The world is in trouble

Chapter 277: Fallout 3 Global Release! A Masterpiece!
The box office results for "The Hunger Games" in China are basically set, reaching 1.7 million RMB. This figure is slightly higher than in previous years, but it is still the lowest-grossing film for Flash Entertainment in the past two years.

At the same time, a super-heavyweight Hollywood movie was also released in China, or it could be said that this movie started the magical career of Hollywood movies in the Chinese market.

Transformers—it's fair to say that when domestic audiences saw this movie, they were almost stunned, feeling as if they had received an unprecedented visual feast.

I never imagined that popcorn movies could be so cool and so entertaining.

Historically, Transformers grossed 2.8 million RMB in China, but its global box office soared to 3.5 million RMB.

The reason is simple: after several years of development, Flash Entertainment has raised the ceiling of the Chinese film market considerably. In particular, the popularity of "The Last Days" in 05 brought many people who didn't go to the cinema to do so.

Furthermore, Flash Entertainment will release two to three commercial films every year, maintaining the upward trend of the entire market.

This is why Transformers achieved higher box office returns than ever before.

However, this success has dealt a blow to both Lightning Entertainment and Lin Xiao himself.

The Hunger Games was not a box office success in China, nor did it receive high praise from critics.

Many viewers who went to the cinema had a feeling after watching the movie: "What the hell is this movie about?"
What kind of setting is this? It's not even as good as the Japanese game "Battle Royale".

Therefore, when this movie was released in China, it was not given the title of "Master Er Gou" and was released in a very low-key manner because the box office focus of this movie was not in China.

However, he wanted to keep a low profile, but domestic public intellectuals were not going to let him off the hook.

"Even the reputation of 'Second Dog Cult Leader' is no longer effective; he can no longer swindle money in China."

"Compared to The Hunger Games, Transformers is a more sincere work among commercial films."

"The Second Dog Cult Leader is becoming increasingly unscrupulous in his efforts to pay off his debts."

"Domestic audiences have become independent and mature. The old trick of 'blooming abroad but fragrant at home' by Er Gou Jiaozhu no longer works. Although 'The Hunger Games' has made a huge profit in the United States, it can no longer fool domestic audiences."

In fact, many of my colleagues in the Chinese film industry were practically green with envy when they heard about the box office miracle that "The Hunger Games" achieved in North America; they simply couldn't believe it.

It's been so difficult for us filmmakers to go global.

They can only export kung fu films, and the effect is constantly declining. From "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Hero", "House of Flying Daggers", "Kung Fu", and "Curse of the Golden Flower", the box office in North America and overseas has been declining.

Basically, the kung fu movie formula is completely unworkable.

However, there is another kung fu film coming up, which is the biggest in terms of investment alone: ​​"The Forbidden Kingdom," a collaboration between Li Lianjie and Jackie Chan.

But you, Lin Xiaoyi, went to the United States and made a teen movie called "The Hunger Games," which actually grossed over $4 million at the North American box office?

This resounding success even gave filmmakers a certain feeling.

What's the point of our struggle?

We tried our best, but we never dared to dream of such results.

Moreover, they were very worried that after news of "The Hunger Games" becoming a huge hit in North America reached China, Flash Entertainment would coordinate with a large amount of patriotic marketing, resulting in a crushing box office performance that would completely dominate the summer movie season.

As a result, Flash Entertainment remained silent and did not promote the film at all, and the Hunger Games did not perform particularly well at the domestic box office.

Then, a bunch of articles came out.

"The dominance of Er Gou in the domestic market has come to a complete end."

"Master Er Gou has completely become an American; his aesthetic is now completely at odds with that of domestic audiences!"

It must be said that these articles are quite insightful.

Because "The Hunger Games" failed to resonate in the domestic market, it seemed as if it was completely tailor-made for Western teenagers.

"It's not so much that domestic audiences abandoned Er Gou, but rather that Er Gou abandoned the domestic people."

This article is even more ruthless, and it's extremely provocative to the fans of Er Gou (a popular online figure) in China.

Still loyal to Er Gou? Still waiting for Er Gou?
Don't be silly, they've already abandoned you.

"Why did Er Gou (a nickname for a cult leader) go to America? Because there are lower moral standards there. After the scandal broke, the high moral standards in China left Er Gou nowhere to go, so he chose to go to the United States, a country with developed capitalism and low morality. However, he didn't expect that the highly developed capitalism in America was not something he could handle, so in less than a year, he incurred a debt of one billion US dollars. Er Gou is still impressive, but of course, even after going to America, his moral standards continued to decline. To pay off his debts, he picked up his old profession of writing books, but perhaps because he had been immersed in the world of fame and fortune for too long, he had forgotten how to write, so he hired an American female writer, Susan Collins, to ghostwrite for him."

"That's right, The Hunger Games was written by an American. But it has to be said that Er Gou (the author) has a keen understanding of human nature. The Hunger Games has achieved unprecedented success in both the book and film markets."

"In the Chinese market, he was able to accurately tap into the spiritual needs of countless people and become a spiritual icon. And he was able to do the same thing in the United States."

"So I'd like to ask, is his affection for his fans genuine? Did he love his former Chinese fans? Does he love his current American fans?"

"Is his emotional outburst driven by genuine feelings or business considerations?"

This article is even more impressive; it delves into Lin Xiao's fan base in China and aims to destroy his personal brand.

This group of people is indeed highly skilled in writing; their arguments seem very reasonable.

....................................

Looking at these articles, and countless statements from Er Gou Jiaozhu (a popular online figure) declaring he was no longer a fan, one can see the impact of these articles.

Li Shuang couldn't help but say, "Sometimes, reality is really frustrating."

"Lin Xiao is burdened with a debt of one billion US dollars and several billion RMB, all for the sake of revitalizing the domestic electronics industry and initiating the mobile internet industrial revolution."

"He has already spent nearly $200 million to make the movie 'Kung Fu Panda,' and it is very likely that it will not make money and may even lose money. All this is to improve the domestic film industry and raise the ceiling of the domestic film market."

"And what was the result? His fans, countless people, once danced to the tune of public intellectuals, criticizing others and following suit."

Xia Xi: "It's nothing. He does these things, and we do these things, not for any particular group of people."

"The people who love to teach others to think independently are the most good at brainwashing."

Li Shuang: "In recent years, the online public opinion environment has become increasingly worse, and this group of people are stirring up more and more trouble. Can't we do something about it?"

Xia Xi did not speak.

Historically, Google's withdrawal from the Chinese market was a landmark event, followed by the construction of the Great Firewall.

But whether this scene will actually happen in this world is really hard to say.

Because in a few years, YouTube and Facebook will have grown into behemoths overseas.

At the time, getting Google to leave wouldn't have required a huge price to pay, because the Chinese internet had little foothold or influence overseas.

In this world, you might not be able to seal it off.

Because if you block others, what if they block you back? Your businesses outside are even bigger.

But... the good news is that Facebook and YouTube will have the greatest control over public opinion at that time.

And in terms of domestic public opinion, it would be very easy to win it back.

The best approach is not to blockade, but to win!

The continuous loss of internet public opinion power to Western capital is ultimately due to the strength of the Western internet industry.

Human nature is to admire the strong. When the weak face the strong, they are inherently insecure and easily swayed.

Once we win in a few key areas, the power of public opinion will naturally return; that's the key to success.

..........................................

Facebook remains powerful, while Renren, backed by Microsoft, continues to maintain its high-end image and holds so-called high-end discourse power.

Lightning games continue to generate huge profits.

That year, World of Warcraft reached a staggering 800 million concurrent users worldwide.

In China, the peak concurrent player count for World of Warcraft has also exceeded 100 million.

The peak concurrent player count of "Zhu Xian" also exceeded 80, which, although not as high as "World of Warcraft", was still extremely successful.

However, the peak concurrent player count for Dungeon Fighter Online exceeded two million!

It holds a commanding lead in the Chinese online gaming market.

Countless people criticize it, but the number of people who play it remains enormous.

However, the reputation of the game "Lightning" is indeed declining.

The high-end image and high-level attributes that were previously cultivated, as well as the honor of carrying the banner of national games, are also declining.

Therefore, Fallout 3 becomes especially important at this time.

Single-player games represent the highest level of the game industry.

Moreover, Fallout 3 has full Chinese voice acting, the protagonist is half Chinese, and there are even many Chinese elements in the game.

Lightning Games desperately needs it to elevate the company's overall image.

Because nowadays, players who play games like "Zhu Xian" and "Dungeon Fighter Online" are indeed somewhat overshadowed by players who play "World of Warcraft".

In this year, Blizzard held an unparalleled position in the hearts of players worldwide, including in China.

Even among Chinese players, Lightning Games' standing is completely overshadowed by Blizzard.

For Blizzard, maintaining this level of suppression is absolutely necessary.

Because they have already realized that the Chinese gaming market is one of the most important markets in the world in the future, and their biggest competitor in this market is Lightning Games.

Moreover, they will continue to launch new games in the Chinese market in the future. If they want to occupy the largest share of this market, the key is to completely suppress Lightning Games.

Now, Fallout 3 is not only the most important product for Flashgames, but also for the Chinese game industry.

Moreover, it is attributed to the production of "Master Er Gou".

Blizzard was tormented for a year and a half before releasing the game in China because of Flashgames and Er Gou (a popular streamer). This is a huge grudge.

Therefore, when the ratings from the two authoritative media outlets, IGN and GS, were released, many internet users in China immediately and frantically reposted them.

In fact, although these two authoritative media outlets deliberately gave low scores, they dared not give them too low in order to maintain their authority. 8.3 is actually quite a high score.

However, at this time, most domestic players were unfamiliar with game media and did not understand what scores meant.

When these media outlets reprinted the story, they deliberately provided a score comparison between Halo 3 and Fallout 3.

9.5 points vs. 8.3 points.

Moreover, they specifically extracted the negative reviews from these authoritative review media outlets.

What's cunning is that they don't repost negative reviews that are favorable to Chinese players' nationalistic sentiments.

For example, if the protagonist is half Chinese and there are too many Chinese elements in the game, this is a negative factor in the American market, but a positive factor in China.

"Ergou's most important game, Fallout 3, suffered a major setback, with authoritative game review media around the world giving it low scores."

"Single-player games are not something that can be achieved overnight; they do not allow for unrealistic fantasies, let alone shortcuts."

"Looking at the gap between Fallout 3 and Halo 3, we can see how far China's game industry is from the world level."

....................................

In the United States, in Europe.

The debate between Halo 3 and Fallout 3, and the rivalry between Sony and Microsoft, has intensified.

Although the global launch event for Fallout 3 couldn't be streamed live, it was quickly made available on YouTube in its entirety.

Not only that.

Following that, over 60% of the world's most renowned game developers uploaded a video.

Fallout 3 is the best RPG game of the last 20 years, bar none!

"Fallout 3, the best game of the last 20 years, almost without exception!"

"After getting the game, I played it for a full 60 hours. Without a doubt, it's the best game of the year, no, even the best game in recent years."

The game developers who uploaded the videos were all big names.

Hideo Kojima, Hideki Kamiya, Gabe Newell, Will Wright... and so on.

Most importantly, even the founders of the Fallout IP, the core team of Fallout 2, and now several founders of Obsidian Entertainment, have stepped forward and made videos.

In particular, Feargus Urquhart, the most authoritative figure in the Fallout IP, released a long video.

"I've been playing Fallout 3 for a full thirty hours now."

"Radiation is like my child. I have given my youth, my energy, and countless years to it."

"A few years ago, when Interplay sold the Fallout rights to Lin, it was a nightmare for me. At that time, we had already developed Fallout 3, and it was even finished. When Erdogan Studios sent me the game, I was resistant. I felt that no one knew Fallout better than me, and no one could do Fallout well. If anyone could, it would have been my Black Isle Studios before, and now it's my Obsidian Entertainment."

"When I started playing this game, I only had one feeling: awe!"

"I really didn't expect that Er Gou Studio could complete this work so well and to such an excellent degree."

"No words can describe the surprise, satisfaction, or even shock I felt."

"Even the entire Obsidian Studio was in an uproar. Er Gou Studio has produced everything we could think of and hadn't even imagined, far exceeding our expectations and even our imagination."

“My colleagues and I first reflected on it, which then triggered a strong creative impulse.”

"Although it may seem irrational, I think it would be a disgrace to the gaming industry if it didn't win Game of the Year this year."

In fact, the founder of Obsidian Studios was speaking from the heart.

Furthermore, the two sides have even expressed a certain intention to collaborate, not on DLC for Fallout 3, but on another Fallout game. It's highly likely to be Fallout: New Vegas.

The fact that these globally renowned game developers are releasing videos one by one has already caused a huge sensation in the gaming industry.

I thought the speech by the founder of the Fallout IP was the grand finale.

Unexpectedly, the god of 3D games spoke up.

John Carmack!
He holds a legendary status among gamers worldwide.

He pioneered 3D games.

In the future, this super expert will join Oculus Rift as Chief Technology Officer, ushering in the era of virtual reality.

His remarks were very simple.

"Fallout 3 is incredibly excellent, the biggest surprise in years!"

His speech brought the already enthusiastic Fallout 3 spokesperson campaign to its climax.

Following this, other media outlets around the world also released their reviews.

They almost completely contradicted IGN and GAMESPOT.

Global gaming media outlets such as Game Informer, Edge, Eurogamer, 1UP, Joystiq, and Kotaku have all given Fallout 3 amazingly high scores and showered it with praise.

Suddenly, the most authoritative GS and IGN seemed to be isolated.

Then, a conspiracy theory-laden exposé spread throughout the gaming world.

"A despicable hunt!"

This article is 80% true and 20% false!
It was said that Lin Xiao owed a billion dollars in debt and mortgaged his shares in three unicorn companies: YouTube, Facebook, and Dreaming Vision.

These shares are currently worth billions of dollars, and he has less than six months left before he has to repay his debts.

Several global giants are trying to shamelessly hunt him down, causing him to default on his debts and seizing his shares in three unicorn companies.

Therefore, we need to find ways to suppress the IP products under his control.

Fallout 3 was just the beginning; next up is Kung Fu Panda.

Moreover, this article does not name the mastermind, but implicitly points to Microsoft, Google, Blizzard, Morgan Stanley, and others.

People all over the world love conspiracy theories and enjoy watching gossip.

Gamers, in particular, have a strong ability to fill in the blanks.

This article spread across Western networks in a very short time, pushing the debate between Halo 3 and Fallout 3 to an even greater climax.

So much so that when Microsoft executives attended certain events, they were interviewed by reporters about whether they were the masterminds behind this conspiracy.

Microsoft executives vehemently denied the allegations.

"We are a responsible global company, and to be honest, I didn't even know Fallout 3 existed. That article was far too far-fetched."

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime stated in an interview, "We have never considered Lightning Games as a competitor!"

"I think a game company should focus more on the game products themselves."

"The product is everything, even the advertising."

Good luck with Fallout 3!

........................

Thus, in the two weeks leading up to the official release of Fallout 3, a great deal of noise and speculation arose.

Not only this game, but even Halo 3 has become the most anticipated product in the global gaming industry.

Gamers worldwide are watching these two games closely, eagerly awaiting their release.

Honestly, unless absolutely necessary, games shouldn't launch too strong a media offensive.

If the product quality is really good, then of course everything will be fine.

However, if the game has flaws, it will backfire and cause a negative impact.

Cyberpunk 2077 was almost a complete flop.

But this time, the promotion of Fallout 3 was indeed perfectly timed, as it coincided with the secret hunt by several major players for Lin Xiao's core assets.

Such a massive amount of exposure and promotional campaign has pushed the expectations of gamers worldwide to their limit.

Moreover, at this time, the US market seemed to have become the main stage for the propaganda.

In the Chinese market, this storm didn't really reach them. This was because the Chinese gaming market at that time was almost entirely dominated by online games, and single-player games had practically disappeared.

In 2007, the sales revenue of China's online game market exceeded 10 billion yuan, while that of single-player games was only tens of millions.

Moreover, Steam had not yet fully developed at that time, so Chinese single-player game players were almost completely disconnected from the rest of the world.

Even the number of players of pirated games is not that many anymore.

Even more frightening is that there are almost no physical stores selling games anymore.

Even so, Fallout 3's global release not only included the Chinese market, but was also released ahead of schedule.

In other parts of the world, it will be released on September 1st.

The only exception is the Chinese market, which is August 30th.

Moreover, in major global markets, Fallout 3 is priced at $60, making it one of the most expensive games available.

This year, only a handful of games, such as Call of Duty 4 and Mass Effect, have been priced at this highest level.

In the Chinese market, it is priced at only 200 RMB, which is about 40% of the price in major global markets.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of physical sales channels, most people can only download and purchase this game through Facebook's gaming channel.

..............................

Yao, the CEO of Softstar, is from Taiwan. He developed famous games such as Monopoly and Legend of Sword and Fairy.

Several years ago, he ventured into mainland China with ambitious plans to develop the domestic single-player game market.

In August of this year, "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4" was released and achieved a remarkable sales record of 200,000 copies in one week.

Therefore, the companies he represented, Softstar and Softstar Entertainment, almost represented the highest level of Chinese single-player games.

He envied Lightning Games' Fallout 3 project because Lin Xiao was willing to invest such an astonishing amount of money in it.

However, while he admired him, he also harbored doubts.

We, Softstar and Softstar, represent the most advanced productivity in single-player games. Your Fallout 3 was aimed at the whole world from the very beginning. Isn't that too ambitious?

At least Jade Dynasty is a domestic IP, while Fallout is a purely American IP. Can you handle that?

Furthermore, the domestic single-player game market is so desolate and sluggish that it cannot be saved by just one or two games.

However, he remained in front of the computer, and as soon as the time came, he immediately bought Fallout 3 and started downloading it.

10.6G?

Such a large capacity?

Given the current network conditions, how long will it take to download?
However, his internet connection was very fast, and the download was completed in no time.

Then, enter the game and start playing!
Just a few minutes later!

He was completely stunned.

This...this game screen?
It's far superior to "The Legend of Sword and Fairy 4"—they're from completely different eras.

He began to recall the games he had played this year, including even world-class AAA titles.

Then, there was a very obvious feeling.

The game graphics of Fallout 3 in front of me are the best.

The graphics of "Zhu Xian" are already very good, but it still has the style of an online game and is not as good as mainstream single-player games in the world.

I never imagined that Fallout 3 would be able to make such a big leap.
This...this is probably the highest level of graphics quality in the entire world of games, right?
I can't believe this is a product from a mainland Chinese game company.

Even though its main development location is in the United States, its parent company is Flashgames.

This feeling becomes even more pronounced when the protagonist leaves the underground shelter and ventures into the outside world.

This is fun!
Time seemed to disappear.

Before I knew it, several hours had passed.

He was deeply shocked.

In mainland Chinese parlance, or in Beijing parlance, that's awesome!

This is a masterpiece!

Although he is from Taiwan, almost all the major single-player games he plays are foreign and in English.

However, this Fallout 3 game is unique in that it has Chinese dubbing from beginning to end, and it does indeed contain a large number of Chinese elements.

This feeling is so strange, yet so wonderful.

This really crushed his Softstar and Daewoo to an unknown extent.

....................................

9 month 1 day.

Fallout 3 and Halo 3 have been officially released.

Both games sold like hotcakes!
Lin Xiao originally planned to slip in quietly and subtly, completely downplaying the Chinese parent company background of Fallout 3, so that Americans would think it was purely developed by an American game studio.

However, the recent media storm made it impossible for him to hide it anymore; almost all players knew that this was a product of a Chinese company.

Moreover, they are preparing to compete with Halo 3.

Despite numerous endorsements from renowned game developers, most Western and Japanese gamers still don't believe a Chinese game company can develop a top-tier single-player masterpiece.

To date, no Chinese game has been able to expand overseas.

There isn't a single game.

Halo 3, developed by Microsoft, is itself one of the biggest game IPs.

Halo 1 and Halo 2 were both huge successes.

However, the fact that so many game developers, including the legendary John Carmack, have come forward to say that Fallout 3 is the biggest surprise has sparked immense curiosity among countless gamers.

Does this Chinese game company's product really have that much appeal?

Or is this just a public relations tactic by Sony Electronic Entertainment?
There was a person who would be incredibly successful in the future, and was also a typical game enthusiast.

Elon Musk.

At this time, although he had already founded SpaceX, he was far from being as famous as he would be in the future, nor was he a top-tier billionaire, and his PayPal syndicate had not yet taken shape.

He first played Halo 3.

As the final chapter of the Halo trilogy, it is also considered the most important game.

It's fair to say that this IP is the backbone of Microsoft's gaming portfolio, without exception.

Microsoft invested $55 million in development costs and $200 million in advertising costs.

The level is undoubtedly very, very high.

Twenty-odd hours later.

Musk has ended his journey with Halo 3.

He felt it was fantastic and wanted more.

He wasn't the only one; a large number of gamers in the United States felt the same way.

After playing Halo 3, they felt they had no motivation to play other games for a while, and they found it hard to believe that Fallout 3 could be compared to Halo 3.

It wasn't until around September 5th!
Musk finally opened Fallout 3 after returning home.

His first impression was that the game's graphics were actually a bit better than Halo 3!
This is a bit crazy, because this is a product developed by a Chinese game company.

I don't know how long it will be!
He stared incredulously at the sky outside; it was already dawn.

At that moment, he had only one feeling.

Carmack was right, this... this game is the biggest surprise in the gaming world in years!
This is absolutely insane! A Chinese company's first single-player game released to the world has reached such an incredible level?

..............................

Note: Dear benefactors, if you haven't cast your guaranteed monthly vote yet, please do so! Thank you!
I recommend "The Long March 1995," a book based on the true experiences of a certain industry veteran. You might be pleasantly surprised!
(End of this chapter)