Although Xu Hong and the others had questions, they would not ask their boss casually on this occasion.
Because there are other companies participating in this meeting, even if they want to ask, they will not ask first.
Sure enough, a male voice sounded from the notebook, and it was the person from Infinite Entertainment who asked the question first.
[Hmm... Hello, Mr. Meng. Excuse me. I am the deputy director of domestic distribution channels. My surname is Li. You can call me Mr. Li. You just said the player can't fight, I'd like to know what you mean by that. ]
Meng Shu smiled and answered patiently.
"Literally speaking, in my plan, players have no weapons and cannot fight. After encountering ghosts, they can only flee in a panic. They can only return to the original place to continue the game when it is safe."
"In addition, I am also planning to add a sanity system. If the player is in a dark environment or sees a supernatural event, his sanity will gradually decrease. When the sanity drops to a certain level, he will lose his sanity, and the ghosts will immediately appear and come out. Hunt down players.”
His words shocked everyone on both sides.
So much so that Deputy Director Li was silent for a long time, not knowing what to say.
Nowadays, when players play a game, why don’t you let them fight monsters?
Is this true?
Is this still called playing games?
After a while, Deputy Director Li coughed and asked.
"Mr. Meng, I'm not sure whether the market can accept your innovation."
"But as a game practitioner, you should understand that the current mainstream games in the market are shooting, racing, and ball sports. Because these are very popular and popular in Europe and the United States, they have gradually affected other types of games, making It’s becoming more and more fast-food, and just trying to highlight the word “fun” is the meaning of developing games.”
"Your game makes the players who enter and experience it unable to fight, run away when they encounter danger, and are chased by ghosts from time to time. This is really frustrating and does not make the players happy at all."
"Mr. Meng, I have no intention of condemning your planning. Your production level is obvious to all, and we are still studying the secrets of success in the two works. But your "Face"... As a publishing deputy, I Director, in my personal opinion, just because players cannot fight and escape, the game has...failed..."
A sigh came from the notebook, as if the game was worthless.
Meng Shu couldn't help but smile.
This parallel world itself is horribly declining, barren and withered. Over time, in the eyes of the public, it has become a stereotype of no market, no audience, and no attention.
Even though he, Meng Shu, had proved with "Dark Forest" and "Blackjack" that there is a market and audience for games as long as they are of high quality, it is still difficult to eliminate these people's prejudice against the horror genre.
Therefore, this world does not have a concept like "Escape" where players cannot fight.
In their view, players play games just to kill and enjoy the pleasure and excitement.
Or it’s the sense of accomplishment of racing to win first place and the pride of single-handedly leading the team to victory.
So it's understandable to have doubts about his gameplay.
After all, knowledge is limited.
Otherwise the horror genre wouldn't be in decline.
"Mr. Li, have you tried it?"
Meng Shu asked casually.
This made Deputy Director Li at the other end of the meeting stunned.
What to try?
Will anyone pay for trying the 'player can't fight' innovation?
Do you still need to try this horse riding?
Even if you think about it with your feet, you will definitely fail!
To be honest, if it weren't for Mr. Meng's two hit games, he would have doubted whether this person was a dabbler and didn't even understand such clear market rules.
What's more, developing a game is not just for fun, it requires a huge investment and a long development cycle.
How can we just try it casually as a test of the waters?
[This... doesn't need to be tried, right? People in the industry basically understand this...]
"Then you are wrong."
Meng Shu grinned.
At this moment, the temperament of Mr. Qin in his previous life was faintly exuding.
The tone also became confident and unquestionable at this moment.
"To conclude the market trend just by studying the market without trying it, in my opinion, is a bit disrespectful to this industry."
"Players are a diverse group, and games are also diverse. Why can you conclude that 'cool' is the mainstream trend in the market based on the market alone?"
"You said that the mainstream of the market is guns, cars and football, but have you ever thought about it? It is precisely because you think so that you have been developing in this direction. As a result, the games on the market now are either shooting games or racing games, which allows players to have Is there a choice? No. Since players don’t have a choice, it’s not like you just come out with one model and they just play one. Is this called mainstream in the market? It’s not called that.”
After a pause, Meng Shu smiled again and expressed his conclusion.
"This is called captive breeding. I thought of a story. There was a farmer who would go to the farmhouse every time the time came to feed him. I don't know whether the feed was delicious or not, but the poultry had no choice. They would eat whatever the farmer gave them. . The farmers give them feed every day, and they can only eat feed every day. And the farmers also say that this is the poultry’s favorite food, and it is the mainstream food.”
"What do you think players are? Think about this so-called mainstream market. Does it make sense? To put it bluntly, most developers already treat players as banks that pay for their template games."
As soon as these words came out, there was immediate silence.
Xu Hong and the others' eyes widened.
The other end of the meeting was also stunned.
For a moment, no one answered.
But Meng Shu didn't care.
If he wants to break this concept, he needs to produce one game after another to prove that this market is not just for fun games like gun racing and ball.
Now I can't even accept the concept of 'players can't fight'.
Then wouldn’t the combat system of the Souls series, where you sit on fire and spawn monsters and mount and slash, drive these people crazy?
Xu Hong and the others stared at Mr. Meng, with waves in their hearts.
According to what Mr. Meng means, does he want to break the current market structure?
etc...
It seems like he's already doing this...
Both games are survival horror. Didn’t they start to touch the status of Gun Car and Ball in the market based on their sales?
Could it be that what Mr. Meng wants to do now is to increase efforts to promote the horror genre?
Xu Hong and the others didn't understand and didn't dare to think too much. They are just doing their own thing. They don't understand or understand this kind of marketing planning.
After the conference room was quiet for a few seconds, another more mature voice sounded from the laptop.
[Very interesting story, Hello Mr. Meng, I am one of the directors of Infinite Entertainment. My surname is Liang. ]
Meng Shu raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
He knew there was something more to say.
[Mr. Meng, we will not doubt your ability to make games. To be honest, when you first said you wanted to make a VR game, I was also very opposed to it, thinking that you would definitely not be able to make it. But the fact is that you did it and did it very well, great! But the market is changeable and cannot be controlled by humans. Are you so sure that your innovation will make players pay for it? ]
"certainly."
Meng Shu returned decisively.
Mr. Liang on the other side of the meeting was a little surprised.
[Can you tell me the reason? After all, innovation can easily lead to losses if there is no absolute certainty. ]
Meng Shu smiled and replied with a reply that shocked Wuxian.com.
"Because I'm the first."
Mr. Liang was stunned.
What kind of answer is this?
Because you are the first, can you be sure that players will pay for your innovation?
[...Mr. Meng, I don’t quite understand the meaning of this sentence. ]
Meng Shu put away his smile, crossed his arms and explained calmly.
"I make horror games because the market for this type of game is blank and no one can compete with me. What does this mean? It means an advantage!"
"Those who enter the market first will have the advantage of the market. But this entry is not the same as those previous manufacturers who just made half-hearted games and just wanted to make money in sacks. They must provide games that meet the market quality and standards."
"Once you gain the recognition of players, it means that there is a market, and you will enjoy the dividends of the blank market. This is the benefit of being the first. Things are rare and valuable. On farms where feed is generally used, Here, if you come with such a small piece of meat, the result will be that the meat is not enough."
"This can be seen from the sales of "Dark Forest". Players' choice is not Gun Car Ball, but now developers are following the trend and making Gun Car Ball, so players can only play Gun Car Ball."
"But this 'first' advantage will pass. How to maintain this advantage is the biggest headache for developers. And my solution is..."
After a pause, Meng Shu smiled.
"...innovation."
After hearing this in the notebook, he pondered for a few seconds, and then came Mr. Liang's rhetorical question.
[Mr. Meng, your success is a fact and I will not refute it. But have you ever thought that this blank market will allow other developers to enter because of your success? Then there will be a bunch of horror games competing with you. Can your innovation be guaranteed to be included in every game? ]
Meng Shu smiled again when he heard this. His previous life experience gave him absolute certainty.
"Mr. Liang, no one can monopolize the market. You should understand this better than me."
"These new and old manufacturers can enter the market to get a share of the pie. That is the rule of the market and no one can decide."
"But how much of the pie can these manufacturers get? The answer can be seen from the market of Gun Car Ball. The big head is always on the old IP, and those who follow the trend can only get a small head."
"So I'm not worried at all about how many manufacturers will follow suit and make horror games. On the contrary, only when there is competition can value be demonstrated. And the rules of the market will sooner or later eliminate those works with poor quality."
After hearing this, Mr. Liang fell silent.
After a while, he continued to ask.
[Mr. Meng, do you mean that if you are among a bunch of horror games in the future, can you ensure that your game has enough sales? ]
Meng Shu paused for a few seconds and nodded.
"There's a chance of level six or above, if their game quality is good enough..."
[What if the quality is not good? ]
"Eight floors and above."
Meng Shu replied decisively, his face extremely calm.
The reason why he is so sure and confident is mainly because there are many games in the original world that have proved it.
As early as 2010, there was a landmark horror game like "Amnesia: The Dark Descent", which was famous for its features such as "the player cannot fight" and "the protagonist has a San value".
Coupled with its excellent quality and sufficiently terrifying atmosphere, it sold more than one million units within two years.
This was achieved in 2012, an era when horror games were in full bloom.
It is enough to show the merits of this mechanism, and many subsequent horror games have used this mechanism and achieved good sales, so it is not that players don't like to play it.
In addition, there is another person who has fallen off the altar and used his own games to prove that players do not just like to play cool games.
They also enjoy the satisfaction of coming back after death, trying to push the map and succeeding.
There are also some players who are not interested in so-called fun games. They have reached the extreme level of Buddhism and enjoy the ease and comfort of driving and delivering goods in "Euro Truck Simulator 2".
Players in the original world have proven that the so-called cool games are just for fun, just like fast food.
Then don’t players in this world who eat fast food every day want to change their taste?
there must be!
"Dark Forest" and "Blackjack" have already proven this.
It means that the player has no problem.
The problem is the market and the manufacturers in the market!
If players in the original world are divided into Buddhists, masochists, and people addicted to food, wouldn't there be players in the parallel world as well?
What's more, the player base here is even larger.
so...
"Don't underestimate the players."
Meng Shu's words made the people at the other end of the meeting full of questions.
Mr. Liang took a deep breath and calmed down.
[I understand, Mr. Meng, thank you for your explanation. We still say the same thing, we will not doubt your production level. Since you have an eye for the market and have already produced two successful works, we will choose to believe you. ]
[Now, please continue the meeting and let us learn about the other settings of your new project "Face". ]
