Text / Mobile game that little thing The devil touches the cat
NetEase shooting, the big move is emerging.
When it comes to hot topics in the industry this year, "business war" may be one of the words that cannot be avoided.
Last year, Tencent's "Dream Star" gathered all the IPs of TiMi and spent a lot of money to attack the mobile game track, and "Egg Boy Party" was not to be outdone by announcing a series of "Egg Ride" activities, using rich welfare activities and diversified gameplay to prevent user loss.
Then, the fire of "business war" burned to the MMO track next door, and NetEase's "Condor Shooting", which is about to be in public beta, played a high-profile banner of "9.9 yuan for clothing" and "rectification of the MMO industry", which attracted the attention of many players;
And now this involution trend has also come to the shooting track. Today, with the release of a new batch of domestic versions, NetEase's "Broken Land" has undoubtedly become one of the most concerned games in this batch of lists.
"Broken Land", formerly "Code 56", is a shooting product developed by NetEase Beiluoshimen Studio for three years. Since the game was exposed last year, it has gained the attention and expectations of many players with its unique Chinese wasteland style and differentiated PVE shooting gameplay.
The game-related video quickly received nearly 2 million views after its release on Station B, and players who participated in small-scale testing did not hesitate to leave their own praises.
Immediately after the NetEase 520 press conference, "Shattered Land" announced a collaboration with famous soundtrack masters Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro.
There is no doubt that NetEase has high standards and expectations for Shattered Land, and is committed to making it a next-generation adventure shooter mobile game.
After the second test ended last year, the studio received a lot of feedback from players and has been committed to polishing the quality of the game. And now that the version number is in hand, the official also mentioned that the test will be opened soon. What kind of answer will this adventure shooter game, which has no competitors and has been polished for three years, deliver to the market?
According to the author's understanding, the upcoming beta version has been further improved in terms of both the content quality and the diversity of gameplay, and I believe that there will not be too far to go before the final official launch.
So, let's take this opportunity to talk about "The Broken Land" today, a product that may not be a benchmark on mobile.
01
Blowing the horn of the involution of the shooting track?
First of all, many people will be very curious: why does NetEase want to make such an "alternative" shooting mobile game, and even willing to invest a lot of manpower and material resources for this?
To answer this question, we may have to look at the current situation of the shooting game market.
Unlike the state of a hundred flowers on the PC side, the shooting games in the mobile game field seem to be relatively monolithic. Especially for domestic players, the popular shooting mobile games on the market are basically two types of competitive confrontation or tactical competition, and they all have one thing in common, that is, they emphasize the confrontation between PVP.
In other words, the needs of domestic mobile game shooters in terms of PVE or shooting RPG experience are still a blue ocean, and it can even be said that they have not been satisfied.
Because of this, many game manufacturers are aware of this need. In recent years, there have also been many differentiated shooting products, such as "Dark Zone Breakout", which has won tens of millions of users on the more hardcore tactical game and survival gold winning track, and "Dust White Forbidden Zone", which combines the unique character design and shooting gameplay of two-dimensional games, which has attracted the attention of many players.
Although these products are not yet phenomenal hit games, they have achieved relatively bright market results in their respective segments.
On the one hand, this proves that there is indeed a blue ocean field in the mobile shooting market - the needs of many users have not been met, and on the other hand, the marketing and distribution of the products has objectively promoted the development and growth of the entire shooting mobile game users, allowing more people to contact and understand this category and become its audience.
In addition, from the perspective of its own development, although NetEase has frequently exploded in recent years, most of them are concentrated in the field of MMO or party games. On the other hand, the shooting track, the past product operation time has basically exceeded three years, and it is difficult to have new growth points, and if you want to continue to expand the influence of the track, you can only rely on the emergence of new shooting products.
That's exactly what NetEase did. Judging from the products exposed at the moment, there are not only "Firefly Assault" in the emerging potential field of survival and gold, but also "Operation Apocalypse", which is very rare on mobile terminals, "MOBA+FPS" gameplay, and even abroad they have recently launched "Blood Strike" in the tactical competition category and achieved good results.
It can be seen that NetEase has a continuous and in-depth layout for the shooting track, and it is not an overnight idea. Similarly, focusing on "Broken Land", its birth is not only due to certain external factors, but also a mature consideration of NetEase after extensive market research.
The game producers also said in an interview that as lovers of PVE shooters, they saw a lack of such products on the market, so they decided to fill the gap in this part and provide shooters with a more diverse game experience.
After roughly figuring out why NetEase wanted to make such a shooter, I can't help but be reminded of another question: what does the appearance of "Shatterland" mean?
Internally, "Shattered Land" may become another fulcrum of NetEase in the shooting mobile game track, in the current market with few competing products, or even no competing products, with high-quality content, differentiated style, rich gameplay, the first city, NetEase in this segment of the track to lay a leading position. And no matter how many latecomers there are, the first thing to cross is the mountain of "Broken Land".
Then, externally, it's undoubtedly a good thing especially for players who love shooting games. In the past, the PVE shooter RPG gameplay that could only be experienced on the PC or console side is now presented again on the mobile game, giving them richer and more differentiated game content.
And for the original shooting products on the market, there may be some pressure. Because whether it is the differentiated art style, the gameplay of the big world exploration shooting RPG, or the mature R&D system, "Shattered Land" has a good market competitiveness, and it is bound to make the competition of the entire shooting track more intense.
However, from a long-term and macro perspective, its emergence has actually injected new vitality into the development of the entire track category. On the one hand, the new product can bring new incremental users and continue to expand the user plate of the shooting category;
On the other hand, if "Shatterland" can be verified by the market and recognized by players, it may be able to bring a new kind of thinking to this track.
Shooting mobile games do not have to be competitive games with strong PVP confrontation, but can focus on the PVE experience, attract players with content, integrate into a mature numerical growth system, and create a gameplay mode similar to RPG games.
Because compared with the former, PVE will allow the game to have more content output windows, whether it is to create IP value, or to shape the image of the character, or to convey the core concept, it can help. And these are also in line with the popular concept of "content-based products".
Of course, these are just speculations based on the current situation of the game and the market background, and the outcome of everything will have to wait for the official launch of the game in the future.
However, one thing is certain: with the emergence of "Shattered Land", the shooting mobile game track is bound to usher in a strong challenger, and it carries NetEase's ambitions for this category.
02
Where is NetEase's confidence?
Since it is necessary to prepare for war, it is indispensable to prepare materials and equipment, after all, no one will do a "suicide" attack. So, for NetEase, which has taken the initiative to challenge the shooting track, where is their confidence? In my opinion, there are three main points.
The first is the Chinese feelings in "Broken Land". As the producer said, "We are Orientals, so why would we want to create a wasteland world for Westerners?"
Therefore, in terms of visual packaging, while retaining the traditional wasteland visual style, the game boldly incorporates a lot of Chinese cultural elements to form a style effect that is both familiar and novel.
For example, in "Hope Town", you can not only see red lanterns, shop windows, lanterns and other architectural decorations derived from Chinese culture, but also many familiar slogans in real life - "Save water depends on everyone", which makes every player who sees it smile.
This feature is also implemented in the character design. For example, the female NPC Sheng Lan, who impressed players in the demo, is based on the "Axe Gang" that has appeared many times in film and television works.
On the one hand, the green cheongsam and the matching Mauser pistol symbolize the unique cultural customs of the Republic of China, and on the other hand, the monochrome lens device she wears shows the unique taste of the wasteland worldview. The two elements are organically blended in her, highlighting the interesting charm of the Chinese wasteland.
Not only the external visual expression, but also the inside, especially the atmosphere of the world, has been put into the interior.
From the accent of NPC conversations, the content of chats, to the recipes of the restaurant, the description of combat skills, to the BGM and decoration design of different scenes, you can find similar Chinese elements, constantly enhancing the player's sense of substitution and immersion in the game world.
Even very down-to-earth Chinese shops such as Malatang and food stalls also appear frequently in the game, and this sense of life completes the details of the Chinese wasteland world very well.
The second is the worldview of the pluralistic wasteland universe. The aforementioned Chinese sentiment is the most eye-catching label of the game, but it is not the only label, the game hopes to show a diverse and rich wasteland world through different areas.
For example, in the Chinese-style "Pearl City" and "Hope Town", players may feel the characteristic charm of Chinese culture, such as the aforementioned decorations, costumes, architectural images, and even monster images.
However, in other areas, such as less developed or unvisited areas, players will fit the player's imagination of the wasteland in the traditional sense: primitive ecological plants, mutated monsters and animals, desolate environments, etc.
In the area where the two are compromised, there will also be unique images such as mechanical androids and mechanical monsters that are in line with the time setting of the near future.
In addition, the project team said that each of the designs, from the types of vegetation on the ground to the design of monsters, has a logical and self-consistent system that conforms to the world view.
At the same time, it is understood that the size of the secret map in the game is 200 square kilometers, and the current version has already opened 3 maps, and this number will be even more when the game is officially launched.
Therefore, the ultimate goal of the game is to create a diverse wasteland game world, which can not only show their rich imagination of wasteland elements, but also allow players to experience a more diverse and immersive experience. "One city, one world" is their pursuit.
The third is to focus on PVE's shooting gameplay. The producers have said that the core fun of The Broken Lands is exploration and growth, so they put a lot of emphasis on the local player experience.
Taking boss battles as an example, different monsters have different mechanisms, some require players to dodge behind cover and seize the gap between enemy attacks to counterattack, some test the player's reflexes, while playing close-quarters output, while dodging skills, and even large bosses will involve different interaction mechanisms such as scenes and props, which improves the fun and depth of the combat experience.
In addition, there are many interesting random events on the large map exploration, even if it is a regular level of cleaning up monsters and collecting resources, different choices will lead to different results, players can choose to face the battle head-on, or they can choose to bypass and concentrate on collecting materials.
In terms of the more important talent growth system, the game has also gone through five to six rounds of iteration and polishing. They hope to achieve a dynamic balance between the numerical input and the cultivation experience, which not only retains the tension and excitement of PVE battles, but also allows players to have a sense of accomplishment in numerical growth.
Frankly speaking, "Shattered Land" is well polished in this part, and after the actual experience, different ways to add points with a rich variety of guns and weapons, players can play many strategic routines, so that the playability has been further improved.
To sum up, it is not difficult to find that whether it is a "Chinese-style wasteland world" or a "diverse PVE experience", they are all very different from the mobile shooter products that players are familiar with. It can not only bring a more novel shooter combat experience to the core user group, but also attract a wide range of young users with art, plot and other content, and even become their first shooter game.
Perhaps it is the content of "Broken Land" that can hardly be found on the market that has become the biggest confidence for NetEase to challenge the shooting track, and also made "Broken Land" a killer feature for NetEase to shoot on the track.
03
Behind the "business war", it is still the quality that is rolled
Back to what I said at the beginning, at present, the major manufacturers in the industry are doing an "arms race", and the game market is gradually shifting from the incremental market to the stock market
But in my opinion, aside from marketing gimmicks, the essence of "business war" still has to return to the involution of content quality. The Shattered Lands understands the importance of this, so the game continues to evolve from the previous test to the upcoming test.
It is understood that the upcoming test of the game has made a lot of optimizations to the problems fed back from the previous test, and at the same time enriched various gameplay content, and the part of the social system that players care about in the later stage has also been expanded.
In short, for the upcoming test, The Broken Lands presents a richer and more interesting Chinese wasteland world.
Frankly speaking, the domestic shooting mobile game market has been silent for a long time, and everyone is looking forward to the emergence of a shooting product that no longer repeats the PVP model and has both content quality and influence. And now "Broken Land" may be the most anticipated challenger at the moment.
Therefore, rather than how high the ceiling of "Shattered Land" is in the future, and how bright is the commercial performance, the author thinks that the more important significance is that it represents a new iteration direction of shooting mobile games, giving the industry more judgment standards and more diverse choices.