Daenerys Entertainment has invested a total of US$50 million in the "Counter-Strike Online" project, of which US$40 million is development costs, including a 3D game engine specially developed for this game, code-named 'Eden'. As well as the same customized network operating platform.
The other $10 million is for publicity and distribution expenses.
In an era when one person can play a game on a single computer, this is a very huge expense.
The most intuitive comparison is that the total investment in production and promotion of the previous "Counter-Strike 2.0" was only US$15 million, and this was already beyond the average level of this era.
Therefore, Daenerys' game department still has some complaints about Simon's strong request to advance the "Counter-Strike 3.0", also known as the OL project, as soon as possible.
A total of 15 million was invested in version 2.0, which was launched in March last year. It was priced at US$49 in North America and the average overseas price was basically the same. So far, more than 1.3 million copies have been sold worldwide, with a revenue of approximately US$65 million. Excluding final tax costs, the net profit is close to 20 million, and the return on investment exceeds 100%.
Even if it's not phenomenal, it's still very successful.
The key point is that games are not movies. Although movies also have long-tail benefits, they often become more and more dispensable later on. The life cycle of games is very long. "Counter-Strike 2.0" sold 1.3 million copies in less than two years. If it continues to sell without launching a sequel, it will not be possible for the total global sales to exceed 2 million copies in the next two to three years. impossible.
The cost has been fully recovered, and no further investment is needed in the future. If you sell one share, you will make a net profit.
This is actually why sequels to many popular stand-alone games have always been delayed. Basically, it is not due to development, but because the previous game sold too well. If the sequel is released too early, the result can be imagined, which is equivalent to ending the previous game prematurely. The life cycle is not in line with the principle of maximizing profits, so of course the game company must delay.
This phenomenon has even led to some ridiculous industry discussions, such as "Grand Theft Auto 5". Because it was so popular, the official was reluctant to release a sequel, which led to some die-hard fans who were forced to publicly encourage everyone to play Piracy, all kinds of feathers flying around.
The same goes for the current Counter-Strike series.
The original sales volume of 2 million copies was expected. Because Simon required 3.0 to be launched as soon as possible, the life of version 2.0 would basically end. This is equivalent to giving up 35 million US dollars in sales revenue.
Coupled with the huge total investment of US$50 million in version 3.0, if it fails, it will definitely become Simon's biggest decision-making mistake. You know, with an investment of 50 million U.S. dollars, even if the price of version 3.0 is increased to 69 U.S. dollars, 1.5 million copies, equivalent to approximately 100 million U.S. dollars in revenue, will need to be sold to break even. After all, this time it also includes server operating expenses.
1.5 million, which is already a popular level among the top ten global game sales of the year.
It is always easy for people to see those super phenomenal games with sales exceeding 10 million, but they overlook one thing. Behind these games are hundreds of failed games that were unknown to nothing. , Therefore, 1.5 million sales is not so easy to achieve.
In order to control risks as much as possible, this time "Counter-Strike OL" will only be launched in the North American market first, and plans to sell it overseas based on market feedback. After all, this game is no longer a stand-alone game. As long as it is launched in overseas markets, it will require additional expenses for a server platform and an operations team.
Save a little if you can.
When Simon was playing a game with a little girl on the East Coast, it was just evening on the East Coast. From Daenerys to Amy Pascal to many ordinary employees in the game department, they were also paying close attention to the game. sales data.
The publicity and release for several consecutive months not only cost 10 million US dollars in related expenses, but Daenerys, Ygritte and other Westeros system subsidiaries also provided a large number of free media resources for the promotion of this game, such as Yig Various promotional soft articles promoted by Ruite Portal to potential game users, internal videos pushed on the YouTube platform, and even game live broadcasts invited by Internet celebrities on the live broadcast platform Twitch, etc.
The value is inestimable.
In short, in the North American market where it was first released, if the sales volume is less than 100,000 in the first week of release, it will be a failure.
The first week is expected to be 100,000. In the next year, local sales are expected to be 1 million. Counting overseas, based on 50% of the local sales, the cost will be recovered within one year.
This is just the minimum expectation for everyone.
After all, any business hopes to make money, but no one starts with the intention of neither losing money nor making a profit, so what else is there to do
However, not many people have high expectations for a super phenomenon with a sales volume of tens of millions. Phenomenon is not that easy to achieve.
With this mentality, 12 hours after the launch, things clearly exceeded many people's expectations.
Certainly not too bad.
But... it's better than imagined.
So much better!
Only 12 hours after its release, from 6 am to 6 pm according to West Coast time, the number of people activating this game has already exceeded 70,000. In half a day, the sales volume was close to Daenerys's official minimum expectation for a week. As you can imagine, it was more than enough to exceed 100,000 in a full 24 hours.
When Nancy Brill received Simon's email about paying attention to cheats, she was still in her office. She had just called Amy Pascal to announce the good news, and was about to talk to Larry Probus, the head of the game department. We would like to specifically communicate about the emergency expansion of the server, as well as the follow-up publicity strategy to strike while the iron is hot.
Prior to this, the team prepared a plan that could accommodate up to 250,000 activated users in the first week, which was also everyone’s best expectation.
Now, at least double that.
Fortunately, "Counter-Strike OL" runs on Yigrit's cloud computing platform, so it is not difficult to expand the capacity. It can be done after working overtime tonight.
It was clear that her boss had hit another hot item. Nancy received the email and directly included the issue of plug-ins in her next communication with Probst. After some thought, she wrote a reply and informed her of the good news. , and then, by some strange coincidence, instead of talking about work, he asked what his boss was doing.
A very homely chatting tone.
After sending it, Nancy felt a little regretful and thought about withdrawing the email. She sat blankly in front of the computer and waited for a long time. There was still no read notification returned, and she felt a little inexplicable resentment.
He must be fooling around with some woman.
So he simply ignored it and asked the outside assistant to get through to Larry Probst and talk about business.
Long Island.
Inside an oceanfront estate in East Hampton.
It has to be said that "Counter-Strike OL" has indeed achieved the ultimate based on current software and hardware. The excellent game experience and unprecedented multi-player online confrontation made Simon and Miu Miu quickly immersed themselves in it. When Miu Miu Miao's mother, Shirley, couldn't help but knock on the door. It was already past 11 o'clock in the night.
When she saw that the man and her daughter were just playing games, even though the girl's face was red, Shirley breathed a sigh of relief.
Shirley was not stupid, so of course it was impossible not to feel the certain attitude of men towards their mother and daughter.
However, this man's status is too high. As two weak vines climbing on this towering tree, women really can't resist him much, and occasionally want to leave. However, once you get used to your current life, it will be so easy to leave.
What's more, will men let them go
Thinking a little sadly, she put down the fruit plate in her hand as an excuse. Shirley walked around the desk, stood behind the leather chair where the man and his daughter were sitting, and looked at the computer screen. After watching patiently for a while, he said softly: "Simon, it's already very late. Why don't you rest first? Miu Miu can't play for too long."
Before Simon could speak, the girl had already complained: "Dad, you see, mom is like this. She keeps talking about it even when I play a little bit."
Simon nodded: "Well, I didn't forget. I'll help you take care of your mother later."
Hearing this, Shirley's face suddenly turned red, and she really wanted to grab some little girl and spank her hard.
The girl seemed to realize that she had made a mistake and glanced carefully at her mother behind her: "Dad, I didn't mean that. I also know that it's for my own good that my mother doesn't let me play games."
While speaking, Simon, who had completed four kills on the computer screen and was about to create a higher achievement, was unexpectedly surrounded by two people. He was immediately turned into a sieve. He returned to the resurrection point and started again while laughing: "I failed to kill five. This I’m going to punish you.”
Miu Miu's little body twisted in Simon's arms. She did not defend herself delicately, but stretched out her hand and said, "Dad, I'll come, I'll come."
Simon gave the girl the control, then looked at the fruit plate that the woman had just brought in, and gestured.
Shirley hurriedly walked over, picked up the fruit plate and came forward. Seeing that the man looked like a gentleman and had no intention of doing it herself, she had to carefully pick up a piece of apple on a toothpick and put it into the man's mouth.
Miu Miu's skills were obviously not as good as Simon's. Not long after he broke out of the nuclear power plant map with the most complex terrain, he was sent back to the resurrection point. He screamed and raised his face: "Mom, I want it too, I want pineapple."
Shirley had to act like a nanny, delivering fruit piece by piece to the big and small mouths. At one moment, she felt like a mother bird that worked hard to feed. If someone didn't sneak over, this would force her to do it frequently. Pay attention to your daughter's movements to prevent her from seeing images she shouldn't see.
After playing for a while, I finished a plate of fruit and the time came to 12 o'clock.
The girl was not yet sleepy, but Simon could not continue.
There is still a lot to do tomorrow, Saturday.
Seeing this, Shirley, whose blush had spread to her neck unknowingly, quickly called a maid and asked her to take the reluctant girl to rest. During this period, she was still a little worried, fearing that the man would stop her and do something else. What.
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Fortunately not.
However, Shirley herself was left behind, also held in his arms, joking about continuing, requiring the woman to complete three kills before she could leave. Unfortunately, Shirley couldn't finish it until after one o'clock in the morning, because in the end she didn't even have the strength to hold the mouse.