On November 5, 2021, the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee held a special conference at the 4th China International Import Expo, officially announcing the setting of e-sports at the Hangzhou Asian Games. "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" was successfully selected as one of the 8 sub-events of the Asian Games e-sports.
Looking back on the journey of "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" into Asia, Hu Jianping, chairman of Electric Soul Network, recalled: "There are many uncertainties and the competition is too fierce. "Today, "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2" has been successfully selected with its three-country cultural background and ingenious gameplay design with its very national style characteristics, which proves to the world the possibility of the integration of traditional Chinese culture and emerging e-sports culture.
On April 7th, The Soul Network held the annual strategic press conference of "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" with the theme of "Casting National Style and Racing for the Future", bringing you the introduction of the new strategic layout of "Dream Three Kingdoms 2".
12 years of classic IP! Why was "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2" selected?
"Three Kingdoms of Dreams" is a real-time strategic online game independently developed by Electro Soul Network that integrates RPG elements into MOBA online games. In 2009, once the game was released, it quickly occupied the Chinese market with word of mouth among players, and became synonymous with MOBA online games for a time. As the sequel to "Three Kingdoms of Dreams", "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2" has been polished and precipitated for 5 years, before product development, the electric soul team has carried out in-depth data collection for user preferences and realized customized development, which has greatly helped the accumulation of new users. In 2015, "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2" was officially released for public testing. On the basis of retaining the culture of the three kingdoms of the previous game and inheriting the characteristic gameplay, the game screen and operation experience have been optimized, and interesting and innovative maps and systems have been provided based on the needs of players.
The game's current registered users have exceeded 170 million, the highest number of simultaneous online users has exceeded 540,000, and the daily PV of the official website has exceeded 2 million, and the product influence of "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" is self-evident. With keen insight into the market and constant innovation of gameplay, the game in 2020 broke through the record highest recharge record in history.
A classic IP that has been operating for 12 years has not been swept away by the torrent of the times in the ups and downs of the game market, but has shown a classic charm that has lasted for a long time. In addition to the rich cultural heritage of the "Three Kingdoms Theme" itself, constantly catering to the development needs of the times is the basis for its long-term operation.
Now, "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2" has the opportunity to stand on the Asian stage and even the world stage to show the charm of national style. Perhaps for a better look to show users the charm of the combination of traditional national style and modern sports, according to the game Gyro, "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" will launch a new competitive version in June. Judging from the exposed content, the new version mainly revolves around the two keywords of national style and competition.
First of all, strengthening the national style element is the first answer sheet in the era of "Dream Three Kingdoms 2".
Zhuge Liang, as the most well-known representative figure in the "Three Kingdoms", undoubtedly best reflects the essence of the culture of the Three Kingdoms.
In order to interpret Zhuge Liang's classic image as well as possible, the production team referred to the relevant descriptions of Zhuge Liang in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and "Zizhi Tongjian", and restored the temperament of Zhuge Liang in the history books who was "eight feet long, his face was like a crown jade, his head was like a scarf, he was covered with a crane, and he fluttered with the appearance of a god", as well as the temperament of "in charge of killing, so he had the power to kill". On the basis of referring to historical books and literary works and respecting history, combined with the aesthetics of the game, the classic Characters of the Three Kingdoms are restored, which is refreshing and does not lose the seriousness of history.
In addition, The Electric Soul also integrates classic elements such as opera, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, poetry and song, myths and legends into the game design. The organic combination of modern digital technology and traditional Chinese culture allows more users to experience the splendid culture of Chinese civilization as comprehensively as possible on a more interesting and acceptable basis.
In portraying the classic image of Lü Bu's famous general Gao Shun, it combines rich elements of Peking Opera, including the iconic face and back guard flag, one of the three major pieces of the Peking Opera martial arts field - the plate drum and the classic white face mask. At the same time, when promoting and disseminating, there are supporting materials to explain the design ideas and cultural background of the characters to users, so that users can effectively understand more historical and cultural knowledge while entertaining.
Secondly, as an ingenious work to usher in the new era, helping the promotion of the movement is also one of the responsibilities and missions shouldered by "Dream Three Kingdoms 2".
Based on popular projects, the production team combined the classic characters of the Three Kingdoms and Chinese history and culture, added a variety of sports designs to the game, including running, gymnastics, archery, swimming, etc., and specially designed in-game rewards for users who reached the level of exercise. In addition, in view of the use of gymnastics in popular projects, the production team combined with the national style culture to produce a series of images, including rhythmic gymnastics, pommel horse, hanging ring, parallel bars and other projects.
In the game, the gameplay design, character image, event promotion and traditional sports are closely integrated, on the one hand, the game content itself can be more characteristic and innovative. On the other hand, it can also improve the user's attention to traditional sports and personally participate in sports.
In the future competitive version, the production team will also focus on "Chinese culture" and establish a cultural communication system composed of five themes: "beautiful mountains and rivers", "long history", "ingenious instrument rhyme", "colorful art" and "ingenious craftsmanship". Combine online content and offline to create innovative cultural communication methods, and establish a co-creation matrix including Chinese natural scenery, humanistic history, cultural relics and artifacts, traditional arts, and folk crafts.
Deeply cultivate the national style competition and help the development of traditional culture
Two-pronged approach! The "Dream Three Kingdoms" IP can always maintain such a strong vitality in the development of decades, in addition to the game content itself is constantly enriching and developing, in line with the needs of the times, the deep cultivation of the national style competition is also constantly adding new vitality to it, feeding the "Dream Three Kingdoms" IP.
In 2012, Electric Soul took the lead in proposing the concept of "National Wind Power Competition" in the industry, and in the same year, it founded the classic event brand of "Electric Soul Entertainment Star Season". On the road of national style competition, the electric soul has been firmly and steadily exploring for ten years.
Now, the second decade has begun. Entering Asia is not only a new opportunity for the electric soul, but also a new starting point. Relying on the accumulation of experience in recent years, the future planning of e-sports mainly revolves around two aspects.
The first is to help the industry create a complete e-sports ecosystem.
Electro Soul proposed the 3E plan in 2020. With the support of government policies, e-soul e-sports has established an e-sports incubator that integrates event operation, direct broadcasting, content output and e-sports education. At present, there are dozens of digital entertainment enterprises such as e-sports games, digital animation, and digital new media, which have become the forefront of the innovation and development of electric souls.
On the basis of combining its own resources, E-Soul also deeply cultivates e-sports brand content such as event home, e-sports venues, and event IP, breaking the inherent regional concept, covering e-sports fans across the country, and creating more momentum for the growth of new industries.
In addition to the well-known role of game operators and event organizers, the electric soul will also appear in the future as the event sponsor, club alliance, technical support and other roles, introduce the whole industry chain of e-sports, enhance the overall industrial operation and industrial synergy of e-sports, and continue to maintain strong vitality.
The second is to establish the "National Wind Power Competition" brand of e-sports, relying on the event as the carrier to spread the culture of "National Wind Competition" to the world stage.
With the unique national style elements, in helping the spread of traditional culture, the electric soul also has an advantage that is difficult to replicate. Through cooperation with China's well-known 5A-level scenic spots, the "scenic tour linkage" is realized by combining online and offline methods, and the restoration of scenic natural scenery and cultural landscapes is realized in the game, attracting online users to experience the great rivers and mountains of the motherland offline. In addition to the cooperation with Laojun Mountain, a 5A scenic spot that has achieved remarkable results, Electric Soul has also determined the cooperative relationship with Huashan, Fanjingshan, Jindaoxia and Qingming Shangheyuan Scenic Area to help the spread of Chinese culture through more diversified ways.
LaoJun Mountain linkage
In addition to the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, the electric soul has also cooperated with museums at or above the provincial level in various places. Through interactive presentation, "national treasures" and "cultural relics" are brought to life. From a single display, it is interpreted into a legend that allows the younger generation to feel the vitality of traditional culture.
At the same time, Electric Soul has also carried out the combination of game products and intangible cultural heritage, and disseminated intangible cultural heritage through online publicity by creating exclusive works.
Character design of the Theme of Mountains and Seas
In addition to these traditional ways of helping cultural dissemination, Electric Soul has also launched a series of digital cultural collections that combine modern technology and the needs of the times. The first series is the Famous Players of the Three Kingdoms. Throughout the series, the very classic warrior hat in the "Three Kingdoms of Dreams" game is selected, as well as the border and font title of the national style aesthetic joint name to form each unique collection.
In addition, the series also selects the famous warriors of the three countries and brings them to the international stage of digital collections. The fusion of the elements of the national style and the three kingdoms of the famous general card eventually formed a digital collection with a unique identity. Not only can you view the publication, purchase history and owner online, but also have a high collection value due to its uniqueness and scarcity.
The long-term strategic layout of the electric soul
The selection of "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" is not the "starting point" for the electric soul to enter the world stage, but the "result" of the electric soul that has been working to bring the "charm of the national style" overseas for several years.
As an e-sports product created in the background of the culture of the three countries, "Three Kingdoms of Dreams" has been launched in China, the project department has conducted user research and version development in Southeast Asia, and has taken the lead in launching a multilingual version, which is distributed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian regions, which is loved by users and has a group of loyal fans.
From the initial game development company to the domestic first-class game development and operation company, the electric soul network has opened a set of self-developed agent global distribution system suitable for its own development, such as boutique IP operation, independent research and development of multi-line distribution, overseas agency and distribution.
Since 2020, the electric soul network has developed nearly ten games such as the Dream Three Kingdoms mobile game - Taiwan version, spiral warrior, X-2 God Solver, etc., and has represented nearly 20 games such as the Brave Tribe, the placement of All-Stars, the placement of Valkyries, and the Hero Trainer. In addition to Chinese mainland, Electric Soul has also landed in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, North America and Australia, and has been rated as the National Cultural Export Key Enterprise of the Year for three consecutive years.
In terms of independent research and development, Electric Soul's "Barbarian Wars" has more than 40 million gamers in 141 countries around the world, and has been successfully selected as a publishing project for China's original game boutiques.
In terms of overseas distribution, in 2017, "Incredible Labyrinth" released by Electric Soul in South Korea has maintained a superior score of 4.8 points in store evaluation and has become the leader of Korean labyrinth exploration mobile games.
Thanks to the overseas influence and forward-looking layout of e-soul products, in terms of the overseas layout of e-sports, it has attracted teams from Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and other places to participate over the years, and has accumulated a considerable number of e-sports audiences. In order to accelerate the overseas market expansion of Electric Soul and create more Dream Three overseas competitions, Electric Soul has also established subsidiaries in Singapore and Japan to continue to expand the small languages of Southeast Asia and the European and American markets, and effectively bring the charm of national style to the world stage.
Write at the end
Open the history of the development of the electric soul, the whole article is "innovation" and "keep up with the times" several big words.
Whether it is the research and development of game products or the creation of an e-sports system, the electric soul has always dared to be the tide of the times and take the initiative to dialogue with young people. In terms of cross-border cooperation with head brands, E-Soul also shows their self-understanding of e-sports layout.
As the chief strategic partner of "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2", JD.com has always maintained a strong desire to explore the field of e-sports, focusing on the in-depth layout of e-sports events, starting from resources such as IP authorization, professional teams, and game implantation, to provide consumers with a better game environment and experience.
From the perspective of "Three Kingdoms of Dreams 2", JD.com's own product potential can help it integrate the complete e-sports competition system from professional events led by "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" to mass events. With the strong boost of JD.com, "Dream Three Kingdoms 2" can also give full play to the characteristics of game plasticity, use the Chinese cultural communication power contained in itself, and create an interactive positioning with self-communication potential for JD.com, helping it to quickly enhance its brand voice in the short term and accumulate long-term brand equity. In this way, we can achieve two-way empowerment, win-win cooperation, and jointly contribute to the vigorous development of China's e-sports industry.
Riding on the east wind of the selection, the brand precipitation of electric soul for more than ten years has also been accumulated, standing on the world stage and flying the banner of national style. For the future vision of electric soul, chairman Hu Jianping said: "I hope to rely on the national style competition, follow the national culture to export this big ship, shoulder the responsibility of a generation of e-sports people." ”
Being able to maintain a strong competitiveness in the fiercely competitive playing field, feeling the stones and crossing the river to find a suitable development path, the electric soul wants to show the beauty of Chinese culture to the world in the future.