In 2012, Mihayou, the start-up team Liu Wei and others "opened a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan for themselves". In those days, they might not have imagined that Mihayou would become the third highest revenue company in the world in the mobile game business.
It stands to reason that Mihayou's product thinking is very strange in the industry - "as long as the direction is determined, it will be stumbled to the end, regardless of cost, manpower, and cost", which is almost no different from gambling.
But Mihayou won the bet. Take "Honkai 3", this game can still top the best-selling list of IOS in China in the second year of its launch, and it still ranks in the top 5 best-selling list after more than 6 years of operation.
Recently, "Honkai 3" ushered in the ending of the first part of the main plot, and launched the game development documentary "The Last Left Story". This film reveals for the first time how many dangerous moves Mihayou has gone behind "Honkai 3".
01 From the halving of DAU to the top of the best-selling list: the counterattack of the "grass team"
In 2016, Mihayou was still a "grass team". The salary and treatment are far from other companies, the division of labor and technical level are not very professional, and even the original painting Ah Ji was worried when he first joined the company, "I feel that it will be finished when I first arrive".
At that time, "Honkai 3" had just been established, and the original development cycle was 8 months to 1 year, but due to the company's lack of technical experience in 3D game development, it took nearly 2 years to come out.
According to art director CiCi, the production team spent 6 months figuring out how to create the character Kiana, and then decided to tear it down and start over because they were not satisfied with the finished product. "Honkai 3" was recognized by players after its launch in October 2016, but soon faced the next problem - after its launch, the popularity of the game subsided and the DAU dropped to 50%.
In order to save "Honkai 3", Mihayou decided to gamble - to make IP and tell stories. This decision was controversial within the company at the time. Some people put forward a sharp and realistic objection that it takes time and effort to make content that players can experience in 2 days, and there is no profit at all.
But in Mihayou's eyes, "Honkai 3" must be the best in all aspects, including the story, if it wants to be the top game in the industry. In 2018, Honkai 3 began to add exploration and Easter egg elements to the main level, allowing players to experience the story during battles.
For players who don't like to live the plot in the game, Mihayou also found a solution - to produce animated short films "The Queen's Arrival" and "The Last Lesson". Both of the animated shorts were produced by miHoYo Anime, of which "The Queen's Arrival" took 8 months to produce.
After the broadcast of "The Queen's Arrival", "Honkai 3" topped the best-selling list of IOS China; On the day "The Last Lesson" aired, the income of the game character card pool fluctuated. At this moment, the value of IP is proven. Mihayou bet right.
02 Telling a good story isn't just the job of copywriters and screenwriters
After turning the game around in 2018, the production team went through a year-long creative bottleneck. Looking back on 2019, they thought it was a wasted year and have been looking for content breakthroughs for this.
At that time, the only breakthrough they thought of was to jump out of the previous production logic and insert a memory screen in the battle between the character Kiana and Bud Yi. The interspersed memories make the character image more three-dimensional and the emotional communication fuller.
This narrative performance has been recognized by players, and they have also found an innovative direction - to make content that players like. But they don't innovate every time they capture players' preferences.
When designing the Law of Thunder in 2020, the production team thought that players would like the fresh dragon experience, but in fact, players were more concerned about the lack of Bud Yi's presence, so they temporarily changed the design of the dragon to Bud Yi riding dragon before the new version was officially launched.
Making big changes two or three weeks before the release went live was unprecedented, but they thought it was worth it. In retrospect, Xuguang said that "you can't just give up because an attempt is unsuccessful, but you should continue to optimize."
In addition to innovation in character design, they have also found direction in storytelling. The 2021 chapter of the Thousand Laws reflects some social problems in reality, such as online violence and group polarization. This sparked understanding and resonance with the player community.
It was also during this period that they gradually understood the theme of the game's story that can be appreciated by both the elegant and the common - it is precisely because life is not good, so they desire the good.
So far, "Honkai 3" has embarked on a new path, in addition to using words to convey emotions to players, but also through the ultimate battle, visual communication to make players empathize.
This means that telling a good game story is no longer just a copywriter and screenwriter's job, but requires the participation of all members of the team.
During this period, the game also launched the "Post-Honkai Book", which won the recognition and praise of players with a smoother combat and free exploration experience.
More freedom of map route selection
03 "Once it fails, no one can afford it"
The 2021 Thousand Man Lawyer chapter ended in the "Salary Forever" animation and pushed the plot of "Honkai 3" to a peak. This is indeed a satisfying result, but it also gives the production team a headache: what do you have to do next to go beyond this height?
They took another gamble to tell the stories of 13 heroes through the Promised Land event, characters who did not belong to the protagonist group, most of whom had not even appeared in the game.
Within a year, the production team had to design and build 13 characters, write about 700,000 words of copywriting, and add meat pigeon gameplay and fragmented narratives to the event.
When making such a decision, the production team was not completely sure. The head of IP said in his review that "once it fails, no one can afford the price it brings." Fortunately, they made the right move again.
The plot full of reversals and foreshadowing recycling, which has sparked fierce discussions among players, and with the broadcast of the animated short film "The Story Because of You" in August 2022, the game DAU and the story reputation have been pushed to an unprecedented high. At the end of 2022, the company's founder Cai Haoyu also spoke highly of the courage of "Honkai 3" this year.
A mobile game can reach a new high in DAU six years after its launch, which was unthinkable before, but the production team of "Honkai 3" made it possible. Character design Xuguang posted a circle of friends on the day of the animated short film:
"Today's Honkai 3 is invincible."
After more than 6 years with players, the story of the first part of the game comes to an end in 2023. In the sound of the player's blessing, the protagonist group walked to the battlefield, and the production team also used this to convey an important message to the player: "Honkai 3" is a story built by players and characters together.
Source: Station B @ Commander-in-Chief Hui
For Mihayou, they hope that players will not only enjoy the story of Honkai 3, but also feel accompanied during the game. Even as the story of the first part is over, the phrase "fight for the good in the world" will continue to inspire every player.
04 The advantage of Mihayou: convey content in the most innovative way
Liu Wei said in an interview that Mihayou's advantage is to make the ultimate content of each product and convey it in the most innovative form.
The innovative attitude to content expression at any cost is also reflected in every game under Mihayou. The fragmented narrative of "Genshin" and the PV with varied style and structure; Zone Zero's visually striking details, comics, CG, dialogue fusion presentation, and content and function blending; The improvement of the quality specifications of "Honkai: Star Dome Railroad" and the exploration of the sci-fi worldview... These are all examples.
Constantly breaking through the existing paradigm of the game market and challenging new forms of content presentation is Mihayou's insistence since its establishment in 2014. In the increasingly fierce competition of two-dimensional games, this research and development attitude that exceeds the expectations of the industry may be the most powerful barrier for Mihayou.