Chapter 2444 Free is human nature

Xu Baihui twisted her slender waist, waved her white hands, and left the study.

Zhou Buqi is a bit baffled.

Don't know what she means.

Jieyu Media is indeed a company founded by the "Ten School Entrepreneurship Alliance". In theory, Zhou Buqi has the greatest say. This is also everyone's consensus.

But in Zhou Buqi's view, this was Xu Baihui's company. He never pointed out Jieyu Media's business. When Xu Baihui was in trouble, he would lend a hand to help but would not interfere with any of her decisions.

Zhou Buqi did not want to become a chaebol, but to rely on business territory to compete for political power.

Jieyu Media is not his core asset.

He has no position in the company, not even a director.

There are actually five companies where Zhou Buqi serves as chairman, namely Changyou, Ziweixing Global and Ziweixing Digital Media, which are already listed, as well as Ziweixing and Ziweixing International, which are preparing to go public.

The business of these five major companies is enough for him to be overwhelmed.

He's not that controlling.

Jieyu Media, Taizun Real Estate, Yuanwei Group, Asda, Jingtao, Chaowan Commune, Netflix... Anyway, each has its own destiny. These are not companies directly under the jurisdiction of Zhou Buqi, but more scattered. Nurturing attitude.

Xu Baihui left here, and Zhou Buqi held an online Changyou executive meeting.

The main topic is the strategic direction of take-two, a subsidiary acquired last year.

take-two is a company that mainly produces AAA large-scale computer games.

But Changyou’s core strategy is to make mobile games.

There are some differences.

Therefore, the discussion at this meeting mainly revolved around take-two. Should we also launch mobile versions of take-two's computer games...

There is no doubt about this!

When Zhou Buqi was so optimistic about take-two and strongly promoted the merger, he was also interested in take-two's many high-quality game IPs.

However, at this meeting, he did not agree with this idea.

Changyou's current core strategy is to make mobile games and take advantage of the early stage of the smartphone market to develop enough excellent mobile games to capture users' minds.

However, Changyou’s resources are limited.

During this period of time when competition in the market is weak and it is easier to grab territory, more energy should be spent on promoting those "new games".

Make these "new games" successful.

As for take-two's flagship games... there's actually no rush at all, the sites have all been reserved.

For example, NBA games under the 2K series.

This is the crown in basketball games!

There are many basketball mobile games in the market, but there is actually no rush at all. Whoever is willing to do it, let them do it. Changyou doesn’t have to rush to do it. For the time being, let them give up the territory of basketball mobile games to them.

When Changyou is free in the future, other areas have been almost occupied. I feel it is time to take back the territory of basketball mobile games, so I will just launch the mobile version of NBA2K.

Relying on the "2K" brand and the user mentality established over the years, it is easy to strike later.

Now, Changyou needs to put more thought and resources into those areas where it has little confidence, and compete for those territories that are full of uncertainty.

The big boss spoke, and everyone agreed.

The temporary strategic line of take-two will not change.

It will continue to focus on computer games.

After the meeting, Changyou's overseas CEO Don Mattrick had a video call with Zhou Buqi and talked about some larger strategic directions.

Mattrick said: "I think the time is relatively mature. We should gradually cancel the strategy of paid mobile games and fully promote free games."

"What's the reason?"

Zhou Buqi sat upright in front of the computer camera.

Next to him, Aunt Xue came with a snack and fruit plate, placed it gently on his desk, and then mouthed to him: "Go to bed early."

Zhou Buqi could only nod.

He didn't want to simply make out, so he could only avoid the camera, reach out and pat her waist at the table, and also signaled her to go back and go to bed early.

On the other side, Mattrick said: "In the past few years, many mobile games have been paid versions, including our "Angry Birds", "Talking Cats", "Plants vs. Zombies", etc., all have paid versions. .A very important reason is to increase income and reduce expenses.”

Zhou Buqi said "hmm".

Mattrick continued: "Paid games mean that the number of players will not be that many. With fewer players, there will be less pressure on the servers, and game companies will invest less in infrastructure. Many mobile game companies As a small entrepreneurial company, this model allows them to operate the game at the lowest cost. And the paid download model can also make the most intuitive profits."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "But in fact, free games are more profitable than paid games."

Mattrick said: "Yes, we already have many data-based arguments here, such as "Angry Birds." In the past year, the paid version of "Angry Birds" has completed a total of 2.8 sales worldwide. 100 million downloads, we earned $200 million in revenue; the free version of Angry Birds brought us more than $430 million in revenue."

Zhou Buqi said: "Props sales?"

Mattrick said: "Not only are props sold, but there are also built-in soft and hard advertisements, such as Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Jack Jones, Nike and other trademarks that can be built into the game content. Even Manchester United gave a sum of 2 million US dollars in sponsorship fees and advertising revenue reached US$80 million.”

Because it is a free game, there are a lot of players.

Many players don’t know how to spend money to buy props, so how to make money from them?

Advertising is the best answer.

The higher the number of players, the higher the advertising costs.

"Angry Birds" has become a god-level game owned by Changyou. It was the mobile game with the highest revenue in the world last year. A related spin-off film project has been approved, with DreamWorks Animation in charge and Jeffrey Katzenberg personally directing the film. The initial plan is to produce a trilogy of animated films.

The first animated movie will be shot this year and it is expected to be released next year.

Mattrick said: “Not only that, the average online time of the free version is longer than that of the paid version.”

Zhou Buqi had never played this game, but he could basically guess some of the design strategies and asked: "Incentive mechanism?"

Mattrick said: "Yes, it's an incentive. In the paid version, you don't need to spend money to buy props; in the free version, players need to spend money to buy props, or do some online tasks to redeem props. Spending money to buy props can It brings the joy of consumption...well, this is the sense of superiority brought by spending money. Without spending money to buy props, you can also be very active in doing some online tasks, which can further enhance the appeal of the game."

This is similar to Zhou Buqi’s guess, “The free version of the game is more in line with human nature.”

Mattrick said: "That's right! Those who don't want to spend money don't spend money; those who want to spend money can buy props to gain a sense of superiority in the game. This strategy meets the needs of all players. In comparison However, the paid version is too monotonous. It is just for the sake of playing games. This is a purely clean game mode. Making the purest good games should be the concept of 3A games on the computer side, and it does not seem to be suitable for mobile games."

It’s hard for Zhou Buqi to elaborate on this kind of conceptual analysis. He is just an outsider. “So Changyou will change its mobile game market strategy next?”

Mattrick said: "Yes, we should comprehensively promote free games and gradually give up and withdraw from the paid game market. The model of free + props + built-in soft advertising is the most suitable development strategy for mobile games."