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 stand-alone games. Although it can also be cracked, this line of defense becomes The guarantee for the profitability of major foreign game companies."
"No matter how online games develop, overseas, stand-alone games account for more than 60% of the market, surpassing online games; while in China around 2001, market, this proportion is approximately zero."
"The lack of home consoles has caused the proliferation of piracy, and the booming piracy has destroyed the stand-alone game market."
"I have never experienced that. People in that era had no idea how cruel the stand-alone game market was at that time. To put it simply, even if the price of a stand-alone game was reduced to 15 yuan, players would still choose a pirated version for 6 yuan. ”
< p>"At that time, domestic games were just in their infancy. Due to cultural barriers, they basically could not be sold overseas, so they could only rely on the domestic market.""Before that, many Domestic stand-alone games can be sold for tens of yuan, and the profit is good; but in just one or two years, genuine games have to fight price wars with pirated games. In order to fight against piracy, "Feng Yun Gui" dropped to 18 The retail price is RMB 1,000, and a batch was even given away with the magazine, but it still didn’t help.”
“The reduction in the price of the game did not achieve the effect of small profits but quick turnover, but significantly reduced revenue. , revenue decreases, production costs can only be reduced, and the quality of games will also decrease."
"In addition, some garbage companies have developed a lot of garbage games and seriously overdrawed a small number of genuine game supporters. The enthusiasm eventually turned into an endless loop, and domestic stand-alone games were equated with inferior quality."
"When genuine games costing 18 yuan still can't beat pirated games costing 6 yuan, this Everything is doomed, no matter how hard you struggle, it will not help. The trend of online games has given game producers like me a way to survive, allowing me to make online games and continue to stay in the game industry. Find an Internet company and be a product manager.”
“So, on the contrary, stand-alone games do not die from online games, but from piracy, which is a life-saving straw for these manufacturers. "
Pei Qian was silent for a long time and said, "But if the product is good enough, there will still be people paying for it, right? I heard that there are 3A masterpieces in foreign countries that have no anti-piracy measures."
p>Qiu Hong nodded: "Yes, Mr. Ma, you are right, it is like this, absolutely correct."
"The only question is, what is the standard of 'good enough' ?"
"Achieve the same level of 3A games as foreign manufacturers? Or, be one of the best among domestic manufacturers?"
"That means that only if it reaches Only the top 1% of the entire industry can be considered good enough, and only then can enough people be impressed by you and pay for you.”
"Some people say that piracy will expand the potential market share. First of all, this statement is nonsense. Secondly, even if it is true, it will only have a little effect on the top 1% of the industry."
< p>"If you can achieve a monopoly like a computer operating system, then perhaps piracy can help you fight against competitors and maintain market share.""However, how many companies have How many companies can be in the top 1%? "
"Is any company born a big company or a monopoly?"
"The rest? 99%, let them die?"
"It is meaningless to discuss the top 1% in an industry. How many people can be the top 1% in their own field if someone tells them now? You, in the industry you are engaged in, only the top 1% can be recognized and survive, while the remaining 99% can only starve to death. Will you stay in this industry?"
" Industry giants like He An, who have made many successful stand-alone games, will also switch to online games. When the tower disappears, the entire market will shrink. How can one or two companies at the top change the entire market? What about the market? "
"So, a healthy industry should be like a pyramid, or an iceberg. The top of the tower, or the part that rises to the surface, is the top 1% who enjoy the glory, and the base of the tower. , or icebergs under the water, they are the cornerstone of an industry’s existence.”
“How can the tower exist when the base of the tower no longer exists?”
“ Therefore, whether the top 1% are doing well will not determine the survival of the industry. What really determines the survival of the industry is whether the bottom and middle layers can survive."
"This is a trap. An endless loop:"
"Manufacturer: I need you to buy the genuine version in order to better develop the game!"
"Player: Then give us the best experience first! ! If you are the best, we will give up piracy and buy genuine products!"
"Manufacturer: But you have to refuse piracy and pay first so that we can have the money to provide a better experience!"
" p>
“Player: Then you have to give us the best experience first, then we will refuse piracy!”
“So manufacturers have no choice but to make online games.”
< p>"This is the market, the choice of players voting with their feet. Players said that we only need to accept online games, and only accept pirated stand-alone games, not genuine stand-alone games. Therefore, as everyone wishes, the genuine stand-alone games will be dead."< /p>"For players, the concept of 'paying only for good enough things' is not problematic and should not be criticized, but the premise is that this is a healthy and orderly Market."
"If the market itself is full of unfair competition, then 'paying only for good enough stuff' means that except for 1% of the top content producers, the remaining 99% Ordinary content producers will be unfairly competed by those who violate market rules.of people killed. ”
“Just like now, many video authors have worked hard for three days to make videos, but some people copy and paste them directly and steal them. You need three days, he only needs one second, what do you use to follow? What about his competition? If viewers don’t have this awareness and think it’s the same content anyway, I’ll see it the same way when I watch it from someone who stole the video. Who cares about the original author? So how many video authors do you think, except for the top ones, can really stay? ”
“So, thanks to the establishment of the ESRO official platform in 2006, without it, until now, the domestic stand-alone game market would still be a desert with no grass growing. "
"Even if there are one or two single seedlings, they are just short-lived and will never grow into towering trees. ”
“Because no one really cares about this. "
Qiu Hong took a sip of coffee with a sad expression.
Pei Qian was silent for a moment and asked: "Then...since the living environment of domestic stand-alone machines has improved again in 2006 Well, why don’t you stick to your dream and continue to come back to make stand-alone games? "
Qiu Hong smiled somewhat self-deprecatingly: "Because I gave up on my dream. ”
“Remember what I said at the beginning? Holding on to your dreams is the biggest failure factor. ”
“When I first entered the industry, I made a stand-alone game. I worked on it for more than two months without any salary. In the end, no one even knew its name. ”
“So I gave up my dream and made a krypton gold online game with a fairy tale theme. This game allowed me to get a project bonus of 1 million yuan a year, which can be said to be a success. ”
“So, what is my dream, does it matter? Does anyone care? Who am I holding on to this dream for? If persisting in my dream means that I can only drink cold water and eat instant noodles every day, but giving up my dream will allow me to live a life without worries about food and clothing, and gain the attention of tens of thousands of players, why should I persist? ”
“So from that time on, I made up my mind that I would only do krypton gold games, and my goal was to make more money. As for the great mission of revitalizing stand-alone games? What does it have to do with me? Even the players themselves don’t care, so who am I holding on for? ”
“In fact, of all the game makers who entered the industry at the same time as me and at that early stage, who didn’t have a dream? ”
“But those people who were my contemporaries and persisted in their dreams have already left this industry. Only those like me who have given up on their dreams can survive.” ”
“Mr. Ma, you may feel 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 on your 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 no matter what, I hope it can bring 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 does not know the official ESRO The relationship between the platform, the disappearance of piracy, and the normal development of stand-alone games in this world. Only now do we know that it was the establishment of ESRO’s official platform and strict control over piracy that saved the domestic stand-alone game market and made the world the same as in our memories. The world is different.
A huge difference.
Qiu Hong said that if there were no ESRO official platform, domestic games would be a desert to this day.
p>Pei Qian knew very well that what he said was right.
Because all of this happened in his own memory.
But it was exactly that. Because of this, Pei Qian felt that he should say something.
The current environment can be said to be paradise. The reason why Qiu Hong felt that he was in hell was simply because he had never seen the real one. Hell.
Pei Qian thought for a moment and said: "Mr. Qiu, I know that it is impossible for people to truly empathize with each other. Many people can understand it just because they have not experienced the pain. Therefore, in many cases, advising others to be generous is an easy thing to do. "
"But I still want to say a few words to you, okay? "
Qiu Hong nodded: "Of course, Mr. Ma, we are close friends, you just say it doesn't matter. "
Pei Qian said seriously: "I know that it feels painful to pay but not get the rewards you deserve. Everyone will feel angry when their efforts are plagiarized. The world is full of unfairness. , sometimes you can’t even distinguish who is right and who is wrong. Not every disaster can find a responsible person. ”
“There is a creed in life that not everyone can stick to, but everyone knows it is right. This sentence is called: Do good deeds and don’t worry about the future. ”
“Mr. Qiu, don’t let the tragedy of the times become your personal tragedy. "
Qiu Hong repeatedly read the last sentence, silent.
After a long time, he raised his head: "Mr. Ma, it's really good that you can think like this. "
"Thank you. ”