Chapter 168 Free doesn’t mean no money!
In early April, the wind in Shanghai already had a distinct spring feel.
Lu Ming had just arrived at the office and unlocked his phone when Zhou Yizhou's message popped up:
[Boss Lu, there's some movement over at Beishan.]
After reading it, Lu Ming only replied with two words:
【Let’s chat.】
Ten minutes later, office.
The projector lit up, and Zhou Yizhou threw several screenshots onto the screen, all of which were promotional materials for Beishan Games.
A new round of publicity is coming as scheduled.
Beishan’s flagship project of “Battle Royale + Simulated Action”, “Sword Embers Island”, has started its second test and released a new trailer.
There are even real-life content displays.
In the trailer, the hardcore realistic style is full, and players start a real fight on an isolated island.
The punches and kicks have weight, the moves have techniques, the cold gleam of swords and the swaying of grass and trees all smell like burning money.
Moreover, according to the actual trial video,
The degree of restoration is very high!
Many anchors have given good reviews!
After all, it’s less than a month away from being launched!
The publicity and promotion has reached the final sprint stage!
Zhou Yizhou tapped his fingers on the table.
"Boss Lu, in addition to these, Beishan has also released some bonuses for game pre-orders!"
"Pre-register now and receive priority access to character trials, a three-day growth acceleration card, an exclusive sequence title, and ingots! Lots of benefits!"
Zhou Yizhou enlarged a clear promotional welfare picture and projected it into the center of the conference room.
In the picture, a swordsman dressed in dark blue clothes stands quietly on the top of a lonely cliff, his cloak fluttering, his sword sheathed, his profile shrouded in cold mist, and his eyes as cold as frost.
Behind him was a broken mountain temple covered with snow, with a broken flag fluttering in the wind. The setting sun cast a shadow on a lonely island in the snowy plain.
The whole composition is full of the atmosphere of "realistic Jianghu + cold murderous aura".
The scene was speechless, yet filled with murderous intent.
"Just from the art style, you can tell it's not cheap."
Zhou Yizhou frowned.
"Beishan's move is very clear, it's to hit the expected heat and grab the topic first."
"They're trying to completely eliminate the label of 'realistic martial arts'."
"Boss Lu, the timing of their launch is very disadvantageous for us!"
“Although we are developing very quickly, we are under a tight time limit. According to the current progress,
The core system of "Mistakenly Path to the Wilderness" has been initially opened up, and art is currently the most resource-intensive part!
We haven’t even reached the closed beta stage yet!”
"According to my estimate, we can go online as early as early July, but that's still two months later than Beishan!"
After listening to Lao Zhou's report,
Lu Ming was also a little confused. This was the bad thing about benchmarking. It was too much influenced by other people's publicity and promotion!
It would be bad if no one plays the game we make at home!
He's still standing here waiting for bad reviews!
This wave of Beishan is really beautiful.
"Old Zhou."
Lu Ming suddenly spoke,
"What do you think of their welfare operation?"
Zhou Yizhou pondered for a moment and said slowly:
"stable."
"They don't seek out buzz or gimmicks. They're like a legitimate high-scoring student, studying and preparing for the exam step by step and submitting a model paper in the exam room."
Lu Ming chuckled, his eyes filled with meaning.
"Well said."
"Then what do you think? If the July release date for "Misguided Primordial Chaos" is confirmed, is it too late for us to open pre-orders now?"
Zhou Yizhou looked at him with a calm expression.
"There's still time."
"Mr. Lu, there is absolutely no problem with the time!"
Lao Zhou is full of confidence!
After receiving a positive response, Lu Ming immediately stood up.
"Okay! Then we shouldn't hide anymore."
“We just need to do three things now!”
“Open for reservations!”
"Make some noise!"
“Package sale!”
"The 'Hong Huang Mi Dao' project is officially open for reservations this month."
"Didn't Beishan see that we were indifferent to the publicity?"
"Then let's make a bigger noise!"
"We're here! There's movement in Beishan!"
"We're here! The market is getting louder!"
"Hurry up and get our promotional content out!"
"If we want to benchmark ourselves, then we shouldn't be afraid of being seen."
"Didn't you ask me last time how to price "Who Owes Whom" and "Primordial Undefended"? "
"I just thought about it, let's just release it for free this time!"
"All players who pre-order "Honghuang Midao" can receive "Who Owes Whom" and "Honghuang Buxiangfang" for free!"
"Book one, we'll give two away!"
"Besides, both of these games can be developed for mobile phones. Interoperability between the two platforms shouldn't be a problem!"
quiet!
There was a brief silence in the office.
Zhou Yizhou stared at Lu Ming with eyes wide open, his mind unable to wrap its head around it for a moment:
“Free!”
"Mr. Lu, you mean to say that "Who Owes Whom" and "Primordial Undefended" will be released directly for free to players who pre-order."
"This...can this be possible?"
It’s free!
In the current environment, the most feared thing about making games is giving it away for free.
Once players get used to free, all subsequent paid designs, content extensions, and peripheral monetization will be infinitely compressed.
"Mr. Lu..."
Lao Zhou couldn't help but frown.
"Shouldn't we be more cautious about this? I know you want to compete with Beishan, but resources are tight right now. If we give it away for free, the developers will be under a lot of pressure."
"Let's not talk about anything else, that 3D fighting game, 'Hong Huang Bu Xiang Fang'. You know how outrageous the special effects that Pan Pipa required were, right?"
"You yourself said you wanted to fly into the sky and into the ground, and blast the starry sky with one punch. This amount of animation and art must have invested a lot of time."
"My biggest fear is that your free offering will dampen the enthusiasm of other developers!"
In the end, Lao Zhou also gave sincere advice.
After all, he is the person who knows best the complexity of game production. He is not worrying about nothing, but considering others from the perspective of a front-line producer.
But at this time, Lu Ming smiled.
Who made you Beishan indifferent!
He sat down slowly, folded his hands on his knees, and spoke in a calm tone:
"Old Zhou, don't you trust me?"
“Do you really think I don’t plan to make money?”
"I'm crazy to release games for free"
As he spoke, he knocked on the table and his voice became heavier:
"In this day and age, it's not the launch price that really sells games."
“It’s an extended service.”
“It’s a peripheral authorization.”
“It’s traffic operation.”
"People in the service industry now know how to provide after-sales service, so we have to keep up!"
"Especially our two games, they are obviously not the kind of single-player games that end with a one-time story experience."
"Besides, Beishan has already spent hundreds of millions on publicity and promotion. How can we keep up?"
"There's no way I can follow, and there's no way I can invest so much!"
"Even if we shoot more promotional videos or even look for Shen Xinglan again, it's useless!"
"Besides, doesn't Beishan give out in-game benefits? Then we'll just give out the game!"
“At this point, we have to use the free mechanism to attract people. Do you know what the most popular marketing campaign in the market is right now?”
"What is it..."
Old Zhou looked puzzled, but full of curiosity.
“That’s definitely free eggs!”
"Anything that has the word 'free' attached to it will definitely become a lot more popular!"
"Besides, these are not eggs, they are small but beautiful masterpieces!"
"in addition……"
"You're worried about the developers' income and whether we can recover our costs."
"But have you ever thought about..."
“Free doesn’t mean no money.”
Zhou Yizhou was stunned: "How do you say that?"
Lu Ming took out a pen and drew two circles on the table.
"One is the user circle of Honghuang Midao, and the other is the dissemination circle of free games."
"At this stage, what we need is to attract users, create topics, and break down the barriers in the player circle."
"Look at Beishan. 'Sword Embers Island' is very hardcore, but it's destined not to appeal to everyone."
“Our two side projects are essentially wall-breaking tools.”
"And as long as you pre-order "Honghuang Midao", these two games will be given to you. Think about it, isn't this equivalent to a three-in-one gift package?"
"Even if you didn't come here for the main project in the first place, but clicked in just because you saw the freebie... then I win."
Zhou Yizhou is still a little worried:
"Then...what about the revenue from these free games?"
Lu Ming narrowed his eyes and raised the corner of his mouth.
“It’s very simple!”
"Don't you think the most suitable way to monetize this game is to charge for high-quality skins?"
Lu Ming's eyes lit up, and he looked like he had already made up his mind.
"Think about it carefully. For the fighting game 'Hong Huang Bu Xiang Fang,' I have only one thing to say: the skins must be fully upgraded. They must be noble, handsome, and powerful."
"This game is also the most prone to visual disparity."
"Think about it again. This Xing Tian, shirtless and carrying a Gan Qi, what kind of skin do you think would make players want to buy it?"
"Let me just give you an example. For example, Xing Tian, wearing the Hunyuan Black Armor and carrying the Volcano Armor on his shoulders, every time he punches, gold and fire flow, debris flies, and his whole body explodes like a volcano."
"For example, for Jiuying, we can design a dual-phase skin of rain and fire."
"Half of the figure is made of ocean tides, half is burning with flames. The eight heads control the four seasons respectively, and the last head is a pure black thundercloud."
"Special effects are not for you to see, but for the other party to see."
“That’s called visual asymmetry.”
"Do you know what is the biggest driving force for young people's consumption nowadays?"
Lao Zhou: “…what?”
Lu Ming curled his lips.
"I'm better than you."
"So, the entire design concept of this game is based on one goal: to make players feel from the bottom of their hearts: this skin is worth it!"
"That's enough."
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