Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Qiu Hong sighed softly and continued: “The closed and proprietary operating system brought with the home host is a powerful protection of the copyright of single-machine games. Although it can also be cracked, this line of defense becomes a profitable guarantee for foreign game factories. ”

“Regardless of how online gaming develops, overseas, the market share of single-player games exceeds that of online gaming by more than 60%; in our domestic market around 2001, this share was about zero. ”

“The lack of home hosts has led to the proliferation of piracy, while the booming piracy has destroyed the single-machine gaming market. ”

“People who have not experienced that era have no idea of the magnitude of the single-player gaming market at that time. Simply put, even if the price dropped to $15 a piece, players would still choose a $6 pirated version. ”

“At that time, domestic games were just in their infancy, and because of the cultural divide, they could barely be sold overseas, so they had to die on the domestic market. ”

“Until then, many domestic stand-alone games were priced at dozens of dollars and profitable; but in just a year or two, genuine games had to compete with pirated games, and the Four Seas Winds and Clouds Club fell to a retail price of $18 to fight piracy, even giving away a batch with magazines, but it still didn't help. ”

“The reduction in the price of games has not resulted in a thin over-the-counter effect. Instead, it has drastically reduced revenues, reduced revenues, reduced production costs, and reduced the quality of games. ”

“Plus, individual garbage companies have developed a lot of garbage games that severely overwhelm the enthusiasm of a small number of genuine game supporters, eventually turning into a dead circle, with domestic stand-alone games and inferior quality paintings on equal numbers. ”

“When the $18 original game still won't beat the $6 pirated game, it's all doomed, and struggling won't help. Instead, the wave of online gaming gave game producers like me a way to live, allowing me to do online gaming and stay in the game industry. Otherwise, I might go to an internet company and become a product manager. ”

“So, on the contrary, single-jets don't die from online games, they die from piracy. Online tours, instead, give these manufacturers a lifesaving straw. ”

Pei Qian was silent for a long time and said: "But if the product is good enough, will someone still pay for it? I heard that there are 3A works abroad, so there are no anti-piracy measures. ”

Qiu Hong nodded: “Yes, President Ma, you're right. Yes, you're absolutely right. ”

“The only question is, what is the standard of 'good enough’? ”

“Do you play 3A games at the same level as a major foreign factory? Or, in the case of domestic manufacturers, on the count of two? ”

“That means that only the top 1% of the entire industry can be considered good enough to have enough people impressed by you to pay for you. ”

“Some say piracy can increase potential market share. Firstly, it's bullshit, and secondly, even if it did, it would only have a little effect on the top 1% of the industry. ”

“If you can be as monopolistic as a computer operating system, then perhaps piracy can help you fight competitors and preserve market share. ”

“However, how many companies can achieve the top 1%? How many companies can be monopolized? ”

“Which company was born a big company, a monopoly company? ”

“The remaining 99%, let them die? ”

“It makes no sense to explore the top 1% of an industry, and how many people can achieve the top 1% in their field? Would you stay in the industry if someone told you now that only the first 1% of the industries you work in are recognized and able to survive, while the remaining 99% are starving to death? ”

“Big players like Ho An have made many successful single-player games, didn't they switch to online games? When Taki disappears, the whole market shrinks, and one or two companies on the tip of the tower, how do we change the whole market? ”

“So a healthy industry should be like a pyramid, or an iceberg. The tip of the tower, or the part of the iceberg that rises above the sea, is the top 1% of the glory, and the tower, or the iceberg beneath the water, is the cornerstone of an industry. ”

“How can a tower tip exist when it doesn't exist anymore? ”

“So the top 1% living well doesn't determine what the industry is like. It is the bottom and middle that really determine whether this industry will survive or not. ”

“This leads to a death cycle:”

“MANUFACTURER: I need you to buy the original to better develop the game! ”

“Player: Give us the best experience first! If you do the best, we'll give up piracy and buy the real one! ”

“Manufacturer: But you have to refuse piracy and pay first before we can afford a better experience! ”

“Player: You have to give us the best experience before we can refuse piracy! ”

“So the manufacturers had to go on an online tour. ”

“This is the market, the choice for players to vote with their feet. The players say we just accept online tours, we only accept pirated singles, we don't accept authentic singles, so if you want, the authentic singles die. ”

“For the players, the notion of 'paying only for something good enough' is not a problem in itself and should not be pointed out, provided that it is a healthy and orderly market. ”

“If the market itself is filled with unfair competition, 'paying only for good enough' means that, with the exception of the top 1 per cent of content producers, 99 per cent of average content producers will be killed by unfair competition and market breakers. ”

“Like now, a lot of video authors work hard to do three days of video, which is copied and pasted by some people and stolen, and you need three days, and he only needs one second, and what do you use to compete with him? If the audience isn't aware of this, they all think it's the same content anyway, and I see it here with the people who stole the video, who cares about your original author. So how many video authors, besides the top one, do you think can really stay? ”

“So thanks to the establishment of the official ESRO platform in 2006, without it, the domestic single-machine gaming market would still be desert and grassy. ”

“Even with one or two unique seedlings, they are nothing but flowers, and will never grow into a tree of paradise. ”

'Cause nobody really cares about it. ”

Qiu Hong drank a sip of coffee and gave a clear expression.

Pei Huan silenced for a moment and asked: "So... if the domestic single-machine survival environment improved again in 2006, why don't you stick to your dreams and keep coming back to play single-machine games? ”

Qiu Hung laughed with some mockery: "Because I gave up on my dreams. ”

“Remember what I said at the beginning? Adherence to dreams is the biggest failure factor. ”

“When I first started, I did a single-machine game, developed it for almost two years, lasted more than two months without pay, and nobody even knew its name. ”

“So I gave up my dreams and made a Wonder Man theme Kryptonite online tour, which gave me a million project prizes a year, so to speak, a success story. ”

“So what's my dream, is it important? Does anybody care? Who am I doing this dream for? Why should I insist if adhering to my dreams keeps me from drinking cold water and eating noodles every day, and giving up my dreams allows me to live a worry-free life on my shirt and get tens of thousands of players' attention? ”

“So from then on, I made up my mind, and I just played Krypton, and my goal was to make more money. And what is the great mission of revitalizing single-machine games? What does that have to do with me? Not even the players themselves. Who am I insisting on it for? ”

“In fact, which of the gamemakers who came with me at that grassroots stage never had dreams? ”

“But those of my age who insist on dreaming have left the industry, and those like me who give up on dreaming will survive. ”

“General Ma, you may think that my experience does not apply to this era. ”

“Because domestic stand-alone games are getting better and better, there is now no piracy, and more and more people are paying for domestic stand-alone games. ”

“But the truth remains the same: between dreams and reality, only a few people can combine. And the vast majority of people can only make one cruel choice: to give up their dreams or to be taught to be human. ”

“General Ma, that's my last word. ”

“It's not for everyone, maybe right, maybe wrong. But anyway, I hope it gives you some inspiration. ”

Pei Qian had a sip of coffee and had not spoken for a long time.

Because of this topic, there is something really heavy about it.

Bae Qian did not know the relationship between the official ESRO platform, piracy extinction and the normal development of the world's single-machine games, but only now did he know that the establishment of the official ESRO platform and strict control over piracy saved the domestic single-machine games market, which made the world different from the one he remembered.

Millions of Differences, Differences in Heaven and Earth.

Qiu Hong said that without the official ESRO platform, domestic games would be a desert until today.

Pei Huan was very clear that he was right.

Because of all this, it happened in my own memory.

But that's exactly why Pei Huan felt he should say something.

Now the environment, it can be said, is heaven. And Qiu Hong felt he was in hell just because he had never seen a real hell.

Pei Qian thought for a moment and said: “President Qiu, I know that there is no real empathy between people. Many people can see it because they do not experience that kind of pain. So, it's easy to be struck by lightning when you persuade others to be big. ”

“But I still want to say something to you, okay? ”

Qiu Hong nodded: “Of course, President Ma, we are both acquainted, but you may say so. ”

Bae Huan said seriously: “I know how painful it feels to give but not get what you deserve. Everyone feels angry when their efforts are plagiarized. The world is already full of injustices. Sometimes you can't even tell who is right from who is wrong, not every disaster, and you can find someone responsible. ”

“There is a creed in life that not everyone can insist on, but everyone knows it's right, which is called: but do good, don't ask about the future. ”

“President Qiu, don't let the tragedy of the times become your personal tragedy. ”

Qiu Hong repeatedly read the last sentence and was silent.

And a long time later, he looked up and said, "Mr. Ma, it's really good that you can think like that. ”

“Thanks.”