"Happy New Year. { Sui } { Dream } щ{ suimеng[lā}" Iv Hart, a female reporter from Time Magazine, greeted Ye Shenxi in Chinese that she could understand.

"Happy New Year." Ye Shenxi also replied in the same way.

"Shampoo together?" Everhart said this tentatively again, obviously four syllables are more difficult than the three just now, Ye Shenxi even listened and guessed before understanding her meaning, and then taught again in standard Chinese: "Thank you, Wishing you prosperity." ”

The female reporter smiled, did not continue to work on the axe, and switched back to English: "We know that now that the traditional Chinese festival is approaching, the Spring Festival, all Chinese will take a long vacation, and then return to their hometown from their place of work to reunite with their families, relatives, and friends, and probably wait until the weather is a little warmer before continuing to work." ”

Ye Shenxi said: "Yes, so if you come one day later, there will be no one in the company." ”

"That's okay, we're going to stay in China for a while, we're going to go to several cities, we're going to investigate the Chinese game market, we're going to interview other companies in the game and related fields, and even if you're going to be in Funan after the Chinese New Year," Everhart said. ”

Ye Shenxi didn't expect this: "Are you planning to make a special report?" I hadn't heard of Time Magazine's involvement in games before. ”

"Yes, we also found that gaming has gradually become a very important part of modern society, especially after the new century, and it is an indispensable cultural phenomenon among young people, and it is also very valuable for us to report and explore."

Ye Shenxi still remembers that the person of the year in Time Magazine in 2006 was "you".

This "you" refers to all Internet users.

That year, they nominated 26 candidates for "Man of the Year," including a trio of government leaders of North Korea, the Pope of Rome, the president of Iran, and the president of the United States, and the honor was finally won by this non-existent individual.

The cover of that issue was a white keyboard and then a computer screen mirror from which everyone could see themselves.

Of course, this is also a flattering approach, and as their editor-in-chief, Stengel, said, if you choose a single person, then you have to determine the impact that person has on the world, and if you choose an infinite number of people, then you don't need to prove it.

But it also shows the recognition of the new culture by Newsweek, which has been around for nearly a hundred years and is the most influential and well-known in the world.

Now they have the same attitude towards games, maybe games themselves are not as important as the Internet, they don't have the same earth-shaking impact on our real lives, but they are still indispensable.

In the aisle outside the staff lounge of the Funan headquarters of Qingyu Network, one or two employees will walk by from time to time, and the personnel department has already informed in the group which media is coming to the company to conduct an exclusive interview with the boss.

Rao is Qingyu employee is well-informed, but it is still difficult to say that he is excited in his heart, and his body trembles slightly.

After all, this is "Time Magazine", although it is just a simple interview, but has Shengda ever had it, has Tenghua ever had it, and has Huang Yi ever had it?

The first time they interviewed a gamer in China was with their own company.

Alas, what should I do if I can't help but want to tweet?

By the way, the personal authentication function just launched by Weibo, why hasn't it passed the personal identity authentication of its own Qingyu Network employees...... It's been more than a week since I submitted, have you gone on vacation?

……

"Let me guess, you want to do a feature on the Chinese game industry?"

"True, but not entirely, it's the world game industry, including the pattern of the market in each region, the power sectors among manufacturers, the future development trends, the history of games and the impact it has had on our lives...... China is a very important part of this, and it is becoming more and more important. ”

"I'm looking forward to seeing this feature."

"You know, we only do content with depth, can I call you pasa? Mr. Ye. ”

"Of course, maybe my last name makes you feel as if you're constantly affirming, which goes against your attitude."

"Haha, I love this joke, you can call me Chris, my colleagues call me that."

"Okay, deal, Chris."

"I want to tell you another thing before I start the interview, PASA, in fact, we originally planned to do this game feature, but we didn't plan to do China at the beginning, because at that time, it is true that China's game industry has not yet entered our field of vision, I hope you will not think we are arrogant."

This female reporter seems to have a natural sense of closeness, and even if she says something rude in the strict sense, it will not make people feel offended.

Of course, first of all, this is indeed an objective phenomenon, except for some capital in China's game industry that has begun to flow overseas, there is really not much worth reporting from the perspective of development, online games are more attributes of social products, and of course, there are also some differences in the market pattern between China and the world.

In the U.S., P-game sales account for a pitifully small market share, let alone online games, with P-end sales accounting for only $820 million of the $21 billion game market in the U.S. last year, compared to $9.6 billion for console platforms, and the exact opposite in China.

Since the 2000 "Opinions on Carrying out Special Governance of Electronic Game Business Premises" prohibiting the production, sales and business activities of all game consoles, almost nine years have passed, and if you discuss it legally, there is no console platform market at all.

"But since last year, a Chinese game company has appeared in front of our eyes, and last year GameSpot was the first mainstream game media to report on you...... Report of the herring cup. ”

"Of course, I thanked Jeff in person when I talked to him later."

In November last year, Ye Shenxi was interviewed by GameSpot in the real sense of the word, because of the FG platform.

"Yes, and then you actually came from China and set up an FSOA branch in Seattle, which is a neighbor of Ju Hard. ”

"We're 20 kilometres away from the big building."

"Do you like Seattle?"

"Of course, my second favorite is the lush landscaped landscape and the diverse flora in the park, and I've heard that there are more than 6,000 acres of land there that are used for city parks."

"Yes, Seattle has an nickname called the Emerald City, which has a lot of moss, flowers, shrubs and dark green trees, but why is it the second favorite."

"Because the number one is Puget Sound, I like the coastline the most, it's intoxicating, and I can get the best relaxation after work."

"Haha, it's a pity that there is no sea in Funan."

"It's a pity that it's cold on the beach in December......"

"Hahaha...... By the way, you also went to South Korea first, where did you challenge South Korea's supremacy in online games. ”

"The gaming environment in South Korea and China is relatively similar, and it is mainly based on P and online games."

"You know, after your book "The Origin of Everything" started to go viral, last year's article was turned over again, and many people began to be interested in the history of FSOA, and when they learned how quickly you went from creation to growth to conquering the world, they were deeply fascinated by the choices you made in the process, and of course, for you."

"Do you know that now you have become a celebrity on social networks in the United States? A lot of gamers don't really care about who makes the games they play, but they're curious about you and your company, and maybe because of your legends. ”

"So, can I be on some TV shows?" Ye Shenxi pretended to be excited and asked, as if a little star had been invited to a TV show for the first time.

"I think there will be TV stations that will be happy to invite you to participate, and your image is very good, which is significantly different from the bosses of other game companies." At this point, Christie also made a gesture and expression of whispering.

"By the way, I haven't congratulated you yet, Origin of Everything has achieved a very impressive result, it is an impressive title, and in my opinion it is one of the best games of the last year, even surpassing GTA4."

"Thank you, we were pleasantly surprised."

An excellent reporter must maintain a critical attitude and know how to compliment at the same time, but such a straightforward praise still makes Ye Shenxi a little unbearable.

"We are very curious, in an environment where the vast majority of the market is occupied by online games, why did you immediately devote yourself to the field of single-player games after quickly launching several phenomenal online games to complete capital accumulation, and it seems that it should be your main development direction in the future."

Ye Shenxi picked up the teacup, took a sip and said, "Online games and stand-alone games are both games, Chris, do you agree with this sentence?" ”

"Can I start recording?" Christie seems to be ready to move on to the formal interview process, and of course politely asks the other person about their attitude before starting the recording.

"I thought it was always on."

……

……

At the beginning of 2009, many media outlets had already published their own features about the review of last year, and many articles usually included the sentence "2008 passed without a disturbance......

In fact, they themselves know that this is not true, just pure clichés.

It's been an earth-shattering year in the gaming industry, and the entire market landscape has been completely disrupted by that one company, and it may have had a profound impact on future developments.

The trend of web games that began at the end of last year,They brought it up,This year it has intensified,Even the traditional client games have also had a huge impact,Of course, there are also a lot of shoddy projects began to appear,Fancy pop-up ads also came into being,For a while, chaos began to occur。

Since February, the company has released three consecutive web games, distributing three major genres: ARPG, casual, and strategic warfare, but no matter which one of them, it will be ...... It can't be said to be the threshold of page games, but it must be the standard of high-quality products to another level.

As we all know, the rise of a market must be from a hundred schools of thought, cats and dogs are running in to compete for hegemony, a carnival and then gradually cool, merchants and users are to reason, the market is further segmented, profits are slowly diluted, into the boutique strategy, and then the big wave of sand after the final remaining long-tested manufacturers and products.

But those three games in the high quality standards of web games at the same time,It seems to have accelerated the process,The struggle for quality came in advance,The new products released by each game company are always difficult to avoid being compared with the four major web games of the herring network,And then most people end up with a fiasco。

It's true, when they go online, when many media conduct evaluations, and when players consider it, there is a standard in their hearts.

Originally, I thought that Qingyu Network would build on the popularity and technical strength accumulated by the four web games, and then continue to expand their web game product line, but people changed hands and stopped playing, and ran to make a MOBA online game.

The big scuffle between two companies and three products in March, well, at that time, many people thought it was four products from three companies, Huang Yi's "Human World 2" soon fell behind to the point that the shadow could not be seen, it can't be said that it disappointed Huang Yi, but it was not at the same level as the other three at all, as if it was doomed from the genre.

Nine months have passed, the smoke of the war has dissipated, and now these three games are in the top three of the game popularity list, with a three-point world, the Internet café is firmly occupied by these three, and the living space of other games, at least in the Internet café, has been infinitely compressed.

Among these three national-level games, "Eternal War" With the fermentation of events at all levels, some internationalization is mainly the initiation of exchange events between China and South Korea, and the e-sports cultural atmosphere has gradually formed, and "Eternal War" has pressed Tenghua's two under him.

In December's ranking of the number of domestic Internet café game launches, "Eternal War" won the list with 4.32 million times.

It is followed by Dungeons Warriors with 2.18 million and Beyond the Line of Fire with 1.85 million.

Even more than the latter two combined.

In addition to saying that the general trend has arrived, how can it be explained? Because not only in China, but also in South Korea, it has also rushed to the first place in the Internet café share list, the second place is "The Raid", which has been at the top of this list for 67 consecutive weeks, and "The Eternal Tower", which is highly expected by Koreans, is also ranked third.

"Eternal Tower" is still a game of excellent quality, and it is not for nothing that Koreans originally had high hopes for it, but even it seems to be a testament to a topic that is now being turned up and discussed by more and more people, is the traditional MMORPG going downhill?

The advent of the web game was the first shock, and the rise of Eternal War, Beyond the Fireline, and Dungeon Warriors was the second.

You see, these two times were almost caused by the herring network.

What's not to over?

The game is also starting to gain traction in North America and Europe, although not as popular as in Asia. With the magnitude of the tens of millions of players in the country of "Eternal War", if there are half or even one-third of the domestic in those two places combined, it is also a terrible number.

This was followed by the appearance of the FG platform in August, and although it seems that his role has not yet been fully highlighted, many people know that its meaning itself is not in the present, but in the future. At a time when the domestic stand-alone game market is shrinking, it seems to have been injected with a dose of medicine.

It is difficult to say whether it will continue to live for a while or turn the situation around, but the situation has quietly changed.

Originally, almost all industry insiders and market research experts believed that the market share of stand-alone games should drop to less than 30 million yuan last year, but quietly, it broke 100 million.

This is the first time in the history of China's stand-alone games, in this era when even smartphones are not popular, but mobile games can also have a market size of 97.4 million, what market are we talking about is not measured in "100 million"?

But for the first time in a single-player game, it exceeded 100 million, although not much, 101.2 million.

In 2007, it was 73 million, and at that time it was considered to be the last carnival of the stand-alone game market, with 68 games on the market, including "Fantasy Three Kingdoms 3", "Sword and Fairy IV", "Legend of the Three Kingdoms VII", "New Peerless Shuangjiao Prequel" and other domestic masterpieces.

In the first half of this year, there were only 13.73 million, but since the launch of the game store on the FG platform in August, it has been completely different.

In the four months since its launch, the FG platform has rapidly accumulated 332,000 paying users in China and sold a total of 2.476 million copies of the game, in mainland China alone.

This figure is reasonable, and it has not sold much in the world as well as Qingyu Network's own "The Origin of Everything", but for the domestic stand-alone game market that was thought to have fallen to the bottom, who knows that another milestone has been completed.

A complete Jedi reversal, almost alive, not only alive, but also alive better than before.

In the past four months, nearly 200 stand-alone game developers and individual developers have joined the FG platform, and the number continues to grow.

Isn't this a harbinger of recovery?

Isn't the impact of this platform on China's game industry much greater than that of a pure game project?

In the review of many media topics, there is no doubt that the rise of Qingyu Network and the changes in the domestic game market pattern have become the theme of this year's review.

In fact, not only the domestic media, but also many foreign media looked back on the past year, and had to revise or add the content of "The Origin of Everything", which only appeared in a hurry for 7 days in 366 days in 08, and then publish it.

Neither this game nor this company's annual review would be complete without it.

……

iInquiry also released the 2008 April Annual Report on China's Game Market.

In this report, the landscape of the "Big Three" of gaming, which has not been too old for too long, has changed.

This really can't be described as quiet, most people can guess.

And as soon as they fall behind, there are two.

For the first time since 2003, the traditional triumvirates of Shengda, Shicheng and Huangyi have failed to occupy the top three positions in the annual market share.

Last year, the size of China's game market reached 26.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 72%, but the game industry still maintained rapid growth in the context of the global financial crisis...... Maybe it's because many people lose their jobs and have to play games at home to relieve their boredom...... It's a bit of a strange feeling.

The first to fall behind is Stone City, because the game "Warcraft" seems to be less and less out of their control in China. Just last week, Chen Xiaowei, president of Shicheng, said that she had not yet renewed her contract with glass slag when she attended the China Game Industry Summit Dialogue in Qilu Island City, but she also stressed that the original contract with glass slag would not expire until June this year, so she was not in a hurry at all.

This emphasis does not seem to be of much use, and more and more people are beginning to believe that the glass slag and Huang Yi are getting closer and closer, and Shicheng has gradually drifted away.

Players have even begun to care about what will happen to their Shicheng accounts after the agent changes.

Last year, Shicheng occupied 6.31% of the market share of the 26.1 billion plate, ranking fifth.

In fourth place is Huang Yi, in fact, the gap between him and the first three is not as big as Shicheng, but there doesn't seem to be any talk of the Big Four. Huang Yi's market share is 10.64%.

Shengda still hasn't lost its position as the leader, occupying 16.7% of the market share.

Tenghua relied on the multi-line efforts of "Beyond the Line of Fire", "Dungeon Warriors", "Sonic Speed" and game platforms to climb to the second position in one fell swoop, accounting for 13.2% of them.

And the herring network, this company has completed a fantastic transcendence less than two years after its establishment.

The rise of Tenghua is something that many people expected, but the herring network is not, because it is so fast. Originally, many people thought that it would always take time for a large market to reshuffle and redivide the power structure.

But this company is not reasonable at all, and from the moment it was founded, it seems that a new game empire is about to be born.

In the eyes of many more people.

Is it the pinnacle of Shengda now?

No, Shengda is already going downhill.

What about Tenghua?

Its achievements in the social sphere allow him to be invincible throughout the Internet, it will be an Internet empire, but its achievements in the field of gaming depend on the speed of the influx of young players, new user groups.

What about the herring network?

Can't guess, don't ask me.

Several web games still have overseas markets that have not yet been explored.

The Eternal War simply hasn't gone all.

"The Origin of Everything" is just a baby who has just fallen to the ground.

The FG platform is their real killer feature.

12.5% market share airborne third.

But there is a problem, this company is a freak, such a large domestic market, a hotbed under the policy, but he prefers to go to the international level and those giants just face-to-face.

The outcome is still unknown.