The second half of Dodge's interview was definitely not friendly, in fact, his interview had a very clear bias - acknowledging the uniqueness of the game Dota but believing that it was just a flash in the pan, and also thinking that the Chinese could make a good game, but they couldn't make a batch of such games.

After the interview was released, there was not much repercussions in the U.S. game industry.

But among the people, it has caused quite a commotion among the player base.

In contrast to the industry's contempt for the Chinese game industry, players are accustomed to voting with their feet, which is true for both Huaxia and Europeans and Americans.

"What a shame, I'm ashamed of the Storm Company!"

"Although it's just a map, you can see that this map is more fun than all the maps in Warcraft 2."

"I just checked it, and the person who made this map, that is, Liu Neng of Huaxia, is also the producer who made the spores!"

"It's amazing, these two games are classics of classics...... I don't know where to go if it's better than the game out of Tempest......"

"Upstairs, I'm afraid you haven't played the game Warcraft produced by Storm Company!"

"Warcraft is the most classic game, even after ten years, it will never go out of style!"

……

……

In the course of the player's argument, when Liu Neng was still in the United States on a business trip and did not return to China, Storm Company held a new product launch conference, and the main new game released was "Heroes of the Storm".

Players who are still in the debate immediately shut up and start playing this game, which Tempest called "epoch-making".

Liu Neng tried it for a few hours and threw it aside.

Abel came to him in a hurry, "Have you played that game from Tempest?" ”

Liu Neng nodded, "After playing a few games, it's a pretty good game." ”

"It's pretty good, I can feel the intentions of the storm company, and I really want to make a multiplayer competitive game that can be comparable to DOTA, but I always feel that something is not right, and I can't say it myself."

"The difference is actually obvious, Heroes of the Storm focuses on team battle gameplay, which deliberately reduces the role of individual heroism to the extreme, all the gameplay, rewards are leaning on the team settlement, and there is very little feedback on it, I think this is the biggest difference. Of course, if you say that their modeling is more refined, it is a difference, and I have no objection. ”

"This kind of game, which was designed to focus on team competition, should be a good choice and direction to achieve the ultimate team competition. Presumably, this game will definitely have a place in esports in the future. Abel analyzed.

Liu Neng sneered, "Do you really think so, or do you just say that to the Storm Company?" ”

Abel was stunned for a moment, "What do you mean?" ”

"It means that I'm not optimistic about the long-term development of this game, and there will be no place for Heroes of the Storm in the future of esports."

Able couldn't believe it, "Why do you have such a judgment?" No, I think Hero of the Storm is more hardcore than DOTA, and it's more suitable for the ecology of competitive games, isn't it? ”

"That's just a theoretical fit, but not in practice." Liu Neng asked, "I guess you must have also played this game, how do you feel after experiencing it?" ”

Abel thought seriously for a while, and said a little shyly, "I just feel that I am very unhappy when I play." ”

Liu Neng spread his hands, "Isn't the problem here?" If you don't enjoy it, who is going to play this game? People who are directly involved in the game are not happy to play, and they still expect the audience to watch it well? ”

"When players and viewers are unhappy, there is no mass base, and if there is no mass base for a game, you expect it to engage in e-sports events? What's not? ”

"Of course, we should admit that Heroes of the Storm has merits, such as character design, skills and other settings, including art are all top-notch. But something went wrong with the game mechanics. In order to ensure that the team is the first, some positive feedback has been turned into negative feedback, and it is strange that players can play coolly. ”

Abel was a little confused, so, "Although I don't understand, I really want to record what you said, I think the fans of Storm Company will definitely scold you to death......"

Liu Neng smiled, "It doesn't matter if you scold me, if you are willing to play the game I make, and if you pay, it's no problem to scold me." ”

"I think you're more money-minded than I am." Abel said sarcastically.

"But no matter what you say, it can't solve the problem of Tempest's restrictions on Dota, and if they don't lift the restrictions, our event operations can't continue, neither in your country nor in our United States."

Liu Neng sighed, "Let's wait and see what happens, maybe things will take a turn for the better." And personally, I'm inclined to think that the turnaround will come soon. ”

…………

Less than a week after the Storm Company launched "Heroes of the Storm", through a large number of tap water players, coupled with crazy money to push advertisements, it quickly became popular in the American player market, and the limelight far overshadowed Liu Neng's Dota.

And he heard that Guo Yu in Huaxia was already discussing the introduction with Storm Company, and the reaction of domestic players was also very fierce, and many people threatened to abandon Dota to play the orthodox Storm Company's multiplayer competitive game.

At this time, Abel also got good news: Storm saw the popularity of his own game, and he had completely covered the limelight of Dota, probably thinking that Dota could no longer pose any threat to his own game, and said that he could talk about licensing.

Liu Neng made a special trip to discuss cooperation in person, and finally negotiated and obtained the authorization to use Warcraft 2 for a period of five years at a price of 8 million US dollars.

Originally, he thought that it would be OK to sign for a year, after all, the country is already preparing, and at most next year, Dota will be ready, and there is no need to be controlled by others.

Unfortunately, Storm Company was not in the slightest interested in the one-year proposal, insisting on signing a five-year tenure.

After signing the contract, a stone in Liu Neng's heart finally landed.

After saying goodbye to Abel, he returned to China.

There was a surprise when he returned to China, it was the news brought by Chu Junlei, the little pepper mobile phone went on sale online a week after the press conference, and the 200,000 units in stock were collected and sold out in just three minutes.

In another relatively simple description, it is: Little Pepper 1st generation mobile phone, it has become!

Not only became, but also fired.

According to the data of background statistics, users of the first generation of Little Pepper are very keen on playing "Snake Wars", with an average of more than an hour and a half of online data per day and an average of 3.6 times of opens.

The number of users of the app has surged, and in just three days, the app has been downloaded more than 220,000 times — some of them may have uninstalled and reinstalled.

Chu Junlei was overjoyed, and immediately urgently mobilized the production line, striving to stock 500,000 units within a month for collection. At the same time, several other mobile phone manufacturers, shocked by Pepper's sales, immediately began to make their own brands of smart phones......