You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 419

"The Taoist priest and his fifteen dogs are walking sideways throughout the district!"

"The mage has strong control and can instantly freeze everyone in frost!"

"The warrior has high output, and his sword will explode tenfold!"

"A brand new version of a groundbreaking legendary online game is about to be launched!"

“Completely free! Completely free, you can have fun without spending a penny!”

Everyone who clicked on the video had a mixture of shock and surprise on their faces, staring at the video screen intently.

The various gorgeous skill special effects in the video almost cover the entire screen. Monsters fall down in groups, and the equipment special effects that fall all over the ground are colorful and dazzling.

The gracefully shaped mage, the domineering warrior, the elegant and mysterious assassin, each profession shows its unique advantages.

The advantages of the 3D game engine are fully demonstrated in the picture, and the game scenes and characters are more three-dimensional and exquisite.

Many of these technologies are shown for the first time, and the most shocking is the scene destruction effect.

The controlled character can not only hit monsters, but also smash buildings and destroy houses, bridges, and city walls.

Coupled with all kinds of dazzling new technologies and super rendering effects, it shocks players again and again. They have never seen this before.

It is so simple and crude to make games successful in this era. As long as your graphics are good enough, you have won the hearts of 50% of the players.

If the game content is a little richer and the server is stable, it will be enough to defeat more than 90% of online games on the market. Operators and manufacturers can just sit back and count the money.

In this early online game market, there was a blue ocean everywhere. As long as the game server did not crash and the gameplay was not too outrageous, you could make money.

However, this period was too short. After major Internet companies discovered the gold mine of online games, they all joined in.

Various online games emerged like a fountain, and the game market quickly became saturated within a few years.

The online game "Warring States OL" came out of nowhere on the eve of the online game boom, and the shock it brought to players was second only to the impact of "World of Warcraft".

Corresponding forums were quickly set up on the campus network and Baidu's forums, and tens of thousands of players flocked in, eager to get information about this online game.

Is the game free?
When will it be online?
Where is the official website and where can I download the client?

The advertising power of video websites is amazing. In a very short time, the video of "Warring States OL" spread to major communities, and thousands of players were discussing it enthusiastically.

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

Within the gaming industry, what the advertising video showed caused an earthquake.

Almost all the senior executives of game companies are in meetings, and they are all concerned about one topic.

What engine does "Warring States OL" use?
Although the most profitable online games on the market today are 2D, it is an industry consensus that 3D game engines will be the mainstream in the future.

After "World of Warcraft" entered the country, the country promulgated relevant policies to encourage the industry to develop 3D game engines.

As early as 2003, Xishanju began to participate in the "863" plan, applying for funding for the "Online Game General Engine Research and Demonstration Product Development" project, and received 500 million yuan in funding.

In 2004, the Beijing Science and Technology Commission provided a subsidy of 950 million yuan to the self-developed engine of the target software "Ao Shi OL".

Since then, major game companies have received subsidies from governments at all levels in the name of developing their own engines.

At this time, there were many domestic game engines, and many game companies developed 3D online games using their own game engines.

For example, Perfect, Xishanju, NetEase, etc.

At that time, 3D game engines were still in their early stages, but the game engine used in "Warring States OL" was far ahead of them by several levels.

There were many unprecedented technologies that shocked everyone.

In this era where a game can be ahead of its competitors just by looking at its graphics, an excellent or even top-notch game engine can attract more players and save countless expenses for promotion and marketing.

The sudden appearance of "Warring States OL" at this critical juncture means that it is very likely to be launched in 2006.

The online game that was scheduled to be launched in 2006 will face strong competitors, and how to deal with it has become the primary problem facing the top management of the game company.

Other types of online games are better, but the online game development teams of MMORPGs are also very panicked.

Many bosses of game companies first ask questions about engine technology in internal meetings, "Can our game engine achieve the same effect? ​​How long will it take to achieve the same effect?"

The programmers working on the engine were confused, and finally explained, "Some of the technical principles used in their engine are already known, so we can try them, but we don't understand how some of the technologies are achieved."

“It will take at least two to three years to achieve their results.”

"Two or three years?" The boss looked very unhappy. "That's impossible. Only half a year at most."

Let alone two or three years, I can’t even wait a year.

The biggest R&D cost for a game company is time. The longer it takes, the higher the cost.

Everyone hopes that the game can be launched quickly and then make money to recover the costs.

It is impossible for the entire project team to wait two or three years until the game engine develops new technology before going online.

The programmer in the engine development team was speechless and didn't know how to explain it to his boss.

Game engines require a lot of experience, and you can’t master them in just half a year.

Since his own engine was not good enough, the boss changed his mind and asked, "Which company developed "Warring States OL"? Who is the boss? Can we use their engine?"

Although replacing the engine is troublesome, it is faster than waiting for your own engine to be upgraded.

Or you can just lie down and go online as planned and try your luck in the market.

The producer sighed, "I heard that this online game was made by Qin Shaoyan, and the game engine used is the same as "Counter-Terrorism: Modern Warfare"."

The boss was stunned when he heard this. He still remembers that at the E3 exhibition, Qin Shaoyan appeared out of nowhere with a trial version of "Counter-Terrorism: Modern Warfare" and became the biggest dark horse of the exhibition.

The incomparable visual effects left the foreigners stunned.

Moreover, Qin Shaoyan is also the record holder for domestic stand-alone game sales. The sales of 20 million copies of "Plants vs. Zombies" will make anyone want to kneel down.

As China's No. 1 game producer unanimously recognized by the European and American game industries, how could the online games made by Qin Shaoyan himself be bad?
What's there to compare? The result is that your own online game was beaten up as soon as it went online.

The bosses are feeling very miserable, and many of them decisively choose to give in at the first opportunity.

The engine must be replaced. Maybe after replacing the engine I can still make a living.

If we don't change the engine, the graphics won't be comparable, and the gameplay won't be comparable either. That would be just giving away lives.

……

When the gaming industry was in a gloomy mood, Qin Shaoyan was inspecting Qvod.com.

Qvod, which had just received $90 million in funding, was thriving and booming. All employees had heartfelt smiles on their faces as they greeted the boss.

When a company has money, it means the business will expand, more new positions will appear, many people will be promoted, and it also means that salaries will increase and benefits will be improved.

CEO Kou Hongfei was waiting for President Qin's instructions with full confidence, and a group of senior executives were also ready to go.

With such a large amount of funds, the company will have to make big moves. Now is the time to make achievements! But they were soon disappointed. President Qin just came to inspect and praised everyone by the way, without mentioning the company's next strategic direction.

Kou Hongfei was a little puzzled, but it was not easy for him to ask directly in the meeting.

After the meeting, Kou Hongfei immediately asked for instructions while President Qin was meeting with company executives one by one.

"Mr. Qin, do we have any new moves in the next stage?" Kou Hongfei looked puzzled.

"No." Qin Shaoyan's straightforward answer dampened Kou Hongfei's enthusiasm. "Just keep calm and follow the established policy."

"Buy copyrights, accumulate users, pay more attention to Qvod Video, and there's nothing else to do."

Kou Hongfei was a little puzzled. "But I see other video websites are making frequent moves. I'm afraid of them..."

"They are just a bunch of chickens and dogs. There is nothing to worry about." Qin Shaoyan said lightly, "They are no match for us."

"All you have to do is stabilize our base, provide better services to users, and improve their user experience. The rest is just waiting."

"Wait for Qvod to go public in 2007, and then everything will be fine."

"Okay, I understand." Kou Hongfei understood Mr. Qin's intention.

Qvod is already number one in the industry, and all that’s left is for it to accumulate users and wait for its listing.

"How was the effect of the advertisement for "Warring States"?" Qin Shaoyan changed the subject and asked, "How many views did it get?"

"The actual data is more than 7 million." Kou Hongfei knew that President Qin attached great importance to this matter, and hurriedly reported, "It is estimated that it will exceed 10 million tomorrow."

"This is only our website's playback data. There is no data on other video websites yet."

"Very good." Qin Shaoyan nodded with satisfaction. "The playback volume of other websites is not important. Just look at the data of Qvod."

“What do you think of this ad?”

"Uh..." Kou Hongfei hesitated for a moment. He didn't know how to comment.

The term "ghostly" was not popular at that time, but the magical advertising slogan was really unbearable.

The slogan "Taoist Fifteen Dogs" is catchy, and with people constantly making fun of it on the internet, it quickly became a popular term.

"The advertisement is very impressive." This is the only comment Kou Hongfei could give.

"Well, as long as it's impressive." Qin Shaoyan was very happy. The best effect of an advertisement is to make people impressed.

There are many experts who are well versed in advertising and marketing. They will use magical advertisements to appear in the audience's field of vision at a high frequency and brainwash everyone into their memory.

For example, "I won't accept any gifts this year. The only gift I'll accept is Melatonin..."

"You guys make an advertising sharing plan." Qin Shaoyan suddenly said, "Any self-made video that inserts our online game advertisement into the video will be rewarded according to the number of views."

"I want all users who watch our videos to remember them in a short period of time."

Qin Shaoyan has already planned to find a few people to customize ghost videos and use high-frequency information bombardment to push out the advertisements.

With the two major platforms of Campus Network and Qvod Network in hand, it is extremely convenient to do advertising and promotion.

……

Qin Shaoyan returned to the campus network and found Zhou Yuan, the operations manager, already sitting in the conference room, waiting for the boss's inquiries.

"How's things going at the Internet cafe?" Qin Shaoyan asked straight to the point.

"All the Internet cafes that we have negotiated with have completed the download of the client." Zhou Yuan immediately replied, "Our local promotion team has already begun to go deep into the Internet cafes at the county level."

"Very good, Mr. Zhou, you have worked hard." Qin Shaoyan praised him casually, "I hope that Internet cafe users can choose not to play our games, but they must be able to play them."

"I will try my best!" Zhou Yuan said seriously.

"The online game will start internal testing on December 12st. This is a crucial battle." Qin Shaoyan said seriously, "In addition to bug detection, this test will also test the game's gameplay appeal to players."

"Player retention rate is an important indicator. The operations department must provide good service and handle emergencies promptly and quickly."

"Don't worry, Mr. Qin. We have hired several operation and maintenance experts from Shanda. They are very experienced." Zhou Yuan thought for a moment and said, "We want to continue to expand the operation and maintenance team, but it is not easy to recruit from NetEase."

"Add more money!" Qin Shaoyan said decisively, "If you can't dig it up, it means you're not paying enough. Just make an offer boldly and don't worry about the budget."

"Okay." Zhou Yuan straightened his back. With the support of his boss, he could do more freely.

"In addition to operation and maintenance, the customer service team should also be taken seriously!" Qin Shaoyan thought for a moment, "You should recruit more young girls, especially those who speak well, especially those with sweet voices."

"Aren't there people who specialize in phone chatting? Go and dig up some of the top girls."

"Ah?!" Zhou Yuan was a little confused and didn't understand what President Qin was going to do.

But one of his advantages is that he never asks too many questions and immediately says he will go find someone today.

“People with beautiful looks and sweet voices should be trained. They will be the exclusive customer service staff for VIP customers in the future. The performance of online games will depend on their performance.” Qin Shaoyan smiled meaningfully.

Without saying too much, Zhou Yuan immediately understood what Mr. Qin meant and what the signboard standards were.

Zhang Pingyi pushed open the door of the conference room and walked in with a serious face, "Boss Qin, Shanda has sent us a lawyer's letter."

"Lawyer's letter?" Qin Shaoyan suddenly felt like laughing. "What does it have to do with them? We didn't provoke them."

"Shanda said our game ads infringed their interests." Zhang Pingyi was helpless. "I heard Chen Tianqiao was very angry."

"It's inexplicable." Qin Shaoyan laughed, "We didn't open a private server, and we didn't use their code and art resources."

Qin Shaoyan's law firm, Junde Xinheng, quickly sent someone over and breathed a sigh of relief after learning what had happened.

The lawyer calmly said, "We have not violated any regulations or infringed any rights. Their lawyer's letter is completely fabricated. We can send them a lawyer's letter to warn them and destroy our business reputation."

"Forget it, forget it. We are all colleagues. We will meet each other sooner or later." Qin Shaoyan said generously, "It's not a small matter. Just make a statement later."

Qin Shaoyan acted very relaxed, but Chen Tianqiao was very angry.

"What do you mean by a groundbreaking legendary online game? It's obviously aimed at us!"

What about the Taoist priest with fifteen dogs and the mage with frost that can kill everyone in seconds? The advertisements are all blatantly trying to piggyback on the legendary elements.

But you can't find any fault from a legal perspective. You can't say that these are the exclusive copyrights of Legend.

It has been nearly five years since Shanda started to represent “Legend of Mir 2”, and the situation of dominating the market back then is still fresh in our minds.

Although its glory days are gone and the throne of the number one online game was taken away by NetEase's "Fantasy Westward Journey", Legend is still Shanda's most important source of income and still occupies one-fifth of the revenue share of the domestic online game market.

Countless peers in the gaming industry are thinking about challenging Shanda’s “Legend”, and there are countless attempts to take advantage of it.

But this time Chen Tianqiao was really angry and expressed his indignation.

Sue him, you must sue him!

(End of this chapter)