Restart life

Chapter 397 0387 [The ultimate goal of browser games is gacha pulls]

hotel.

Director Kou asked, "You want to sell games to the Middle East?"

Chen Guiliang nodded: "I have that plan."

Director Kou said, "It's very difficult. 'Future Era' wouldn't pass censorship in the Middle East because it contains sectarian and religious elements. Even though it's a fictional future world with its own sectarian and religious elements, it still definitely wouldn't pass censorship. Moreover, console games and shooting games are popular in the Middle East; other types of games don't perform well."

"We have to give it a try," Chen Guiliang said.

“Good luck,” Director Kou said. “If needed, and assuming the content is correct, I can help you contact diplomats from those countries stationed in China. Then, through them, we can contact the game distributors in the Middle East.”

Chen Guiliang said happily, "Thank you for your support, leaders!"

Why did Chen Guiliang dare to publicly say that he wanted to enter the Middle East market?

Because he had already investigated the current state of the gaming market in various Middle Eastern countries through an international consulting firm.

Counter-Strike (CS) is banned in some Middle Eastern countries! The violence involved is secondary; the main issue is who you're actually fighting terrorism against.

World of Warcraft is banned in most Middle Eastern countries! Magic, the undead, and faith simply cannot pass censorship.

GTA has been banned in all Middle Eastern countries! Due to its violence, crime, and sexual innuendo.

Even a green and healthy game like "Future Era" would not pass censorship in the Middle East.

Only sports-related games are the easiest to pass, such as "Pro Evolution Soccer".

Under these circumstances, when Chen Guiliang said he wanted to enter the Middle Eastern market, his peers' first reaction was not to follow suit, but to doubt and ridicule him for being out of his mind.

As expected, in subsequent reports, gaming media outlets discussing GameSpot's plans to expand into the Middle East all implied that Chen Guiliang was becoming somewhat arrogant. The Middle East is a relatively undeveloped market for online games; no game company from any country can make money off the oil tycoons there.

With Director Kou's introduction, Chen Guiliang soon met with Ahmed Al-Mansouri, the Commercial Counselor of the UAE Embassy in China, after returning to Beijing.

Ahmed usually wears a suit, but he probably wore a robe specifically to appear more formal for the appointment.

"Hello, Mr. Chen!" Ahmed's Chinese is quite good; he has been living in China for several years.

"It is an honor to meet you, Counselor," Chen Guiliang said, shaking hands.

The two sat down and chatted for a while, during which Chen Guiliang inquired about the taboos associated with selling games to the Middle East.

He knew this before his rebirth, but since it was several years later, he didn't know the current situation.

Ahmed said, "Anything related to religion should ideally be avoided, including supernatural elements such as magic and witchcraft. Avoid elements like pigs, alcohol, and crosses. Do not use the six-pointed star symbol. Female characters should not be dressed provocatively..."

Chen Guiliang asked, "What if players take on the role of a Sultan from hundreds of years ago, resisting a Crusader invasion? Could the cross symbol, as a villain's mark, appear in the game?"

Ahmed's eyes lit up immediately: "You want to make a game where the Middle Eastern characters are the good guys, resisting the Crusader invasion?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Resisting the Crusader invasion is only part of the game. The main thing is that players compete for supremacy in the Middle East."

"Please wait a moment, let me call and ask." Ahmed was very proactive and immediately took out his phone to make a call.

The Middle East lacks the ability to develop its own games, and foreign developers are unlikely to feature Middle Eastern characters as protagonists.

Let's not even mention "Prince of Persia," where the prince turns his father into a sand monster and is forced to kill him. Although he manages to reverse time and stop it all, it still raises suspicions of being banned.

To this day, Middle Eastern gamers still don't have their own games!
Ahmed apologized, took his phone, and walked out, muttering in a language that Chen Guiliang couldn't understand.

"Yes, he wants players to play as a Sultan from hundreds of years ago, resisting the Crusader invasion, and asked if Cross elements could be included... This company is very powerful, ranked second in the Chinese online game industry... Yes, he is very respectful of our traditions, specifically inquiring about taboos... Okay, I'll inquire more carefully..."

Ten minutes later, Ahmed returned and asked, "Mr. Chen, are you making a single-player game, a console game, or an online game?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Online games."

Ahmed asked, "How large is the investment?"

Chen Guiliang said, "This is just a trial run; the investment won't be huge. It's a web game."

"It's just a browser game," Ahmed said, sounding slightly disappointed.

Chen Guiliang said, "I guarantee it will be a very exciting browser game, and it will be tailor-made for Middle Eastern players. If this is successful, I may develop a game with a larger investment in the future, based on the Middle Eastern market."

Ahmed nodded: "I understand. Given the current state of the Middle Eastern gaming market, no company dares to invest in large-scale games. Mr. Chen, you can leave your email address, and I'll send you a list of prohibited content later."

Chen Guiliang said, "I'd also like to know about your country's various festivals and traditional customs, so I can organize a series of celebrations in the game." Ahmed laughed and said, "You even have celebrations for traditional festivals? Mr. Chen, what you've said makes me want to play this game too. No problem, I'll send them to you."

"Thank you for your support, Counselor." Chen Guiliang stood up and shook hands.

Official information alone cannot create a good game; it only sets the basic framework. (And it must be used to avoid violations.)

We also need to bring in real Middle Eastern folks to work on the details.

After visiting the commercial counselor in the UAE, Chen Guiliang went on to visit the commercial counselors in Persia and Turkey.

……

With the Spring Festival approaching and the annual meeting just around the corner.

Several consultants from Game Science have arrived.

Dr. Zan, a postdoctoral fellow at Peking University, will soon become a lecturer in the Department of History at Peking University. His main research areas are Middle Eastern history and international relations. He also spent a year as a visiting scholar in Turkey.

The remaining few were all Middle Eastern students.

To be honest, it's not easy to find Middle Eastern students these days.

For example, Saudi Arabia only launched the "King's Program to Send Students to China" in 2007. So far, only two cohorts have been sent, totaling just over 200 students, who are distributed across various universities in China.

"Today, the main purpose is to introduce everyone to us so that we can officially start making games after the Spring Festival."

Chen Guiliang introduced, "This is Dr. Zan. After the spring, we should call him Professor Zan. He has been hired by Peking University as a professor in the History Department."

"Clap clap clap!"

Amid applause, Dr. Zan smiled and said, "I've never worked on games before, so I was quite surprised when Mr. Chen asked me to be his game consultant. To be honest, we're all young people, and we're working together on something as fun as games, so I'm sure we'll get along very well in the future."

Next, the international students were introduced, and they were invited to speak.

These international students usually have the character "华" in their Chinese names, and most of them were given names by their Chinese teachers.

People like Li Yanhua, Zhang Lehua, and Yang Muhua are similar to Jian Guo and Wei Guo in that they feel like they're talking about building the country and defending the country.

Later, as the number of international students increased, and they began to choose their own names, that truly allowed them to express themselves freely. Their habit was to share names with famous figures from ancient times, resulting in a variety of Chinese names such as Cao Cao, Li Bai, Liu Bei, and Ma Chao…

……

After seeing Dr. Zan and the international students off, Chen Guiliang convened a meeting with the company's web game department.

"Except for the web version of 'Three Kingdoms Kill,' all further development of existing web game projects has been halted. Only operations staff will remain; we'll keep going for as long as we can, and if revenue is too poor, we'll shut down the servers." Chen Guiliang cut projects without hesitation.

The person in charge of web games is Song Yiyang, a graduate of Peking University. He worked part-time at Youke during its early stages and even promoted physical cards for the game "Three Kingdoms Kill". He left Youke midway through his career and only officially joined the company after graduating.

Song Yiyang forced a smile and said, "Actually, excluding the web version of 'Three Kingdoms Kill,' the company's other web games generated a net profit of over 700 million yuan last year. If we only consider revenue and gross profit, it's even more..."

“I don’t want to criticize anyone, after all, none of you have experience in making web games. It’s already pretty good if you can make a few million in net profit a year,” Chen Guiliang interrupted directly. “I called you here to teach you how to make web games!”

Everyone looked at each other.

Song Yiyang asked, "Is it that Middle Eastern game?"

Chen Guiliang laughed, "How could we only target the Middle Eastern market? The browser game I'm making has one core gameplay element that remains unchanged: gacha, gacha, and more gacha! In the Middle East, it could be called 'The Sultan's Revenge.' In Japan, it could be called 'The Daimyo's Ambition.' In China, it could be called 'The Three Kingdoms.' We could even make fantasy, martial arts, Western fantasy, business war... just reskins!"

A browser game developer named Ke Fan asked, "How do I draw cards?"

Chen Guiliang explained, "It's a character card. The player, as the lord, needs to recruit civil or military officials. These civil and military characters come with various attributes that can increase the development speed of the territory and improve the combat power of the army. The card levels are divided into white, green, blue, purple, and orange. A newbie gift pack is given at the start of the game, which includes game resources and a purple character card."

"You can refer to the various pay-to-win systems in 'The Emperor's Reign' for reference. Basically, it's all about attracting players to recharge and draw cards; with cards, you have everything. Take the Three Kingdoms as an example: the Five Tiger Generals, the Five Elite Generals, Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, and Zhou Yu are all included. Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, Diao Chan, Zhen Ji, and Sun Shangxiang are also included. Even Yang Guifei, Xi Shi, and Zhao Feiyan can be crammed in..."

"Take the Middle East special edition for example. We can include all the famous historical generals from various Middle Eastern countries, as well as those ancient beauties from the Middle East. If local laws allow it, we can even add a marriage system, allowing players to marry several ancient beauties. The children born to these beauties can have their attributes developed by spending money, turning them into a special type of general card that can grow. They'll feel a great sense of accomplishment as they train their sons from white to orange, and they'll be willing to spend any amount of money."

"In some Middle Eastern countries, female game characters need to wear veils. If a player marries one of these female characters, they can remove the veils. I've inquired, and their policies allow it. Just the act of removing the veil is enough to excite the oil-producing guys. So, you can't just let them get married easily; you have to make them spend money to get a wife. The reason for spending money is that the other party's family needs a grand wedding."

"If it's a modern business simulation version, then recruit secretaries and managers. Secretaries must be beautiful, and you should give them different character backgrounds. Of course, there should also be male secretaries and male managers, just in case female players are playing?"

A group of employees from the web game department took out their notebooks and frantically took notes.

(End of this chapter)