Ten Years Against the Current of Rebirth

It's about two o'clock on Saturday afternoon.

Jinghe Community.

Xu Yi packed his briefcase, took his resume and other personal belongings, put on a formal suit, and prepared to go out.

"Going out for another interview?" Bi Wenli, who had just come out from her nap, glanced at the suit he was wearing and asked.

"Yes." Xu Yi put on his shoes and opened the door, nodded, "I'll be back after dinner."

Currently, Xu Yi works in a certain company, sitting in a medium-sized project management position. Taking into account performance and year-end bonuses, the average monthly salary is about ten thousand to twenty thousand.

Including Bi Wenli opening a supermarket, she can earn a lot every month, so the family is not really short of money.

However, Xu Yi's personal sense of crisis is relatively strong, especially since he is 45 years old this year. For the position of programmer, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is super old.

The computer veterans in the same group as him are either already dominant in the domestic market, or at least they are high-level backbones in major Internet companies.

After accumulating a certain amount of financial connections in large companies, once these high-level technical backbones go out to work alone and find a good idea, they can often soar into the sky with the various resources they have accumulated.

But Xu Yi's foundation was really weak at the beginning. He said he was a computer major, but in fact he had to study all by himself in college. After working, he relied on the advice of some seniors to gradually acquire some decent skills.

In addition, he is relatively content with stability and does not compete for most of his work. He also enjoys spending time at home with his wife and children. Therefore, when he worked for several companies, his level was basically neither above nor below.

At the highest level, he was the person in charge of some ordinary projects.

But he doesn’t really just stay in one company peacefully.

Generally speaking, every six months to one year, Xu Yi will re-select companies in the market and submit his resume.

I did this not really to change jobs, but just to find out where the prices and remuneration for programmers of his age and ability are in the current market.

If the fluctuations are not too big, then he can still stay in the company safely.

After all, at this age, if he can move, Xu Yi must be too lazy to move anymore and just wants to retire in the company with peace of mind.

After all, it is a management position that is not too big or too small. Although it cannot be said to be a high-level backbone, it is still better than the top.

At this stage of his life, stability is the most important thing.

Unless a company really values ​​his ability and offers a salary much higher than the current level, it is basically impossible for him to move his position.

Secondly, going out for an interview is also a way to gain knowledge and broaden your horizons.

In particular, emerging companies that are gaining momentum in the market, as well as start-ups that currently appear to have great potential, are Xu Yi's targets.

Although understanding this thing would not be of much help to him in his daily work, he still wants to trade in stocks.

Even if some companies have not yet been listed on the market, he can go to interviews in advance, go to other companies to see the mental outlook of employees, understand the internal working status and processes, and combine it with all kinds of information that can be found on the market, which can be regarded as a kind of advance preparation. Researched.

In fact, Xu Yi usually earns a lot of his income from stocks.

As someone who works in the Internet field, most of the companies he likes to invest in are of this type.

And with the rapid development of the domestic Internet economy, he has made a lot of money from it.

"Hmm? Are you going out too?"

As soon as I walked out of the house, I met Xu Jian.

The two brothers said hello, and Xu Jian knew that his younger brother was going out for interviews and fun again.

"What company is it this time?"

"It's called Qunxing Company. It has a Tianshu studio under its umbrella and has made a mobile game called Fruit Assassin." Xu Yi followed Xu Jian downstairs and said as he walked, "The monthly income is estimated to be eight figures now.

."

"Hey." Xu Jian smacked his lips, "This crappy game is quite profitable?"

"That's not true, and the money you make is still beautiful." Xu Yi smiled, "Small domestic companies distribute their games to Americans. Currently, they have the highest sales among new games. They make them themselves.

Even mobile games can’t beat it.”

"That's awesome." When he heard that he was bringing glory to the country, his bad game immediately turned into a good one. Xu Jian praised, "This boss has a lot of potential."

"I'm also quite curious about who the boss of this company is." Xu Yi touched his chin and said, "I guess he must have at least graduated from a prestigious school. He must have worked in the game department of some big companies before, and then recently came out to work alone."

"Making tens of millions a month is incredible." Xu Jian shook his head and sighed, "I am so busy working now, I only earn hundreds of thousands a month."

"I heard that the online store you and your sister-in-law are running is very popular now?" Xu Yi thought of this, so he asked with a smile, "I remember it was that guy Xu Xing's idea to open an online store, right?"

"Hey, the blind cat has run into a dead rat." Xu Jian curled his lips and then said, "Recently, I went to negotiate with several OEMs and tried to help Wanhui get a cheaper ex-factory price for customized models."

"However, big factories don't accept such small orders, and small factories are reluctant to accept them because of production capacity issues. If they do, the prices are almost as high as those in the wholesale market. It's a headache."

"Today I have to drink with several sales managers from the OEM. Your sister-in-law is quite comfortable. She enjoys herself staying in the store and blowing on the air conditioner."

Xu Yi smiled: "Why don't you bring your sister-in-law with you?"

"Women should stay at the base camp with peace of mind." Xu Jian walked out of the corridor, straightened his collar, "Leave the drinking matter to the men, let's go."

The two brothers each got into their own cars, and after exiting the community side by side, they lowered the windows and said hello one last time, then separated at the entrance of the community.

Xu Yi drove the car towards Yaoguang Entrepreneurship Park.

…

Yaoguang Entrepreneurship Park, Tianshu Studio, seventh floor, East Park.

After Xu Yi parked his car in the parking lot, he took the elevator and arrived at the seventh floor. He saw the brand-new words "Tianshu Studio" on the door of the office space in front of him.

Next to it is a logo of the Big Dipper. The one representing the Tianshu star is dyed gold and becomes more conspicuous.

"Are you here for an interview too?" A young man who also walked out of the elevator, tall and muscular, with thick hair and dark skin, glanced at the other two people who walked out together and asked curiously.

"Yeah." The other young man nodded, looking rather dull and introverted, and stopped talking after responding.

Xu Yi looked at the healthy hair of the two young men and couldn't help but touch the thinning top of his head with emotion. He could only admit that time is ruthless and time is like a barber's knife.

"They are all here for interviews, right?" Xu Yi chuckled, "I don't think any other companies are interviewing on this floor."

"Uncle, are you coming for an interview at such an old age?" The sturdy boy smiled and said hello, "Lei Wenyan, I just graduated from Min University this year."

"Oh, you are a top student." Xu Yi looked envious, "I am old and can't compare with you young people. What is this person's name?"

With that said, Xu Yi looked at the more introverted boy and asked.

"He Sitong." The boy whispered, "Graduated from Fu University with a master's degree."

The three of them walked into the studio door while chatting.

The secretary at the door, Peng Yuxuan, registered them and then arranged their resumes in order.

"Well, you are the last three interviewers today. Please wait for a moment in the empty seats next to you. There are about four interviewers waiting in line in front of you."

"OK, thanks."

The three of us were destined to sit at the same table.

Lei Wenyan, who has a more unrestrained personality, first asked: "What is uncle's job now?"

"I am working a part-time job in a certain degree." Xu Yi chuckled, and after answering casually, he asked curiously, "You have graduated from a prestigious university, how could you think of coming to this company for an interview just a few months after its establishment?"

"I have invested in more than 20 companies, and this is just one of them." He Sitong said concisely and concisely, "The company is small, but has great potential and high chances of promotion. It is easier to get ahead than in big companies."

"I have already received offers from several game companies." Lei Wenyan rubbed his head and complained, "But our domestic game companies are too unprogressive, and I really don't like the products of those companies, so I just want to find one.

Stay with companies that make games."

"This Tianshu Studio can only be said to be an alternative. If I can pass the interview, I will come in first and stay for a while to check it out. After all, they have just released a Fruit Assassin, which is quite interesting and can interact with touch-screen mobile phones."

The way, using cut fruits to show it, the planning is quite thoughtful.”

"But if I make a lot of money and the new games start to fail, then I will probably quit after a few months. I hope the boss here won't let it go."

When they talked about the situation in the studio, He Sitong seemed to become interested. He pushed up his round glasses with his middle finger and said seriously: "I think the boss of this studio should have some ideas."

"Not only in terms of game creativity, but also in terms of game market selection."

"Currently, the sales of domestic buyout-based mobile games are not ideal, but the market mechanism in North America is very mature, and players' paying habits have been cultivated for a long time."

"Fruit Assassin chose to upload in foreign markets instead of in China. In my opinion, it is a very powerful and decisive decision."

"I don't care about marketing." Lei Wenyan shook his head and was not very interested in this aspect. "Anyway, as long as the game is fun and innovative, then I am optimistic about this company."

"I think what He Sitong said is very interesting." Xu Yi added with a smile, "I don't know if you have paid attention to it, but the promotion of Fruit Assassin has set off a wave in North America."

"In the beginning, it was just about 20 advertising videos on YouTube, but later it escalated into a debate with the Sword of Exotic Project."

"I have been following the progress in the past two days, and it turns out that a blogger with more than a million fans on YouTube posted his Fruit Assassin points and skin, which triggered a lot of followers."

"Yesterday, some young celebrities even posted screenshots of their Fruit Assassin points on Twitter. They seemed to be happy to use this method to get closer to their fans."

At this time, He Sitong added: "Today is only the 6th, and sales have already exceeded 2.5 million. This is a buyout system, and the net income for a week must be at least 20 million."

Lei Wenyan: "What the hell?!"

He generally pays more attention to the quality, creativity, and playability of games, but doesn't care much about specific sales and income.

Now that He Sitong said this, I suddenly felt a little different.

"More than 20 million a week?" Lei Wenyan was a little stunned, "Not 80 million a month? Nearly a billion a year? Is it true?"

"If you want to sell one billion, you have to have so many users." Xu Yi reminded with a smile, "The buyout system has an upper limit on the number of players, so it is impossible to sell it endlessly."

"At present, it seems that the first three months should be a period of rapid sales growth. After the number of players gradually becomes saturated, unless a sequel such as Fruit Assassin 2 is launched, the sales growth will definitely slowly decline."

"Well, of course, judging from the current trend, it shouldn't be a problem to make hundreds of millions in a year."

When he said this, even Xu Yi himself felt a little emotional.

It's easy to talk about hundreds of millions, but it is the dream of most gamers to make a game's revenue reach this level.

Especially since this is a lightweight mobile game, it has basically no technical threshold and does not rely on any outstanding art style. It is purely about gameplay creativity.

The ability to earn hundreds of millions of profits during this period, in addition to its own outstanding creativity, is also inseparable from factors such as Pineapple Company's breakthrough in the mobile phone field, the popularity of smart touch-screen mobile phones, and the high-quality environment for paid games cultivated in North America.

In addition, the mobile game market is still waiting to be developed, and most mobile game production thinking is still based on the idea of ​​​​client and web games. At most, they copy the gameplay and make slight adjustments.

It was in this situation that the Fruit Assassin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and crushed everything at the perfect time.

Only after combining the above factors, you will find that the explosion of Fruit Assassin is almost impossible to replicate.

"So in fact, the most critical thing for this studio right now is not how much money Fruit Assassin can make in the future, but whether it can seize this opportunity and improve the basic capabilities of its own studio."

Xu Yi concluded, "If the boss of this company is only immersed in the dream of fruit assassins and does not want to make progress, even if he makes hundreds of millions more, he will still be in vain in the future."

"Or he can retire now. A few hundred million will be enough for him to spend his whole life."

"Judging from the size of the Fruit Assassin, its production cost should be very small, and the ownership is probably in his hands alone."

"Haha." Lei Wenyan smiled, "Uncle, look at his recruiting attitude, it doesn't look like he is preparing to retire. I am very curious now. Is it possible that his next game can copy Fruit Assassin?

A miracle?"

"Actually, there is no need to have such high requirements." He Sitong said seriously, "Breaking hits like Fruit Assassin are rare. As long as the studio's next game can achieve breakeven, it will be considered a success in my opinion."

The three of them were waiting for the interview, and after chatting, they discovered that they had something in common.

Xu Yi usually likes to chat with young people, and there are mostly young people in the company. When communicating with Xu Xing at home, he is also very casual.

So the two young men got along well with the uncle.

The more they chatted, the more they felt about the success and difficulty of replicating Fruit Assassin. Although it seems that Tianshu Studio currently has great potential, the creativity of Taichi Planning itself does not have any technical accumulation.

As for creativity, it is something that exists or disappears. It is too mysterious. If a game company relies on this alone, it is difficult to say that it has any special advantages.

However, after chatting like this, the three of them had a new understanding of this company from different perspectives, and they also had new considerations about whether they would choose to join.

"He Sitong, is He Sitong here?"

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, secretary Peng Yuxuan shouted at the office door.

"Here." After He Sitong heard his name, he immediately stood up and raised his hand to signal.

"You are next." Peng Yuxuan reminded, "Please be prepared."

"OK."

Not long after, He Sitong was called into the office for an interview.

After Peng Yuxuan sent He Sitong in, he asked the last two people left here: "Who is Lei Wenyan? You are next, please be ready."

"Oh well."

"This is Xu Yi, right? You are the last one today."

"Well, thank you."

Seeing that there was no one around, Xu Yi glanced around and found that except for a little girl in the corner who looked like she was working, there seemed to be no one else here.

So while He Sitong was still inside for the interview and the secretary next to him had nothing to do, Xu Yi simply went over to say hello. After chatting for a few words, he curiously asked: "How many employees do our company have now?"

"I don't know about this either." Peng Yuxuan smiled slightly, "I just came here in the past few days. Weekends are rest time. Except for employees who voluntarily work overtime, no one else works."

"Oh, so." Xu Yi nodded thoughtfully, and then asked, "Is the person interviewing there our boss?"

"Yes, today's interview is personally controlled by the boss."

"The game Fruit Assassin was made by our boss himself, right?"

"I just came here and I don't know much about this."

"Could it be that the little girl over there did it?"

"I'm only responsible for the company's administrative affairs. I don't know much about the game."

Looking at this rather strict-tongued secretary, Xu Yi chuckled twice, but didn't pay much attention. After glancing at the little girl over there, he silently moved towards her.

Seeing that Peng Yuxuan did not come to stop him, Xu Yi moved closer to Yan Chijuan without peeking. He just coughed first to attract Yan Chijuan's attention.

"Huh?" Yan Chijuan was typing code at this time. He suddenly noticed that there was someone next to him and was almost startled. "Excuse me...what can I do for you?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Xu Yi asked casually, "I'm just curious about what you are doing. I see that you are the only employee around?"

"That's right." Yan Chijiu nodded, "otherwise why would I ask you, uncle, for an interview?"

"Then when you made Fruit Assassin, how many people did you have on the game team?" Xu Yi asked tentatively.

Yan Chijiu blinked, spread his fingers and counted carefully, and then said: "Six."

"Six." Xu Yi nodded thoughtfully, "Awesome."

The labor cost of six people for two months, considering it is a small studio, assuming an average salary of about 6,000 per person, is a salary expense of more than 70,000.

Coupled with the initial publicity and advertising expenses, office space, water and electricity bills and food expenses, the cost is estimated to be around three to four hundred thousand.

However, it is difficult to estimate the cost of the publicity part. If this part is excluded, the game production cost should only be about 100,000 yuan.

It’s really a classic example of a small Bo Da.

Thinking of this, Xu Yi had a higher opinion of the owner of this studio.

After all, it is a team of only six people. The boss himself is probably the core of the production team. Even the planning of Fruit Assassin may be handled by this mysterious boss.

After understanding this, Xu Yi became more and more curious about the boss behind this studio.

I don’t know which big factory this talented person left from.

The mobile game market is now in the ascendant and is just about to gain momentum. In this regard, it can be said that domestic and foreign players are almost on the same starting line.

Whoever can take the lead in making new games that adapt to the mobile phone environment will quickly get a share of this emerging market.

Fruit Assassin is obviously one of the best.

Being able to glimpse such opportunities in a short period of time and seize them tightly, Xu Yi feels that such people must have unique vision and insights into the market.

Thinking of this, he became more interested in the next interview session.

"Lei Wenyan, it's your turn." When He Sitong walked out of the office, Peng Yuxuan shouted to Lei Wenyan.

However, Lei Wenyan did not rush in, but quietly asked He Sitong: "What should I say? How is the interviewer?"

"Well... how should I put it?" He Sitong came out of the office with a complex expression, and there seemed to be some residual disbelief and shock. "If the interviewer is really the studio owner, that would be outrageous."

"Ahem." Peng Yuxuan came over and reminded, "Please do not exchange topics related to the interview."

"Anyway, control your facial expressions." He Sitong patted Lei Wenyan's shoulder and reminded him kindly.

"Is it such an exaggeration?" Lei Wenyan muttered, walking towards the office, "Is it possible that she is tougher than me? Or is she a beautiful woman? Or is she a famous figure in the industry?"

Lei Wenyan pushed open the door and entered with curiosity.

Ten minutes later, the office door opened again.

"Xu Yi, it's your turn."

Peng Yuxuan said to Xu Yi.

Xu Yi nodded and met Lei Wenyan who came out.

As a result, he sighed with a look on his face, shook his head and said in disbelief: "What the hell, I feel like I have lived like a dog for more than 20 years during the interview. It's really annoying to compare people to others."

"Is it that exaggerated?" Xu Yi laughed a little.

"Really." Lei Wenyan looked seriously, looked at the sparse hair on Xu Yi's head, and added, "And I think the impact on you, uncle, should be much greater than the two of us."

"Really?" Xu Yi didn't believe it.

Do you think he has not seen any big storms in these decades?

It's just an interview. Even if the CEO of Tencent is sitting in it, it won't be so exaggerated, right?

With this in mind, Xu Yi walked to the door of the office and held the door handle.

The next second, the door was pushed open by him.

Xu Yi's eyes met with the interviewer inside.

moment.

Both of their faces changed drastically, and they were shocked.

"Xu Xing??!

"

"What the hell! Uncle?"