From not doing business, eating and drinking, playing everywhere, to supervising the production and development of games, can Shi Yuzhu save the giant network?
Author | Zhang Chao Edit | Luo Lijuan
On February 27, Shi Yuzhu, who has not been publicly seen for a long time, appeared at the internal launch meeting of the new strategic product "Original Journey" of Giant Network's mobile terminal.
Black sunglasses, big bald head, red clothes and white pants, a signature dress instantly matched the familiar Anhui businessman in everyone's memory. The only difference was that in this warm and cold season, he put a down jacket on his red jacket.
Attending the meeting this time, Shi Yuzhu's main job is to publicize "The Original Journey".
It is reported that he participated in the modification of many functions of "Original Journey", the optimization of core gameplay and the balance of player relationships. According to the official plan, the new game will be launched on all platforms on March 24.
"Original Journey" was officially announced on March 24 and launched on all platforms
"It's basically the journey in my head right now, but we still have a lot to improve next." At the internal kick-off meeting, Shi Yuzhu said modestly.
Since announcing his resignation as CEO of Giant Network in 2013 and not holding any actual position in the company, Shi Yuzhu, as he himself said, has truly achieved "giving the stage to young people" and "the main business is playing".
Looking at the content of its Weibo platform, many of the posts in the past few years were about food, travel, entertainment, etc., truly practicing the purpose of "not doing business" to the end.
But in September last year, he suddenly posted a mention of the game "Original Journey", saying that he had been playing for a few days and suggested improvements, but Shi Yuzhu stressed, "I will not be a big guy, mainly to accept the team's modifications." ”
Now Shi Yuzhu is once again standing for "Original Journey", which shows the importance he attaches to this game.
1
"Not doing business" and returning to the game
Those who are familiar with Giant Network know that "Journey" is actually an old IP developed by the company, which has a history of more than 18 years.
From its development at the end of 2004, its public beta in 2006, and its record of more than one million online players at the same time in 2007, "Journey" was once the proud existence of Giant Network, witnessing many highlight moments of the company.
The company is now the main body "Shanghai Giant Network Technology Co., Ltd.", which used to be related to the "Journey" IP - Shanghai Zhengtu Network Technology Co., Ltd. It was not until half a month before landing on the New York Stock Exchange (October 2007) that the company changed its name, and the importance of the "journey" IP is self-evident.
With the "Journey" IP, Shi Yuzhu brought the giant network to the New York Stock Exchange, with a total market value of $4.2 billion and a personal net worth of tens of billions of yuan. Perhaps it was also the success of Giant Network too easily and too quickly, and Shi Yuzhu gradually faded out of the first line after the company went public and retreated to the second line.
"The company is mainly run by the team, and I just don't do business all day, eat and drink, and play everywhere." According to Shi Yuzhu's recollection, the result of his crazy play was, "I made more friends, more than 100 male friends", "As soon as I drank at the wine table, well, I lent money to this person, guaranteed that person, so I lost a lot of money for more than ten years." ”
Making friends and losing money is the "retirement life" summarized by Shi Yuzhu. Now it seems that he is not so satisfied with this life.
Seeing Shi Yuzhu's old loss, Liu Wei, CEO of Giant Network, tried to pull it back on the "right track", saying "you come to play games, so that you can make fewer friends". So, in 2022, Shi Yuzhu began to try to play "Original Journey".
From "I didn't play it for the first time" to "I was forced by Liu Wei a few times, and then I played it", Shi Yuzhu, who is keen on games, gradually began to work with the "Original Journey" team.
A relevant person told "First Finance and Economics" that after Shi Yuzhu resigned as CEO in 2013 and announced his retirement, he faded out of the company's daily management, only grasped the company's grand strategy, and did not specifically participate in R&D and management, which was the first time he deeply participated in a product in the research and development line.
He himself said at the internal kick-off meeting that the "Original Journey" team basically respected its philosophy, and at his request revised many places, including game features, core gameplay, balance between RMB players and non-RMB players.
In Shi Yuzhu's view, the most difficult thing to grasp in game development planning is a "degree", which is "an art rather than a science". So, the "Original Journey" team has been slowly adjusting, "It's basically the journey in my head now, but we still have a lot to improve in the next step." He said.
2
Can Primordial Journey save giants?
In a way, Shi Yuzhu is not only the founder of Giant Network, but also the most influential product marketing manager.
In the past ten years since his "retirement", he has appeared in the public eye many times, either to promote core products or to save the company.
In July 2022, Shi Yuzhu, who has not appeared in public and formal for three years, attended the most important IP ceremony of Giant Group - "The Fifth Journey Carnival", and announced that the company's two core business segments, Journey IP and Golden Sauce Wine, reached all-round strategic cooperation.
In addition, it was also announced at the meeting that the newbie game "Original Journey" supervised by Shi Yuzhu has also launched iOS reservations and will be launched to the market in the second half of the year.
From standing for the game to personally supervising the producer, Shi Yuzhu's emphasis on the "Journey" IP can be seen.
According to public information, Giant Network has successively launched mobile game products such as "Journey", "Journey Nostalgic Edition", "Green Journey", "Journey 2" and "Journey Mobile Version" around the "Journey" IP, and has also tried to adapt the movie of the same name for exclusive broadcast on the online platform.
According to the 2021 annual report of Giant Network, the cumulative revenue of the entire series of "Journey" client and mobile game products has exceeded 20 billion yuan. This figure represents almost 80% of the company's total revenue in the twelve years from its listing in 2007 to 2018.
For Giant Network, it is good that there is a long-lasting IP of "Journey", but the problem is that only this IP can be played.
Even if Giant Network launched "Ball Wars" in 2015, this product line second only to "Journey" did not seem to save the company's performance and save the decline of Giant Network. In the 2021 financial report, Giant Network only disclosed the cumulative installed volume of 600 million devices and the peak DAU of more than 29 million people, but the specific operation situation was not disclosed.
In the four years since 2018, Giant Network has stopped singing all the way, and its revenue has been declining, with revenue of 3.780 billion yuan, 2.571 billion yuan, 2.217 billion yuan and 2.124 billion yuan, respectively, and net profits of 1.078 billion yuan, 820 million yuan, 1.029 billion yuan and 995 million yuan, respectively.
By 2021, the company's cash flow will be 640 million yuan, a significant reduction from 1.51 billion yuan in 2019. Among the top 20 game listed companies in terms of revenue in the same year, Giant Network ranked second to last.
The market's trust in the veteran game manufacturer has also been significantly shaken, and on February 27, Giant Network closed at 10.2 yuan per share, with a market value of about 20.8 billion yuan, which has evaporated more than eighty percent from the high point of the stock price.
Giant Network share price performance
As an IP in the PC era, "Journey" is indeed a little old in the mobile Internet era. Shi Yuzhu knows that if you want to develop, the future cannot just rely on the group of players who are now in their 40s, "we must let the new generation come in."
Shi Yuzhu hopes that the new generation of post-90s and post-00s can become the main force of this game in the future. But whether the young market will pay can only be tested by time.
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