Text: Wang Xian
Edit|Si asked
NetEase and Blizzard officially announced their "remarriage".
More than 400 days have passed since the suspension of "World of Warcraft" (hereinafter referred to as "Warcraft"), a Weibo of NetEase Games has been on the hot search: "We are honored to join hands with Blizzard Entertainment again to bring Blizzard games back to China." Players, long waiting!"
Under the hot search topic with more than 410 million reads, some players ridiculed this situation as if a friend and the object were quarreling, and they were helping to scold on the side, but they didn't expect "You guys got back together, I became a bad guy"; some players sighed, "Now that I'm back, I don't have time to play"; more players cheered in the comment area, "The homeless people in the waifu can finally go home" and "My youth is back"!
"Warcraft", which entered China in 2005, is the memory of a group of post-80s and 90s generations, capturing a large number of players: After NetEase and Blizzard "divorced" two years ago, the popularity of Baidu Tieba of "Warcraft" is still unabated, and the number of followers has increased from 13.16 million in 2022 to 13.82 million. According to the official Weibo of "Warcraft", as of 19:04 on April 11, the number of players who have pre-registered for the return of the national server of "Warcraft" has reached 2 million.
Closely related to tens of millions of players is the studio that hides behind the game and serves players from all walks of life.
The specific launch time has not yet been determined, and a large number of "returning" players have already called friends on social platforms and various game groups. Many merchants who do game boosting have also begun to prepare for "Warcraft"-related services, and Xiao Er of Taobao-related categories revealed, "The merchant group is boiling, and many are preparing to restart "Warcraft"-related businesses."
Shao Xianqi, the person in charge, said that the customer service background has received a lot of news from "Warcraft" players seeking boosting, and some people have placed orders to make reservations.
Shao Xianqi's store backstage has received a lot of player demand
"I am already forming a Warcraft booster team, and it is expected to be completed in 1-2 weeks. Jiang Yang, the person in charge of the "Dacheng Online Game Franchise Store", said that they are ready to set up an offline team of more than a dozen people, combined with the online team and downstream small studios, to prepare for the resumption of services.
Level up and upgrade, compete, hit gold, play equipment, farm dungeons...... Many game-related businesses are gradually "resurrected" with the return of players, and merchants with a keen sense of smell are silently arranging behind the scenes.
studio, overnight "resurrection" team
"The circle of friends has 'exploded', and it is all the news of the return. ”
The news of the return of the national server of "Warcraft" has a great impact on Shao Xianqi's studio, and he is rebuilding the team, "There is no online link yet, because the service time has not yet been determined, and personnel reserves are still being made."
Where there is a demand, there will be a service, and the game mechanics have given birth to many "studios".
The studio basically solves two problems for gamers, one is the efficiency problem, the studio can help players complete various tasks more efficiently, such as leveling up, obtaining in-game currency and equipment, etc., and the other is to help players achieve impossible things, such as completing the customs clearance of advanced dungeons, getting some new dungeons, "first kills", etc.
When the national server was not closed, some studios operated the "Warcraft" business
Blizzard officially announced its return, although the specific launch time of "Warcraft" has not yet been determined, the needs of many players have emerged, and the studio has begun to lay out early.
In 2010, Shao Xianqi started game boosting and other services on Taobao, "At the beginning, I played "Warcraft" by myself, helping friends in the game to do daily work and play gold, and at that time it was not convenient to transfer money, so they charged me phone bills and Q coins. Later, he started an online store and entered the boosting industry through "Warcraft".
At its peak, the turnover of Shao Xianqi's studio could reach more than 100 million at most, and now it is about 40 or 50 million. "Warcraft" business can account for more than 60% of the share at most, when the "Warcraft" nostalgic service was just released, Shao Xianqi's studio could sell more than 10 million yuan in gold coin trading alone, and the boosting service could also reach more than 1 million yuan, and after the closure of the "Warcraft" national server, these businesses almost completely disappeared, and the former boosters also changed careers or started to level up for other games.
In the process of Shao Xianqi's reorganization, he almost "resurrected" the original team, "The employees who used to take orders online were very active and willing to return." There are also six or seven original employees who are ready to come back. Shao Xianqi asked these original employees to work in the form of a project team, and brought another group of people under him, "so that there will be more opportunities in our industry in the future."
In addition to the old employees, Shao Xianqi's studio uses benefits to attract boosters to work in the offline studio, such as reimbursement of travel expenses, accommodation and guaranteed salary, etc., he plans to set up an offline team of 20-30 people first, "The online recovery is faster, and I am ready to re-establish the online team first, there is already a special recruitment customer service recruiting, and it is expected that there will be a stable 200-300 people."
has also started to prepare the team, as well as Jiang Yang. He started the boosting business in 2013, and he is also a "Warcraft" player, "When I first started, I only did "Warcraft", and slowly began to do other terminal games and mobile games."
When the Warcraft national server is closed, players say goodbye to each other in the game
At his peak, Jiang Yang had an offline team of more than 100 people, specializing in "Warcraft"-related business. His studio is the head of the industry, and its business involves almost all the games on the market, and it has also precipitated a number of customer resources, with an annual turnover of more than 300 million.
In response to the news of the return of the "Warcraft" national server, he plans to deploy the booster personnel from within the company to form the "Warcraft" booster team, "first take the stormtroopers in the arrangement, and there will be a steady stream of reinforcement teams behind."
Jiang Yang expects to set up a "Warcraft" booster team in 1-2 weeks, which can already be regarded as "slow-paced": it only takes about a week to set up a mobile game (mobile game) booster team, and the terminal game of "Warcraft" needs to be prepared with enough computer equipment and staff, and employees need to be given some time to familiarize themselves with the operation and leveling process.
Shao Xianqi and Jiang Yang's studio can be regarded as the epitome of the head studio in the boosting industry, and the team composition is also relatively perfect, with professional customer service, art and other staff, and the boosting team is also divided into three parts: offline staff team, online part-time employees, and small studios further downstream to do "outsourcing".
In addition to these studios that have already become large-scale, some small studios, boosting and even novices with no experience in the industry have also set their sights on Warcraft-related businesses.
The "Warcraft" business that can't be abandoned
"After the launch of the server, it is estimated that the competitive pressure of Warcraft-related services will be fierce, and it may even be more fierce than the competition of some mobile games now. Jiang Yang bluntly said that many people in the industry can judge the value of "Warcraft" players, as well as observe the players' nostalgia and desire for the national uniform, and there will be no fewer people in the layout.
Many studio operators have mentioned the value of Warcraft players.
In 2005, the Warcraft client was launched in China
In 2005, "Warcraft" entered China, and the main players were the post-80s and post-90s generations at that time. Most of these Warcraft players are middle-aged, with regular jobs and sources of income, as well as more disposable income. On the other hand, there is less time to play games by yourself, and the demand for boosting, game virtual currency and props will be higher.
In Shao Xianqi's studio, the unit price of "Honor of Kings" related business may only be 30-40 yuan, the unit price of "League of Legends" is 70-80 yuan, and the unit price of "Warcraft" can reach about 200 yuan. Jiang Yang also said that compared with the overall unit price of 90-110 yuan for other terminal games and mobile games, the unit price of "Warcraft" can reach about 300 yuan.
After the closure of the "Warcraft" national server, a large number of players moved to the Asian server, which indirectly drove the demand for the Asian server "Warcraft" boosting business: at the end of 2022, the price of the Asian server's manual boosting upgrade was once speculated to 8,000 yuan.
With a stable customer base and a high unit price, Warcraft boosting was once regarded as a relatively stable business model.
Most of the studios in the upstream of the industry already have Taobao stores, websites, WeChat official accounts and other platforms to take orders, and they also have fixed customer resources, which are a group of players who can directly obtain customer needs and get customized orders.
Professional studios are quickly preparing their teams to enter the "Warcraft"-related business, and many "brick-moving" parties and individual players in the downstream of the industry are also ready to move.
On social platforms, many small players are ready to move
On social platforms such as Tieba, Xiaohongshu and Douyin, many people have posted or left messages in topics and content related to "Warcraft", looking for people to "move bricks" together and discuss the feasibility of "moving bricks" business.
"Moving bricks" mostly refers to low-tech game business, such as repeatedly brushing a copy in the game, repeating the same task, in order to obtain game currency or game materials, and then sell them to other players, so as to make a profit, and the threshold is also very low.
Hua Yu is a part-time "brick moving" party, which can earn 2,000-3,000 yuan a month, "one person can do it with a few computers, and the computers can be rented, and it doesn't take too much energy to manage."
When the national server of "Warcraft" was closed, the price of virtual props and gold coins plummeted, and Hua Yu acquired a batch of gold coins and props, waiting for "Warcraft" to return and make a fortune, "Blizzard is unlikely to give up the Chinese market, and I guess that Blizzard will continue to cooperate with NetEase at the end of 2022." "Warcraft" players are relatively wealthy and have stable demand, and the income from 'moving bricks' will be relatively stable."
As soon as the news of Blizzard's return came out, Hua Yu and his friends who were "moving bricks" together planned to buy or rent some equipment, recruit three or four employees, and continue to "move bricks" after the service was launched.
Some rental equipment merchants, as well as "moving bricks" players who sell "moving bricks" tutorials and open franchises, have also appeared, and many of them are still playing the gimmicks of "no threshold and high returns".
In Hua Yu's view, these propaganda are more like "cutting leeks", "It really doesn't take much effort to get a high return, why do you want to teach it to others? This kind of propaganda is mostly to cheat a wave of 'tuition', or treat you as free labor, ask you to invest, and after teaching you, they will take a cut from you and do business without capital."
"Labor-intensive industry" with 10 points of profit
With a turnover of hundreds of millions of boosting business, the actual profit is not high.
Shao Xianqi revealed that their gross profit is about a dozen points, "there will be refunds in the middle, and there are also many costs, such as setting up a large-scale offline team and purchasing equipment."
The configuration of the "brick-moving" studio, "the cheaper the better"
Most game studios are located in third- and fourth-tier cities, where rents are low, populations are dense, and the cost of survival is relatively low - to some extent, studios are a "labor-intensive industry", and many studio operators and directors say that 10%-15% profits are the norm.
Jiang Yang's studio is also not high in gross profit, he has cooperated with many studios, none of which are in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, "There will be more studios in Shandong, Jiangxi, Henan and Northeast China, most of which are provinces with large populations." Jiang Yang's studio is also in a densely populated city with relatively cheap labor.
When they recruit offline full-time boosters, the salary they offer is 6,000-7,000 yuan, which is not particularly high in first- and second-tier cities, but it is quite "competitive" in the local area, "I have investigated that our average salary here is 3,500 yuan, and the consumption in small cities is relatively low."
The head studios in the upstream of the industry can get more benefits through scale effect, and can also undertake some high-end game business. Low-level studios located downstream or individual players who "move bricks" will have lower actual profits.
"Brother Shui", the person in charge of a studio, revealed at the end of 2022 that the monthly turnover of their studio is 50,000 yuan, and the salary of employees is 3,000-5,000 yuan. Excluding employee salaries, rent, water and electricity, the profit is only a few thousand yuan at most. He bluntly said that many bosses who invest in low-level studios may not understand "Warcraft", but they just have a little spare money and want to invest, and the investment cost of this industry is relatively low.
But in recent years, the competition in the boosting business has become more and more fierce, and the studios that have entered "Warcraft" are also facing more competitive pressure.
"In the past few years, there were still relatively few professional studios, but now there are more and more", Shao Xianqi said bluntly, and it is becoming easier and easier to do studios. "Now the overall channel is relatively scattered, we are specialized in Taobao these e-commerce platforms, but there are also some who do Pinduoduo, Douyin and Kuaishou, and some people do B station. There are some small studios with only a dozen people, and they directly open a live broadcast, which does not require any operational skills and game skills, and can attract users to consult and place orders, and maintain the survival of the studio."
In addition to the fierce competition, more practitioners may be concerned about how many "Warcraft" players will return to the national server - which directly determines how "good" their business will be.
Under the official Douyin account of "Warcraft", players left a message "can't go back"
Aki has been working part-time as a sparring partner since 2015, and has also followed players to the Asian and American servers after the closure of the "Warcraft" national server, but "the demand for sparring is only one-tenth of what it used to be".
"People in their thirties and forties have a lot of pressure in work and life, and the time to play games is fragmented, so it's not realistic to go home every day to open the computer to play games, open your mobile phone to play for a while after tea and dinner, and spend more than ten minutes playing a game before going to bed."
Jiang Yang also noticed that after the closure of the "Warcraft" national server, more than half of the players they served chose to leave, "60% of AFK (away from keyboard, meaning no longer playing games), and the remaining die-hard fans moved to other servers to play together." ”
Players are restless, and merchants are laid out in advance, but each industry will eventually return to rationality and market balance.
Jiang Yang is not afraid of how fierce the competition is, in his opinion, whether the threshold of the game studio is high or not, whether it can survive depends more on the understanding of the game and the satisfaction of customer needs by the person in charge of the studio, "If you can't do things in a down-to-earth manner, you can't meet customer needs, and if you can't get customer recognition, you will quit sooner or later."