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For Japanese game developers, although they can almost be called unrivaled uncrowned kings in the field of game consoles, whether it is the Nintendo era, or Sony's defense series, whether it is Japan or the European and American markets, Super Nintendo and Kou have swept thousands of armies with an unrivaled attitude.

However, it is precisely because of the success of the game console field. Japanese game manufacturers rely too much on console platforms and put all their thoughts and energy on the development of various console games, after all, this represents a stable user base of players, as well as a steady stream of commercial profits

What could be more reassuring?

Because of this, when Europeans and Americans began to launch online games such as "Genesis Song" and "Endless Mission", the smug Japanese only paid a little attention to this new game category.

While Koreans have risen to prominence with the help of online games such as Lineage, which are faux Diablo games, the arrogant Japanese still sneer at their neighbors for copying them.

However, when Microsoft relied on the Golden Yuan Policy to frantically promote the series, and finally in the era of imitation, the Master Chief Major, who was shrouded in endless halos, led the army of strength to mercilessly eat away most of the Japanese market share in North America, the pretentious Japanese finally felt the crisis.

And that's not even the most lethal thing, when their Korean counterparts, who have always been looked down upon by Japanese game developers, have become one of the world's leading online game development powers with the help of online games, the arrogant Japanese can no longer sit still.

That's not all, when a Korean-developed online game "Ragnarok" swept the entire Japanese mainland with a furious storm, the Japanese online game market, which has been shrinking, also set off an online game frenzy.

In the end, "Ragnarok" achieved more than 10,000 online games in the Japanese online game market, which is no less than an earthquake for the Japanese game industry.

You know, due to the extreme boom in the console market. At the same time, it also indirectly led to the downfall of the Japanese online game industry, although there have been Japanese-style online games made by Japanese studios such as "Stone Age" and "Magic Baby" before. However, the response in Japan was dismal, but it was proxied to Duowan and the mainland, which caused a lot of repercussions.

Unfortunately, this kind of flowering inside the wall and fragrant outside the wall is not something that Japanese game developers are happy to see, so everyone simply focuses on the console market, which is both familiar and very profitable.

But when the console market appeared, Microsoft was confronted with the competition. The shrinking market share of Dian Mei directly led to the rise of a sense of crisis among the originally invincible Japanese game industry. At the same time, I saw that Koreans, who were originally poor in the field of game development, could actually be reborn with the online game Salted Fish, and even returned to Japan with products like "Ragnarok", and also created a number of online jù that Japanese people did not dare to imagine before.

Therefore, the Japanese game industry has unanimously decided to fight and transform into Kaxu online games!

As a result, Koei Company immediately put several of its famous brand products, "Dynasty Warriors", "Nobunaga's Ambition", "Age of Discovery", "Three Kingdoms" and so on, all of them came to a heart version.

The world-famous match for the great girls on the chest of "Life and Death" also followed up immediately. The girls of life and death were put on the Internet and launched "Life and Death 0.

Sega, which has always promoted the iron-blooded hardcore game style, did not hesitate to slightly improve the mouth of "Phantasy Star 0", which had tested the waters on the console, and quickly launched the Phantasy Star online version of the platform.

And after the merger of Square Enix and Enix, which is a double dominant, it also made the eleventh work of its famous "Final Fantasy" series of orthodox works directly into an online version.

So, what is the end result of this massive Japanese online game campaign that has become the vanguard of online games in an attempt to overturn the old pattern of the console market?

The result is simple, these pioneers of Japanese online games. Almost without exception, it ended dismally. Although many of the Japanese game companies that entered the online game market are well-known and well-established brands, and the failure of the products will not directly affect the lifeblood of the company, this result obviously did not meet the intention of the company's directors to dig up a new gold mountain again, so in the end. Everyone is either barely able to maintain the operation of online game products, or they directly shut down the server, and simply go back to the promising career of console games.

But there is one company that never gave up.

That's Square Enix.

"Stone Age" and "Magic Baby", which originally set off a turn-based game frenzy in the Taiwan and Chinese mainland markets, were actually the work of a little-known little studio woman owned by Enix, in fact, Ennick

I expected that a product that I didn't value at all would achieve such a big one, so after a period of casual operation, I sold the entire source code and development rights to Huayi International, a Taiwanese operating company.

When "Stone Age" became the cash cow of Huayi International in Taiwan and the mainland, the Japanese, who regretted it too late, realized that they had sold a hen that could lay golden eggs for three or two pennies.

After merging with Square Enix, Final Fantasy. The launch of Square Enix has strengthened the belief that online games must be another gold mountain in the new millennium.

Therefore, while the rest of the peers are breaking their heads in the attempt to switch from stand-alone to networking, Square Enix still does not hesitate to sneak up its next networked masterpiece.

That's right, it's the game. This series that upholds the name of the undefeated myth of the dream god, the latest installment of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Old.

The project of "Final Fantasy Old" was established very early, and it was traced back to the origin, and it was also a networked version of "Final Fantasy" in the 2nd year of Jin. When the beta began, the development of Final Fantasy Old was already on the agenda.

It's just that at the time Final Fantasy. The revenue of the game was met with Waterloo, and the game was not popular, although the players online were fascinated and addicted to it. The mainland cannot extricate itself, but the number of people online and the income have not been able to rise. Counting the Japanese service, the American service and the European service, there are only 30,000 or 50,000 people online, which is still the highest peak.

Due to the harsh reality, the follow-up development plans for Final Fantasy Online had to be put on hold for the time being.

However, with the year of the knife, Blizzard Entertainment, the developer who also started as a stand-alone game, successfully turned its stand-alone strategy game brand "Warcraft" series into an online game, and since then it has been out of control, and has become the strongest myth in the online game market with a devastating trend.

With such a jewel in the past, Square Enix's dream of online games that had no intention of dying has begun to be resurrected again.

Soon, the development plan for Final Fantasy Old was sealed again, and Square Enix researched the previous product, Final Fantasy. Reasons for the failure. After summarizing the crux of the failure of dozens of guide products, and appointing three professional research institutions, through the player groups in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States, Taiwan, and mainland China to conduct research, after integrating more than 10,000 effective research numbers of Mitutoyo, Square Enix dispatched the company's top art team and planning team, and extracted the most elite developers of the development team in other ongoing projects, and together formed an unprecedented gorgeous development dream lineup.

The company's high hopes were placed on the company's development team of more than 80 people, consisting of the most senior developers and the graphic designer and Zego creative team of Square Enix at that time. He even invited Mr. Hironobu Itaguchi, the "father of Final Fantasy" who developed the first generation of the Final Fantasy series, and Yoshitaka Amano, the king of fantasy illustrations, to come over for guidance.

It is said that the two masters who jointly created "Final Fantasy", which is known today as the god of Japanese fantasy, have seen the trial version of "Final Fantasy Old" in development and. After Tian 0, the two shrugged didn't say anything.

They just shook the hand of the head of the development planning department and said, "This" is the real Final Fantasy! ”

In this way, all the qiē is being carried out in an orderly manner.

With the end of the year, the development of "Final Fantasy Old" is nearing the end and preparations for external testing have begun, at this time, the expectations of the outside media and players for the online version of the canonical sequel to "Final Fantasy" have also reached a white-hot height, and Square Enix executives also feel that it is time to start the external publicity.

As a result, Japan's largest game video game information journal "... Squarex, Square Enix directly bought the cover of three consecutive issues of the magazine.

The content is only a simple background image of the game's characters standing on a hill looking into the distance, and a line of large letters: Final Fantasy Old is recruiting testers for the first time!

"Prevention... As soon as the Miscellaneous Drugs Network was launched, the phone numbers of Square Enix's public relations department and sales department became hotlines, and the fourteen parts of the computer were blown up by almost crazy players and the media at the same time.

Players are crazy, they swipe the screen to leave messages on the official website, they carry tents to the downstairs of Square Enix to block the door, and they bombard the official mailbox with hundreds of letters."

They just wanted to get a first-time test qualification so that they could be the first to see the grand opening of the new world of Final Fantasy.

The media went crazy, they tirelessly surrounded Square Enix's public relations staff, they did everything possible to dig up the private phone numbers and even home addresses of the development team members, and they tried their best to insert internal lines into the development interior.

They just wanted to get first-hand test materials for Final Fantasy Old, so that they could be the first in the world to report the beta news of the game.

That's it, in. In March of the previous year, Final Fantasy Old's first recruitment test was held, and after countless screenings, the first batch of sacrificial players was finally selected and ready to start the test.

But no one knows that this test, for "Final Fantasy Old", is not the advent of the prosperous years, but a precursor to a catastrophe. C