Gaming/China - Consultant. Living in Shenzhen. Some of my writings at @GIBiz. Be kind to others.
Shenzhen, China
Joined July 2019
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I wrote a little something for @GIBiz .
About Chinese F2P games and how they have been changing the landscape of the industry, to some degrees.
I tried to provide some insight into "work culture" in Chinese companies, as I feel that's something still very rarely touched upon.
"So, if you're a developer of $70 AAA console games, are you feeling the pressure yet? You should be"
Daniel Camilo on how China's developers are setting new industry standards with free titles akin to AAA console hits
gamesindustry.biz/zenless-zo…
Daniel Camilo retweeted
For big houses like Microsoft/Xbox (or Tencent, or MiHoYo, or even EA before, Sony, NetEase...), the goal is not to produce games that sell 3 to 5 million copies and call it a day.
The overarching goal is to build self-sustainable long-lasting franchises and products based on IP.
Having a title that sells 3 million copies is the launching point for the IP to grow and expand to larger audiences. It's not the end goal.
When an historically well-known IP like Gears fails to sell 1 million units at launch, the signal is fairly clear: the audience isn't there.
That is not to say all venues for the IP are completely doomed and destined to failure. But it does mean the fundation still isn't there and still needs to be (re)build somehow (another game? F2P title? Movie? Tv series?...merchandise?).
Nowadays in China in particular (reminder that it is the biggest gaming market in the world!), there are a LOT of success cases that fit this model. IPs that started as tv shows or web novels and grew to become juggernauts in gaming, merchandise and more. And vice-versa.
This is the model Xbox is generally seeking for the future, imo.
Daniel Camilo retweeted
Valorant recently surpassed 100 MILLION registered users on its PC version in China!
This doesn't necessarily translate into active users, but it's still a huge milestone.
Valorant Mobile also surpassed 100 million registered users earlier this summer. The mobile version remains exclusive to China.
Reminder: Riot Games is 100% owned by Tencent.
💡 The reach of Valorant in China goes far beyond the games themselves.
The IP has been involved in licensing deals with F&B brands, merchandise partnerships, and crossover collaborations with other games in China.
(I was first made aware of this milestone thanks to a tweet from @GameTeahouse . Follow them as well for news related to he Chinese market)
Daniel Camilo retweeted
can confirm lol, in JD Mall Chengdu now. The game also comes pre-installed on the PCs on Steam
A "Minecraft - Real Life Experience" is now happening in Shanghai (Nov 10-March 1)
Minecraft is also very popular in China, in particular among younger users.
The Xbox brand is not leveraged at all with Minecraft, which remains platform-neutral.
💡The IP could potentially be used as a strategic trojan horse to (re)introduce the Xbox brand in China. But at this point, the Minecraft brand name itself is more valuable for Microsoft than Xbox, arguably. So why risk muddling the waters?
In China, like in most markets around the world, the Xbox brand is virtually inexistent nowadays and has no clearly visible/active product to sell.
Minecraft x Domino's collaboration in China now.
Special edition pizzas inspired by the game.
Minecraft continues to be immensely popular in China, especially among younger players.
One of Microsoft's biggest entertainment IPs globally, it remains platform agnostic.
Daniel Camilo retweeted
Yang Qi: Black Myth Wukong was made by a team averaging just 70 people.
It grew from a few to about 160, but the studio caps it at 180. Past that, your brain cannot hold everyone, you may forget a colleague's name, and the team's flavor changes.
Yang Qi, Game Science co-founder and art director: once the studio commits to an IP, it answers for it, so they will not drop a franchise for something new.
The Black Myth trilogy has long been on the official site, so the roadmap is set. #BlackMyth #GameScience
Phantom Blade Zero x GameSir ads at a JD Mall in Shenzhen.
@mygamesir is selling a special edition Phantom Blade Zero gamepad.
Valorant recently surpassed 100 MILLION registered users on its PC version in China!
This doesn't necessarily translate into active users, but it's still a huge milestone.
Valorant Mobile also surpassed 100 million registered users earlier this summer. The mobile version remains exclusive to China.
Reminder: Riot Games is 100% owned by Tencent.
💡 The reach of Valorant in China goes far beyond the games themselves.
The IP has been involved in licensing deals with F&B brands, merchandise partnerships, and crossover collaborations with other games in China.
(I was first made aware of this milestone thanks to a tweet from @GameTeahouse . Follow them as well for news related to he Chinese market)
Back in May on the CrossFire Podcast from @M00CHTV I argued how "in the big spectrum of the industry, (Gears) is a dead IP", and E-Day wouldn't do anything at all.
I also shared some other thoughts regarding Xbox's future strategy that I still mostly stand by.
I know many people will disagree, but 400k is really low! Indeed it makes the IP quasi irrelevant. Anyone can easily pull out lists of games that sell far more than Gears Eday did, and yet their IPs and names are mostly obscure among core gamers.
And that is exactly the problem. Core gamers being at the heart of online gaming discourse, while the industry is focusing on the hundreds of millions more gamers/users globally who don't care at all about any of that, and hardly ever heard of franchises like Gears of War.
And no, it's not (just) that GamePass cannibalized E-Day's sales. It's simply that the audience for that IP is extremely small and aged nowadays (same for Halo, Final Fantasy and many other "revered" franchises btw). If anything, GamePass allowed a few extra people to try the game that otherwise wouldn't bother to, imo.
Arguably, Gears of Wars as an IP nowadays has more potential as a transmedia IP than as a gaming one. This is the case for many other franchises whose audiences have moved on, but the IP still holds brand value and wide recognition.
(link for full episode in 🧵)
The Verge: Gears of War: E-Day has sold more than 400K copies across Xbox and PC
➡️ theverge.com/tech/1022023/mi…
#GearsofWarEDay #Xbox
For big houses like Microsoft/Xbox (or Tencent, or MiHoYo, or even EA before, Sony, NetEase...), the goal is not to produce games that sell 3 to 5 million copies and call it a day.
The overarching goal is to build self-sustainable long-lasting franchises and products based on IP.
Having a title that sells 3 million copies is the launching point for the IP to grow and expand to larger audiences. It's not the end goal.
When an historically well-known IP like Gears fails to sell 1 million units at launch, the signal is fairly clear: the audience isn't there.
That is not to say all venues for the IP are completely doomed and destined to failure. But it does mean the fundation still isn't there and still needs to be (re)build somehow (another game? F2P title? Movie? Tv series?...merchandise?).
Nowadays in China in particular (reminder that it is the biggest gaming market in the world!), there are a LOT of success cases that fit this model. IPs that started as tv shows or web novels and grew to become juggernauts in gaming, merchandise and more. And vice-versa.
This is the model Xbox is generally seeking for the future, imo.
Ok....but the DEATH METAL playing in Phantom Blade Zero.....🥹🥹❤️❤️🙏
I keep saying we need more metal in games,and now here it is, in the very first fight in the game!
Thank you! @pbzero_official
I presume this is the work of Bo Caisheng (薄彩生), the game's Music Director.
Started and finished Despelote today.
It's nice. Personally very relatable in many moments.
I learned a lot from such a short experience. I felt things. It's nice...
Daniel Camilo retweeted
Wrote about what to expect from Phantom Blade Zero, sales wise.
What distinguishes this launch from Black Myth Wukong's.
How perceptions of major Chinese games have changed, both in China and globally.
Link in 🧵, and in my bio.
Thank you for checking if you do.
