Back to 1995

Chapter 223

Old seniority is indeed useful sometimes, at least for Ken Williams, an "old man" in the game industry. For more than ten years, he has been known as the only existence in America that can compete with Japanese game manufacturers. For Mike Morhaime For others, it is definitely qualified.

Afterwards, Irene announced to Blizzard, V Agency, R Star and other personnel in the conference room that they still have their arrangements for Xueleshan.

When they heard that Blizzard and other game studios would be allowed to operate and develop games independently, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. This is definitely a good thing for them. One is willing to invest money in them and not interfere. The sponsors of their game development are rare in the global game industry!

Whether it's the trio of Mike Morwaimi, or the leader of the duo of G Fatty and R Star Brothers, when they heard that the benefactor is so "understanding", they couldn't help but feel for a while. It is a good choice.

As Irene mentioned later, for several game studios, there are performance requirements and the like, Mike Morhaime also expressed his understanding. After all, we can’t always feed the grass, and we have to milk it, right?

"In the future, I won't interfere too much with everyone's game development," Song Yang glanced at Mike Mohuaimi and the others, and finally stopped at Gabe Newell, "But everyone's game The company, the scheduled game projects must be completed on time, and delays cannot be postponed. In addition, for some games, if the sales volume and revenue reach the target, if ICQ requires the development of a sequel, Valve and others must cooperate!"

What Song Yang said seemed to say something, but he didn't seem to say anything. Gabe Newell, who was stared at by Song Yang, was a little puzzled. He didn't know why Song Yang kept staring at him when he said this. look.

The R star brothers are also a little dumb. I don’t know why Song Yang specifically emphasizes this. You must know that game skipping and sequels are still a fantasy for the newly established R star and V agency. For their first game, they didn't even know that they had to wait until the Year of the Monkey. If they wanted to explain, they would have to stare at Blizzard to explain.

Under Song Yang's eyes, Gabe Newell and others nodded and agreed, but they didn't know if they would remember to agree to Song Yang's agreement when they were going to announce the game's skipped tickets in the future, and would Fatty G give it to him? Count to three!
Ken Williams and Roberta are both veterans. When they return to Sierra Mountain, their experience is much richer than that of ICQ. After hearing about Song Yang’s side, they plan to make a big splash in the game industry. Williams The couple couldn't help but look forward to it.

"Leaving CUC International, what Xueleshan needs to do most is to reorganize the distribution channels. Xueleshan needs to maintain game distribution channels in [-] regions around the world, as well as cooperation with Nintendo, Sony, Sega and other console platforms. !"

Ken Williams entered the state and said, CUC International, whether it is squeezing Sierra or not, but the hundreds of thousands of CUC International members before, did provide a lot of revenue for Sierra.

Now that CUC International has left, Xueleshan needs to maintain the two most important distribution channels, one is the offline distribution channel, which is the retail stores of game products all over the world, and the other channel is Nintendo and other game consoles. There are two most important profit-making places in Xuele Mountain.

This idea is correct. Now games are basically based on plug-in cards. After a game is produced, it needs to be printed and compressed into game discs, game cassettes, etc., and then sold to game retail stores, malls, department stores, etc. It's almost like selling a mobile phone.

Channels are king, which is still applicable in the current game industry. Whoever controls the game channels controls the game sales.

To put it bluntly, the publishing business of Xueleshan is the work of two dealers. They take games from game manufacturers, then hand them over to the manufacturers for manufacturing, and then distribute the goods to all parts of the world. The time is borne by Xue Leshan, so it is quite a test of the eyesight of the game publishing company. If you are blind, the sales of the released games are poor, and the publishing company has to pay a lot of money.

"Not only offline game store channels and console channels, Xueleshan needs to establish new game distribution channels."

After Ken Williams finished speaking, Song Yang started to speak, which immediately attracted the attention of Ken Williams and everyone in the conference room.

The store channel and the host channel are already the most mainstream distribution channels in the game industry. Ken Williams doesn't know what trick Song Yang is going to play.

"I hope Xueleshan can launch a new game distribution channel, an Internet digital distribution platform, Xueleshan Online!"

Song Yang throws out a brand new concept, "Global PC users are growing explosively. Everyone should have heard about the scale of Internet users. Games also need to enter the Internet world. Now there is an opportunity in front of Xueleshan. Develop an Internet digital game platform, so that Internet game users can enter this digital game platform.

On this digital game platform, Internet users can download the games provided by Xueleshan, and even rate, evaluate, and discuss a game on the platform, and even go further. In the future, countless players can use Xueleshan The game platform, playing a competitive game at the same time, staged a real battle between players! "

Ken Williams and Roberta were dumbfounded. Listening to Song Yang's "shocking" plan, Song Yang proposed to them a "new game platform" that made them feel completely unfamiliar.

The two Rock Star brothers were also surprised when they heard it. As for Blizzard and the V agency, their eyes lit up when they heard it. They vaguely felt that Song Yang seemed to have proposed a brand new game concept, but for a while, But it's just a vague feeling.

Online games are still a relatively unpopular concept. How long has the Internet been around? Last year, it only started to enter the market. Even game companies with big brains have not yet brought these two industries together. ICQ is definitely It belongs to the first Internet company to eat crabs!

Roberta, who was the first to react, had a preliminary idea about the "Xue Leshan Online" platform proposed by Song Yang at this time, "Song, what do you mean, move console platforms like Nintendo and Sony to computers?" superior?"

Song Yang nodded, "It's not just about moving the mainframe platform to the computer, but also allowing more players to enter the Xueleshan Online platform, and operating the platform using the Internet model!"

"Perhaps, perhaps, Xueleshan, an Internet game platform, can surpass Sony and Nintendo's host platforms, gather Internet players together, and become a game gathering place for gamers from all over the world!" Song Yang said with a smile, as if it was just Made a joke.

But Irene, who was sitting at the top, had a faint feeling that Song Yang was not joking. She had been with Song Yang for so long, but Song Yang had never done any useless work, especially in the Internet industry.

Once Xueleshan Online developed and became a gathering place for global PC gamers, Irene couldn't imagine how many users such a platform would have, and how much the Xueleshan Online platform alone would be worth. Erin couldn't imagine it.

The people in the meeting room are basically people in the game industry, and Ken Williams and the others are experts. What Irene can think of, they can't think of it.

Why have Nintendo, Sony consoles, Sega and other companies been able to move sideways in the global game industry over the past decade or so, allowing global game manufacturers to work for their three game console companies? of console gamers!

No game manufacturer dares to challenge the three console manufacturers, so even if the hard-working game developed by the three console companies takes more than half of the profits, they dare not complain, and have to smile with them, because once offended them Well, that game can't be sold to host players at all, and I'm afraid they can't even eat the leftovers.

The same is true for Xueleshan. If Xueleshan Online can really develop and gain millions or even tens of millions of game PC users, then I am afraid that it will really be able to challenge game distributors like Nintendo!

But despite the excitement, Ken Williams quickly calmed down. Having experienced strong winds and waves, Ken Williams, who has fought against Nintendo and Sony, and also worked with them, knows that this matter may not be so easy, "I'm afraid The Xueleshan online platform will not be so easy, once we launch this platform, I am afraid that the three major game console platforms will refuse to cooperate with Xueleshan."

The three major host platforms are not good people. They have always been like anti-thieves, guarding against other companies. Even Microsoft came to ask for cooperation and was kicked out, let alone the digital game platform of Laoshizi. There will definitely be nothing. good face.

"In addition to the three major game console platforms, Xue Leshan Online also needs the support of other game manufacturers, but most of the manufacturers that supply games for the three major console platforms have signed exclusive agreements, and I am afraid they may not be willing to break the contract with the console platform. Put the game on the Xueleshan online platform!"

This is the question of the ass, whether it is the host platform that provides them with jobs, or the newly released Internet digital game platform that does not know whether it can make money, this is a problem.

As long as Xueleshan Online is launched, it will be a matter of time and inevitable to compete with the host platform for jobs, and the two sides will turn against each other.

For this kind of thing, Song Yang doesn't have much to do. He can only take it slowly. Don't you see that when the rich and powerful Microsoft entered the mainframe industry, it was also run on by the three mainframe manufacturers of Japan and Benzen? No, there is no game content at all, forcing Microsoft to spend a lot of money to acquire the game company, and then put the game on the XBOX platform for players to download.

Xue Leshan online is already considered lucky, at least there are Blizzard, V Agency and other brothers to help, so I don't have to suffer from the lack of games to download.

"If you launch Xueleshan Online, try to attract other game manufacturers. When necessary, you can pay some "cooperation fees" to let those game manufacturers put their games on Xueleshan Online and Xueleshan platform. You can also launch a support plan to invest in small and medium-sized enterprises. Game manufacturers, let them provide games for Xueleshan online!"

This is equivalent to throwing money away, and it depends on who gives more money.

(End of this chapter)