From April 26th to April 28th, the 2021 N.Game NetEase Game Developer Summit held by NetEase Game Academy was held in a grand manner, and the conference will take "inheritance, insight and ingenuity" as the theme, from the key aspects of game development and operation of planning, technology and art, and join hands with ten big coffee at home and abroad to deliver the freshest game development and operation experience for global game lovers.
At the conference on the 26th, Li Xing, IP product manager of "Tianxia" and director of NetEase game planning, made a wonderful sharing. He has participated in the design and development of the "Tianxia" pocket version, the "Tianxia 3" terminal game, the "Tianxia" mobile game and other projects, and was responsible for the operation of "Wilderness Action" from 2017 to 2018, and is currently the IP product manager of "Tianxia", and has led the "Tianxia" IP operation to achieve continuous growth since 2018.
How to make a 13-year-old game grow against the trend for 3 consecutive years? New tours emerge every year, but looking at the timeline, there are very few products that can achieve long-term operation. Li Xing will share the operational experience accumulated by tianxia series products for 13 years and the practical value that long-term operation will bring to the game.
Here's what we've seen:
Li Xing: Hello everyone, I am Li Xing, the head of NetEase Interactive Entertainment Shangri-La Studio, and I am very honored to participate in the 2021 NetEase Game Developer Summit. At this summit, the theme I shared was "The Long-Term Operation of games".
The so-called operation, in my opinion, is to create value for users, and the indicator of quantitative value is the various operational data that we often see.
Long-term operation means that we must create value for users in the longest possible time period. We see that new tours emerge every year, but pulling the timeline to 5 to 10 years, the products that can operate for a long time are actually rare, since long-term operation is so important, why should I share?
I interned in Interactive Entertainment in 2013, officially joined NetEase Games in 2014, in the past 7 years, I have mainly led and participated in the operation of projects of more than 10 billion yuan, involving product types also include MMORPG and tactical competition.
The main content of today's sharing is about a 13-year-old game, how to grow against the trend for three consecutive years?
This story starts with an option in 2018, when I was in charge of the operation of Operation Wilderness, and the leader approached me around the end of September, to the effect that there is such an opportunity now, with a product like "World Three", would you like to take over? Although this product has encountered some difficulties and needs some transformation, its overall basic disk is still stable, which is the best opportunity to prove yourself.
Frankly speaking, I had a slight struggle in my heart at that time, but I quickly told the leader that now "Tianxia" needs me to be willing to give it my all.
At that time, the situation was that I was very questioned, some small partners in the company, including some friends outside the company, would persuade me, saying that now is an era of mobile games, you choose to go back to do a general trend of the end of the game, have you considered your career? It was a torture that hit my soul.
The whole team has also undergone great changes due to some historical reasons, and many very core and excellent students have left, because of the departure of some core teams, the confidence of the whole large team is very insufficient.
Friends familiar with NetEase will know that "Big Dream" is our company's three major established business units, and the "Tianxia" business department has also incubated a lot of excellent products for NetEase and the entire industry, and can I really reverse such a situation at present?
Personally, Tianxia was my first MMORPG, and it was the starting point of my career, and I had a special affection for him. Frankly speaking, I am very afraid of a product carrying countless glories and dreams kneeling in my hands, but in the end I am still willing to choose to believe in the heritage of NetEase and the world, and choose to believe in love.
We've been lucky that after the tireless efforts of our whole team over the past three years, we've finally achieved a little bit of success after three years, and I'm very proud of our team. We can see that from 2018 to the present, the revenue of our products is in a straight line upward trend. So there have been some media reports – both in terms of revenue and online, and our old product is in a continuous upward trend.
At first I felt a little less rigorous when I saw this report, because isn't it two consecutive years from 2018 to 2020?
Fortunately, it is 2021, our product is still in an upward stage, and the growth rate is in a continuous improvement process, so there is nothing wrong with looking back at this title.
Today I want to share with you three important shifts that have helped us grow, starting with our reinvention of our entire operating system.
As a numerically oriented operating system, it is a reshaping of an operational system with a double cycle of appearance and numerical values. In addition, we have done more refined operations to help meet more diversified needs of users.
"Tianxia" this product is based on the above Guqi book "Shan Hai Jing", and initially one of the impressions that our "Tianxia" gave players was to fight against demons. In the left picture we can see some of the gameplay of the world boss of the giant demon, and in the right picture is a large PVP game where we once had a weak water of three thousand, and there is a grand situation of large-scale PVP gameplay with nearly 2,000 people, which is still enjoyed by our players.
In the early days of "Tianxia", it was a more classic numerically dominated operating system. Players play a certain role in the game to increase their own level, and the level will unlock some systems, the system provides players with some combat attributes, these attributes are verified in the gameplay, such a set of values dominated by a set of values.
In the past ten years, in order to ensure the long-term operation of the entire product, we have opened up a lot of numerical growth to players, and indeed with such a relatively closed numerical system, it is very heavy to the player to cultivate pressure. From 2013 to 2014, the entire mobile game market has exploded, which has also brought a very big impact to our products. So, to reverse this situation and make the product survive, it does require some underlying changes.
Before returning to "Under the Heavens", I was responsible for the operation of "Wild Ops", and for a long time at that time, on the one hand, everyone had to survive the white-hot competition of tactical competition, on the other hand, the whole industry was also thinking and exploring the problem of how to commercialize tactical competition.
We made a lot of positive attempts, and this very valuable experience had a very big impact on my worldview as a planner. The idea after returning to "Tianxia" is, can the MMORPG of "Tianxia" also be tried?
So we have gradually established a set of appearance payment as the main body, the appearance of the numerical double cycle of the operation system. On the other hand, the speed of development of our entire product has also been greatly accelerated. In the past, "Tianxia III" would launch 1 to 2 expansion packs per year, and in 2020 alone, we developed 3 to 4 expansion packs of content for players. Players see our input and more sincere content, so they will be more active and more willing to recognize our content. We're seeing positive operational data, and the confidence of the entire team is being reshaped.
The whole shift was specifically the establishment of a hierarchical operating system. In the past, our delivery may be more extensive, and the appearance has been divided into 6 levels, and a very refined delivery has been carried out.
First of all, we provide some experience outfits, similar to real-life fast moving consumer goods, so that players feel that in such a large MMORPG you can not fight in the four directions can also wear Chinese clothes, the years are quiet is also a very happy thing. For players with some petty bourgeoisie, we offer fashion items, similar to the real-life MK or Coach, to meet the players' demands on light luxury products. For some of these light luxuries, we provide a financial management mechanism, so that it can have room for appreciation in the virtual world. And for players who need high luxury products to meet personalized needs, we also need to recognize everyone's pursuit of appearance, just like in real life.
We will also give some advertising display in the virtual world, if you have a very good look, you can also be recognized by a lot of virtual world friends. In this way, a very large number of friends who pursue stagnation in value may have some new points of pursuit. For some players like before, he may have a very heavy pressure, and we will structurally reconstruct the entire game delivery system to improve the experience of this part of the player.
We think of service as providing players with a certain amount of certainty that reminds them of us at a particular time. Now we launch a large expansion pack or an event, not to tell users just that you go online to spend money, but to say that as long as you go online, at a specific point in time, you can get a lot of game content for free, or some numerical growth props, free to get a lot of benefits and benefits. And this part of the player feels his own growth in the virtual world, feels that he is more beautiful than before, and he gains a joy of growth.
We also reflected on the server architecture of the entire game. In the past, we would open a new service every once in a while, and after a while we would open a transfer service, and then if the server was not well operated, it might carry out some joint operations, which was a rougher mechanism for a roll-on service overall.
We have been reflecting on the architecture of the entire server since last year, introducing a certain season mechanism, that is, some server groups will be targeted to a certain server in a given time. And we will design a complete set of low-pressure cultivation of exclusive servers, to create some low-pressure cultivation experience, supporting some new clothes benefits and exclusive treasure chests to get good results.
At present, the ecology of the entire server architecture is still in a stage of continuous verification, and one of the representatives is the "One Heart" theme service that was just launched on March 31 this year. In this server, we have launched a series of customized content, releasing the player's cultivation pressure, so that the classic "Yuan Soul Bead Illusion System" of "Tianxia III" has been given huge room for play.
Up to now, we can see that this server is crowded, very hot, many players praised, this is the mountain and sea classic, this is the world. We want to give players a fun and inexpensive experience, changing the concept that players will feel that they have developed a very heavy burden when they mention MMO, either heavy liver or heavy krypton.
With the help of such theme costumes, the DAU of "Tianxia III" has also reached a peak over the years. We can see a downward trend from 2014 onwards, to 2018 we began to bottom out, rebound against the trend, maintain an annual increase, and we can see a continuous upward trend.
In 2020, NetEase Interactive Entertainment put forward new values, one of the most important of which is to be with users. We also have a lot of inheritance and transformation in this regard.
The first is to maintain a connection with the user. Every year, we hold some player meet-ups or annual player carnivals across the country, the purpose of which is to be able to connect and communicate with players face to face, and to listen to some of the players' demands in person.
Now is a mobile Internet era, we also hope that "Tianxia III" will create a community operation system with tianxia characteristics for players, and we hope that we can keep in touch with our players all the time in our daily lives.
At present, the community operation system with world characteristics has covered more than 30% of active players, and our world players no longer have to worry about not finding small partners to play together, and our development team will always be in the group to understand the actual demands of players.
Then friends who are familiar with the world must know that there is a tradition in the world Whenever there are some huge major emergencies in reality, players will spontaneously gather together in the virtual world to commemorate the people's heroes and pray for a better life. From the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 to the subsequent outbreak of avian influenza, we have met this need of our players in the first place.
There is also a saying among the players of "Tianxia" that plays "Tianxia" to learn language. Because in the process of more than ten years of operation, we will find that players are very fond of traditional culture. In 2019, we launched the "Kua Father Plan"; launched a series of hanfu season activities; in 2020, we cooperated with the Suzhou Museum to launch a themed expansion pack; in the Spring Festival of 2021, we cooperated with Huangmei Opera to promote opera culture; and we will also cooperate with the Summer Palace this summer to promote the culture of the Royal Garden.
As long as our products are still alive, I hope that some of these traditional cultural promotion activities will continue to be done, I believe that after 3 years of doing 5 years, 10 years or even longer, we will work with some very good products in the entire industry to help promote traditional Chinese culture.
The third important shift is that we try to create some big events, let more return players notice us, there are a lot of excellent products in our game industry, will create some world events, to achieve a breakthrough in the player circle. For example, Fortnite, World of Warcraft or FF14 and so on.
We also continue to explore, and in 2020, we have created a big event for players in the world - the lock demon tower has exploded, and the sword has been destroyed.
Yi Jian Tingyu Pavilion is the peak of appearance in the Great Wilderness Eleven gate sect, with a very high popularity, and this successful event is around the wind and rain in the Yi Sword Listening Yu Pavilion and unfold. We worked with all the functions to blow up a lot of old players in 5 steps.
The first step is the appearance of magic gas, in the month before the version, we will find that there are some mysterious and strange phenomena in the game, such as some screen magic gas special effects and at 12:02 every day, he will pop up some specific big events, in fact, it is implied that the big version of your entire game will be presented to you on December 2, and we will gather the most in some forums and some media such as the gamers gather, there will be such a mysterious NPC called "Magic Sword", It will jump out and say, I offer a reward to the young heroes to talk about your understanding of the sword, and he will make a fool of himself in various media to arouse the attention and interest of the player.
You can see that some of the data that players pay attention to has reached an effect of 10 times or more than some ordinary articles, and when the version is approaching, in the week before the version, we will issue some events of the world of guarding the lock demon tower, calling on the Great Desolation Eleven Gate Sect to jointly guard the lock demon tower against the demon.
At first, our players will feel that such a task will be completed, and the development team will change the method to give us a reward, but in fact, such an event, it is actually a setting that must be defeated. So we will also bury some foreshadowing in the vicinity of the version, for example, in the first day or two of the version, the player will find out how this shot is wrong, whether this event can really be successful, do I want to go to the lock demon tower to take the last picture? This also laid the groundwork for the outbreak of the whole incident later.
And at 8:00 a.m. on The 2nd of December, the player will suddenly receive a message on his mobile phone, and in our double micro channel will pay attention to, Oh my God, the lock demon tower has exploded! At this time, the game is actually unable to enter, so players will go to find some of our official forums, will find that we have actually buried a lot of foreshadowing in the past month or so, and the mysterious "Magic Sword of heaven" such an NPC to all the eleven gate sects to issue a mockery, yi sword to listen to the rain pavilion has been destroyed, who will be the next door? The future of the entire wilderness is in his hands, at which point the player will ferment internally.
After the maintenance at 10:00 on the same day, as soon as the player logs in to the game to take a look, he will find that the entire game's icon to the login scene, the login interface has been broken and fiasco of the lock demon tower has spread to all areas of the game, and if you are an active player, in the game is a sword disciple, you will find that you can't go home, can't do the master, and will also be subject to some letters from various NPCs for help, and so on.
It can be seen outside the entire game. All the official media are controlled by such an NPC of the "Magic Sword of the Heavenly Sword", and we also officially cooperate with him to perform, for example, the moderator of the Yi sword plate will say: Sorry young man, we have lost control of the Yi Sword Listening Tou Yu Ge plate.
This picture is to show that in the process of the whole event, whether it is inside the game or outside the game, as long as it is every text and every icon that we can control officially, he should be affected by the explosion of the lock demon tower of the Yi Sword Listening to the Rain Pavilion, and what we have done is very refined.
Since then, with the spread of the event within the player, we have officially made some more circle-breaking PGC materials to guide players to UGC internally. The whole event continued to ferment, and many of the ashes-level players of "Tianxia", including the players of "Tianxia II" and even the old "Tianxia", returned to the wind.
In the end, in addition to the 3D screen under the line in the Sichuan-Chongqing area with many players in "Tianxia", let the scene of the explosion of the lock demon tower be directly and truly presented in some areas where our players gathered the most, and let their own door explode at their doorstep, very many players saw this scene, and his first thought was to go online.
In the offline carnival event with the highest attention of players in the world every year, we lit up the lock demon tower with 1,000 offline audiences and 1 million online audiences, which fully hinted at the final direction of the entire plot.
To sum up, full warm-up and then reverse and erupt, to do this thing to do enough refinement, it turns out that as long as enough refinement is able to impress the player, the player will be spontaneously willing to let the whole event ferment, break the circle, and finally we finished through the form of live broadcast, and obtained some very good results.
The above changes have also been some verification in the operation process of the "Tianxia" mobile game, 2020 compared with 2019, the entire mobile game real-time MMO market shrank by 20%, and the "Tianxia" mobile game in 2018 ~ 2020 in the past two or three years have achieved a significant growth against the trend, you can more intuitively see that in the iOS daily list we returned to the top 20.
The above is a summary of some of the achievements of the past three years. Facing the future, we need to continue to face the impact of some uncertainties, for example, in 2020, our mobile games are actually facing some impacts of some super new products, how can we continue to go on for a long time?
We often think that a lot of successful experiences in the past are likely to be some obstacles in the future, in the past three years, we have paid great attention to the guidance of appearance pursuit, we are not tactical competition after all, we are an MMO, we need to let more players fully feel some of the joy of growth.
In real life, in addition to doing double eleven and double twelve every year, e-commerce will also do beauty festivals, makeup festivals, mother and baby festivals, etc., to meet some of the needs of users. So starting this year, every month from the 1st to the 7th, we will do some different carnival festivals, so that more players can enjoy the joy of numerical growth. We will also reshape the underlying layer of many complex numerical systems, so that more players can understand and participate in it, and fully feel the joy of cultivation.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to two economists who studied auctions. I was thinking about a question, since the form of auction can play such a big role in our real life, in the political and economic pattern of the whole world, why do we make games As a practitioner of the industry, why must we be bound by the past kind of shopping mall direct purchase, time fee, free fee, random treasure chest, do not put back treasure chest, Battle Pass, which was used a lot in the past.
Can we abandon our identity as a price seeker and give such pricing power to our users. In fact, there are many forms of auctions, and at present, we also hope to be able to make some positive attempts in this area.
Whether we must only be able to provide players with some consumer goods in the virtual world, whether we can also create some investment products in the virtual world so that more players can earn real money in the virtual world, this is some of the work we want to try.
In the next 12 to 13 years, we will think that since we have lived so long, we hope to come back for 13 years, hoping to define a beautiful art style of mountains and seas.
When it comes to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", everyone thinks more of some very simple illustrations, or some advertisements for some more curious shanhai art, but I think no one has really seen the classic of mountains and seas, such a world of mountains and seas, it may also be very beautiful. In such a world, it should not only have an ancient martial arts style image, but also have more inhuman images integrated, with a broader space for imagination.
This is some of the highlights from our 12th Anniversary Carnival.
I also met a veteran player of "Tianxia" at the scene of the 12th Anniversary Carnival, and she told me that in recent years, every year at the carnival scene, every offline meeting, she will bring her children to the scene. This time she told me that when her baby grows up, she will inherit her account. At this moment, I am very touched as a game developer, and I will feel that long-term operation can help the continuation of players' virtual assets, and can also help the continuation of such an important product that welcomes our youth.
Finally, let's talk about an expectation for our team and for ourselves. Maybe we do "The World", do such an MMORPG, we will not be like some competitive products with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of DAU, but we can also try to accompany our old players, all the way to the old age. This is a glimmer of light that we, as the development team of "Tianxia", as a fan of NetEase games, and as a practitioner of the entire Chinese game industry, hope to make continuous progress and evolution of the entire Chinese game industry.
That's what I'm sharing, thank you!