Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2152 Konami

Zhou Buqi is now more confident.

He feels that winning "Pro Evolution Soccer" is not a big problem. He has found a way to target the Japanese game industry.

After this research and analysis, the various drawbacks of Japanese game companies have become very clear.These disadvantages are all good things for Changyou, and they are all points that can be exploited.

The current Japanese game companies mainly have two major characteristics.

One, mainly console games.

Host games include two parts, namely, video games connected to the TV through a home game console, and handheld games that can only be played through a handheld game console.

This is a game category that has been developed since the 80s.

Under the operation of those local game giants, the Japanese game industry is still dominated by these two game types.

It even includes the large-scale game console model that has long been eliminated in the European, American and domestic markets.It is to open an entertainment city with hundreds of game machines, and each game machine has a game. Players can buy game coins and then insert coins to play.

This style of game city from decades ago can be seen everywhere in Japan.

The domestic Internet cafe model is coming to an end.

It can be seen how backward Japan is here.

Second, focus on the local market.

The vast majority of Japanese game companies account for more than 90% of the local market.The reason for this phenomenon is mainly because of the console games.

The European and American game markets have long been dominated by computer games.

Then came the era of mobile games.

Even if some players will pursue new ways to play and buy home game consoles, Microsoft's Xbox has already come out.The transformation of Japanese game manufacturers is very slow, and many of them have not developed the Xbox version of the game, and the market share has been further reduced.

In short, Japanese game manufacturers still regard console games as their basic business.The main market for console games is the local market, so they can only compete fiercely in the local game market.

The vast overseas market is very limited in development.

far worse than Korea.

It is not even comparable to the current domestic game industry. Domestic game exports have also increased greatly in recent years, especially social games. Among the social games on Facebook, 15.4% are from domestic game companies.

This became an opportunity that Zhou Buqi could take advantage of.

He went to Konami and met Konami's founder, chairman, and CEO Shangyue Jingzheng, who is the great dictator of Konami.Originally, when we started our business, there were three people working together.

Later, last month, Jingzheng was so strong that he bought all the stocks held by the other two people, and he was in charge of the power alone.

Before coming, Sun Zhengyi had said.

This Shangyue Jingzheng is a legendary figure in the Japanese game industry, but he is also controversial because he is too obsessed with power and does not allow anyone to refute his views.

Therefore, in Konami, there is a death line in the workplace: game geniuses enter the company—get support—awakening of personal genius—ideal differences with Shangyue Jingzheng—contradictions cannot be resolved—resign and leave.

Especially after 2010, a large number of Konami's elite game producers have left their jobs one after another, which made Shangyuejingzheng severely criticized by the industry.

Because Jingzheng liked "loyal ministers" the most last month, and he always gave the best rewards to loyal ministers, even marrying his daughter to him.

But it's hard to tolerate someone who thinks differently from him, even if the person is a genius.

It's no surprise that Konami's situation is going downhill.

"Pro Evolution Soccer" was surpassed and crushed by "FIFA Soccer", and it is logical.

Zhou Buqi doesn't care about Yuejingzheng's management of Konami.

It's just that after looking at him, some are speechless.

This person was born in 1940 and is 72 years old this year.

Such a game company is still led by him, and he has a strong style and has an absolute right to speak... One can imagine how decadent this company will be.

However, when Yuejing was meeting with Zhou Buqi last month, he still brought a young gold medal game producer he had newly trained, named Hideo Kojima.

The core layer of Konami is relatively "young", and it is not yet 50 years old this year.

Zhou Buqi was not in a hurry to get down to business, so he first chatted with the gold medal producer Hideo Kojima about his views on the game.

I was stunned at once.

When Hideo Kojima came up, he rants about social games and mobile games that are relatively trendy in the current market, saying that they are not games at all.

A really good game must have a movie-level picture, and that is a boutique.

This view is similar to Hollywood's attitude towards streaming media.They believe that movies should be played in cinemas for better visual effects; TV dramas should be played on TV for best clarity.

It is a kind of blasphemy to watch excellent film and television works through computer screens, or even pads and mobile phones.

This trend of the new era has given Silicon Valley the opportunity to develop the streaming media industry. Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. have all invested in movies, and Hollywood’s sphere of influence has been severely eroded.

Zhou Buqi felt that he had no common language with them and could not communicate at all.

After talking about a lot of scenes, I went straight to the topic.

Zhou Buqi said: "The market of "Pro Evolution Soccer" seems to be severely eroded by "FIFA Football". Do you have any solutions?"

Last month, the old man Jingzheng was very stubborn and pretended to be calm, "It's not about erosion, the sales share of "Pro Evolution Football" has already taken a lead in the field of console games by a large margin."

Zhou Buqi glanced at him, "Isn't that because "FIFA Soccer" currently doesn't have a handheld version?"

Last month Jingzheng said with a smile: "Handheld game consoles are mainly Sony's PSP and Nintendo's 3DS. It is not so easy to develop corresponding games for them. Even if they are developed, they may not be able to get good game sales. channel."

Zhou Buqi almost laughed angrily.

I find this old man simply inexplicable.

I am quite proud of the alliance behind the semi-monopoly form of Japanese companies.

In fact, Japanese game manufacturers support Sony and Nintendo's handheld game consoles and develop exclusive versions of games for them; at the same time, Sony and Nintendo will emphatically recommend the games of these Japanese game manufacturers on the game console platform.

Products drive the platform, and the platform drives the product.

With such a combination, these Japanese companies can almost monopolize the world's handheld game console market. After all, this field mainly consists of two game consoles, Sony's PSP and Nintendo's 3DS.

They are satisfied when they have eaten the market in its entirety.

This made Zhou Buqi feel a little contemptuous.

This fart bigger market may not even account for 1% of the mobile game market.Even if it is monopolized by Japanese companies through a series of strategies, what's the use?

In the past few years, Zhou Buqi has traveled far and wide, traveled to many countries, and met many entrepreneurs who made him disapproving.However, even though many entrepreneurs have such and other shortcomings, they are always full of admirable highlights.

These people in the Japanese game industry really can't see the slightest advantage, they are stubborn, pedantic, arrogant, and self-righteous.

It even made Zhou Buqi feel a sense of blind arrogance. He felt that each of these people was more ignorant than the other. He couldn't believe that this was a group of famous entrepreneurs from developed countries.

Ren Yuxin said with a smile: "Microsoft's Xbox game console is very strong now. Although it is not as good as Sony's PS3 in terms of sales, it has formed a competitive situation. The Xbox game console is paired with EA's "FIFA Soccer."

Last month Jing Zheng said in a deep voice: "That's right."

Sure enough, Ren Yuxin found the best entry point, and then said: "Does Konami have any countermeasures? On the PC side, "FIFA Soccer" has developed rapidly in recent years, and "Pro Evolution Soccer" has been far away." Far away. Even if "Pro Evolution Soccer" can continue to dominate the handheld game market, but in the field of video games, Microsoft and EA will also be very threatening."

Last month Jing was feeling like being caught seven inches.

"Pro Evolution Soccer" was surpassed by "FIFA Soccer" on the computer side, but it's not a big deal. This is not the core department of Konami.

However, Sony has not lived up to expectations in the past few years, and Microsoft's home game console Xbox has a strong upward momentum.

After players bought the Xbox game console, they naturally chose FIFA Soccer.

In the past, "Pro Evolution Soccer" was able to dominate the world and was the highest-selling football game. In fact, it relied on the almost monopoly platform advantages of TV game consoles and handheld game consoles.

The arrival of Microsoft's Xbox has broken Sony's blockade in this field, and the hard days of Japanese game manufacturers have come.

Jingzheng looked serious last month, "What can you do? I met Sun Zhengyi a few days ago, and he told me everything. They said that Changyou is very interested in "Pro Evolution Soccer" and wants to talk to Konami. Collaborate and help PES to compete with FIFA Soccer."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "It is true. Changyou is indeed going to launch a football game. Either cooperate with "Pro Evolution Soccer". If the cooperation fails, it will develop it by itself."

"How to cooperate?"

Last month, Jingzheng actually had no room for maneuver.

Originally, there was an EA "FIFA Football" on the market, which was a strong enemy. If Changyou also came out to enter this market, how could there be room for "Pro Evolution Football"?

It is not easy to develop a game of this level.

The initial research and development investment, if not 1 million US dollars, would cost 8000 million US dollars. If the authorization of various football-related intellectual property rights is added, the cost will be even higher.

Ordinary game companies simply can't afford it.

So now there are only two games in this field on the market, "FIFA Football" and "Pro Evolution Soccer".

However, last month Jingzheng did not dare to be careless.

The other party is Changyou!
It is currently the game giant with the highest market value in the world, and there is no shortage of money at all.

Once Changyou really ends, with the network and influence that the big boss Zhou has accumulated in the Japanese business market in the past few years, he even has a good relationship with Sony and Microsoft.

At that time, "Pro Evolution Football" may really be hopeless.

After the meeting with Masayoshi Son, Jingzheng thought about it for a long time last month, but he was already mentally prepared.As long as the other party's conditions are not too excessive, cooperation may really be a way out for the future of "Pro Evolution Football".

The growth of "FIFA Football" in recent years is too scary.

"Pro Evolution Soccer" really needs a helper.

(End of this chapter)