Reborn: Billionaire in College

Feng Ji and Yang Qi had smiles on their faces, but they were very strict on all aspects during the negotiations, so Tian Hongrui was not happy at all.

Your Game Science Studio now only has a signboard and a few losers, why are you so arrogant?
The person standing in front of you is Mr. Chen’s full representative.

Renren is a giant in the industry with an incredible amount of resources. Ordinary people can't even think of doing this, and yet you are still hesitating?

It is understandable that Feng Ji felt a little confused when faced with Renren's sudden gift of money and resources.

After being manipulated by capital, he is very wary of capital and really doesn't want to repeat the same mistakes, so it is understandable that he makes many demands.

Tian Hongrui controlled his temper, put on a smile, and together with Feng Ji and Yang Qi, they finally made great progress.

Renren invested RMB 1 million in Game Science Studio's angel round, and its equity share after the investment reached 000%.

This is also what Tian Hongrui has repeatedly requested. He can make concessions in other aspects, but if the equity is less than 20%, there will be no discussion.

Tian Hongrui made it very clear that he would neither seek to control the company nor interfere with the other party's operations. If it was just a financial investment, then the more money he could make, the better.

After roughly understanding Renren's style, Feng Ji also made concessions.

20% is 20%!

What he values ​​more are the resources of Renren and the energy represented by Chen Pingjiang.

If you add the 1000 million yuan investment, you will definitely make a lot of money by buying and selling Game Science.

Although the project has no clue or direction yet, Feng Ji is full of confidence in the upcoming entrepreneurial journey.

After the general direction is determined, it will take time to communicate the details.

"We are a family now, right? Feel free to share any ideas you have, especially regarding the new game?" Tian Hongrui smiled easily. At least he completed the task assigned by the big boss and did not return empty-handed.

Feng Ji spread his hands and said, "I really have no idea. Do you think I am teasing you?"

"Really?" Tian Hongrui felt bad. He had thought that the other party was hiding something, but he didn't expect that it was really nothing.

Feng Ji nodded again, but changed the subject: "Originally, we wanted to make two pay-to-win mobile games to earn some money before considering the rest, but now that we have the support of Renren, I think we can be a little more radical."

After saying this, he and Yang Qi looked at each other, and both saw the eagerness in each other's eyes.

"Do you mean to start that project?" Yang Qi asked excitedly.

Feng Ji nodded.

This confused Tian Hongrui. "I said you two are just playing dumb. Tell me what the project is."

"Weren't we all members of Tencent's DouZhengHuo project team? Yang Qi and I put a lot of effort into this game, but it failed in the end. We are very unwilling to accept this and hope to get back up from where we fell." Feng Ji said, "We are very good at the dark Journey to the West theme. We have devoted so many years to it, so we are the most confident."

Tian Hongrui frowned: "A stand-alone game based on Journey to the West? I'm afraid it can only be released in China. Foreigners don't read Journey to the West and don't understand Chinese history and humanities. It's hard for them to accept it, right? But there are really not many stand-alone game players in China, at least not as many as in Japan and the United States."

After just a simple communication, Tian Hongrui began to doubt the correctness of this investment.

Feng Ji smiled calmly: "How do you know if it works if you don't try it?"

"How long will it take you?"

"Three, four... five years?"

Tian Hongrui: “…”

blind!

Spending so many years polishing a game, taking the risk of no income, and facing the uncertainty of its performance after it is released on the market.

Too risky.

No wonder these people want to resign, they are all crazy!

"Oh! You also know that our current relationship with Tencent is average. If possible, I still hope that Mr. Chen can come forward and help communicate so that we can get Epic's support as much as possible." Yang Qi added. "Epic's Unreal Engine is crucial to the development of 3A masterpieces. Tencent holds 48% of the shares in this company and has enough say. If the team can get technical support from the bottom of the engine, many gorgeous special effects can be produced. I heard that Mr. Chen has a good relationship with our former boss, so there will be no problem if he goes to talk."

Tian Hongrui nodded: "I'll try!"

I felt extremely regretful when I said this.

Oh shit!

If he had known that these crazy guys were planning to make a dark journey to the West, he would have turned around and left.

Now Mr. Chen has to coordinate the relationship, which is really difficult.

“It is said that Unreal Engine 4 will be released next year, and it would be great if we could use it then.

With movie-level rendering, you will not be able to tell the difference between games developed with Unreal Engine 4 and the real world in the future. Judging from the DEMO released by a certain team, there are already open world games and FPS games that feel almost like movies.

While Tian Hongrui was thinking, Feng Ji and Yang Qi were talking more and more excitedly, and finally they were about to let themselves go.

Tian Hongrui had to kindly point out: "Our company's research and analysis report shows that the future Chinese game market will still be centered on commercial mobile games, and the market demand for high-quality stand-alone games is very unclear. Therefore, exporting is inevitable, but foreigners really don't understand the story of Journey to the West, and perhaps they are not interested in it."

"Old Tian, ​​why don't you keep your word? You promised not to interfere with us."

"I'm just giving you a friendly reminder!"

"I accept your kindness, but I won't accept your reminder. Yang Qi and I have always believed that the Chinese stand-alone game market exists! We are willing to be the first to try it!" Feng Ji said: "This year, the US stand-alone game market is 100 billion US dollars, Japan is more than 50 billion US dollars, and China is less than 1 million US dollars. Many people firmly believe that the scale of China's game market will catch up sooner or later. So, when will it catch up? I think that within 10 to 15 years, China's stand-alone game market will usher in an explosion. This is the trend. Domestic substitution for imports is a high-probability event after China's strength is strengthened and cultural confidence is established. If foreigners don't understand, let them read the original work!"

Tian Hongrui twitched his lips and thought to himself, "How crazy!"

Got it!
Tian Hongrui knew that he could no longer persuade her.

These two people in front of me are crazy about making stand-alone games.

after all……

In 2012, when Feng Ji was still at Tencent, he led the team to develop "Douluo Dalu", which was then known as the "hope of stand-alone games". Unfortunately, due to various reasons, this stand-alone game eventually became a paid online game.

With the support of Renren, Feng Ji, Yang Qi and five other main creators finally embarked on the road of entrepreneurship.

After returning that day, Feng Ji explained the matter to the other main creators, and they all raised their hands in agreement.

They hate pay-to-win games so much that now they have to make pay-to-win mobile games in order to survive, just to stay alive, which is more painful than killing them.

Now that Renren has come in with money and resources, it can allow them to give it a try, which is great.

The Youke group was very fast.

The direction of the company for the next few years was determined at the meeting that day.

The "Black Myth: Wukong" project was launched, with the project codename B1, the full name of which is "Black Myth One", which is the first product in the "Black Myth" series.

Everyone was moved and excited after the new game project was launched.

Feng Ji: "There is one item in the contract that I forgot to tell you. After signing the contract, all of us and the studio office will move to Dongjiang. I am from Dongjiang, so I am willing to return to my hometown to work. What about you?"

"Then let's go. It's closer to Renren.com and has more resources, right?"

"It's fine with me. It doesn't matter where I work. I don't leave the house anyway."

Feng Ji nodded and continued, "After the new project is approved, we will sign a contract with Renren in about ten days. If you have any ideas, you can communicate with me." Feng Ji had no objection to going to Dongjiang.

According to Tian Hongrui, Renren will provide office space, arrange regular communication with outstanding talents from other game production studios, and help recruit people in the name of Renren.

These are what game science is currently lacking.

Feng Ji also wanted to meet and chat with the miHoYo team. It would be best if he could meet Mr. Chen, who often appeared in news newspapers and magazines.

…………

"Did you say exactly what they said?" Tian Hongrui returned from a business trip in Shenzhen and went to report to Chen Pingjiang. Chen Pingjiang asked with a smile after listening.

I didn’t expect that my investment would unexpectedly give birth to "Black Myth: Wukong" ahead of schedule.

The original work was not scheduled to start until the first month of 2018, but now it has been advanced by four years.

If everything goes well, Black Myth: Wukong will be released in 2020.

This timing is very interesting.

This is a year of fierce competition among 3A masterpieces, among which "Cyberpunk 2077" is the most famous, and others include "The Last of Us 2", "Final Fantasy 7: Remake", etc.

The famous old man ring, the Elden Ring, was released in 2022.

If the black monkey had moved slower, he might have bumped into the old man.

"Yes!" Tian Hongrui still thinks 3A stand-alone games are unreliable: "As we all know, 3A games have three major characteristics: large investment, high risk, and difficulty in making profits. This determines that it is unlikely to become the mainstream of the market. Spending hundreds of millions of yuan and several years to develop a product whose popularity cannot be predicted at all is more like a gamble."

Of course Chen Pingjiang knew what Tian Hongrui was talking about.

MiHoYo spent four years and 13 billion to create "Genshin Impact", and its global revenue in 2021 alone reached between 250 billion and 300 billion yuan.

Just think about how much money you can make from pay-to-win games!

In this regard, stand-alone games cannot catch up.

Even after 24 years, although Game Science's "Black Myth: Wukong" is very popular, its one-time revenue is only about 30 billion, unless new DLC is released later.

However, Chen Pingjiang's view on the issue cannot be so superficial.

MiHoYo already has it in hand, so how can Game Science not seize it?

It doesn’t matter whether you make money or not.

He is more interested in the gap in the market and wants to create a 3A game, so that the game can go overseas and gain cultural confidence.

These are things that miHoYo and "Genshin Impact" cannot provide.

Tian Hongrui smiled bitterly and said, "I thought Feng Ji was stubborn enough, but I didn't expect Yang Qi to be even more stubborn. They can't let go of the 'Fighting God' in their hearts, and I don't know whether Game Science is willing to break the golden hoop called Fighting God and take it off."

Chen Pingjiang said: "There is no need to change the agreed conditions, and do not interfere too much, unless they are short of money or cannot continue the development."

A mere 10 million is too little, and Chen Pingjiang doesn't care at all.

He just hopes that the domestic gaming ecosystem will be better, at least not all of them will be pay-to-win games.

There is a saying among the player community: "Ten consecutive draws for a billion-dollar company, a Dyson Sphere for a five-player small company."

When it comes to pay-to-win games, Renren, NetEase and Tencent are enough.

There used to be a game called "Domestic Games", which was full of irony and explained the subsequent status quo of domestic games.

Chen Pingjiang admires the passion and original intentions of the founders of Game Science.

It is precisely with such a team that excellent games can be produced.

Six years of hard work!
Not only did it make a lot of money itself, but it also managed to export its games overseas and its culture.

Facts have proved that as long as the game is of high quality, it doesn’t matter if foreigners don’t understand it, they will still enjoy playing it.

Many well-known anchors on the Internet are competing to broadcast live. The number of viewers on Twich is second only to "Minecraft", far exceeding LOL, Overwatch, and Dark Fortress, which shows the popularity of "Black Myth: Wukong".

Tens of millions of copies were sold in just one week after its launch!

The proportion of overseas purchasers has reached more than 20%!

Once upon a time, Chen Pingjiang, a loyal game fan, also liked to play "World of Warcraft" and hated the ten-draw function in domestic pay-to-win mobile games.

"Fantasy Westward Journey", "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", "Against the Current", "Onmyoji", there is no game in QQ Factory that does not require pay-to-win!

Even a casual competitive game like "Egg Party" suitable for minors requires in-game purchases!
Tencent is not much better!

"CF", "DNF" and a bunch of other messy pay-to-win mobile games, spending tens of thousands of dollars is useless.

It seems that domestic games only know how to play games with krypton gold? ! !
Under the influence of the impetuous profit-seeking of the entire domestic gaming circle, whether or not to treat players as animals is not a false proposition.

Don't be scared. In the planning circle, discussions on similar topics are commonplace, and it's no exaggeration.

Everyone just wants to make money, not many people think about making a good game.

Planners ponder these questions every day:
1. How to keep players addicted.

2. How to make players spit out more RMB.

3. How to get players to form gangs.

4. How to make players hate each other.

……

In a considerable number of game development teams, the focus of planners' work is not on how to make the game more fun and richer, but on how to make players addicted and get them accustomed to ganging up on those who are different, and to verbally abuse and kill others.

Naturally, many unique things have emerged in online games.

There are endless new maps, new equipment, new monsters, new levels, and then reincarnation and ascension, followed by double experience, family system, disciple system, trumpet, ranking list...

So the planners applauded their own creativity and danced with joy for exploring a prosperous path for the online gaming industry with Chinese characteristics.

This is truly the most peculiar phenomenon in the online game development industry!
Blatant irony.

In his previous life, Chen Pingjiang cursed the bad planners, but in this life, he became a dragon slayer when operating DNF. Now it is time to do something within his ability.

Thinking of this, Chen Pingjiang said, "Give them an additional 20 million RMB, and the shareholding will remain unchanged. You will personally contact Youke Studio in the future."

Tian Hongrui: “…”

He was completely stunned.

boss!

That's 20 million dollars, not straw paper. Are those few soldiers from Game Science worthy of it?
However, when the words came to his lips, Tian Hongrui held back.

Who asked him to recommend Feng Ji in the first place? (End of this chapter)