On December 17, the 2023 Naraka: Bladepoint World Championship Finals came to a perfect conclusion in Chengdu. After two days of fierce competition, the TE team from Chinese mainland held the three-row championship trophy high, while AOW player Mike (Mike) won the single-row championship and won the "Grand Slam" achievement.
As the largest and most influential esports event in Naraka: Bladepoint, the Naraka: Bladepoint World Championship (Naraka: Bladepoint Cup) has grown to become one of the pivotal events connecting the esports world in Asia and around the world. With a unique national style temperament and rich competitive charm, it has attracted countless players and players.
It is understood that since the development of the Naraka: Bladepoint tournament, six major regions around the world have been established, attracting 50 professional teams to join, with a total of 34.85 million+ independent viewers, and the popularity and audience of the event continue to rise.
At the opening ceremony of the Cup, NetEase CEO Ding Lei came to the scene and said that "Naraka: Bladepoint" is NetEase's best-performing global domestic game ever. After the game was free-to-play, there were more than 40 million players worldwide. The World Championship is a grand gathering of players and friends who love Chinese martial arts from all over the world.
At the same time, Naraka: Bladepoint has become an emerging force to be reckoned with in the field of esports, and its cultural style will become more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This year's Cup has achieved cross-border exchanges with many fields, and is committed to promoting the "seamless" integration of Chinese classical culture and modern culture. It not only cooperates with well-known singers such as Lin Junjie and Zhan Wenting, but also actively carries out cultural linkage with Wentaofang Ancient Weapons Museum and She Tourism Festival.
It is with such depth that the Cup Heist brings an impressive esports feast to players around the world. During the competition, Hou Jue, the chairman of the Naraka: Bladepoint tournament committee, had a conversation with the game matrix, sharing his expectations for this year's Heist Cup - hoping to convey the spirit of "infinite self" through the competition.
Unleash the charm of e-sports and realize the three-dimensional ecology of the event
Game Matrix: This year's Naraka: Bladepoint Cup landed in Chengdu, are you satisfied with the holding of this competition in Chengdu?What do you think is the biggest change and significance?
Hou Jue: We are still quite satisfied with this Cup, the World Cup has now entered the third session, although there have been many competitions during the period, but we have not faced so many offline audiences, so we are also very much looking forward to the arrival of such an opportunity and occasion. Because the conditions are relatively mature in all aspects this year, Chengdu was chosen as an enthusiastic city to implement the competition.
This year's Cup Raid is the first time that fans of Naraka: Bladepoint games and events have been brought up close, and it is also the first time that overseas players have been invited to compete with domestic players offline, which should be the biggest change and significance.
Game Matrix: What kind of esports culture has Naraka: Bladepoint events shown in recent years, and how will it further expand in the construction of content ecology in the future?
Hou Jue: The core charm of "Naraka: Infinite", just like our producer Mr. Guan Lei said, is actually the word "vibrating knife". Whether it's action skills, weapons, or mechanics, they all revolve around melee games, and then experience the unique charm of the game in the process of this melee game.
What the event hopes to show players is also the most exciting and core content of the product. To sum it up in one sentence, it is "I am unrestrained, and my way is endless", that is, to emphasize freedom and sobriety and free and easy demeanor.
From the fundamental point of view of the R&D project, "Naraka: Infinite" is actually a national style project that emphasizes the ancient charm of the East. For example, this year's Cup Heist is also packaged according to the game content and product elements, so that the visual style of the event and the e-sports concept can be coordinated with each other. In addition, "Naraka: Bladepoint" also carries out linkage and exchanges with museums, cultural festivals, intangible cultural heritage inheritors, etc., to realize the two-way empowerment of culture and e-sports, and the future direction is also roughly the same, and the content ecological construction of Naraka will be more three-dimensional on this basis.
The willows are dark and the flowers are bright, and the "cup robbery" ushers in new value
Game Matrix: Naraka: Bladepoint has surpassed 40 million gamers in just a few months since it was released for free, providing a more solid user base for esports for all. In the face of this sudden popularity, did you anticipate this in the Naraka: Bladepoint event, and are you preparing accordingly in the near future?
Hou Jue: The product and the event are actually the same people, or we are all the same team, and we are all towards the same goal. The expectation was that after the game was free-to-play, more players would be able to join the world of Naraka: Bladepoint without barriers, and the number of event users would increase significantly. But frankly, this growth rate is still a bit beyond our expectations.
For example, we have been doing this Koi Cup for two years, as well as the platform competition, campus competition, and Internet café competition of the official system competition.
Because Naraka: Bladepoint is a relatively competitive game. So we also hope that based on some all-star events, on the one hand, we can do some foundation and preparation for our esports. On the other hand, it provides more discussion on game topics and promotes community connection among gamers.
Game Matrix: In the face of such popularity, the needs of e-sports users will also change.
Hou Jue: After the game is free-to-play this year, from the perspective of watching the game, we have added some in-device functions and activities in subsequent versions. These events are more about serving users and new players who may not have been familiar with our events before. If they are interested, there is a convenient channel for them to quickly follow our events and related information.
Embrace the needs of users, and be a humble "honor student" in the Eternal Calamity event
Game Matrix: The World Championship of Naraka: Bladepoint has also gone through three editions, and a single-row BP rule has been added to this competition system, so what do you think are the characteristics and different feelings of this competition system?
Hou Jue: Since the beginning of the Naraka: Match, the schedule and format of Naraka: Bladepoint have been constantly iterating. On the one hand, the needs of users and players are changing. On the other hand, the Cup Robbery is like handing over a whole year's exam papers, as a practitioner of the event, although "Naraka: Bladepoint" has made some achievements in the event, but there is still a long way to go from the more perfect state we expected. There is still more direction and room for optimization of the schedule and format.
The addition of this new rule can actually reflect one of our expectations for the product. In the league, we found that the previous format would lead to problems such as the convergence of hero selection and single strategy play, which would affect the excitement of the game and the player's perception. After identifying a problem, we want to make adjustments in the quickest possible time. Judging from the feedback from yesterday's solo competition, good results have been achieved.
Game Matrix: From the Koi Cup to the Heist Cup, Naraka: Bladepoint events are gradually maturing, how do you evaluate the current event system of Naraka: Bladepoint, and are there any considerations for introducing new formats or adding tournament tiers in the future to provide more opportunities for players and players?
Hou Jue: The current events of Naraka: Bladepoint are relatively complete and three-dimensional, in other words, they have begun to take shape. The amount of event content added is measured according to the actual operation of the game, the number of viewers, and the size of the event. Setting up a lot of content at this stage may not necessarily be a particularly good situation.
But in terms of the general direction, we think the content of the event should be increased. As we steadily grow in the size of our events and improve our results, we are likely to reach more and more players overall. Whether you are a professional, an amateur or a gamer, you all have different needs and demands for the content of the competition.
As a game operator and event organizer, we will also consider adding some additional event content to fill and enrich it in the future. Taking our Internet café competition as an example, in fact, the coverage of the match points is not very comprehensive, and players in some areas may have to go to the next door to participate because of the distance. If conditions permit, our follow-up work may add competition points for Internet cafes or hold sub-competitions for Internet cafes to make their experience more convenient.