"The virtual idol project took nearly half a year, the budget expenditure was $1 billion, and the actual expenditure has accumulated $837 million." He Chao, who was present at the meeting, immediately reported to Luo Sheng the progress of the work he was responsible for.

"There's $163 million left? Well, the rest of the money will be used for publicity. Luo Sheng immediately made a decision.

The cost of such publicity is about one-third higher than that of Hollywood's A-grade big-budget films, and a lot lower than that of "Avatar", and the cost of this film is also exaggerated, with a total production and publicity cost of more than $500 million.

The brand-new element of virtual idols does not have any audience base, and it must be painstaking and financially expendive in its publicity.

It's hard to make more money without throwing money at it.

But after a while, He Chao continued to report: "The three major sections of the virtual idol plan have been completed, and the film and television sector Hideaki Anno has completed the production of the advertising film, and the later stage has also been completed, and the film is finally named "Hatsune Miku: In the Name of Love". In addition, the official version of the sound production software "SINGOID" has been confirmed for release, and the official version of the music rhythm game "Hatsune Miku: The Singer Project" has also been confirmed, and it is also in preparation for release. ”

These three sets form the core of Bluestar Technology's virtual idol program, in which the promotional film "Hatsune Miku: In the Name of Love" burned half of the budget expenditure, the initial budget is $450 million, and the final budget is $495 million, and the internal screening is very satisfied.

At least it won the approval of the project team, which was originally not optimistic or worried about it.

Hideaki Anno's hands and feet were saved.

The final development cost of the sound production software "SINGOID" is 82 million US dollars, this software product is to collect human voice specimens first, and then make a singing database, but there is no singing database itself, the actual usable version is developed by a third party, that is, user-generated content, a typical web2.0 model, so the database and copyright will also be open source and free.

This is the key to building Hatsune Miku's own ecosystem that everyone can participate in and share.

The name "SINGOID" is derived from two meanings, one is a combination of the English word "Sing" and the affix "oid", which means "singing software", and the other is a combination of "Sing" and "Android", which means "a robot that can sing".

The third game section, Hatsune Miku: Project Singer, has a budget of $260 million, of which $155 million was spent to build an engine system codenamed "Ice Heart", and the game engine is still being improved, and the operation department is considering whether to open source it.

This music rhythm game is very rich in content, you can get items and components to dress up Hatsune Miku's custom mode, and the development team has designed a lot of costumes, shapes, scenes, and more.

In the music rhythm mode, the player presses the corresponding button according to the rhythm tile on the screen, and the input time is correct to hear the singing of Hatsune play smoothly, and the singing will be interrupted if the input fails.

When special conditions are met, there will be close-ups of Hatsune Miku's expressions and movements, and not just one or two, but hundreds of random selections, allowing players to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of improvisational singing.

There is also a costume change system, where new outfits can be unlocked through special conditions in rhythm games, and the replacement of costumes will be reflected in each mode.

In addition, there is the photography system, which can be used in various scenes by using the appreciation mode as a background for photography when certain conditions are met in the game, and you can also change costumes and shoot in your favorite pose.

And then there's the scene, that's right, players can also arrange the scene as they like, get various props in the game to decorate, and Hatsune will also have different expressions and voice interactions because of different scenes, different decorations.

Finally, there is a powerful free editing system, players can make their own rhythm game content, and they can also use their favorite costumes and props to make PV, including background stage, dance moves, target configuration, expressions, camera angle direction, etc., can be set freely.

The subsequent new item updates will be available for purchase in the form of DLC similar to the game.

This is definitely a loss-making super triple-A game masterpiece, and it is impossible to recover the production cost, because it requires players to understand a lot, and it is destined to be a niche game.

However, Luo Sheng never thought about making money from games, and his fundamental goal was to shape the IP of "Hatsune Miku", use this game to enrich videos about Hatsune Miku, and encourage "great god players" to generate video content through this game platform and enrich ACG culture.

Bluestar Technology's "virtual idol" plan has almost reached the moment when it is ready to go, and everything is ready.

……

Entering December, the next work is to officially launch the press conference of the "virtual idol" plan as the finale of this year.

"Mr. Luo, what are your orders?"

Luo Sheng, who was staring at the work computer, heard the voice and put down the work at hand, looked at Zhang Bowen who entered the office, and immediately said: "A week later, it will be the press conference of the 'virtual idol' plan, I want to acquire two companies, and you send someone to handle this matter." ”

Zhang Bowen asked bluntly: "Acquisition of the company?" ”

Luo Sheng said succinctly: "Call NicoNico and Pixiv, let's make a move early next year, it's not a good time to buy the bottom." ”

Zhang Bowen nodded: "Understood." ”

He didn't ask anything, the boss wanted to buy and buy, just pay for it.

The subprime mortgage crisis in North America has been overwhelmed, and the further systemic financial crisis is about to sweep the world next year, which is a disaster for others, and a good time for Luo Sheng to go on a merger and acquisition spree.

At a time when cash is king, you can really do whatever you want with money.

The acquisition of these two companies actually doesn't cost much money, but the money of Bluestar Technology is not blowing in the wind, although Luo Sheng's spending methods are no different from the wind blowing in the eyes of outsiders, but that is because the outside world does not understand his layout and thinking.

NicoNico is a barrage video website, an online video sharing website launched in 2006, similar to the Bluestar Video sharing website under Bluestar Technology.

Kind of half a follower.

But it also has its own innovations, such as the message will appear on the film in the form of a barrage, which is the first time on a streaming video website, which Luo Sheng is not in a hurry to let his video website launch the video barrage function.

The Pixiv website is a community network service site for illustration art, a new site for sharing fanart, illustration works, and a new website that was established in September this year.

The purpose of the acquisition of these two websites is to enrich the entire ecosystem of the "Virtual Idol" project, as well as to expand the market and its in-depth development, and to encourage users to publish Hatsune Miku's related works on the NicoNico and Pixiv communities.

……

On December 3, the latest news was released on the most eye-catching homepage on the homepage of the official website of Bluestar Technology Group, officially announcing that a new product launch conference will be held in Akihabara on December 8.

At the same time, the official website released a poster, the image of a girl with a long double ponytail, but it was just a shadow, and her true face was not shown on the poster, and she was holding a new registered logo trademark.

The meaning is self-evident, and the outside world obviously understands that this is a brand new brand launched by Bluestar Technology.

The press conference is set in Akihabara because the ACG culture and animation industry of this book leads the world, and it is undoubtedly an important market for Bluestar Technology's "virtual idol".

After the news was disclosed, it immediately attracted widespread attention in the industry, and Bluestar Technology Group made another big move in the second half of the year after entering the e-sports industry with a high profile, which caused media reports as soon as it was disclosed.

At the same time, a publicity budget of more than $150 million for the launch of the "virtual idol" program is also poised to be launched.

……

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Sogou