Chinese Entertainment's Shining Star

The platform Nie Wei chose was the recently established game channel Competitive Wind and Cloud.

In fact, Nie Wei's choice was quite helpless. After all, this Competitive Wind and Cloud channel is a paid channel. It belongs to the SMG Group, and SMG was actually funded by Mingzhu Radio and Television Station. Although it has a strong backing, it needs to charge an additional fee in addition to the cable TV fee, so the number of users of this platform is not too large.

This is also the reason why Nie Wei only signed a one-season contract with the other party, because Nie Wei was not prepared to develop on this platform for a long time, which is not conducive to the development of the game. In places like South Korea, Europe, and the United States, Nie Wei also chose a one-year contract.

During this one-year buffer period, what Nie Wei has to do is to reach a cooperation with the telecommunications network and set up a live broadcast website. This is the foundation of game promotion. Why will "League of Legends" be so popular in the future? It can be said that live broadcast is the soil for them to thrive.

As for the team, Nie Wei doesn't need to worry about it the least. When the prize money of the event is announced, the response of professional teams around the world is so enthusiastic.

The first team to receive the registration was the well-known domestic professional team ME.

This team is currently the most famous in China. The star player Li Xiaofeng in the team has just won the first War3 world championship in China. This not only makes the e-sports project enter the vision of ordinary people, but also serves as the best advertisement for the players themselves and the clubs behind them.

After iFlytek Group announced the prize pools of the major events of "League of Legends", ME, which has long been optimistic about "League of Legends", immediately responded to the registration. Led by this star team and this star club, some new "League of Legends" teams have also sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

Nie Wei is very clear that many of these teams are just shoddy, and even some Internet cafe teams dare to come to register, so Nie Wei specially set up asset audit standards in the registration process, which eliminated most of the teams at once. If this is the only way, I am afraid that Nie Wei's league will not be organized, and the eliminated teams will also complain.

But Nie Wei has other tricks. It doesn't matter if you don't have enough assets, you still have strength. At that time, Nie Wei will hold a knockout match, and finally select a certain number of winning teams from these teams to form the first-level league lineup with the teams that have successfully audited assets before, and the total number of teams is temporarily set at twelve.

And Nie Wei has not forgotten to give those eliminated teams another chance. From the remaining teams, twelve teams will be selected to form a second-level league, which will also have bonuses. The excellent teams in the second-level league will also have the opportunity to be promoted to the first-level league, and the bottom teams in the first-level league may also be relegated to the second-level league, just like a football match, so that each team has a sense of crisis and must always maintain their competitive state.

However, even if it is divided into two sets of leagues and digests twenty-four teams, this is still a small part of the registered teams. What about the remaining teams?

Nie Wei did not abandon them, and at this time the regional competition was online.

These teams can sign up for these regional events, play online games, and then the strong teams that are decided will play offline games. The final winner will have the right to compete with the bottom team of the second-tier league for the second-tier league quota.

In order to increase the competitiveness of professional teams, Nie Wei even imitated professional football games and distributed part of the benefits of broadcasting to the teams in the league. The income of the first-tier league is naturally more than that of the second-tier league, and the income of the second-tier league is definitely not comparable to those teams in the region that do not have dividends. With additional income, those teams will naturally work harder to strive to reach a higher level of league. After all, it's all money. Who can't get along with money these days?

The competition system in other parts of the world is also like this. There is nothing to say that it is unfair. After all, it all depends on strength. Even if you get a place in the first-tier league with funds in the first round, if the team is not competitive, you will be relegated after a year. At that time, no matter how much money you have, it will be useless.

"But it seems that we are still losing money with the prize money and operating expenses of this event." After Ma Zong finished calculating this account, he couldn't help but frowned and asked Nie Wei, obviously wanting an explanation.

"The immediate benefits are only temporary, and the future benefits are long-term. What we are fighting for now is not the money in front of us, but the influence in the e-sports circle. Since we want to do it, we will be the leader in this industry, and when this circle is cultivated and mature, it is time for us to reap the fruits. The income at that time..." Nie Wei said here, and suddenly picked up a paper and a pen and wrote down a string of numbers.

Mr. Ma raised his eyebrows, and couldn't help but be a little surprised, but Nie Wei pointed to the number seriously and said: "I dare to guarantee it."

"Three years, make a profit within three years, otherwise this competition can't be held." Mr. Ma stretched out three fingers.

"No problem." Nie Wei knew that this was the number of years given to him by the other party for development, but three years was enough. In fact, it didn't take much. Nie Wei felt that the second year would not be as loss-making as this year, and the third year could be profitable. The results at that time would be enough for Mr. Ma to support the continuation of this competition.

After talking about the league, Mr. Ma turned the topic back to the game, but it was not "League of Legends", but a new game.

Since Nie Wei joined iFlytek, he has planned two games, which are also the main products of iFlytek. More than half of the company's annual revenue is supported by these two games, and the rise of iFlytek's stock is also due to these two games.

But Mr. Ma will not be satisfied with this, so he is now looking for Nie Wei for a third game.

"I don't have any good ideas yet, but I am interested in stand-alone games. Does Mr. Ma have any investment ideas?" Nie Wei replied, and this answer surprised Mr. Ma.

Stand-alone games? Five years ago, he might have thought about it, but now he is heartless when he hears about stand-alone games. After all, the companies that have closed down one after another outside are all stand-alone games. Now in the Chinese stand-alone game circle, except for that old brand, how many others can support it?

It can be said that now making stand-alone games is really a lot of money, and you can't even hear a sound.

To put it bluntly, it is the same as music, all of which are harmed by piracy, but what can be done? Nie Wei obviously saw that Mr. Ma was not interested in this aspect, so he did not talk in depth.

After Nie Wei left, Mr. Ma directly called a subordinate and asked Nie Wei if he had set up any new game company recently.

"I haven't heard of it. He did set up a variety show company, which seems to be shooting an outdoor variety show, but I haven't heard of an online game company." The subordinate replied.

After hearing this, Mr. Ma put down the phone with relief.

The relationship between him and Nie Wei is a bit complicated. They are partners who appreciate each other, but at the same time they are competitors. Just like he never asks Nie Wei about social games, because the business between the two parties is competitive, and he knows that asking is useless.

Now that he knows that Nie Wei is not going to start a new business, Mr. Ma is relieved. Think about it, Nie Wei's mind may be on the League of Legends League. Even if he does not specifically design the operation business, those terms alone are enough to give him a headache. How can he think of a new game?

As for the stand-alone games mentioned by Nie Wei, Mr. Ma just thought Nie Wei was joking. Everyone knows that the money earned by a mediocre online game is dozens or even hundreds of times that of a stand-alone game. Nie Wei is so smart that he certainly won't fall into this trap.

Unfortunately, there are exceptions to everything. Nie Wei is really interested in stand-alone games.

Although he didn't take action, Nie Wei really had the idea of ​​investing in stand-alone games. Although it is only a concept at present, Nie Wei is also determined to do it, but he has not found a good project yet.

At the same time, in a game company far away in Taiwan, a middle-aged man wearing black-framed glasses and a plaid shirt had just finished his work and searched for news about games on the Internet in his spare time.

The first thing that caught his eye was the TV series "Legend of Sword and Fairy" which was recently being broadcasted in Taiwan. Seeing the reports praising the ratings and excellent production, the middle-aged man's eyes were full of envy. Once upon a time, he was also a stand-alone game producer who could stand on equal footing with Yao Xian, but now, Yao Xian's "Legend of Sword and Fairy" brand is still standing firm and has reached the fourth generation so far, while he has long since changed his career and is currently making a tepid online game. What he thinks in his head is no longer creativity, but a pile of operation plans.

Now the games of his old rivals have been adapted into TV series and are becoming more and more famous, which makes him really envious.

Subconsciously, he searched for news about his old games. The latest report was also two years ago, which was really sad. However, just when he was about to close the webpage, he suddenly saw a message with a date within a week, which aroused his interest. He clicked on it and entered a place similar to a forum.

It turned out that this was a forum that Qianbaidu had just set up for less than a year, and he entered a forum for an old game of his called "Wulin Qunxia Zhuan".

What surprised him was that this game, which was already quite old, was still discussed by at least hundreds of people in this forum, and the dates of the posts were very fresh, and the first page was basically news within three days.

There were help posts, technical posts, and some posts to discover the hidden content of the game. Of course, there were also thank-you posts, but all of them revealed a deep love for this game.

While browsing, the producer was even surprised to find that the management team of this forum had also designed a beautiful game forum magazine, which contained strategy guides, game fan fiction written by forum friends, and some news reports and fan graffiti about the game.

The content made him feel warm and excited as he read it. He really didn't expect that even after so many years, there would still be so many players who liked his game. He was really moved.

Clicking on a post at random was a data post compiled by a forum owner named Kucha.

It contains a detailed summary of the weapons, books, martial arts, sundries, herbs, fish, etc. that have appeared in the game, and even the pictures are well matched.

Clicking on another post, it is a detailed guide written by a player for the game. The producer read it carefully for a long time and found that this guide has basically explored all the content that can be developed in the game, and it also involves a relatively perfect route.

The reason why it is relatively perfect is that it is impossible to make everything perfect when making this game. There are always trade-offs in the middle. Players can choose from many routes. Perhaps it is precisely because of this degree of freedom that this game has such a long life.

The producer also opened some fan articles and read them. Although some were good and some were bad, he read them with relish, because from these articles he could see the author's preference for the content of this game, just like many people hate a Wudang disciple because this character is very bad, and many people pity a heroine because her life experience is tragic.

The emotions of the players' reactions are quietly the pride of the game producers, because this means that the players really put themselves into the game, instead of playing it for boredom and entertainment, which is a great affirmation of the game producers.

Soon some posts with relatively repetitive content attracted him.

"This game is so fun. Is there a second generation? Please give me a second generation."

"Is there no new generation for this game? What a pity."

"Why not continue? I feel that although this game is good, it is not complete enough. I think the content can be expanded several times."

"There is too little time to play the game. It is not fun enough. Are you really not going to release a sequel?"

The questions are like arrows that pierce the heart of the producer. He is moved and ashamed by the desire of so many players. It is his fault that he failed to insist on making the game more complete, and it is also his fault that he failed to continue to release sequels. In short, he has an unforgivable sin on the road of single-player games.

But why does he want to bear this sin?

If there was enough funds at the beginning, if the boss of the game company was willing to give them more time, as a game producer, of course he would hope to make the game more complete. After all, it is like his child. The smarter and cuter they are, the more satisfied they will be. Who would want their child to be missing arms and legs?

The career change was also a last resort. In fact, after this work, they also tried to continue to make stand-alone games, but the sales of the next work were really bad. In order to make a living, he had to give up his dream of making stand-alone games and go with the flow to make online games.

But after reading the forum today, he asked himself, is this really what he wants?