can sell 10,000 units, and a game of outstanding quality can sell 50,000 units.
Then the wave of piracy began to sweep over.
Using piracy was a common thing for Internet users at that time. The operating systems were all pirated. Do you still have to spend money to play games?
In March 1997, "Swordsman Love" was released, priced at 128 yuan.
Before the game is officially launched, Kingsoft’s optimistic market expectation is that it can sell 10,000 units.
In the end, "Swordsman Love" sold 25,000 units, and various game media gave almost full marks, making it a hit.
The second part came out in 2000, with sales reaching 200,000 units, and is known as China’s stand-alone game publishing miracle.
In April, the masterpiece "Blood Lion" was released, with sales reaching 40,000 units.
Later, there was a lot of criticism due to quality problems, which was called the Blood Lion Incident.
This matter is still brooding among many players, and some even blame Blood Lion for the decline of domestic single-player games.
In the second half of 1997, the domestic gaming environment took a turn for the worse, with a large number of small and medium-sized companies disbanding before even having a product launched.
The number of exits this year far exceeded the number of entrants, and the production teams at the bottom of the industry without financial support are struggling to support themselves.
In 1998, the mainland game industry was in turmoil.
Jinpan was fully merged into Tongfang Optical Disc Co., Ltd., and the game R&D department was laid off.
Tengtu disintegrated and withdrew from the field of game production.
Qiandao announced that it would stop game development and withdraw from the game market.
At this point, the three banners of the early days of China’s gaming industry have fallen, and the first generation of gaming pioneers have just fallen into disarray.
In 2001, Shanda introduced "Legend", which became popular all over the country, marking the arrival of the era of domestic online games.
Let’s talk about some data: the number of domestic online game users reached 8.4 million in 2002 and 13.8 million in 2003.
The number of Internet users in 2003 was 86.3 million.
Looking at stand-alone games, "Qin Shang" released in 2002 mainly relied on overseas markets such as Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, and the mainland market accounted for a small share.
The main story of "Sword and Demon Sealing Record" only sold 70,000 copies, and the profit after excluding costs was only 50,000 yuan.
People go to higher places, and water flows to lower places.
The downturn in the stand-alone game market and the popularity of the online game market have completely destroyed the confidence in stand-alone game development. Domestic game R&D companies have turned to online games.
According to the current market situation, the stand-alone game market is a pitfall and cannot be pitted again.
How could Zhang Pingyi let Qin Shaoyan lead him into this pit? It would be a thankless effort and not make any money.
Why bother.
(End of this chapter)