SEC Chapter 24: Tencent's Little Moves
Chapter 24: Tencent's Little Moves
After half an hour.
The same people were in the conference room as before, all intently watching Lin Lang, waiting for him to speak.
Lin Lang sat in the main seat, looking at the loyal employees on both sides, and cleared his throat.
"Each department should report on its progress."
Shen Qi sat to his left, took out a voice recorder and placed it on the table, ready to record at any time.
Li Ming from the marketing department was the first to stand up and speak.
"President Lin, the new version of the 'Three Kingdoms Kill' card game is complete, including new generals and game cards. The Collector's Edition also features brand-new Kingdom War rules!"
"Just waiting for it to be released on National Day!"
"How's the general expansion pack coming along?" Lin Lang asked.
Speaking of this, Li Ming revealed a confident smile. This general expansion pack was his masterpiece!
"Mr. Lin, I've already assigned rarity levels to each general's skin. Please take a look!"
Then, he took out various types of cards.
Lin Lang selected only the SSR and UR cards from these cards to examine. The SSR generals designed this time are Diao Chan and Guan Yu, while the UR card is Zhuge Liang.
In terms of craftsmanship, both types of cards are made from more textured and durable materials.
The SSR features an embossed design with gold foil stamping, creating a strong visual effect.
The silk that Diao Chan wore was specially adorned with gold powder, making it look even rarer.
The UR card features a gold-stamped name and foil-stamped image, giving it a golden sheen and a shimmering effect.
Furthermore, each card has a unique number, which further highlights its rarity.
"Great! That's exactly the effect I wanted!" Lin Lang nodded, praising Li Ming's design.
Subsequently, other departments also began to report their findings.
"Client upgrade complete. The Nation War and Military Conflict versions are now in testing!"
"The skins for veteran generals are all available here now; we're currently processing the new generals!"
...
The reports from each department finally concluded 20 minutes later.
Shen Qi had already recorded the key points she had just mentioned in her notebook.
"Good! The progress is acceptable!"
At this point, Lin Lang stood up and began to address the key point of the meeting, writing a line of large characters on the whiteboard.
[Offline promotional activities for the game "Three Kingdoms Kill" during National Day.]
The employees looked at the words and began to whisper among themselves.
Li Ming from the marketing department excitedly pushed up his glasses upon seeing this.
This means that "Three Kingdoms Kill" is officially starting its offline promotional campaign!
This is good news for the release of the general expansion pack.
After talking with General Manager Lin, he personally conducted market research.
The market has a bright future. Not only can we not make general card packs now, but we can also make models of various generals later.
These general models are divided into common and rare versions, which players can draw themselves. I can already imagine how players would feel if they drew a rare version!
This is essentially similar to the general expansion packs; both add commercial value to game peripherals.
After realizing this, I quickly reported it to General Manager Lin, only to find that he had already thought of it and even given it a friendly name – blind box!
Li Ming admired Lin Lang even more because of this. He never expected that President Lin was not only particularly good at designing games, but also had a certain understanding of business!
He was originally in the animation industry, working as a marketing manager at a major company. He had been in the industry for many years and had a lot of marketing experience.
He was also the only talent Lin Lang had ever poached at a high price!
Originally, he thought he could use his qualifications to enter a new industry, provide Lin Lang with some offline assistance, and realize his own value.
Unexpectedly, it was Lin Lang who gave him a pleasant surprise!
At this moment, he felt that joining Langyu Studio was absolutely the right decision!
"We're going to hold an offline event during the National Day holiday. I've already finalized the cooperation with someone, and the venue is on the first floor of the convention center!"
"Our game, *Three Kingdoms Kill*, is participating in a historical competition, so promoting the Three Kingdoms period is something we should do to get more people involved!"
Lin Lang spoke with a resounding voice, and then wrote the two large characters "Competition" on the whiteboard.
"Our offline event will be held on the morning of National Day, and the game 'Three Kingdoms Kill' will launch promptly at 8 PM that evening!"
Lin Lang looked at everyone, his tone becoming more serious:
"This time I plan to hold an offline competition, which will be divided into official competitions and entertainment competitions. The official competitions will be in standard five-player mode, while the entertainment competitions will be in national war mode."
"Since this is an exhibition match, let's make it as fun as possible! In the final round of this national war, there's no need to divide into factions; players can choose different generals based on their own ideas!"
"The top ten players in the competition will be rewarded with the new version of the Collector's Edition of 'Three Kingdoms Kill', the top three will be rewarded with SSR cards, and the champion will be rewarded with an UR card, which tells the players the rarity of the card."
All staff members began recording the event arrangements. This was the first time Langyu Studio had held an offline event, so it had to be taken seriously!
"We'll release a notification shortly to inform players about the competition and encourage their participation. We'll also be using an online live stream format to let everyone experience the excitement of the competition!"
After finishing discussing the competition, Lin Lang began assigning tasks. As an offline event, the main responsibilities were naturally entrusted to Li Ming.
"I've told you everything. If you're short-staffed, just tell me, and I'll make arrangements. This event must succeed; failure is not an option!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Lin! I guarantee the mission will be accomplished!"
Li Ming said with great emphasis that he had no worries about this event at all, and was full of confidence as it was the first event he had taken over since arriving in Langyu.
He needs to show Lin Lang that his salary matches his abilities.
After explaining these matters, the employees once again threw themselves into their work.
Lin Lang also joined the game's beta test. After experiencing a few rounds of national war, he once again felt the fun of "Three Kingdoms Kill".
Each gameplay mode offers a different experience for players, and this national war mode is one of Lin Lang's favorite modes.
As soon as this mode was released, players all said that the developers had finally come to their senses!
Seeing the smiles on the employees' faces after the experience, they clamored to start another game.
Lin Lang was very satisfied, putting everything else aside.
The true essence of a game is that it's fun!
Furthermore, Lin Lang has several game modes yet to be released. If there are more and more generals in the future, he will introduce a "Landlord" mode.
This will surely reignite the players' interest!
After the planning department finished editing the copy, three announcements were posted on the official website of the game "Three Kingdoms Kill".
One is a notification about a version update, another is an offline event for "Three Kingdoms Kill", and the third is an invitation to all experts to participate.
The three announcements quickly sparked comments from netizens.
Meanwhile, Tencent has also made new moves.
After failing to win over Zhang Yang, Wang Lin was criticized by Zhang Yang himself. This wasn't the first time Tencent had done something like this.
Although there have been precedents of disagreement, this is the first time we've encountered two major setbacks on the same issue.
"Mr. Zhang, 'Hero Kill' has successfully completed its testing phase and is ready to launch at any time!"
Wang Lin approached General Manager Zhang once again, handed over the documents, and lowered his head, avoiding eye contact with General Manager Zhang.
After two failed attempts, Wang Lin put a lot of effort into the game "Hero Kill", personally supervising all aspects of the game.
He didn't want to be scolded like a son by Boss Zhang again!
After quickly flipping through it, Mr. Zhang put it aside and his gaze towards Xiao Wang sharpened.
"Did you see the three announcements released by Langyu Studio? Do you have a response plan?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Lin raised his head confidently: "President Zhang! Don't worry about that! We've made a complete upgrade!"
"They only have a maximum of eight people per game, that's too few! We're going to introduce twelve-player games! That way, players can play with more friends, it's more fun with more people!"
"Furthermore, I've noticed that they randomly assign roles each time. What if some players want to be the lord but never get the role?"
"That's why we introduced the option to purchase identities! Want to be a lord? You can! Just spend money! And each identity has a different price, which is to reflect the strength of paying players!"
Mr. Zhang nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this. What's the most important thing in a game? Spending money on in-game purchases!
No matter how popular a game is, it's useless if it doesn't make money!
Seeing this, Wang Lin realized that he had hit the nail on the head with General Manager Zhang, so he intensified his efforts!
"It's not just that. If you have a bad starting hand in a game, it will greatly affect your gaming experience. So there's also a card-buying aspect. You can buy whichever cards you want!"
"Players come to play games to have fun, right? We also have all sorts of skins..."
Wang Lin became more and more excited as he spoke, feeling that his changes could bring great benefits to the company. "What kind of game would you play if you didn't spend money?"
More than ten minutes later, Wang Lin finally finished explaining his brilliant idea.
"I won't go into detail about the game content; you're in complete control! You must crush 'Three Kingdoms Kill'!"
At this point, Mr. Zhang snorted coldly, his tone carrying an undisguised threat.
"Since the 'Three Kingdoms Kill' team is holding an offline event, why don't you announce that we're holding one too, and have the East China Sea branch team also conduct 'Hero Kill' promotional activities near them!"
"I want to see how a forgotten Three Kingdoms period can compare to superheroes!"
"They're having a competition, right? We'll join in too! 'Hero Kill' launches tomorrow. In terms of technology, funding, and user base, how can a small studio like yours compete with Tencent!"
This statement is somewhat blunt.
But that's reality!
After hearing this, Wang Lin confidently raised his head, imagining the impact "Hero Kill" would have on Lin Lang once it was released.
Thinking about this, I can't wait to see Lin Lang break down!
Tencent's influence on gamers over the years is undeniable, so it's understandable that CEO Zhang and Wang Lin would have such thoughts.
After all, how can a newly sprouted branch be compared to a towering tree?
After listening to General Manager Zhang's arrangements, Wang Lin quickly devised a plan and organized the planning department to carry out offline activities at the same time.
And "Hero Kill" officially launched the next day!