Chapter 270 Breaking the record! Opening a new era!
A lot has happened in the past six months.
First, "Squid Game" was released throughout East Asia and achieved unprecedented success.
It has created ratings miracles in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
The lead actor, Lee Jung-jae, suddenly became the most popular actor in Asia.
The drama was not originally intended to be introduced into China, but it turned out to be very successful and was successfully broadcast on Zhijiang Satellite TV, Shanghai Satellite TV, and Jiangnan Satellite TV.
As for the ratings of this drama, it is difficult to predict.
Because it's a completely different kind of TV show.
At present, a certain trend has emerged in domestic TV dramas, that is, they are getting longer and longer, and the pace is getting slower and slower.
"Squidward Powers" only has ten episodes (one more than in history), and the total investment is nearly 10 million US dollars.
The Lightning Group, including people from the three major TV stations, are actually very worried that domestic audiences cannot bear the pace of such a TV series.
Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai are already the most developed regions, so the show will be premiered on these three satellite TV stations.
After the results were played...
The word of mouth immediately exploded! For countless viewers, it was as if the door to a new world had been opened.
Who opened the door to a new world for young Chinese audiences? American TV series such as Prison Break and Lost.
This kind of American drama with strong rhythm, strong suspense, and slowly interlocking plots has attracted countless people's attention at once. So much so that many people even feel superior when watching American dramas and look down on the audience who watch domestic TV dramas.
To be honest, the rhythm of American TV series like "Prison Break" and "Lost" is really awesome and really unique.
But what? At this time, Prison Break had not yet entered China, and even the Internet world had not flooded in on a large scale. It was only released in the United States last year.
"Squid Game" opens the door to this new world.
That really sparked a heated discussion.
Moreover, this TV series was first broadcast in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and then exported and sold domestically based on its reputation.
In these four markets, it undisputedly won the first place in the annual ratings.
Then, they returned to the country.
For "Prison Break", there is actually still a cultural barrier, after all, it is only dubbed in English.
The story background of "Squid Game" is completely fictional. It is set in a capital-intensive economy, but it is not clear where.
In Korea, it is Korean dubbing.
In Japan, it is Japanese dubbing.
In Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, it is dubbed in Chinese.
As a result, the ratings of this drama still created the highest annual record for satellite TV stations in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.
It's a pity that it failed to break the ratings record of "The Disguiser" and "Drawing Sword", but the discussion it sparked on the Internet far exceeded that.
………………………………
There is another thing, that is, the number of online users of "Zhu Xian" has repeatedly broken new records.
This year, the highest number of online users exceeded 600,000! This number may not seem very high, but it is actually a phenomenal number because this is a point card game, not a free game.
And even this year, the computer configuration of most players still makes it difficult to play this game smoothly.
However, in May, "World of Warcraft" began closed testing.
This is about a year later than the historical version. Under Lin Xiao's pen, this game took a full 16 months to develop.
On June 23, "World of Warcraft" completed its internal testing.
Just seven days later, on June 30, World of Warcraft began its public beta.
Then, within a short period of time, the maximum number of online users exceeded 500,000!
Then the players of "World of Warcraft" and "Zhu Xian" began a long period of struggle.
Players of World of Warcraft began to look down on players of Zhu Xian, and of course they looked down on players of almost all other games.
It’s just that "Zhu Xian" is currently the best representative of domestic online games.
"Look at the CG of World of Warcraft. It's really shocking and awesome. In comparison, the CG of Zhu Xian pales in comparison."
“The game mechanics of World of Warcraft are ten years ahead of Zhu Xian.”
“The worldview of World of Warcraft is grand and vigorous, and it is ten years ahead of Zhu Xian.”
“It is true that Zhu Xian may be better in terms of some graphic quality, but the magical world presented by World of Warcraft is more imaginative and gives people a greater visual impact.”
Players of "Zhu Xian" began to feel indignant and tried hard to fight back.
"Is Blizzard your father or your grandfather? Why are you praising the Americans so much?"
“No matter how great World of Warcraft is, it is still an American game. But Zhu Xian is a domestic game, a national game.”
"In my opinion, Zhu Xian is already very good, a bunch of things that worship foreign things."
On the other side, World of Warcraft fans sneered.
“Is it so difficult to admit that others are better than you? Only by facing up to the gap can we catch up.”
“When Zhu Xian stops using domestic games and national games as an excuse, domestic games will truly rise.”
"Lightning Games doesn't know anything else but to play the patriotic card and carry the national flag. Forget about it. Your idol, Ergou, has already fled to the United States and owed a huge debt of one billion US dollars. You, the filial sons and grandsons of Ergou, should play more "Zhu Xian" and top up your cards, otherwise your idol will have to sell his ass in the United States to pay off his debts."
Those involved in the war of words are not just World of Warcraft players, but also a large number of public intellectuals.
Lin Xiao didn't have the energy to pay attention to this war of words because he was extremely busy.
But he was also quite helpless about this result.
First of all, he himself is a fan of "World of Warcraft" and played it for several years in his previous life.
Not only a fan of World of Warcraft, but also a fan of Blizzard.
He himself actually sees it most clearly. Although "Zhu Xian" is very good, especially in terms of picture quality, it is slightly better.
However, whether it is the game mechanism or the world view, there is indeed a gap between it and "World of Warcraft".
This is determined by the original world view structure. After all, it cannot deviate too much from the original "Zhu Xian".
Moreover, "World of Warcraft" is global, and the worldview itself is much larger, rising to the universe, various voids, and so on.
"Zhu Xian" has tried very hard to expand its worldview, but it is still limited and national.
But there was one thing that made Lin Xiao helpless.
That is national inferiority complex and cultural inferiority complex.
After the public beta of "World of Warcraft", it caused huge discussion and success. When comparing the two, players of "Zhu Xian" seemed to be inferior.
Moreover, when the two sides are engaged in a war of words, they can only talk about national games and domestically produced games, and can only play the patriotism card.
On the contrary, fans of World of Warcraft are more leisurely and full of a sense of superiority.
Of course, the most core reason here is what a public intellectual said.
"World of Warcraft" is a feast for the whole world, while "Zhu Xian" is a self-entertainment for Chinese players.
In one sentence, the players of "Zhu Xian" were left speechless.
Therefore, even though Lin Xiao tried his best to delay the release of "World of Warcraft" for more than a year, as soon as it was released as a public beta, "Zhu Xian" was still greatly suppressed in momentum.
With the public beta of "World of Warcraft", the maximum number of online users of "Zhu Xian" has declined.
From a peak of 600,000 people online, it dropped to 500,000, and then to 400,000.
NetEase is not 9you. It is much more powerful. Moreover, NetEase at this time is also quite powerful in public opinion. A certain opinion faction has dominated its public opinion direction for a long time.
Therefore, many "Zhu Xian" players, seeing the popularity of "World of Warcraft", couldn't help but become curious and rushed to play World of Warcraft.
Some people stayed in World of Warcraft, while others returned to Zhu Xian.
After more than a month of declining online user numbers, the number of online users of "Zhu Xian" began to rise again, once again reaching 500,000.
In fact, the number of online users is on par with that of World of Warcraft, but in terms of momentum, it has always been suppressed by the other side.
It was also at this time that another game from Lightning Games began closed beta testing.
"Dungeon Fighter".
Countless players rushed into the game with great expectations, but when they saw it was a horizontal game, they immediately started cursing.
Fuck! This is 2006, not 1996.
What the hell is this game? Is it subordination quality?
Do you still want the Lightning Game brand?
When you were making "Zhu Xian", you were full of passion and tried your best to improve the picture quality and the world view. But after you were unable to beat "World of Warcraft", you actually served up a piece of shit?
When I opened the game, the picture quality was so bad that I thought I was playing an arcade game.
For a moment, the entire Internet was filled with cursing.
Everyone was secretly happy. Lightning Group finally failed? Lightning Games was about to suffer a Waterloo.
After Zhu Xian, we all thought you would definitely come up with a better work, but this is what you came up with? It was a big mess.
On the Lightning Game side, they remained silent, allowing countless people to curse at them.
After the first closed beta test, we started the internal beta test directly.
In terms of maturity, this game is very mature. Its technical difficulty is not high, and it relies entirely on the game mechanism.
What's more, he started developing it several months earlier than "Zhu Xian".
It has been tested countless times within the company and is as complete as it can be. It could have been launched a long time ago. It is only now being officially launched for the sake of company strategy and maximizing profits.
As a result, amidst the shouting and cursing.
The entire company watched helplessly as the maximum number of online users of "Dungeon Fighter" soared wildly.
Three hundred thousand, five hundred thousand! Six hundred thousand was the highest record of Zhu Xian, and it took more than a year to reach this number.
result……
"Dungeon Fighter" broke through 600,000 with its eyes closed.
Then, it kept soaring.
Seven hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand, nine hundred thousand...
At the end of August, the maximum number of online users exceeded one million.
Lightning Game and Lightning Group were completely stunned.
Fuck...what happened?
World of Warcraft is so awesome, with a maximum number of online players now reaching 550,000.
How could a game like "Dungeon Fighter" that is so criticized by so many people easily break through one million online users?
The entire Internet cafe was filled with people playing Dungeon Fighter.
And there are a lot of people here, all high school teenagers and factory teenagers.
They don't talk or quarrel, they just play and charge money silently.
Xia Xi couldn't help but call Lin Xiao: "The maximum number of online users of Dungeon Fighter has exceeded one million, breaking the record!"
Lin Xiao only said two words: "Fuck."
No one was prepared, and the highest online record for Chinese online games was directly broken.
It was so sudden.
Then, an article appeared on the Internet: Chinese games are over, Chinese players are only suitable for playing garbage! This article cited a lot of data.
In the past five years, the record for the highest number of online players in online games was set by "Legend", which reached 630,000 online in 2003.
This record lasted for three years.
Although "Miracle" was a big hit, it was still far from this record.
The rapid rise of "Perfect World" at that time gave people hope of breaking this record, but the peak number of online users came to an abrupt halt when it exceeded 380,000. Everyone knows what happened afterwards.
The maximum number of online users of "Zhu Xian" exceeded 600,000, which is undoubtedly exciting, but it did not break this record.
However, this year two games broke this record one after another.
"Zhengtu" 680,000 people!
This result is disappointing because it is a rubbish game.
As a result, an even worse game called "Dungeon Fighter" came out, with a maximum number of online users exceeding one million, setting a new record.
This is really a despairing number.
An epic masterpiece like World of Warcraft only had a maximum number of online users of 550,000, even though it broke various records around the world.
Only in China, the games that set records are always garbage.
Wild boars cannot eat fine bran. Are Chinese players only fit to play crappy games?
This is a barren desert. No towering trees can grow here. The only things that can grow here are thorns and shrubs.
The Lightning Group has fallen, and Leader Ergou has also fallen!
……………………………………
This article caused a huge response.
It has also caused countless elites to reflect.
Immediately afterwards, a new tone of public opinion was raised.
The Lightning Group is rapidly becoming mediocre.
On the fall of the flag of the Ergou Sect Leader.
It has to be said that in just one year, the public intellectuals group has continued to gain ground in Internet public opinion.
The momentum is getting more and more fierce! The Lightning Group has entered a stage of making a fortune quietly.
It’s just very strange, as Facebook China was clearly at its most powerful.
Currently, the number of registered Facebook users in China has exceeded 70 million, and the number of daily active users has reached about 20 million.
In the social networking site race, it is the absolute leader.
On Renren, the number of daily active users is less than a quarter of that of Facebook.
But because of Microsoft's golden brand, MSN's high status, and the launch of one pretentious internet celebrity after another.
Renren has now become a synonym for high-end.
A large number of supermodels and writers from Hong Kong and Taiwan have flocked to Renren and MSN.
Gradually, the situation became that Renren was a high-end social networking site, and Facebook was a low-end mass social site.
However, the name Renren really drags down the so-called quality of this website.
I have to say that foreign capital is really good at showing off.
Why don’t you change your name to Xiaohongshu?
Faced with the declining status and reputation, the Lightning Group is also a bit panicked.
It just so happens that the Google, Microsoft, Blizzard, and public intellectuals factions are pursuing the Lightning Group relentlessly.
Although Lightning Group has achieved very impressive results so far.
But... our right to public opinion cannot compare with others. These high-end foreign giants are infiltrating the domestic public opinion system more and more fiercely.
As a result, countless posts appeared in the Facebook community at once.
Leader Ergou, come back!
Only you can stop the Lightning Group from becoming mediocre, and only you can stop the Lightning Group from becoming degenerate.
Under the guidance of this kind of public opinion, even the fans of Facebook, even the fans of Ergou, were led by the other side's public opinion and felt that the Lightning system was becoming mediocre and decadent.
One day, Ning Hao called.
"Master, do you want to attend the premiere of Let the Bullets Fly?"
His meaning was very clear. This movie would be of higher quality. Leader Ergou's attendance at the premiere could not be considered a comeback, but after all, he wrote the script, so he could restore some of his reputation.
Lin Xiao: “Not going.”
Ning Hao: "I understand."
Then, he seemed to be hesitant to speak and ultimately did not say anything.
But even if he didn't say it, Lin Xiao knew it.
It is the issue of the dominant rights in the movie "Let the Bullets Fly", although Ning Hao is the director and Jiang Wen is the leading actor.
But in the end, it was still Jiang Wen who took the lead, and he was more like a director.
There is no need to mention Lu Chuan's "Looking for the Gun". Even Zhang Guoshi's "If You Are the One", a director of such a big name like him, would have a lot of control taken away by Jiang Wen.
…………………………………………
August 30! Huayi’s big production, Feng Dapao’s “The Banquet” was released.
On September 2, "Let the Bullets Fly" held a grand premiere.
Received rave reviews.
Many reporters believed that Ergou would appear at the premiere because this was almost the most important work for Lightning Entertainment.
Besides, this is also the script of Master Ergou.
However, Lin Xiao did not show up at the premiere.
On September 10, "Let the Bullets Fly" was officially released.
In the end...the box office of this movie was around 390 million.
Although it did not break the box office record for domestic films, it was undoubtedly a huge success.
The key is not just the box office success, but also the explosive word of mouth.
The final box office of Feng Dapao's The Banquet was around 160 million yuan, and its reputation was extremely bad.
When the reporter was interviewing, he couldn't help but mention Master Ergou and the comparison between the two movies.
Feng Dapao angrily rebuked: "What does Let the Bullets Fly have to do with Master Ergou? This is entirely the work of Mr. Jiang."
"Look at the actors in it, Jiang Wen, Zhou Runfa, Ge You!"
"Look at Chufang, China Film, Bu Yi Le, and Lightning Entertainment."
"Ergou's fans should stop flattering themselves and taking Jiang Wen's achievements as their own."
"You all know about the works of Ergou. Crazy Stone and The Last Days are just popcorn movies. What kind of style do they have?"
"I lost to Teacher Jiang, what's so shameful about that?"
Wang Shuo also emphasized this when he was interviewed.
"Let the Bullets Fly smells like Jiang Wen from beginning to end. Go ask Ning Hao and Master Er Gou, do they have the nerve to say that this movie is theirs?"
Afterwards, the reporter actually went to interview director Ning Hao.
Director Ning Hao: "Yes, this movie has little to do with us. Most of it is the work of Teacher Jiang Wen."
"I don't think it matters. As long as the audience is satisfied and as long as a good film can be left in film history, that's the most important thing."
"The next major focus of our Lightning Entertainment is Kung Fu Panda. After almost two years of production, if everything goes well, it may be available to everyone by the end of the year."
"Master Ergou has devoted a lot of effort to Kung Fu Panda, building a team and constructing a worldview almost from scratch."
"We have high hopes for this film. We hope it can break through the ceiling of the Chinese film market and bring about a huge breakthrough for the Chinese film industry."
……………………………………
During the past six months, Lin Xiao has continued to travel around the world.
After getting the chip design on track, we began to fully tackle another focus, the LCD screen.
We had extremely difficult negotiations with Sony and Sharp.
Because the specifications it requires are too high.
Both parties stated that at the normal pace, the mobile phone screens required by Lin Xiao would be able to be supplied on a large scale in three years.
But after Lin Xiao's request for a year and a half, both sides said it was completely impossible.
The screen of the first generation iPhone was provided by Sharp and LG, and it only had 320P.
In Sharp's view, this is already amazing. As a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer, you want a 480P screen before you even start making mobile phones. Isn't that a fantasy?
Lin Xiao went to find LG again.
After repeated discussions, they brought in Masayoshi Son, Mi-kyung Lee and others to help.
Finally, after countless negotiations.
The result is tailor-made! Sharp customized a batch of 720*480 resolution high-definition screens for Lin Xiao, with a total quantity of more than 5 million.
Manufactured before 2008.
To do this, Lin Xiao needs to pay a much greater cost.
Furthermore, advance payment is required.
As a result, Lin Xiao's wallet was emptied again.
It took several months to solve the problem of high-definition screen.
Next, I was stuck on another difficult problem.
3G baseband chip.
The first generation of IPHNOE was 2G, but it was impossible for Lin Xiao to produce a 2G phone. How could that be considered a smart phone?
But now there is a problem, who should we find for this baseband chip?
Qualcomm?! Broadcom? They are not happy because you did not look for anyone else for SoC in the beginning.
MediaTek? It's not impossible, but its technology has never been advanced, and they prefer to sell SOC and baseband chips together.
Lin Xiao flew to Germany again and found Infineon.
The result? Infineon's current baseband chips only have 2G, and if you want a 3G baseband chip, you have to wait more than a year.
The most important thing is that Infineon directly rejected Lin Xiao because it had signed an exclusive agreement with Apple.
Of course, he can still buy Qualcomm or MediaTek now.
But...it would be best if Texas Instruments could do it themselves.
Texas Instruments is very strong in the field of 2G baseband chips and is among the top two in the world.
However, in the 3G field, it began to decline across the board.
This time, when Lin Xiao negotiated with Texas Instruments, the other party was much more gentle.
"We are also promoting 3G baseband chips, but the progress may not satisfy you because there are many patents that cannot be circumvented. If we do it, we will need to pay a lot of patent fees to Qualcomm and other companies."
"There are two options now. The first is that you directly buy 3G baseband chips from other mature companies. The second is that we accelerate the development of 3G baseband chips, and you continue to share related results, but you have to pay more."
Lin Xiao flew to Wanwan again to talk with MediaTek.
As a result, the other party's attitude was rather cold. Because Lin Xiao did not choose MediaTek in terms of SOC. Secondly, MediaTek's baseband chips are very popular now. I don't know how many manufacturers use its baseband chips, but they can't deliver them all. What's more, Lin Xiao has such high requirements and wants this and that.
So Lin Xiao flew back to China.
I visited Huawei, but it still didn't work.
Although the other party has already started working on this, it will still take a long time for the finished product to come out.
Historically, it wasn't until 2009 that it came out with a relevant solution, and it was a low-end GSM phone.
Then, Lin Xiao went to Beijing again and visited Spreadtrum.
Spreadtrum started research on baseband chips relatively early and was quite impressive, but its research progress on 3G baseband chips could not keep up with what Lin Xiao needed.
After going around in circles, we finally ended up with several giants such as Siemens (Infineon), MediaTek, and Qualcomm.
It’s so fucking difficult! …………………………
In the end, meetings were held again and again!
The two programs are carried out together.
First, add money to allow Texas Instruments to continue to focus on the research and development of baseband chips and share related success. Moreover, the SOC and baseband chips come from the same company, so the effect is the best. There is a reason why Apple has been complained about its poor signal.
Moreover, Texas Instruments has always been the world's leader in the 2G era, and its accumulation of related technologies is still very strong.
Second, if you really can't keep up with the progress, you can just spend money to buy from giants like Qualcomm, and at that time you may need to be more humble.
So, add more money!
Once again working with Texas Instruments.
Lin Xiao had spent a large sum of the 800 million US dollars he had borrowed with great difficulty.
The key is that the progress is unknown.
Once again, I returned to China exhausted and arrived in Ning City. It was already mid-October.
Lian Zheng brought Lin Xiao to a building.
Everything is new.
Eight months ago, when Lin Xiao came, it was still an empty lot.
There are now more than a dozen buildings, and construction is still in full swing.
In just eight months, a large complex of buildings has been built.
The highway is newly built and the infrastructure is complete.
Electricity supply, tap water supply, Internet supply, gas supply, etc.
All the infrastructure is the best.
The land directly allocated to Lin Xiao is several hundred acres in total, and dozens of acres have been built.
It’s really fast.
Lian Zheng has been in office for more than a year and has only done this one thing. Putting aside the cost of the land, the infrastructure, building construction, and other supporting facilities alone have cost hundreds of millions.
And now, the brand name has finally been decided.
Countless meetings were held for this mobile phone brand.
The brand name of a mobile phone is really important.
Apple, BlackBerry, Xiaomi, etc. are considered one series.
Nubia, NOVA, OPPO, and vivo can also be considered as one series.
Lenovo, Huawei, and Honor are considered one series.
OnePlus, Hammer, and Meizu seem to be considered as one series.
The first naming method was directly rejected, as Lin Xiao did not want to follow Apple's trend.
The second one was also directly denied.
The naming method of VIVO and OPPO is relatively successful, especially in third- and fourth-tier cities, where they were considered Korean brands in the early days.
But Nubia is not successful, it is neither fish nor fowl. And NOVA is also successful, it sounds nice and easy to remember, but it is only suitable for being a sub-brand, and it has a strong feminine feel.
Finally, the entire X Institute voted.
Names such as Galaxy, Lightning, Question World, Quantum, Phantom, etc. are candidates.
The final result is that quantum wins!
Quantum phone!
Quantum technology!
……………………
October 15th! In an empty office building.
Lin Xiao brought with him a core team for his third entrepreneurial venture, a total of thirteen people.
Plus a mayor, Lian Zheng.
Lin Xiao was busy in the kitchen, making his best dish, pork with pickled mustard greens.
Fifteen bowls of rice were served.
Then, each bowl of white rice is covered with a layer of steamed meat with pickled mustard greens.
After a little hesitation, I added some chili peppers. It seemed a bit weird, but it looked good.
Then he went to make coffee.
"I'll do it, I'll do it..."
"These beans are very expensive, please don't waste them." Wu Di couldn't help it, so he pushed his wheelchair over, ground the beans one by one, and then brewed the coffee by hand.
Ten minutes later! A rice bowl with pickled mustard greens and meat was served to each person.
A cup of Blue Mountain No. 1 hand-brewed coffee.
"Rice bowl in the left hand, coffee in the right hand!"
“East meets West!”
"Brothers, our quantum technology has been officially established!"
"Our quantum mobile phone brand has been officially established!"
"cooked rice!"
“Drink coffee!”
“Start a new journey, a new era!”
Lin Xiao raised his glass high, and everyone raised their glasses high as well.
"Long live the Master!"
“Long live the quantum phone!”
……………………
Note: I'm hungry, I'm going to eat. Benefactor, please remember to give me the monthly ticket, okay? Please! (End of this chapter)
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