Top of the Great Era

It is inevitable to fight back.

Regardless of whether Changyou can successfully acquire Codemasters in the end, EA's troubles have caused considerable damage to Changyou's interests.Next, is the specific operation.

Don Macrick was somewhat worried.

Not worried about EA.

Instead, he was worried that once he got into trouble with EA, it would be difficult to deal with it, which would affect the development of Changyou.

Zhou Buqi will not be overwhelmed by emotions, and has no worries in this regard. "Changyou still needs to develop according to the established ideas, and the core strategy will not change. However, it is still possible to accept EA."

Markrick coughed lightly, and carefully reminded: "Although EA's current stock price is relatively low, its roots are deep and its strength is still very strong."

Zhou Buqi said: "EA has four ace games?"

Markrick nodded, "Yes, they are "Need for Speed" series, "Battlefield" series, "FIFA Football" series, and "Star Wars" series."

It can also be seen from the four ace games that they are all computer-side games.

It is not surprising that it is not favored by the capital market.

Zhou Buqi asked: "Need for Speed ​​is very famous!"

Markrick said: "Yes, it used to be the world's number one racing game... Well, it was when I led this game at EA. Later, this game didn't work well. As far as it is currently, it is the best racing game in the racing category. Among the games, "Need for Speed" is hardly ranked in the top five. Racing games have become a major category, and car manufacturers have also begun to pay attention to the marketing methods of racing games. With sponsorship, the development of racing games will become It has become the most cost-effective category.”

Zhou Buqi said in a deep voice: "So, Changyou should buy Codemasters, a studio with rich experience in racing game development. In the new track of the mobile game market, if we want to lead the racing games, we must make " Need for Speed" throw away!"

Markrick also thought in the same way, and said with a smile: "Of course, there is a game under Codemasters, which is almost similar to the gameplay and mode of "Need for Speed". It should be imitated from "Need for Speed". The market performance is also good. The sales volume in the UK market is higher than that of "Need for Speed". If it works well, it can completely replace "Need for Speed" in the mobile game market."

Zhou Buqi said: "I actually have a little new idea for racing games."

"Oh?"

Markrick didn't dare to underestimate the big boss Zhou.

Don't look at him often laughing at himself, saying that he doesn't understand the game.

However, there is a very common phenomenon in the innovation industry: it is easy to be rigid and conservative when an expert manages an expert; it is easy to innovate when an outsider manages an expert.

In fact, it is the first principle that Musk most admires.

Because experts know too much, they have deeply ingrained many concepts. When they propose a new thinking point, they will give an empirical judgment from the perspective of an expert, "this will not work", "impossible", "no use". .

A layman is a blank slate because he doesn't understand anything.

You can think about the problem from the source.

If you don't care about some of the past industry's ruts, it will be easier to open up more innovative space from other angles.

The best-selling mobile phones, computers, cars, microwave ovens, refrigerators, etc. in the market have never been developed by scientists.

It is often a "layman" who directs a group of scientists to develop products according to their own ideas.

Products led by scientists have always been marginal products in the market.

This is why the vast majority of Google products fail.

Google is just too strong a scientist.

Too much emphasis on research.

The leaders of the products are often the top technical experts and scientists.This is very difficult.The products made by scientists have absolutely impeccable technical attributes, but the product attributes are really poor.

Baidu is also of a similar type. Li Yanhong is the only scientist boss among well-known domestic technology companies. The technology is good, but breakthroughs are difficult.

Zhou Buqi said: "Before you came, Ziwei Star Global held a meeting to discuss the general trend of Hollywood movies. In fact, I said it internally as early as two years ago. At this stage, it is the real It's a growing trend in Hollywood."

"What is it?"

"IPization."

"Yeah." Markrick nodded, "Games also have this trend."

Zhou Buqi said: "Last year was an unprecedented low period in Hollywood, and most companies performed badly. But Ziwei Star Global's performance was surprisingly good, with a net profit of more than 27 billion US dollars."

"Uh……"

Macrick took a deep breath, and bowed to Boss Zhou wholeheartedly.

This is too fierce!
Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "Ziweixing Global's success comes from the operation of IP movies. Another thing is that Paramount's performance has been declining in the past few years, but last year it actually grew and made a profit. The main thing is Because of "Transformers 3". These two things have completely awakened Hollywood. As far as I know, the new projects launched by major film companies this year have all begun to develop around well-known IPs."

Mattrick said: "Well, IP operation has many benefits. Codemasters' "F1 Racing" has grown rapidly in recent years, and it is no worse than "Need for Speed". The main reason is that it has the title of F1."

Zhou Buqi said: "Yes, the role of intellectual property rights is to provide users with a kind of thinking inertia. Playing games is actually a process of finding a comfort zone. Accepting old understandings is more comfortable than accepting new things. A continuum. Hollywood has shown such a big trend.”

At first glance, Hollywood is a movie, and Changyou is a game, so it doesn't seem to matter.

But Hollywood is the king of entertainment.

Hollywood has the lead.

The reason why the world is flooded with IP and spread rapidly is because of the demonstration effect of Hollywood.In the entertainment industry, movies have an unrivaled influence.

Hollywood has done this, and it's predictable that it will spread to the gaming industry soon.

A good swim can be prepared in advance.

For an aspiring gamer, he is actually very opposed to IP, just like a famous director who doesn't like making IP movies.

But this is the plan to make money.

Zhou Buqi returned to the main topic of the game, saying: "This is the case in Hollywood, so will the game industry. For example, racing games. There are so many racing games, and there may be hundreds of high-quality games alone. How do players go? Choice? We must make good use of the inertial thinking brought by IP to guide players to immerse themselves in the comfort zone of cognition. For example, now everyone likes to play "Angry Birds", which is the most popular game in the world Can you use this IP to develop "Angry Racing"? The game icon can be the image of Angry Birds driving."

Macrick took a deep breath, "It can be considered."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "There is also "Talking Tom Cat". 'Tom Cat' is quite famous. We can develop "Tom Cat Racing". Through this continuation of IP, we can increase the popularity of racing games." Interesting, not just pure racing. Simply racing, the charging point will be very single. Even Marvel has so many superheroes. Users can not only spend money to buy new racing cars, but also spend money to buy 'Spiderman' ', 'Iron Man', 'Daredevil' and other superheroes will act as drivers, and different superheroes have different performance bonuses."

Mattrick didn't know what to say anymore.

Or say that he is a big shot.

A lot of creative ideas came out of nowhere.

Of course, this is related to the fact that they have enough resources. The premise is that Changyou can mobilize famous big IPs such as "Angry Birds", "Tom Cat", and "Marvel Superheroes".

Zhou Buqi smiled and waved his hand, "I'll just provide an idea, and your design team will deliberate on the specific situation later. Let's talk about EA's second game "Battlefield", um... this series, I think it's okay for now? "

Markrick thinks deeply, "Well, this is a war game. Realistic war games are a small category, and there are a few classic games. It will be difficult to compete. Due to the limitations of smartphones, it is difficult to develop A truly immersive war game."

Zhou Buqi said: "Then let's put Battlefield aside, the "FIFA Football" series... Hehe, you know, I'm a football fan."

Macrick frowned slightly.

Zhou Buqi glanced at him, "No way?"

Markrick said: "The main competitor of "FIFA Football" is the Japanese football game "Pro Evolution Soccer". In fact, in the 90s, there were many football games. Among many products of the same type, EA's "FIFA Football" is not ranked at all."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "Yes, I know. Later, you took charge of "FIFA Soccer" and made drastic reforms to this game. You made changes to the graphics, gameplay, and engine to make this game stand out. "

This is why Don Macrick was the core and most meritorious executive of EA back then.

He created two of EA's four ace games - "Need for Speed" and "FIFA Football".

Markrick said in a deep voice: "When I was managing "FIFA Football", I just made this game stand out from the competition and become the second in the industry. There is still a big gap with "Pro Evolution Football". In fact , For more than ten years, football games have always been dominated by "Pro Evolution Football". However, the situation has changed since last year."

Zhou Buqi frowned, "What's going on?"

Markrick said: "Because of the long-term slump in EA's stock price, the radicals took power and made great adjustments to the company's strategy and business. The most successful part of the specific business adjustment is the transformation of the "FIFA game" They gave up the engine that I led the design in the past, completely overturned the past, and redeveloped a new engine.”

Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide, "Has the market changed?"

Markrick nodded, and said in a deep voice: "That's right, EA made the right bet this time, and it is the only achievement that the radicals have achieved in the past few years. Last year's "FIFA11" became the most popular game in this field. The football game surpassed "Pro Evolution Soccer 2011" and became the number one in the industry."