Qiu Hong sighed softly and continued: "The closed and unique operating system that comes with home consoles is a strong protection for the copyright of single-player games. Although it will be cracked, this line of defense has become a major foreign game. The guarantee that the factory can make a profit.”
"No matter how online games develop, overseas, the market share of single-player games is more than 60%, surpassing that of online games. In our domestic market around 2001, this share is about zero."
"The lack of home consoles has created a proliferation of piracy, and booming piracy has destroyed the single-player game market."
"People who haven't experienced that era have no concept of the brutality of the single-player game market at that time. Simply put, the single-player game was so bad that even if the price was reduced to 15 yuan a piece, players would still choose the pirated version for 6 yuan."
"At that time, domestic games were just in their infancy, and because of cultural barriers, they could not be sold overseas, so they had to die in the domestic market."
"Before that, many domestic single-player games could be sold at a price of dozens of yuan, and the profits were good; but in just one or two years, genuine games had to fight price wars with pirated games. To fight against piracy, the retail price was reduced to 18 yuan, and even a batch was given away with the magazine, but it still didn't help."
"The reduction in the price of the game has not achieved the effect of small profits but quick turnover. Instead, it has greatly reduced the revenue. The revenue is reduced, and the production cost can only be reduced, and the quality of the game will also decrease."
"In addition, individual garbage companies have developed a lot of garbage games, which seriously overdrawn the enthusiasm of a small number of genuine game supporters, and eventually turned into an endless loop, where domestic stand-alone games and inferior quality are equated."
"When the 18-dollar genuine game still can't beat the 6-dollar pirated game, it's all doomed, and no matter how much you struggle, it won't help. And the tide of online games has instead given game producers like me a way to live. , so that I can make online games and continue to stay in the game industry. Otherwise, maybe I will find an Internet company and be a product manager. "
"So, on the contrary, stand-alone is not killed by online games, but by piracy. Online games are a life-saving straw for these manufacturers."
Pei Qian was silent for a long time and said, "However, if the product is good enough, someone will still pay for it, right? I heard that there are 3A masterpieces abroad, but there is no anti-piracy measure."
Qiu Hong nodded: "Yes, President Ma, you're right, that's right, it's absolutely correct."
"The only question is, what is 'good enough'?"
"Are you able to achieve the same level of 3A games as foreign manufacturers? Or, among the domestic manufacturers, to be one of the best?"
"That means that only when you reach the top 1% of the entire industry can it be considered good enough, and enough people can be moved by you and pay for you."
"Some people say that piracy increases potential market share. First of all, that statement is nonsense, and secondly, even if it does, it will only have a little effect on the top 1% of the industry."
"If you can achieve a monopoly like a computer operating system, then maybe piracy can help you beat your competitors and maintain your market share."
“However, how many companies can be in the top 1%? How many companies can be a monopoly?”
"Is any company born a big company, a monopoly?"
"Let them die for the remaining 99%?"
"It is meaningless to discuss the top 1% of an industry. How many people can achieve the top 1% in their own field? If someone tells you now, in the industry you are engaged in, only the top 1% can be recognized and able to live. Going down, and the remaining 99% will have to starve to death, will you stay in this industry?”
"An industry leader like He An has made many successful single-player games, but he also switched to online games? When the tower base dies, the entire market will shrink in an all-round way. How can one or two companies on the top of the tower change? What about the entire market?"
"So, a healthy industry should be like a pyramid, or an iceberg. The top of the tower or the part of the iceberg that rises above the sea is the top 1% who enjoy the glory, and the base, or the iceberg under the water, they are one The cornerstone of the industry’s existence.”
"When the base of the tower does not exist, how can the spire exist?"
"So, whether the top 1% survive or not will not determine how the industry will fare. What really determines the survival of this industry is the bottom and middle layers, whether they can survive or not."
"It's stuck in an infinite loop:"
"Manufacturer: I need you to buy genuine versions to better develop games!"
"Player: Then you give us the best experience first! If you are the best, we will give up pirated copies and buy genuine ones!"
"Manufacturer: But you have to reject piracy first and pay first before we can afford to provide a better experience!"
"Player: Then you must give us the best experience first, and we will refuse piracy!"
"So the manufacturers had no choice but to make online games."
"This is the market. Players vote with their feet. Players say that we only need to accept online games, only pirated stand-alone machines, and not genuine stand-alone machines. So, as everyone wishes, genuine stand-alone machines will die out."
"For gamers, the notion of 'paying only for good enough' is not a problem in itself and shouldn't be blamed, but only if it's a healthy, orderly market."
"If the market itself is full of unfair competition, then 'paying only for good enough' means that in addition to the top 1% of content producers, the remaining 99% of ordinary content producers will be unfairly Those who compete, those who break the rules of the market are killed."
"Like now, many video authors worked hard to make videos for three days, and they were copied and pasted by some people and directly stolen. You need three days, he only needs one second, what do you use to compete with him? If the audience is all Without this awareness, I think it’s the same content anyway, and I’m watching the same with people who steal videos. Who cares about your original author. Then do you think that apart from the top part of the people, how many video authors are there really? stay?"
"So, thanks to the establishment of the esro official platform in 2006, without it, the domestic single-player game market will still be a desert, and nothing will grow."
"Even if there are one or two single seedlings, it is only a flash in the pan, and it will never grow into a towering tree."
"Because nobody really cares about it."
Qiu Hong took a sip of coffee and looked disappointed.
Pei Qian was silent for a moment and asked, "Then... Since the living environment of domestic stand-alone games has improved again in 2006, why don't you stick to your dreams and continue to come back to make stand-alone games?"
Qiu Hong smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly: "Because I gave up my dream."
"Remember what I said at the beginning? Holding on to your dreams is the biggest failure factor."
"I made a single-player game when I first entered the industry, and I persisted for more than two months without salary. In the end, no one even knew its name."
"So I gave up my dream and made an Xianxia-themed kryptonite online game. This game allowed me to get a project bonus of 1 million yuan a year. It can be said to be a success."
"So, what is my dream, does it still matter? Does anyone care? Who am I insisting on this dream for? If I insist on my dream, I can only drink cold water and eat instant noodles every day, and give up my dream so that I can live a good life. A worry-free life and the attention of tens of thousands of players, why should I persist?"
"So from then on, I made up my mind. I only made krypton gold games, and my goal was to make more money. As for the great mission of revitalizing single-player games? What does it have to do with me? Even the players themselves I don't care, who am I insisting on?"
"As a matter of fact, of all the game makers who entered the industry at the same time as me and at the initial stage, who didn't have a dream?"
"But those people in my same period, those who insisted on their dreams have left the industry, and people like me who gave up their dreams can survive."
"Mr. Ma, you may think that my experience is not applicable to this era."
"Because domestic stand-alone games are getting better and better, there is no piracy now, and more and more people are paying for domestic stand-alone games."
"But the truth remains the same. Between dreams and reality, only a very small number of people can have both. And the vast majority of people can only make a cruel choice: either give up their dreams or be taught by reality."
"Mr. Ma, these are my last words from the bottom of my heart."
"It's not for everyone, maybe it's right, maybe it's not. But anyway, I hope it will give you some inspiration."
Pei Qian took a sip of coffee and didn't speak for a long time.
Because this topic is indeed a bit heavy.
Pei Qian really didn't know the relationship between the esro official platform, the extinction of piracy and the normal development of stand-alone games in this world. Only now did he know that it was because of the establishment of the esro official platform and the strict control over piracy that the domestic stand-alone game market was saved. This world is different from the world in my memory.
A tiny difference is a world of difference.
Qiu Hong said that without the official esro platform, domestic games would be a desert until today.
Pei Qian knew very well that what he said was right.
Because of all this, it was actually played out in my own memory.
But it is precisely because of this that Pei Qian felt that he should say something.
The current environment can already be said to be heaven. The reason why Qiu Hong felt that he was in hell was simply because he had never seen a real hell.
Pei Qian considered for a moment and said, "Mr. Qiu, I know that it's impossible to truly empathize with people. Many people can see it clearly because they don't feel the pain. Therefore, I often advise others to be generous. It’s a thing that can be easily struck by lightning.”
"But I still want to say a few words to you, okay?"
Qiu Hong nodded: "Of course, President Ma, we are both bosom friends, but it doesn't matter what you say."
Pei Qian said earnestly: "I know that it is very painful to pay but not get what you deserve. Everyone will feel angry when their efforts are plagiarized. The world is full of unfairness, and sometimes you can't even tell the difference. Who is right and who is wrong, not every disaster can find a responsible person."
"There is a life creed that not everyone can adhere to, but everyone knows it is right. This sentence is called: But do good things, don't ask about your future."
"Mr. Qiu, don't let the tragedy of the times become your personal tragedy."
Qiu Hong read the last sentence repeatedly and was silent.
After a long time, he raised his head: "Mr. Ma, it's really good that you can think like this."
"thanks."