Last year, Youzu further clarified the "global card +" strategy, and guided by this strategy, Youzu made corresponding adjustments to the distribution system architecture. After this, the CIS happened to have an opportunity to have an in-depth communication with Huang Xiaojun, senior director of overseas distribution of Youzu Network, and we took the landing of the "global card +" strategy at the issuance level as the core, combined with the performance of Youzu products.
In the circumference of the CIS, the "global card +" strategy of the Nomad Network is not a one-size-fits-all idea. As a listed company, it is bound to practice and achieve preliminary results under this overall idea, and the logic is gradually clear before this idea is officially announced to the public.
Landing this idea on the specific product side, combined with its different themes and types, the final performance is also different.
In an interview with the CIS, Huang Xiaojun first took the traditional Three Kingdoms theme card game such as "Junior Three Kingdoms 2" as an example, according to her, when this work was released overseas, she began to think about how to customize the global distribution rhythm for different markets. This rhythm is simply divided by the market acceptance and maturity of category users in the three countries. From 2020 to 2021, this work has been successfully launched in China' Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States and other regions. Among them, for Thailand and Europe and the United States, two regions with different cultural attributes and market maturity, Youzu has adopted different distribution strategies.
In view of the strong explosiveness of the Thai market in the early stage, but the long-term cycle is characterized by a long-term slowness, the release has adopted a way of accelerating the version update and reducing the price of props, and has received good results. The end result was that "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" won the top five results of the Google Play and App Store best-seller lists in the month of launch.
But in Europe and the United States, the nomads do not do this. After the survey, Youzu decided to attract users from the Q version of the characters that are more acceptable in the region, and at the same time carried out in-depth localization of the theme, clearing the cultural barriers for the launch of "Three Kingdoms 2" in Europe and the United States, and it was shortlisted for the 2021 Google Play Best Game at the end of last year.
If the global distribution of "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" reflects the ability of Youzu as a global distributor to carry out multi-regional distribution for local national style themes. Then the same is its self-developed product "War and Eternity", which reflects the ability of Youzu to develop and distribute products through global ideas and resources.
Frankly speaking, as an SLG game, "War and Eternity" can be imagined in the market competition faced by the product. "War and Eternity" gives full play to the special skills of the youzu in the field of cards, effectively reduces the threshold of users, and indirectly stimulates the activity of users.
At the same time, at the packaging point level, according to Huang Xiaojun, "War and Eternity" was localized in the hero deck collection during the test period. In order to achieve a unified understanding with European and American users, the tourists have read a large number of cultural classics. Combined with the previous gameplay settings, according to the hero design, class design, etc. based on The localization process of European and American users, and finally made the product get Google Play recommendations in more than 160 countries after it was launched in Europe and the United States.
Of course, not only in Europe and the United States to achieve good results, in January this year, the product in Japan after the launch of the product ranked in the local App Store and Google Play two mainstream channels download list top three. According to Huang Xiaojun, "War and Eternity" has achieved a performance that meets the expectations of the Youzu at present.
From the point of view of time, the "globalization card +" strategy of the Youzu people has been announced since now, and it is too early to say that this strategy has been successful. However, as the CIS has said before, this strategy must be put into practice under the overall thinking and announced after there are initial results. Therefore, the past year can be regarded as a year of exploration around this strategy by the Nomads. Judging from the results, although the road ahead is unknown, at least at the moment it has won a good start for the Youzu.
Huang Xiaojun, Senior Director of Overseas Distribution of Youzu Network
The following is a transcript of the interview:
CIS: Over the past year, the Youzu Network has continued to achieve good results overseas. Compared with the past, how do you think of the achievements made by Youzu Network overseas this year?
Huang Xiaojun: In this year, youzu network has made achievements in overseas markets.
First of all, on the new product, we received "War and Eternity", which was officially launched in January 2021 and reached the top ten of the SLG category best-seller list in 30 countries, and was also recommended by Google Play. Happily, in January 2022, after the product was launched in Japan, it was in the top three of the Google Play and App Store game download lists.
In terms of old products, it also continues to perform for a long time and steadily. The benchmark product of Youzu card "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms of the Youth 2" has been deeply localized for Japan, South Korea, Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other markets, and has successfully launched multiple versions in English, Thai, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. As of June 2021, "Saint Seiya: Awakening" released by Youzu Agent has topped the best-seller list of app store games in 23 countries and regions, including France and Brazil, and has also achieved the top five best-seller lists in more than 40 countries. In view of this situation, we are also consciously carrying out some diversified activities to expand the brand influence.
01
Starting from "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2",
How to understand Youzu's "Global Card +" strategy?
CIS: Strategically, this year we can see that one of the big changes of Youzu is to clarify the strategic direction of "global card +". At the specific implementation level around this strategy, what specific things have we done that can help us to exert our strength?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, from the perspective of corporate issuance, in order to further deepen the strategy of "global card +", Youzu has integrated the original distribution platform and global resources, and established a global distribution division. This adjustment optimizes the core talents and resources of the distribution, improves the efficiency of the platform, and increases the expansion ability of the product for global distribution. Specific to the product, under the guidance of this strategy, we are also further thinking about how to set a global distribution rhythm for products for different markets.
CIS: Around the product distribution rhythm under this strategy, can we explain in detail how Youzu has achieved overseas market breakthroughs for a single product through the collaboration of multiple departments under this idea?
Huang Xiaojun: Taking the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" that we launched in Thailand last year as an example, in simple terms, it is necessary to divide the market maturity and user acceptance of the products of the three countries, and fully coordinate the work of different departments.
First of all, we have designated China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, Southeast Asia and other areas that are deeply radiated by the cultures of the three countries as key areas. And before the release, it has fully communicated with other support departments to obtain corresponding collaboration for product promotion and advertising. For example, before the product launch in Thailand, combined with the product and the local payment ability, some prop pricing was consciously adjusted accordingly for the Thai version, and at the commercial level, the early welfare activities were also strengthened for the characteristics of Thai users; in terms of version, the version reserve of "Junior Three Kingdoms 2" was relatively sufficient, but considering the overall cyclicality of the Thai market and other issues, its version update was mainly based on high frequency in the early stage, hoping to give users as much content experience as possible At the publishing level, we also carried out relevant publicity in the early stage of the joint product publicity department in some important media in Thailand; at the same time, after the open test, we also carried out a comprehensive coverage promotion of the local vertical KOLs of Thai games.
Through the above playing methods, it is not difficult to find that we have actually played a set of combination punches through multi-departmental collaboration. The result was that the game was in the top five of the Google Play and App Store best-seller lists in the month it launched in Thailand. And was shortlisted for the 2021 Google Play Best Game.
Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2 Thai version
CIS: Just now when you talked about the iteration of the version, you mentioned that the version reserve of "The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" is very sufficient. But because the card game has adopted a high-frequency update iteration method in the local life cycle, what is this rhythm like?
Huang Xiaojun: This is mainly a change made in response to the characteristics of the Southeast Asian market. As we all know, the Southeast Asian market is characterized by a shorter life cycle of a single user, and the ARPU value is slightly lower than other markets. In this case, we want to increase the retention of the product by allowing players to fully experience the game content.
Because of this, we are relatively fast in the initial adjustment of the game's version update rhythm. As a card game, we may have had relatively fixed card exit cycles in other regions in the past, but the Thai version has been adjusted to a more frequent weekly out. By allowing local users to experience more content of the product in the short term, it is helpful for both the in-game ecology and the retention of the product.
CIS: But on the other hand, in some card games and areas where the culture of the Three Kingdoms is not very high, such as Europe and North America, what do we do?
Huang Xiaojun: "The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" actually went to Europe and the United States, and indeed, as you said, it is relatively unfamiliar to European and American users in terms of theme. Therefore, in order to make European and American users accept this product, they must first understand the story of the whole game. This is an important threshold to be crossed when "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" is released in Europe and the United States.
First of all, for the European and American versions of "The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2", we have made a more open-ended treatment of the theme. Secondly, in the concept packaging, we made an arcade hall concept, we made it easier for young users in Europe and the United States to understand the world view of the game through this relatively overhead setting, and make it have a sense of substitution. Under such packaging, the attractiveness of "Three Kingdoms 2" for users in Europe and the United States has made great progress compared with the past.
At the gameplay level, the biggest change is aimed at the characteristics that European and American users are not much interested in numerical competition, and we highlight the lineup matching and strategic experience in the game, and local users can feel the fun of the game.
"The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" European and American editions
CIS: At the issuance level, under the "Global Card Plus" strategy, it requires us to have capabilities that have been neglected in the past when regionalized issuance?
Huang Xiaojun: It cannot be described as ignoring. But from a content point of view, different markets do have different emphases. Therefore, we must adjust from many aspects such as language localization, UI display, character image, art vision, etc., and we must combine the needs of users and market characteristics for localized marketing.
What needs to be emphasized here is the localization of the publishing ability, not only to grasp the core selling points of the product, but more importantly, to use the local way of thinking to tap the user needs from overseas markets, so as to ensure that the game can make players feel fun under the premise of following the local market customs, so as to provide them with a more satisfactory game experience.
Secondly, the overseas market itself is also diversified, which makes its vastness and complexity coexist. There are linguistic, religious, cultural and other pluralistic differences in different regions. Therefore, the distribution strategy of different products should also be adapted to local conditions, and the playing style of each region cannot be simply applied. In fact, if the product wants to go to sea, then it is best to consider it in a global way of thinking and mode at the beginning of the project.
CIS: This involves another key concept of the Youzu people - "research and transportation integration". Specifically, when will the operation begin to cooperate with R&D, and what kind of internal support can be given to R&D?
Huang Xiaojun: In fact, Youzu has always emphasized the integration of global research and transportation, and we have made some achievements in this regard.
Specifically, combined with what I just said about the product in the project establishment stage, there must be a global thinking. In fact, Youzu is exactly doing this, and we will begin to take into account the needs of overseas users in the early stage of product establishment. At this stage, not only domestic distributions must participate in the establishment of products and pass on user feedback, but overseas distributions must also participate in and complete this work. R&D and distribution have begun to cooperate in the early stages of the product to determine the style and gameplay, not only user feedback, but also from character design to art style suggestions, which need to be done collaboratively.
But don't understand it as a separate stage. In fact, our work will cover the entire R&D cycle, and in this cycle, the release should feedback the results to R&D in a timely manner, and help them adjust the initial resource allocation, including gameplay research, art adjustment, UI testing, and so on.
CIS: On the other hand, we just talked about the difference between card users in Europe and the United States in terms of numerical competition and role development and domestic users. So under these two general directions, as card users, their user behavior habits show how different from domestic users?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, compared with domestic users, European and American users are far less interested in card cultivation and numerical values in the game than domestic users. But this does not mean that they do not pay attention to the cards, but rather that they pay special attention to the history of the characters behind the cards, their skills, and the strategic combinations they use.
This feature has led to the next difference, domestic card users often tend to compete, leaderboards and other strong PVP confrontation after cultivation. However, the competition of European and American users is far less strong, they have little desire to chase the rankings on the leaderboard, even in the PVP gameplay, they are more inclined to show some of their ideas on the combination of strategic skills.
02
War and Eternity:
A self-developed work under the global thinking,
What did the Wanderers gain?
CIS: Meanwhile, Fire and Eternity is another hit for the 2021 Nomad Network. This product has achieved good results after it was launched in January 2021. And after a year has passed, judging from today's performance, has its performance met our expectations?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, "War and Eternity" should be an SLG mobile game that takes the global distribution route in the true sense of Youzu Network. Our initial idea was to further accumulate the distribution experience of global service through the release of such a product. Looking back at the performance of this product over the past year, we believe that it has basically met our expectations.
CIS: This product is indeed a highlight in the SLG products of 2021. Especially in the context of the increasingly fierce competition for SLG in Europe and the United States, what characteristics do you think of it at the product level that will eventually enable it to break through successfully?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, from the perspective of product features, in view of the traditional SLG game in Europe and the United States with PVP and GVG as the main game content mode, "War and Eternity" changed the gameplay of the game to a GVE-based mode with GVG and PVP as the supplement. Judging from the current situation, this setting reflects its value.
The second is that from the perspective of the core gameplay drive, "Fire and Eternity" is an SLG game with card fighting as the core element. From the user's point of view, this game effectively lowers the threshold for novices, and for the user it solves the problem of poor control of SLG battle losses in the early stage. And it is precisely because of this change that players not only get started quickly in the early stages, but also actively participate in the battle.
Secondly, we can't ignore that we have also done a lot of research at the localization level. This includes hero design, class design, etc. We have carried out historical research based on Europe and the United States, the most typical is that the hero design in the game, they almost all have real historical background and information.
CIS: Where are the biggest adjustments we make to this product during the testing cycle?
Huang Xiaojun: Frankly speaking, there are many things to change in the one-year test cycle, but most of them are some details. In terms of the general direction, the main two points are more time-consuming.
First, the numerical model of the game, we need a relatively long period of verification to be able to determine its stability and ensure the long-term operation of the product. So we've been testing here for months and we're tuning the version around the results.
The second is at some localization level, first of all, from the overall style of the game, the earliest time "War and Eternity" was not the current American cartoon style, and the characters were far less personalized than today. We tested and collected feedback from users before we made the decision to be deeply localized. In this process, we refer to a large number of historical materials, for example, Helen is a beauty from Greek mythology, and her character outline, social relationships, and detailed character background need to be continuously iterated through long-term polishing. We continue to do this to this day, and it is through this long period of constant adjustment that we have today's relatively stable and satisfying version of War and Eternity.
Scene of War and Eternity
CIS: In other words, in today's SLG games, in fact, users in Europe and the United States are very interested in the overall image setting of the characters in it?
Huang Xiaojun: Yes, because in the early stage of "War and Eternity", users have to draw cards to get heroes. Under this setting, the characteristics of the hero must be clearly explained, and at this time, if the hero has a strong unified cognition, such as a knight at the Round Table, then it will cause a strong resonance in the game. Because for European users, the Knight of the Round Table itself is a symbol of bravery, loyalty and fearlessness. Feeding it back into the game actually contributes to the fullness of the content level. Frankly speaking, this is a long process, what heroes are really popular with users? Which heroes don't match what was thought beforehand? It is necessary to constantly understand the reasons behind the user feedback, so as to be optimized in the subsequent design.
CIS: On the other hand, you just mentioned that there was a corresponding market window period when "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms 2" was released in Thailand. But did you also examine the existence of such a window period when "War and Eternity" was first released in Europe and the United States?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, from the perspective of the general environment, with the increasingly fierce overseas competition today, almost every traditional category belongs to the Red Sea. From this point of view, as a newly launched product, we cannot simply pin our hopes on the window period of the market. Although it does contribute to the further distribution of the product in the presence of its existence, in fact this opportunity is unattainable. Therefore, we will not think too much about this aspect when setting up a project, after all, the research and development cycle of a product is as little as one to two years, and as much as three to four years. At this stage, we should think more about the direction of the product, and in the case of a research and development cycle of two to three years, what kind of product to use in the market to ensure their competitiveness?
Of course, it is undeniable that when the product is about to enter the preparation period for release, in the spirit of being responsible for the product, we will still make some basic assessments for the current stage of the market. If there is a dividend window in different markets, we will adjust the schedule comprehensively, but as a global publisher, the release of products in different regions has its own corresponding schedule. Overall, it is the result of a combination of factors.
CIS: Next, let's talk about the launch, many publishers today tend to choose to directly charter the market when the product is launched, and pursue the effect of the first explosion. But Didn't Fire and Eternity take that approach because of the type of product it was?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, the distribution strategies of different manufacturers are different, and the specific products are even more different. "War and Eternity" just now we also mentioned that this product was first launched in Europe and the United States, and then in Southeast Asia and other regions. In this case, at least we will not adopt the private delivery method in Europe, America and Southeast Asia. On the one hand, because the youzu itself has more experience in Europe, america and Southeast Asia, which makes us not need to reach users in this way. In fact, we still tend to satisfy the user experience through an effective set of strategies such as localization, community, and user operation, and further reach users. Specific to the launch side, the strategy is not static, we will do long-term investment based on market data.
Secondly, even for regions such as South Korea, China' Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, we will adopt some other market strategies based on their overall user volume and market size. But on the other hand, it should be taken into account that "War and Eternity" is a product aimed at globalization, so we hope that users in different regions will have the same understanding of the product. This is also a point that we need to consider in our overall product distribution strategy in addition to regionalization.
03
Metal Showdown:
A methodology for the distribution of fighting games in the name of esports
CIS: Metal Showdown is another product released by Youzu in 2021, although it is still in the test tuning stage. But we will see that the user feedback of its launch test in South America is very good, but what I want to ask is from the experience of Youzu and the characteristics of this product, why did you choose South America for the first test of the game?
Huang Xiaojun: There are many reasons for choosing South America as the test area for Metal Showdown. The first is the feedback at the data level, through the previous user survey and scream test, we found that the user satisfaction with this product in South America and the related data performance are good. Secondly, Metal Showdown is a fighting game, which is a relatively special category. At that time, after evaluation, we found that there were two core publishing links that needed to be overcome in the game, namely network latency and ecological matching. In this case, we need a relatively complex network environment to test. Finally, the area itself must have a certain level of user base. In the process of testing, it is necessary to constantly iterate on the content, if the user base is not enough, the accuracy of the data will be affected by insufficient ecology, and the long-term iteration and optimization will inevitably be affected. Combined with the above three points, in the end we believe that South America is more in line with the above situation. In addition, when Youzu released "Saint Seiya: Awakening" in South America, it also accumulated considerable KOLs, brand and community resources, which are also an effective boost to "Metal Showdown" in the process of testing.
CIS: On the other hand, many distributions that have been to South America talk to us about the effects of this region with North America when they talk to us about this market. Specifically, the popular wind direction of North America has a certain cultural radiation to South America, is this obvious in the last year?
Huang Xiaojun: There is some truth to this statement. Because if you compare the top products in the list of the two places in the latest year, you will find that they are actually highly overlapping. Therefore, this situation can prove that the user preference degree in South America and North America is relatively close.
But this does not mean that there is no difference between users in the two places. From our observation, users in North America are relatively diversified in terms of product acceptance, and secondly, they are far better than South American users in terms of purchasing power. The most typical situation is that for some products with high ROI requirements, most of them will focus on North America rather than South America. In contrast, users in South America prefer some competitive medium and light games, and their acceptance of this category is relatively high in the world. Specific to the mobile fighting game, there is currently a lot of room for improvement.
CIS: I noticed that metal showdown topped the Google Play free list in 12 countries in South America after its first test. So what we want to ask is what we focus on from warm-up to packaging to formal testing?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, the label of metal duel is very obvious, it is a hardcore fighting game that emphasizes fair play. Secondly, in the context of cyberpunk, its graphic performance is also very good. Combining this label with our distribution strategy, all that has to do is capture two core points, user and product quality.
It is precisely for this reason that in the overall strategy, the first thing we must ensure is the user experience. This is a systematic work, in addition to the network environment, but also through the version, operation, community, events and other multi-dimensional improvement of user retention. And as a level play game, the issue of payment is generally not considered until the DAU reaches a certain order of magnitude.
At the rhythmic level of product release, we released the first promotional video of Metal Showdown as an Easter egg in the live broadcast of the annual Jamil match of Saint Seiya: Awakening in April 2021, and simultaneously opened a three-day scream test. In mid-June, with the start of the technical test, we held the first Metal Showdown exhibition competition, which invited 16 KOLs to compete with 16 high players. At this stage, in order to capture the core of the martial arts competition users, we also mostly use the original video display of e-sports competitions on the creatives of the same period.
After that, in August, we opened the undeleted limit test in South America with Brazil as the core market, and at the same time cooperated with KOLs to warm up the product to further build momentum. In the process, it is worth mentioning that we have successfully been selected as the main game of the EVO Evolution Championship Series, and have attracted the attention of a large number of professional fighters, including even the famous professional esports players in North America.
Metal Showdown scene map
CIS: This game is currently only tested in South America. So what's next in terms of overall distribution strategy?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, Metal Showdown is also a product aimed at globalization, South America is only its first test area, and we will plan to launch it globally in the later stage.
In terms of product characteristics, Metal Showdown is a high-quality, and has a certain feeling of the game. Our generation has lived through the era of the popularity of fighting games in the last century. "Iron Fist", "Street Fighter", "King of Fighters" and other works are the memories of our generation. Judging from the test situation, the market potential behind it is still huge, which is why we hope that "Metal Showdown" can make a certain user scale on a global scale in the future, and then continue to break the circle through the improvement of the e-sports ecology. On the one hand, it awakens the memories and passions of some old players; on the other hand, it also introduces the concept of fighting to young players in the new era. In fact, today we also see more and more manufacturers involved in this field.
CIS: We can see that for the two very different new and old works of Saint Seiya: Awakening and Metal Showdown, the Youzu have conducted eSports competitions. So what I want to ask is how the two are different in terms of the overall idea of esports event planning? In the end, how do you feed back the game through esports?
Huang Xiaojun: First of all, both games have e-sports related content, but their purposes are completely different.
First, let's talk about Saint Seiya: Awakening, which is an old product that has been online for more than two years. So what we're going to do is how to further radiate more players through the core users on the existing base disk, the so-called broken circle. Therefore, in the overall e-sports ecological incubation, we will pay more attention to the topicality and overall packaging of the event. At the same time, we also emphasize the player's sense of mission in the game. Combined with the promotion of KOLs, the topicality of e-sports events has been further raised. After the tournament, we also established the "Garmeer Hall of Fame", which is why it is a platform for players to vote and recognize outstanding players.
But this is not the case with Metal Showdown, which attracts pan-users, so more emphasis is placed on the sense of participation among players and the exposure of the event. Because the core gameplay of this game is fighting, which is part of the competitive game itself. So we have to think about how to further attract pan-users, so that more players can participate and cultivate their love of fighting games.