Chapter 468: The Core

Actually, Lin Yao felt that the most annoying thing was the matter of Tianhu...

What?

Infringement of the company's interests? Hindering the company's development?

Li Guangsheng and the major shareholder had a fight?

What the hell... Aren't they doing pretty well?

Lin Yao actually knew Tianhu, the former largest competitor in the country. Thanks to the growth in the total number of players, they had been developing quite smoothly during this period.

Why did they suddenly call for fighting and killing?

"I don't know the specific situation."

Mu Wanqing saw Lin Yao's strange expression, guessed her thoughts, and added.

"Okay..."

Lin Yao shook her head slightly. Although she was very curious, Mu Wanqing didn't know the specific situation, so forget it.

She changed the subject and asked about another thing worthy of attention: "Game player is giving away games again?"

"Well, the number of registered users has probably reached a bottleneck during this period... In addition, I suspect that the number of active users on their platform is not ideal, so they continue to give away games in order to increase the monthly active users and the number of registered users."

Mu Wanqing nodded and continued: "In addition, they have also reached cooperation with two third-party manufacturers during this period. Recently, there will be two highly anticipated third-party masterpieces exclusive to their Game player, namely "The Last Moment" and "Bloodthirsty", one ACT and the other American comic-style FPS.

However, looking at the promotional materials, it is not a complete exclusivity, but a limited-time exclusivity for one year. The two third-party giants do not seem to be willing to just hang on to a tree and give up our Vaporwave game platform.

For this exclusivity, Game player probably gave a lot of exclusivity money."

"..."

Lin Yao was silent, a little speechless.

It's true that no matter which world it is, it will come to this...

"I understand. Stay tuned."

Lin Yao breathed a sigh of relief, then thought for a moment and said, "In addition, our first-party works on the PC should indeed be put on the agenda. Although they are spending money to buy traffic, it is indeed inappropriate for us to do nothing all the time. At present, "Civilization" has begun to finish... By the way, you just said that the Conglong and Xihan studios let me try the game?"

Mu Wanqing nodded, and then said, "Yes, the game is just about to be tested on a large scale, so I would like to ask you to try it as well. We have almost completely let go of those two action games with reasoning elements and have not given many restrictions, and your energy is completely focused on the headquarters... The heads of the two first-party studios may be a little nervous."

"Okay, I'll go play them when I have time."

Lin Yao thought about it. During this period of time, she had indeed neglected the attention to the two first-party studios: "Anything else?"

"These are the things for now."

Mu Wanqing glanced at the notebook in her hand: "The rest is the promotion of "Super Mario Party" in the console department, but you said you have any ideas about this matter..."

"Hmm..."

Lin Yao responded, then sighed and said, "I'll be busy next. It seems that there will be no leisurely exercise time..."

"There will be."

Mu Wanqing smiled gently.

Lin Yao tilted her head and asked, "Do you want to exercise for me?"

"..."

Mu Wanqing glared at Lin Yao lightly, turned around and left again.

Lin Yao couldn't help laughing, turned around, and then after calming down a little, she began to prepare the plan for "Monster Hunter".

There are many things to do.

But the most important thing is the game lineup for the console...

After all, the console is now completely supported by the first party, and it can't be broken.

Lin Yao's previous life.

There are many works in the "Monster Hunter" series, but if you ask which Monster Hunter work is the best, I guess every old hunter has a different answer.

In the entire Monster Hunter series, when it comes to breaking the circle, the best-selling work is of course "Monster Hunter: World". This is the first and only high-definition Monster Hunter game that is completely separated from the handheld, with sales of more than 20 million.

But even with such a work, many old players are still not happy with the weapon balance, fewer monsters, and the deletion of many interesting systems in the previous generation of "Monster Hunter: World".

The latest work "Monster Hunter: Rise" is called the most friendly monster hunter game for newcomers because of the addition of Kinsects, but this work is basically separated from the traditional walking hunter, and the map is simplified. Many old hunters probably can't adapt.

As for many old hunters, including Lin Yao himself, the favorite monster hunter work, the culmination of the entire handheld Monster Hunter series - "Monster Hunter XX", although it is highly rated among the old player group, its sales volume is only 4 million. It

sounds like a lot.

But you have to know that after this work, there is the popular "Monster Hunter: World" and "Monster Hunter: Rise", which has been exclusive to a single platform for a year and still won tens of millions of sales.

These 4 million sales are not even enough for a fraction of the world...

According to Capcom's urine, it is estimated that the future development of the Monster Hunter series will continue to run wild in the direction of the next two popular works.

At the same time, this also proves a market truth, that is... the previous "burden" operations of Monster Hunter did hinder many new players from getting in touch with this game series to some extent.

Lin Yao is more inclined to make "Monster Hunter XX" in his heart. After all, the size of this game is not to be underestimated. This is the game with the most content in the Monster Hunter series.

Moreover, this work is basically the culmination of the entire "Monster Hunter" series. Basically, it has a little bit of the fun gameplay of each previous Monster Hunter.

But some systems of this work do need to be modified... The two Monster Hunter works after XX, which have a sales volume of tens of millions, have many great advantages that can be learned from.

For example, the Kinsect and combat style of "Monster Hunter: Rise" and the seamless map and ecology of "Monster Hunter: World".

Of course.

Don't even think about high-definition hunters. A handheld is still a handheld after all. Lin Yao has tried her best, but it is basically impossible to achieve the high-definition of the world without changing the form of the handheld.

However.

On the basis of "Monster Hunter XX", adding some excellent systems of later works is indeed worth a try.

In short, see if it can be stitched together.

Don't underestimate stitching.

"Elden Ring" is a stitched monster, and it is a super advanced stitched monster... It has almost all the advantages of Hidetaka Miyazaki's previous works. It is estimated that if players are allowed to choose, most players will probably hope that their favorite game series can produce a comprehensive stitched work.

It's just that the difficulty is not small.

However, fortunately, the plot of "Monster Hunter" is simple. Putting aside the messy background, after 4G, the plot elements are very diluted, and the main line is very simple, which is to defeat monsters, then collect materials, and then defeat more advanced monsters... In the end, the world will return to peace again, tease the poster girl, and it's over.

There is basically no pressure on the plot.

Let's try it first.

In fact, including the new game of "Pokemon", Lin Yao does not plan to make dark mines, but plans to refer to Arceus and make it an open world with free capture.

After all, at this time point, as a Pokémon IP with only one work, it is estimated that many players will not be able to adapt to the sudden return to dark mines.

Lin Yao's latest "Pokemon" also plans to sew it up.

Anyway, let's try it first.

Linmu Studio now has the cost of trial and error, and Lin Yao also understands these two series.

Take this step first!

...

In the following days.

Lin Yao started to get busy.

Mainly busy with three things, the first thing is to write a plan for the new plan of the host product department, the second thing is the promotion of the existing game "Super Mario Party", and the last thing is to focus on the development of the new game of the headquarters.

Because she was too busy, she didn't even care about the trial requests from the two studios of Longxihan.

On the other hand.

Because Game player sent the game again.

Domestic players who were originally attracted by "Ring Fit Adventure" on Switch also reacted.

But this time, they were not worried about the future of the Vaporwave gaming platform. Although there were still some domestic players who were worried, the first reaction of 99% of the players was to... go get the game!

The most popular game post during this period was - [Game player is giving away games again! ]

Many players who didn't catch up last time rushed into Game player, which once again caused the number of Game player registrations to soar. And because Game player started the promotion of first-party works again, the number of monthly active users on their platform also began to rise.

Soon.

As the event continued. On

the fourth day of the event, Game player announced in a high-profile manner that the number of Game player registrations had officially exceeded 100 million!

As soon as this news came out.

Players looked sideways again.

It was really too fast.

How long has it been since the summer promotion... It's already 100 million?

After many domestic players got the games and had a carnival, they finally began to worry about the Vaporwave gaming platform.

"Fuck, it's already 100 million? I remember that the number of registered users of Vaporwave game platform was about this much?"

"More than that, according to the data from the statistics website, it's about twice the current number of registered users of Game player."

"But it's almost catching up... 100 million is not a small number."

"Indeed, the pressure is now on Vaporwave game platform. Although it seems that many registered users of Game player are given free games, no matter how the players come, the size is there. No matter what, Linmu Studio has to admit that Game player is now the biggest competitor! It's also the most threatening competitor to them!"

"By the way, I see that the two recent blockbusters "The Last Hour" and "Bloodlust" are exclusive to Game player. Although Vaporwave game platform has launched many games during this period, the loss of two blockbusters is estimated to have a great impact... What about Linmu Studio's game lineup in the second half of the year? It's time to make some moves!"

"Yes, the two games announced by Linmu Studio are both console-based. Although they have both achieved huge success, they have nothing to do with Vaporwave game platform."

"Well, although Kirby and Ring Fit Adventure are both good, I'm actually more looking forward to hardcore games... I hope the PC can satisfy me." "

The next game should be a big hit on the PC! Looking forward to it!"

"+1 above."

"..."

In general.

Players' views on Game Player have changed from being the undertaker of Vaporwave game platform to being an evenly matched opponent of Vaporwave game platform...

As for why there is such a change, many players don't know.

It may be because they don't log in to Game Player often, or it may be because many players found that they didn't even open the game after receiving the game...

But no matter what.

Game Player is the biggest competitor of Vaporwave game platform now, this is a consensus.

At the same time, most players now hope that Linmu Studio will launch the next game, preferably on PC, which is more hardcore.

And their wish.

It came true the next day...

Linmu Studio did release a trailer for the new game.

But what disappointed them.

The game launched this time is still not a PC game, but a console game.

In addition, the new game is not a core game... but... a party game?

...

Click.

The classic console logo flashed.

Then what appeared on the screen was still the real picture.

In the spacious living room, four friends each held a joy-con controller, staring at the screen together, occasionally glancing at the people next to them with the corner of their eyes, with a look of intrigue.

But when the camera turned to the screen.

Mario stood on a chessboard similar to Monopoly, jumped suddenly, and his fist hit a dice. The shaking dice stopped, 0 points.

Seeing this scene, the other three immediately shouted "good" and celebrated loudly.

The player who controlled Mario looked annoyed.

Then.

The title of "Super Mario Party" appeared. It

directly named the theme.

The second half of the promotional video is basically a happy game scene between different friends in various environments.

What bar, campsite, library, yard.

At the same time, different ways of playing the game also appear one by one as the screen switches.

In the Toy Party dual-screen mode, players put the screens of two Switches together to achieve cross-screen online mode, and then four players surround the two screens to play the mini-game "Tank War" together.

The cute mini-game "Fried Steak" shows the somatosensory gameplay. Players need to use the joy-con handle in their hands to simulate a frying pan, and then flip the pan to ensure that each side of the beef is fried, while preventing the steak from being fried.

Of course, various beat-based gameplay and cooperative gameplay or 2v2 confrontation gameplay are also indispensable.

For example, tug-of-war, bicycles, top gold coins, piercing fruits, whack-a-mole, holding signs, grabbing positions to take photos... and Super Monopoly.

In short, it is an offline multiplayer game...

The entire promotional video is not long.

Very quickly.

The players finished watching it.

Most of the players had complicated expressions after watching it.

This new game is actually very simple and clear. The title mentions it. This is a party game, but unlike poker or board games at ordinary parties, this game is an electronic game... This   is very fresh

for the players .   After all, even in Lin Yao's previous life, all major console manufacturers only gave one controller, not to mention offline party games that focused on multiplayer fun.   There were none at all.   Mature party games, although not completely blank, after all, Nintendo still likes to tinker with some weird games, and there have been similar works before.   But there are indeed no mature ones.   Until the Switch appeared, thanks to the unique hardware design of the console, many functions that were previously very bad were realized one by one, and there was a qualitative leap.   Coupled with the vibration and somatosensory functions of the controller and the game creativity of Tianma Xingkong... this is the most mature and successful party game - Mario Party.   Even in Lin Yao's previous life, this type of game has been blank for a long time, let alone here.   The impression of electronic games here on players is still at the stage of lack of interaction and can only be played by one or two people.   Online, you can play with multiple people, but offline, at most two people can play, and the experience may not be good...   The launch of "Super Mario Party" really made players' eyes light up.   Just watching the promotional video, the players feel full of freshness.   Very interesting.   But...   this is limited to players who have the same hobbies and friends.   After all, no matter how interesting it looks, the promotional video focuses on promoting multiplayer offline games and multiplayer fun.   However, many players, in this information society, do not have so many friends to play such a party game.   Or to put it more directly.   Socializing, partying, and playing games together are not the choices of many domestic players to get together.   It is not that domestic players have no friends. China is Japan, where do so many nits come from... Most people definitely have friends, but it is really rare that their friends also like to play games and like games on Switch...   When everyone gets together, most of them still focus on eating skewers and the like. Even if they play games together, they play online strong confrontation games such as MOBA.   To put it bluntly, there is no relevant culture.   Of course, not all, but in most cases, it is really rare for a group of friends to get together to play offline games.   So.   After the announcement of "Super Mario Party",   the evaluation is quite polarized.   Especially in the game community.   It is mainly because some core players who really can't find the same hobbies and friends... can't play this game.   “Great! As expected, Linmu Studio will never disappoint! Party game! I’ve wanted this for a long time! When “1-2 Switch” came out, I started looking forward to it! Now it’s here!”   “Interesting! Linmu Studio’s game production ability... I can imagine how much fun it will be to play with friends then!”   “Friends’ Party... It will definitely be fun to play with friends! I finally understand why Lin Yao put so many functions into the Switch controller! I couldn’t figure it out before, is it necessary for “1-2 Switch”? But after seeing the Ring Fit and the current “Super Mario Party”, I understand, they were waiting here! I really have to admire their planning, now every function on the controller is used! Lin Yao even wants us to buy an extra pair of controllers!”

"Pre-order!"

"Ah... it's good, the game looks very creative. Combined with the "Ring Fit Adventure" some time ago, we can guess that this game will probably give full play to all the functions of the controller, but the problem is... I have no friends."

"The above is right. I can't even find a friend who likes Switch games, let alone four... you kill me."

"No one plays the series together."

"Don't look at it. It's another game that attracts blue ocean users and is played by current players... Alas, I was looking forward to more core-oriented games."

"I'm a little disappointed... I feel that Linmu Studio is too focused on blue ocean users. Our core players also want new games..."

"Don't expect it! Lin Yao wants current players... I guess all the next games will be of this type."

"..."

On the forum.

Players with needs and similar interests like the promotional video very much... Most players, although they affirm the creativity of Linmu Studio, have no intention of buying it, and are even a little disappointed.

Most core players are the latter.

However.

This game has received a good response on social media and overseas.

Although there are comments about not having friends to play with, most people still find the concept of offline party games very fresh and want to try it.

Especially overseas.

It can only be said that it is a mixed blessing.

...

"Party game..."

Gibbs.

Frank breathed a sigh of relief after watching the promotional video, and then shook his head.

"We are just lucky!"

Hawkins said on the side, looking a little unhappy.

He was half-forced to give away the game this time, and he actually didn't want to give it away.

Not to mention the direct economic losses caused by giving away the game, just the remarks of old players saying that they would give away the game anyway without having to buy new games in the future already made him very worried...

But Frank insisted on giving it away!

"It's not good luck. They have already announced two console games. How can they have so much energy? I guess they will have to wait until Black Friday to release their first-party PC games to compete with us!"

Frank raised his head and retorted: "Linmu Studio is now focusing on consoles. We can take this opportunity to expand our user base. It will definitely be a good idea."

"That's not what you said just now."

Hawkins curled his lips: "Aren't you worried that Linmu Studio will suddenly launch a PC masterpiece?"

"It's human nature." Frank said calmly, "The fact is that it's just a party game, isn't it? Our strategy can still be carried out."

"I hope so."

Hawkins did not comment.

This time, Game Player gave away games, which is just the beginning. The first-party games of the two companies will be greatly promoted next.

The two highly anticipated limited-time exclusive third-party masterpieces will also be launched.

This time, the two companies really bleed a lot...

As for why they made a big move not long after the summer promotion, on the one hand, they wanted to gain a good reputation. Having over 100 million registered users is a good reputation.

On the other hand.

It was also because he saw that Linmu Studio was focusing on the console, so he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, while Linmu Studio was not focusing on the Vaporwave game platform, to grab more users and increase the number of monthly active users.

Free games, promotions, and limited-time exclusive third-party masterpieces... are the killer features of Game player.

Linmu Studio suddenly released a new promotional video, which really scared Frank. He thought that Linmu Studio was going to launch a first-party masterpiece for PC.

Unexpectedly,

it was just a party game in the end...

a false alarm.

"Don't worry."

Frank glanced at Hawkins, saw that he was a little worried, and comforted him.

Hawkins didn't say anything.

Seeing him like this, Frank didn't make himself look bad, but lowered his head to look at the screen in front of him.

At this time, a new tweet happened to pop up...

news from Linmu Studio.

They will demonstrate the gameplay of "Super Mario Party" in the direct meeting tomorrow.

Frank took a look, quickly shook his head, looked away, and didn't care.

The console side has little to do with him for the time being.

After all, it has nothing to do with the Vaporwave game platform.

...

At the same time.

Linmu Studio.

"Are you ready?"

Lin Yao found Lei Hongguang, the former head of the "Warcraft" project team and the current head of the "Civilization" project.

"Okay."

Lei Hongguang nodded, then hesitated for a moment and asked in a low voice: "But boss... are we really going to announce the new game at the party game direct meeting?"

"Yes, by the way."

Lin Yao nodded, and then explained: "We have been too quiet on the Vaporwave game platform recently. In addition, the opponent has recently given away games, promotions, and limited-time exclusives for third-party masterpieces. We really need to do something. Announcing a first-party masterpiece is the most appropriate.

In addition, the domestic demand for party games is indeed not large. Core players have already had some complaints, and it just happens to satisfy them.

If you don't like party games like Super Mario Party, then go play a game of Civilization with other players online. That should be core enough, and it can be considered... another kind of party game. Yeah!"

Lin Yao said, nodded, and showed a firm look on her face.

Lei Hongguang: "…………"

Boss, are you a devil?

Is online battles in Civilization considered a party game?

I saw that the second wave of DLC for Mario Kart was updated yesterday, and I took a look online. It inexplicably soared to 4 points. There was clearly a player with 40,000 points in the same game, but he was so high that you couldn't even see his exhaust... But I couldn't help but keep playing. I was in low spirits all day today. I haven't dared to play games for fear of getting stuck in them, but I failed. Ah... In addition, do you know what the BGM of this picture of the pinball table is called? I miss it so much, but I can't find it.

(End of this chapter)