8 days before the launch of the Taiwan server of "Let's Go Muffin", Huang Xiwei returned to his heartbeat.
Before leaving XD in 2021, Huang Xiwei was a partner, responsible for XD's overseas publishing and TapTap business, and released overseas versions of games such as "Ark of Tomorrow", "Girls' Frontline", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Ragnarok RO".
Huang Xiwei
After leaving XD, HaoPlay, which he founded, has successively released "Girls' Frontline: Cloud Atlas Project", "Heavenly Oracle", "Mosaic Heroes" and "Back to the Future: 1999" overseas...... Over the years, the cumulative turnover of the products he led overseas has been close to 10 billion.
Back to the Future: 1999 Hanbok
When Huang Xiwei's other entrepreneurial project "Good Talk" project ended, Huang Yimeng invited him to return to Xindong and take charge of the distribution of the product at home and abroad - first of all, the distribution of "Let's Go Muffin" (hereinafter referred to as Muffin).
Although the time is tight, he said that XD still supports himself as an "airborne boss" internally, "The distribution plan of Muffin at that time was relatively complete, and I mainly decided on some framework things, asked for more budget, and gave everyone some confidence." ”
You may have seen Muffin's later achievements. Since its launch, the game has still ranked among the top 3 in the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets in China. Such results have brought great confidence to XD - the company's stock price has more than doubled since the launch of Muffin, and the market value has also increased by nearly 5 billion.
7.47 yuan rose all the way to 18.54 yuan
Now that the Muffin national service is about to be launched, Grape Jun also visited Huang Xiwei some time ago and chatted with him about the reasons for leaving and returning to XD, as well as the current changes in management and cognition within XD. Over the years, Huang Xiwei and Xindong have been called separated. But he said that the biggest reason for returning this time was that the happiest and most successful times of his life happened almost entirely in his heartbeat.
Here's a summary of the conversation:
01 "After the business is over, Huang Yimeng asked me if I wanted to get back my heart"
Grape Jun: You and Dash (Huang Yimeng) have known each other for so long, why did you leave Xinding before?
Huang Xiwei: I did know Dash for a long time, when we were all working as individual webmasters and had exchanges. Later, when I was doing overseas web game publishing, I was tempted to hand over my own games such as "Heroes of Heaven and Earth" and "Three Kingdoms" to me as an agent; When XD acted as an agent for Ah Fei (Yao Jianjun, CEO of Feiyu Technology) in "The Way of the Immortals", he also asked me if I wanted to act as an agent overseas.
Later, we became closer, and I spun off my own company (BitComet) game business and established Longcheng Network with XD to be responsible for XD's overseas distribution business. Later, we founded TapTap together.
The reason why I left XD was because Dash and I had different philosophies about the company. For example, during that time, he hoped that the company would invest more resources in self-development, and I felt that self-research and agency could walk on two legs; He hopes that TapTap can have a flywheel effect with XD's self-developed products and link with other businesses, and I hope that TapTap can maintain its independence.
Grape Jun: At that time, Xinxi's distribution business was really doing well.
Huang Xiwei: X.D. Global (overseas distribution business) is in charge of me and Yu Xinyu, when XD goes public, the annual profit of our business should be 200 million, and the company's products in China's Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States and other markets are good, such as "Girls' Frontline", "Blue Route", "Ark of Tomorrow", "The Fifth Personality", "Honkai Impact 3" (joint distribution) and so on.
"Girls' Frontline" Hanbok
But it is precisely because of the IPO that XD and Dash need to be accountable to shareholders and the market, so he has his strategy.
Grape Jun: That's why you founded HaoPlay at that time?
Huang Xiwei: Yes, HaoPlay is my current overseas publishing project with Yu Xinyu, and the team members are basically the original Long Cheng, or Global.
Back to the Future: 1999 by HaoPlay
Grape-king: What about the situation here?
Huang Xiwei: "Good Talk" is a community product that I co-founded with Zhang Qian (co-founder of TapTap). When I first started doing it, everyone dared to invest, and the valuation was high, and I took 250 million yuan in the first round, because of the successful case of Discord, but now there is a problem with the business direction, and we also changed the direction halfway through and engaged in AI, and we did it for another year.
Left: The "Good Talk" interface is a Discord-like community
Right: "Talking about AI" interface
Later, I reviewed with Zhang Qian a few times, and found that it was difficult for both the community and AI to land, and if I continued to do it, it was very likely that there would be no scum left in another two years; Coupled with the pressure from investors, we couldn't keep consuming a project that didn't have a successful experience, so we finally held a board meeting, disbanded the team, and returned the remaining investment.
At that time, I thought that after the liquidation, I would be semi-retired, after all, the finances were also free. As a result, Dash heard about the disbandment, and he consulted with me and asked me if I wanted to get back in love. I struggled with it for a week, discussed it with the team, and finally agreed.
02 About the release of Muffin: "The boss is used to carry the blame"
Grape: Why did you agree to return? I feel that it is a pity to give up semi-retirement.
Huang Xiwei: In order to prove that I am still valuable.
Grape Jun: You can also prove it through HaoPlay's business.
Huang Xiwei: It's different, after all, Xinding is my most successful and happy life resume, and it is full of old faces and brothers. Working with XD, no matter what position it is, whether it is Global or TapTap, is very comfortable for me, and I have a great chance of success, so I want to help if I can.
Grape Jun: There is a lot of emotion.
Huang Xiwei: Yes, but the decision-making is comprehensive. For example, I also look at the cost of communication and trust, although everyone wants money, but for the sake of money, it is very tiring to do something that I don't want to do and am unhappy, especially to communicate with others, so I can't go to any other company looking for me.
But we have been working together for more than ten years, whether it is Dash, or the R&D producer, the person in charge of marketing and operations, I have dealt with each other, and we have a good relationship, and we also know my past resume, so I trust me more.
Grape: That's why Dash wants you back?
Huang Xiwei: Actually, after I left, Dash found someone to do R&D and publishing, and his new team needed to run in, and he was excited to set up so many projects at that time, he still had a lot of things to manage and make decisions, and his energy was easily dispersed.
So he came back to me, not because he wanted me to do anything about the release, but because at least he could take his energy off and let him focus on other things. For example, this time when Muffin was launched, Dash said to me, you are here, I can let go of this product.
Grape: What adjustments did you make after you came back and took over Muffin?
Huang Xiwei: It's all fine-tuning. After all, the game is about to be launched, and everyone has done almost the early release work, so I will take the test data of the game, match it with the past release cases and models, and take everyone to analyze the development trend of this category of games and how to spend money, which is what I am good at.
However, the specific implementation plan, such as the linkage between the Taiwanese service and the Kabo cat and the cat, and the linkage between the national service and the line puppy, were all handed over to the team. After all, XD itself is also good at publishing in the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets of China, and you see that everyone has released games such as "Sword of the Lily of the Valley" before, and they are not bad.
Grape Jun: It is equivalent to giving the team some more confidence.
Huang Xiwei: Yes, after I came back, I communicated around and aligned the expectations of R&D and distribution, and then raised the expectations of Muffin.
Grape King: What were their expectations?
Huang Xiwei: The previous judgment was similar to "Endless Ulala". But now that I'm the boss, to put it bluntly, I can take the blame, so I combined with past data, raised some expectations, and invested more supporting resources. Dash also said that as long as I am in line with him, I can handle the budget and decisions by myself.
Grape Jun: Everyone has cooperated, and communication is relatively convenient.
Huang Xiwei: Yes, I think the most important thing is the internal communication of the team, if the communication cost of a company accounts for half, then the team's execution will be gone. For the boss, as long as the team's execution speed is fast, then the decision will be simpler, even if one of the several decisions is wrong, everyone can quickly cover and make up for it, otherwise it will be very dangerous to communicate and wait all the time.
Grape: In the end, did Muffin's results meet your expectations?
Huang Xiwei: It still exceeded my expectations. However, this doesn't matter for the distribution, we originally issued products, and we only made a lower limit estimate, not an upper limit estimate - you can increase the budget after the explosion, but if you invest too much as soon as you come up, the money will be easy to lose.
Of course, you also have to estimate this lower limit accurately, you can't play a budget of 100 million, and if you conservatively estimate it to 10 million, it will also be a loss.
Grape: It sounds like it takes a lot of experience.
Huang Xiwei: Yes, it depends on experience and our data models for different categories. Because Muffin does not have IP, and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are the first markets to be launched, I kept an eye on it in the first month, reviewing the data every day and inferring how to invest. Communicate with the operation department and the marketing department every day to analyze how to meet the theme of easy teaming, how to design the purchase volume, match the rhythm, how many users to attract every day, and what the ROI should be.
My original expectation was that after the production capacity of Muffin was launched in the second month, the results would be better than that of "Endless Ulala". But I didn't expect it to explode in the first month.
Grape: Unlike "Endless Ulala", I remember that its water was sliding relatively quickly at that time.
Huang Xiwei: "Endless Ulala" was more than 40 million in the first month, and it declined rapidly in the second month. There are many reasons for the decline, at that time, this project was too anxious to go online, the amount of content was less than that of Muffin, and in the environment at that time, the concept of team hanging was too innovative and there were many pits.
But after wading through it, Muffin will be able to make a different hang-up on the basis of "Endless Ulala" - although it is a team concept, Muffin's cultivation is lighter, and you can play without pressure and play for your own growth experience.
Grape: What do you think is the reason for Muffin's success?
Huang Xiwei: I think there are three points: one is innovation, after you watch "Endless Ulala", there are many manufacturers who have made similar products and failed to succeed, because they are homogeneous, and everyone has no incentive to play a similar game again. The essence of Muffin's success is to meet what players want, and then it is completely different from the user experience and social network of "Endless Ulala".
The second is that Muffin's art performance is more cute, and the user acceptance is very good, because the team has done "Playing Polly Every Day" before, and they are very good at this small and fresh style.
The third is that the development experience of the game is very detailed, the numerical growth is very stable, the user will not be stuck in a certain stage, and at the same time, each stage can also get a different experience.
Grape Jun: With the precedent of the success of the Taiwan server, is the expectation of the Muffin national service higher this time?
Huang Xiwei: Before the launch of the Taiwan server, we estimated the issuance budget of tens of millions; In China, the investment is made according to the data of Taiwan's service, so the initial investment must be greater.
At the beginning, we were also worried that Muffin's payment model would not work in China, but after the test of the national server, we found that the user experience and growth were basically the same as those of the Taiwanese server, so we now only need to focus on how many users the game style can attract in China.
Of course, there are also several problems in the domestic market now, such as the buying market has been pulled away by mini games, and several strong masterpieces are about to be launched - we should be the best node of the worst schedule, a little earlier than "Dungeons and Warriors: Origins", "Singing Tide" and "Jeopardy Zero".
The national server will be launched on May 15
In this case, our main point of promotion is to tell users: what kind of product I am and who is suitable for playing, rather than holding it high, any user can come in.
Grape King: Will there be a mini-game version of Muffin?
Huang Xiwei: There is a plan, after all, Muffin itself is a vertical screen game, and the category of hang-up it represents is relatively easy - you see that the most successful mini-games now are all numerical hang-up categories.
However, for XD, mini games are more incremental channels, and we will try them, but for now, we will send the product first.
03 The most important thing is to be happy
Grape Jun: In addition to Muffin, what other products are you preparing to release this year?
Huang Xiwei: "Heartbeat Town" has been tested at the end of April, and we will make a marketing plan based on the test data later; In addition, in the second half of the year, there will be versions of Muffin in other overseas regions, and the Japanese and Korean versions of "Sword of the Lily of the Valley" will be launched.
Grape Jun: Will Japan and South Korea of "Sword of the Lily of the Valley" be better?
Huang Xiwei: The art style of "Sword of the Lily of the Valley" is no problem with the war chess category, we have also posted "Dream Simulation Battle" before, and we have a foundation for the understanding of categories and users. As for what height "Sword of the Lily of the Valley" can reach after that, it ultimately depends on whether the product can eat users for a long time.
Grape Jun: Will Xindong still act as an agent for external products in the future?
Huang Xiwei: Not in the short term, after all, XD is still too busy, and the current goal of XD is to release the last few self-developed products, after all, so much has been invested before.
For me, if a product is good enough, I will also try to maximize its value and not just drop the bucket.
Grape Jun: What do you think are the difficulties in game publishing at the moment? Why are there fewer and fewer publishers like HaoPlay? Is it a good product that everyone is reluctant to send to others?
Huang Xiwei: In the past two years, the issuance business has really not been easy. In the first two years, when the capital was at its hottest, everything was expensive, and good games needed to be grabbed by bidding, and Haoplay didn't get some more products until last year, when the capital fell. For example, Tencent's "Love of Light and Night", "Baijing Corridor", and the scattered "Girls' Frontline 2: Chasing" and so on.
I think that whether the publisher can get the product or not depends on the team's past publishing experience and reputation.
For us, if the product is completed, we must not be proud of the credit, and the distribution is always a plus, and the research and development is done well.
If the product data is not good, we will also admit that we have lost our eyes, rather than throwing the blame; At the same time, we will align with R&D expectations in advance, so that they can understand the positioning and value of the distribution, so that they do not have too many expectations.
Grape Jun: It doesn't sound complicated, it's basically a matter of values.
Huang Xiwei: Yes, I think it's enough to have the right values.
Some developers and publishers will find problems with each other, and even if the product is successful, everyone will not be very happy. But I think that no matter whether the product succeeds or fails, the cooperation should be happy, and happiness is the most important thing.
It's really the time of the flop, and it's you who makes money, so why aren't you happy? If you lose, you can't win it back, so why increase the pressure and spin in place? It's better to turn the page early and think about what to do next.