Game companies, in the metaverse era, will be the high-quality assets that the giants are vying for, but Nintendo may have a different view of this.
On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced plans to spend 68.7 billion yuan to acquire the game company Activision Blizzard to prepare sufficient ammunition for its future competition in the meta-universe game field.
When the news came, the market was shocked. After seeing the sky-high purchase amount, many netizens have sighed: "Poverty limits my imagination" and "The world of rich people is so simple and boring.".
However, in stark contrast to Microsoft's radical style, is Nintendo, which has a strong position in the game industry. In today's era when everyone talks about metaverses, this game company, one of the world's three major OEMs, does not seem to be cold to the concept of "metacosm". In the face of the layout of each competitor, I put on an attitude of "Ren'er wind and rain, I stand still".
Meta-universe, giants in action
Since the internet giant Facebook changed its name to Meta in the second half of 2021, the metaverse concept has been on fire, and it has been a mess.
In the three hundred and sixty lines, it seems that only the game industry is currently the closest to the metaverse, and there is a possibility of the first realization of the metaverse application scenario.
In order to get the entrance ticket to the meta-universe as soon as possible and enter the beautiful meta-universe, various game manufacturers have begun their own layout.
As early as 2021, Microsoft CEO Nadella said to the outside world: "In terms of the concept of metaverse, Microsoft players can regard "The Last Battle" as a metaverse, and can also regard "Minecraft" and "Flight Simulator" as a metaverse. Players can expect Microsoft to make a difference when it comes to gaming platforms. ”
And Nadella has not reneged on his word at all, and Microsoft, which has been a game for 23 years, has now made such a large investment in the game field, which is enough to see its emphasis on the concept of metaverse.
After the acquisition is completed, Microsoft will become the world's third-largest game company after Tencent and Sony. It will have at least 30 game development studios as well as additional esports organizational capabilities. And many well-known IPs such as "Diablo", "Warcraft", "Call of Duty" and so on will also be included in Microsoft's pocket.
The third oldest in the industry has begun to run wildly in the direction of the meta-universe, and the eldest and the second cannot be idle.
Also at the beginning of 2022, the news came out of the industry: Tencent intends to acquire the game mobile phone company Black Shark Technology. If the acquisition is completed and merged into Tencent's Black Shark Technology, the future business focus may shift from game phones to VR devices.
Prior to this, Tencent successively registered a number of trademarks such as "King Meta Universe", "Tian dollar universe", "QQ meta universe" and so on. It seems to be to "meta-universe" the entire company, and to package all products into the metacosm.
Compared with Microsoft and Tencent, Sony seems to have taken a bigger step. At the recent CES show, Sony unveiled its latest VR device: the PS VR2.
This VR device introduces a new sensory function: it can simulate the feeling of the character's pulse speeding up, or the object approaching the character, and the device can also be perfectly simulated by the device, such as the object skimming over the top quickly, or the thrust felt by the player when driving.
Through the real sensory experience of this VR device, the player's experience in the game will become more realistic and the game will be more immersive.
It can be seen that the giants in the field of games have made sufficient preparations for the upcoming meta-universe era.
The booster of stock prices, the jackpot of hype
Some game manufacturers have really exerted efforts in the metacosm; some game manufacturers have regarded the metacosm as a golden oil and the metacosm as a tool for making money.
In March 2021, Roblox, an online game creation platform in the United States, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Because it first wrote the concept of metaverse into the prospectus, it was called "the first stock of metacosm".
As the concept of the metaverse becomes more and more popular, Roblox's stock price has also reached new highs, which has made many people envious.
Seeing that this bottle of golden oil in the meta-universe has such a miraculous curative effect, many game manufacturers in the industry began to sit still.
As early as September 2021, the domestic game company Zhongqingbao released the news to the outside world: it will develop a game related to the concept of the meta-universe - "Brewing Master". After the news came, the stock price of Zhongqingbao soared, and in more than a month, the market value quadrupled.
At the beginning of 2022, Li Ruijie, chairman of Zhongqingbao, posted such a dynamic on Weibo: "Can't help but spoil the H5 version of the meta-universe game "Brewmaster", which began to approach my requirements. There are also 2D, 3D, VR, overseas, and Robros versions behind it. ”
However, judging from the H5 version of the game's demo video, whether it is the picture quality or UI, whether it is the gameplay or style, Brewmaster is not like a metaverse game that will be released in 2022.
Mr. Li of Zhongqingbao gave this game such high praise, I don't know if I haven't played the game for a long time, or I think that netizens haven't played the game for a long time.
Sure enough, after seeing the demo video of the game, many netizens couldn't sit still. In the message of Zhongqingbao Li Zong's Weibo, there are many negative comments such as "Obviously it is a 2D small game" and "game screen with a sense of age".
A Weibo related to the meta-universe game "Brewery Master", because of the indignation of negative comments from netizens, became the scene of the "Spit Conference".
In addition to Zhongqingbao, there are also some domestic game manufacturers that are also speculating on their own value by wading into the field of meta-universe.
In the game industry, companies such as 37 Interactive Entertainment, DreamWorld, Electric Soul Network and 4399 all follow the principle of "products are not moved, trademarks come first" and register trademarks related to the concept of meta-universe for themselves.
These game companies in the metaverse field, although no products have been made, but the slogans are loud enough and loud enough.
In this way, the metacosm has indeed become a panacea. No matter who it is, no matter which company it is, you must take the meta-universe and rub it on your body.
However, unlike most game manufacturers, Nintendo, which has always been famous in the game industry, has lost its voice in the metaverse this time.
Nintendo: One step away, just not step
In fact, the seemingly obscure Nintendo, as early as thirty years ago, has been involved in the metaverse. Only that time it failed.
In the 1990s, Nintendo, under the leadership of then-president Jun Yokoi, went all out to develop a VR device: the Virtual Boy. However, compared to the level of technology at that time, Nintendo's steps were too big.
Problems such as insufficient battery life, insufficient internal space of hardware configuration, and substandard screen rendering appear one after another on this advanced VR device. In the end, after the bitter lesson of the market, Nintendo's Virtual Boy disappeared.
Although it was once folded on the metaverse, many of Nintendo's products today are very close to the concept of the metaverse. In terms of game peripherals and game content, Nintendo seems to be only one step away from the real meta-universe.
In the Mario Kart series of games, in order to allow players to better experience the fun of driving, Nintendo equipped players with a special somatosensory peripheral steering wheel. In the game "Fitness Ring Adventure", the peripheral somatosensory fitness ring and leggings have become the standard of the game, and the player sweats like rain.
In addition, items such as game shooting guns, fishing rods, tennis rackets, and jump ropes also appear in Nintendo's peripheral family to help players better participate in the game.
Although there is no tall VR device, through these strange game peripherals, Nintendo players can still be immersed in the game as if they were there.
In terms of the content of the game, many of Nintendo's works also have some metaverse shadows.
In the Zelda Legends series of games, the protagonist Link, who plays the role of the player, will enter an open world. In this world, there are no fixed levels and no missions that must be completed.
As a player, you can fight wild boars, explore temples, and cook a dark meal. You can even do nothing but sit alone on the grass and look at the scenery in the distance.
Another game, Animal Forest Friends, is infinitely closer to the game form of the metaverse. In this game, players can build houses, buy and sell items, chat and socialize, and start a business to get rich exactly according to their own ideas.
Animal Friends has also been developed by players with other features. During the epidemic in 2020, ACAI, the top AI academic conference, once held a seminar in the "Animal Forest Friends Association", and speakers from all over the world played PPT and spoke in this game.
Is this scene almost the same as the so-called "metaverse conference" that is now popular?
In this way, Nintendo, which does not follow the trend, has actually been secretly working on the road to the metaverse.
Is it the future, or the hype?
Not only Nintendo, but many games today actually have the prototype of the concept of metaversics.
A variety of online games, because they can set their own character shapes, have a clear world structure, and have a free trading system, can be related to the metaverse concept of today's fire.
In fact, the essence of the metaverse is a virtual world that is different from the real world. After people enter this virtual world, they can play their favorite roles and do what they like. In this world, the unhappiness in reality will be completely dissipated, and all that remains is good.
In this way, the metaverse does not seem to be far away from us. A long time ago, we experienced all kinds of fun in the game similar to the metaverse concept.
But why do today's many game companies make a big fuss about the metaverse concept?
Because, in the Internet age, concepts come first. Those companies in the game industry, in order to increase their stock prices and increase their profits, are eager to stick all new concepts to themselves.
Today's enterprises, as long as their products and metaverses are a little bit related, they must write a big book on publicity; as long as the business is related to the metacosm, they must add the three words "metacosm" to the enterprise concept column.
For many companies, metacosm becomes a dish that can be fried, made and, most importantly, hyped.
Many game companies today regard the meta-universe as a wealth code, and have put up the banner of the meta-universe, and the product has not yet come out, and the concept is first. They are desperate for product development, but they have given up the most important things such as fun, fun, and happiness. They are racing all the way to chasing the wind outlet and hyping the concept, but they forget to look back at the user.
For the game industry, it doesn't matter what concept you have, it's fun; for game companies, it doesn't matter how novel the product is, it's important to be interesting. For the general public, whether it is a meta-universe or a square universe, as long as the game is fun, it is a happy universe.
In this day and age, everything can be hyped. However, the more things that fly up with hype, the more they will fall when they fall.
We don't want to see that the current hotly hyped meta-universe concept will also end up in a chicken feather.