Chapter 503 The end of the gamble! The darkest moment!
[According to statistics, as of 20:00 yesterday, "GTFO" has been online for 7 days]
[A total of 4,079,527 game sets sold]
[The average game time played by players is 212 minutes]
[A1-A3 clearance rate: 50.5%]
[B1-B3 clearance rate: 20.66%]
[C1-C3 clearance rate: 9.08%]
[D1-D2 clearance rate: 1.95%]
One week!
Total global sales exceeded four million units!
You know, GTFO has no pre-publicity phase at all.
In order to ensure a fatal blow and overthrow Fantasy in the shortest possible time, this time GTFO was almost a race against time from the establishment of the project to the launch of the game.
The purpose is to give "Endless Dark Tide" another blow to cool it down completely when it suffers heavy damage from Cai Liu.
Once the decision is made, it will be done and sent out!
There is no publicity link at all!
After all, for GTFO, it is enough to have a label of "comparison to "Endless Undertide"".
And in this case!
GTFO, which had no pre-release publicity, was able to achieve sales of over 4 million in the first week!
This sales data itself is enough to be called crazy.
but!
What’s crazier than its sales is its game difficulty and its jaw-dropping game clearance rate!
On the first level of the game alone, half of the players have been wiped out, and only 50% of the players have passed the level!
And in the next three floors, the number of players who can pass the level decreases rapidly!
As a result, when it comes to level D, only one out of ten players can pass the level, and the pass rate is only 1.95%!
Among a hundred players, less than two can pass through the D floor!
and!
This is not over yet!
Look further down——
[Number of people passing the E1 level: 202 people]
That’s right! Number of people!
Because the number of players who have passed the final level is too small, even less than 0.01%!
Golden Wind simply changed the unit of measurement for game clearance and replaced the percentage with a specific number of people!
A game!
More than four million people around the world have purchased and played the game!
A full 168 hours a week!
There are five continents and seven oceans in the world, 233 countries and regions!
The number of players who can completely clear the level barely reaches two hundred!
And among these two hundred people!
As the developer, Golden Wind’s “Bandit President Group” also occupies four!
For players who have completed the game naturally, there are 198 players in total!
You know, generally speaking, the difficulty of a game is often directly proportional to its sales.
The more difficult the game, the higher the negative feedback, the lower the player's patience, and the bleaker the sales.
This rule cannot escape even a game company like Golden Wind, which is good at providing players with high positive feedback in difficult games.
For example, the original Sekiro and Dark Souls released in the middle of this year.
One of the two is the originator of the "wolf game" and a milestone in its creation.
One is the Super 3S, which combines the culmination of "wolf games" and the top rendering industry level.
In terms of game quality and gameplay innovation, even among many of Golden Wind's own games, it stands out.
But in fact, the first-week sales of these two games still did not surpass the famous "Resident Evil 7", nor did they surpass the family-friendly "Two People", let alone "We", which can be called "one for each person"
world".
And find out the reason.
Is it because "Wolf" and "Soul" are not fun?
The answer is of course no.
No one can deny their gameness, and even those who love them love them to death. Even the seven-week and eight-week games are still vigorous, and there are countless wolf and soul scientists.
To put it bluntly, it is because of "high difficulty" or poor "universal applicability".
The ultra-high difficulty has discouraged many players with poor skills from the beginning, and repeated frustrations will make many players have such soul doubts as "Shouldn't games bring happiness?"
Therefore, the market and sales of this kind of game have always been slightly inferior to games of the same level.
Just like this year's "Dark Souls".
GDC global promotion, Phoenix's full support, is worthy of being the king of games of the year so far.
With the help of various top external channels, coupled with impeccable game quality, Black Soul's monthly sales can reach over 10 million.
But now!
A "GTFO" without preparation for release!
With its "super-high difficulty" that 198 people around the world have cleared, and the relatively niche game type of "horror online".
One week! Four million units sold!
Although the price of 40 knives/set plays a big role in this.
But Golden Wind’s extreme control over gameplay, the balance of positive and negative feedback, and the emotions of online players is enough to cause an uproar in the gaming circle!
For a time, from the media to players to friends and business colleagues, there was endless discussion about GTFO -!
‘No? Are you crazy? A game with a global clearance rate of less than 0.01% has sold four million copies? I don’t even know how to write news!’
‘Don’t worry, if nothing happens, the next wave of GTFO’s efforts will be coming soon (dog head)’
‘Indeed, there must be many players who will buy the game out of curiosity after seeing the report.’
‘This sales volume is unstoppable, maybe it will exceed 4.5 million next week’
‘The key is that the price of these forty dollars is too brutal. This is really a slap in the face of the endless undercurrent.’
'Didn't many people say that GW chose to remain silent and retreat in the face of the endless undercurrent? How about now...'
'I can only say that Yunwei was wrong when he chose to copy L4D's idea from the beginning. For such an important engine innovation as Fantasy VI, he chose to perform a high-definition reset of an old game of Golden Wind for his first show. It's really ridiculous.
A straw is inserted into the swallow...'
'how to say?'
‘To (zuo) die (shi)’
‘…Brother, your witty words will make me silent’
'What a fucking evil comment!'
‘Fuck—! I’m having lunch right now! You deserve to die!!!’
'Hahahahahahaha, this remark is so naughty WDNMD...'
‘A technological innovation that was originally expected to be quite high has now been rejected by GW’
'Natural advantage, there is no other way. Xiao Huang has the full sensory assistance blessing of Yiyou, which is equivalent to mastering a certain reality augmentation technology to a certain extent, but Yunwei has created it from scratch, which is equivalent to Yunwei + Fantasy =
1+1, and Golden Wind + Yiyou = 1+0.5, which is only 0.5 difference. The advantage of Endless Undercurrent is really not big...'
'Don't be embarrassed, except for the size of the Golden Wind, there is no way it can be equal to Yunwei, okay?'
'I just want to know how Huanmeng and Yunwei will react'
'Hey - what other reaction! It must be -'
…
Exploded!!!
Only a few days!
American Fantasy Engine R&D Company!
CEO Carter Walker was sitting blankly behind his desk, looking blankly at the dimmed tablet screen in front of him——
"It's hard to turn around! The performance of the Fantasy VI engine is poor! Players expressed great disappointment!"
"SNG Review Editor-in-Chief Simon Rui commented: What truly conquers players is never simply showing off their skills"
"The market value has evaporated by 3 billion in a single day! Following the release of the price adjustment policy, the single-day market value of Fantasy fell by more than 20% for the first time!"
"The bubble of fantasy will eventually burst! Where should the fantasy that is hovering on the edge of total collapse go?"
"Disastrous performance! Atlantic Financial News comments on the trap of fantasy "high-profile publicity"!"
"The building is about to collapse? Fantasy VI, which had high hopes before, may be "the straw that breaks the camel's back"
"..."
Exploded.
It all exploded.
The reviews exploded, the stock price exploded, and the market value exploded.
As Golden Wind's "GTFO" was announced, sales exceeded four million units in a single week.
Fantasy VI's debut game - "Endless Undertow", which was originally overshadowed by "Rainbow Six" - finally encountered its darkest moment.
You said that "Rainbow Six" has a high investment, with technical support from Aurora Games, and a development cost of over 200 million. Like "Endless Undertow", it is a 3S-level multiplayer game. It is completely based on late strikes and caught them off guard. You can
.
But what about GTFO?
Lower cost, less publicity, and higher difficulty than Endless Undertow.
The same theme, the same type, the same multi-person collaboration.
But in terms of somatosensory experience, effect presentation, game sales and other aspects, it completely surpassed the endless undercurrent.
What will players think?
What will investors think?
A new generation engine built with huge investment!
I wanted to make a splash in my first show, lead a new trend, regain my market share again, and become the leader in the game engine industry!
But it became a joke in the industry!
No improvement! No features! No meaning!
"Golden Wind itself, combined with Yiyou's external full-sensory assistance, is not inferior to Fantasy VI..."
"I thought Huanmeng was going to have a big show, but I didn't expect it to be a big one..."
"The early publicity was so intense, it was unprecedented, and it was ahead of the times, but in the end it was nothing special, not even comparable to GW's non-3S GTFO..."
"It's okay if you don't use this new engine, but you'll die faster if you use it..."
"I just want to increase the price of the game and make another profit..."
"I was quite hesitant at first, but in the end I came up with this thing. It is simply the biggest scam of the year..."
"Cherish life and stay away from illusions..."
"..."
All-round sales crushing!
As the media said, at this time, after the last hope of a comeback was dashed, Fantasy encountered the most deadly dark moment in the company's history!
It didn’t take Carter Walker too much thought to predict!
Next up!
What they will face is not only the large number of investors who have completely lost confidence in them and left the market, but also the abandonment of more manufacturers who had barely maintained cooperation, and the more crazy market encroachment by their peers!
Looking back on this turbulent year!
Since the price adjustment policy was announced at the beginning of the year!
Nine months so far!
The Golden Wind engine was launched and "Battlefield: Rise" was produced;
Golden Wind announced that it will cooperate with Phenix engine to jointly develop "Dark Soul";
Golden Wind announced its cooperation with Aurora Games to develop and produce "Rainbow Six";
Three major works! Three major nodes!
Every node is a direct factor leading to the fluctuation and decline of their fantasy market value!
And as this moment comes!
Golden Wind competes with Yunwei and launches the first-person thriller FPS "GTFO"!
The fatal blow finally landed on their hearts!
The already crumbling and dangerous building finally collapsed, and the already fragile and pathological bubble finally burst.
The short-term revenue increase brought about by the price adjustment policy cannot escape the subsequent fatal side effects.
Returning to the top of the industry and becoming the leader is already a dream.
Their final destination is to be abandoned by the game industry that they rely on for survival.
"...President? President!"
"ah?!"
With a cry, Carter Walker woke up from his daze.
Looking at the assistant who opened the door and entered the office at some point, Carter Walker paused for three seconds before trembling his lips and asking:
"How is it going?"
"The situation... uh..."
The assistant looked troubled and pondered for a moment, then sighed softly and said:
"Yunwei said that President Kaunik went out to attend a meeting and would meet us later. It is said that... he is heading to Neon."
"oh oh……"
Carter Walker nodded slowly, as if he had expected this result:
"As for prestige..."
But he didn't wait for him to finish.
I saw the assistant slowly shaking his head.
it is more than words.
"Good... good... good..."
After saying hello three times in a row, Carter Walker picked up the coffee drink on his desk.
I wanted to take a sip, but couldn't pour out a drop for a long time.
"you--"
The assistant stepped forward, took the drink bottle, unscrewed the cap, and handed it back to him:
"alright."
"Thank you, um, thank you..."
Carter Walker took the cappuccino drink and took a sip. He felt that today's coffee was particularly bitter.
it's over.
There is nothing left to say.
Cornick won't be meeting them "later" either.
If the news is correct, Cornick may have really gone to Neon this time.
Go to Neon to meet Comella’s chief executive Itosuke—discuss the introduction of Comella’s self-developed engine.
There are not many game groups in the world that have reliable self-developed engines, and Camera is one of them.
Of course, it goes without saying why it needs to be connected to Camera’s self-developed engine.
As for Prestige...
Carter Walker took a deep breath and exhaled in despair.
Cornick is Vivendi’s mouthpiece in the gaming industry, and naturally represents Vivendi’s attitude.
Too.
A global game engine industry flagship company with a market value of 20 billion has shrunk and plummeted to a company with a market value of over 10 billion in just nine months.
For Vivendi, what conditions do he have that are worthy of his full help?
True.
At this moment, subject to the contract, their fantasy is still the exclusive strategic partner of the Prestige team, and is a member of a conglomerate that accounts for half of the global gaming industry.
But Fantasy is not a group of companies owned by Vivendi after all.
It's an outsider.
From the beginning to the end, Fantasy is just a pawn, a sharp knife, and a way for Vivendi to punish GW.
That's all.
In fact, Carter Walker had already anticipated this before reaching a "cooperation" with Yunwei.
To put it bluntly, this is a huge gamble on his part.
The bet was won.
Huanmeng is in charge of the top spot in the game engine industry. It has the same say and free pricing.
Yunwei in the left hand, Comela in the right hand, and with the prestige of Di on his back, he can do whatever he wants.
But unfortunately, he lost the bet.
"well--"
Carter Walker knows that the exodus of investors and the collapse in market value will not stop there.
A more violent storm might even take his soul away with it.
The sad thing is that at this moment, no one is willing to lend a helping hand to him.
After all, even Vivendi, who had previously "cooperated closely" with him, abandoned him like a broken shoe, so who can he get help from?
Think of this.
Carter Walker couldn't help but close his eyes and huddled in his office chair, like a defeated dog, purring in a dull and desperate voice:
"I'm really..."
…
"...He is such a genius! Wuhu!!!"
at the same time!
Shen Miaomiao, who read the bank card SMS payment notification, cheered excitedly!
Where is the logic in this!
An accident!
Make another fortune——!!!——
PS: One update if something happens today, three updates tomorrow
