Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Page 885

~~~

However, just as the Spark Remastered Games Festival was coming to an end...

Steam has finally made its move.

Not only was the Half-Life remake, originally scheduled for release at the end of March, released ahead of schedule, but Half-Life: Alyx was also released ahead of schedule.

After the two games, public opinion shifted again.

Especially Alyx (half-life)

The game instantly captured the attention of global media upon its release, and at the same time, Valve's own VR device, the Valve Index, also stole the show.

It seems that VR games and virtual reality technology have become a reality overnight.

Steam even launched a VR game live streaming channel, and similar videos also appeared on Bilibili.

Tencent Games even launched a Chinese version of the Valve Index, which surprisingly sold well despite its high price of 6999 yuan.

Half-Life: Alyx has earned legendary status.

"You absolutely have to try it yourself; this is definitely next-generation performance."

Almost every tech blogger on YouTube has started trying out Half-Life Alyx, and VR manufacturers are hyping it up like crazy.

Compared to its predecessor, the promotion and marketing of Half-Life Alyx this time has a much wider impact, partly because Steam has invested heavily in it.

After all, Steam lost to handheld game consoles before, and then put all its eggs in one basket with remastered games. But unexpectedly, even remastered games couldn't beat Spark.

Steam is really in a hurry. After Half-Life: Alyx was released, the marketing and promotion were far more extensive than in the previous game, with an overwhelming amount of promotion.

Penguin Games is also following Steam's lead and trying to join in.

"This is not just a game, this is a revolution."

For publicly traded companies like Tencent, they need concepts far more than Steam does.

In the past few days, Tencent has even used its subsidiaries to release many videos showcasing details of Half-Life Alyx on Douyin and Bilibili.

In these videos, players can grab objects directly with their hands, pull open drawers, and even unscrew screws with a wrench.

At the end of these videos, there is often a logo indicating a collaboration between WEGAME and STEAM.

Chapter 560 Another VR Year Begins!

Meanwhile, with Tencent spending heavily, a "VR craze" has swept across social media.

Tencent Games also launched a series of VR game promotion activities, including offline experience stores and VR game competitions, and even announced its entry into the VR game market.

This series of promotional campaigns was so intense that even Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell, stepped forward to speak out.

He described the future of VR games in an interview.

"The popularization of VR technology will take time, but we believe that with the advancement of technology and the reduction of costs, VR games will become an entertainment option that every player can enjoy in the next one to two years."

"Half-Life Alyx is just the beginning of this future."

Gabe Newell's endorsement, coupled with Half-Life Alyx's sales exceeding 30 copies in its first week as a VR game, has injected a strong boost into the market.

Many investors and analysts are beginning to reassess the potential of the VR industry, believing it has the potential to become the next "trillion-dollar market".

Among players, Half-Life Alyx has earned legendary status.

Both gaming media and ordinary players have given it almost perfect scores.

Some people even joked that...

"If you haven't played Half-Life: Alyx, then you haven't truly experienced VR gaming."

~~~

Compared to its predecessor, Steam in this timeline is incredibly aggressive. Keep in mind that in its predecessor, Valve had already essentially given up on the VR market when Half-Life: Alyx was released.

The Half-Life: Alyx project was conceived and approved in 14, and officially approved in 16. In a 17 interview, Valve announced that three VR games were in development.

Ultimately, Valve only released one VR game in 20 years.

The span of time actually reflects the predicament of VR games. The VR market in the previous 20 years was actually a very cold market.

To give an inappropriate example.

When the Oculus Rift made its stunning debut in 2012, VR gaming was like an elven maiden, making everyone realize the potential of consumer-grade VR products for the first time.

Suddenly, early products like the HTC Vive flooded the market, and marketing campaigns were everywhere. This was also the first time the concept of "the first year of VR" was mentioned.

But by 20, this "elf girl" had been completely ruined by capitalist goblins.

From 12 to 20, VR has been hailed as a "first year" every now and then.

In 2014, Facebook acquired Oculus, sparking a wave of VR startups. Many people believed that this was the "Year Zero of VR".

In 2016, Microsoft launched HoloLens and Windows MR, while Sony launched PSVR, making it a truly massive "Year Zero of VR".

In 2019, Valve itself entered the fray, releasing the Valve Index and launching the highly customizable sandbox game Boneworks. This should be considered the "Year Zero of VR".

However, these so-called "Year Zero of VR" ultimately did not become the starting point for the popularization of VR.

And so, I've been playing it ever since.

The capital market has lost all interest in the concept of VR.

Valve was aware of this in its previous life, which is why of the three VR games that were initially conceived, only Half-Life: Alyx survived. After Half-Life: Alyx, no further VR games were ever conceived.

As Valve's own VR hardware, the later Steam Deck has undergone some hardware upgrades, but the Valve Index, released in 19, has remained silent.

Therefore, in its previous life, after Half-Life: Alyx, Valve, like other capitalists, basically ignored the existence of VR for a long time.

However, in this timeline, Valve was pushed to its limits by Spark's relentless pursuit.

In particular, the launch of the Spark Reset Game Festival, which seems to be a less-than-top-tier marketing event, is far inferior to the extravagant New Year's Eve event with its all-game selection.

The impact on Steam was unexpectedly large.

It's no exaggeration to say that when Aldrich looked at the Steam online player curve during that period, his blood ran cold.

It's worth noting that Steam was the first to introduce the concept of resetting game parts!

Aldrich finally assembled what he considered to be the best lineup of remastered games and created the concept of a classic game on Steam.

The result was a complete and utter defeat.

Looking back, Aldrich had initially dismissed the Spark Reset Game Festival when it first started.

They believe this is merely a marketing tactic that Spark has temporarily added to try and salvage the situation, and it poses no real threat to Steam.

However, reality gave him a loud slap in the face.

Spark's event may have been decided on the spur of the moment, but damn, Spark's game library is just too vast, and Spark's development capabilities far exceed Aldrich's expectations.

As an American.

He found it hard to imagine that in a country with a population of over a billion, there were seven or eight million college graduates each year.

After the emergence of an industry giant like Spark, how exaggerated can its production capacity be unleashed under Spark's support policies?

More importantly, for the Western gaming industry, which is increasingly being driven by capital, Spark is undoubtedly a game-changer.

Because Spark does not pursue absolute profit margins.

If the goal is to maximize profits, these games won't be remastered, especially old titles like "Rise of the Dragon" and "Caesar the Great".

However, it is precisely because Xinghuo does not pursue absolute profit margins, but instead relies on product quality and the contrast with its "peers" that it succeeds.

It gained an excellent reputation, which in turn boosted sales.

The entire Spark Remastered Games Festival not only attracted a lot of attention from players, but also caused many users who were originally loyal to Steam to switch to the Spark platform.

The speed and scale of this transformation far exceeded Aldridge's expectations.

Aldrich then realized that Starfire's remastered game was digging into the roots of Steam, a gaming platform from 03.

Steam has a large number of "veteran players," who were originally the foundation of Steam.

During last year's platform wars, even though Spark launched a series of new games, it still couldn't poach them.

But now, Spark's Remastered Games Festival, Spark's attitude towards remastered games, and the high quality of these remastered games are all noteworthy.

This is exactly what these "veteran players" want.

When Steam realized that its roots were starting to crumble, it panicked. Not only Aldrich, but even Gabe Newell was shaken.

They desperately need to prove that Steam is still at the forefront of technology.

They have never been more eager to prove that Steam is still the Steam that can change the world.

coincidentally.

In faraway China, there is also a giant facing the same predicament.

So, after communicating with Tencent, the two sides hit it off immediately, with Steam providing personnel, resources, and manpower.

Penguins provide the funding and the market.

With the combined efforts of both parties, VR, this "elf girl," can be brought out once again.

The Year of VR is Here!

Chapter 561 Activision Blizzard Re-enters the Game

Riding the wave of Half-Life: Alyx's popularity, Valve not only announced more VR game content but also a developer collaboration program.

We need to collaborate with other manufacturers to further expand the VR ecosystem.

~~~

The office of the CEO of Activision Blizzard.

Through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the CEO's office, Bobby can see the bustling city view outside.

In the past, smoking a cigar in front of this floor-to-ceiling window was something he did almost every day after becoming the CEO of Activision Blizzard.

This gives him a strange sense of exhilaration, as if he has a vast business empire under his control.

But at that moment, Bobby wasn't paying attention to the view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows; he was carefully looking at a document, a document sent from Steam.

This is an invitation.

The content is an invitation to Activision Blizzard to join the SteamVR Developer Alliance.

Regarding VR, Activision Blizzard and mainstream Western manufacturers such as EA, Rockstar, Ubisoft, and Take-Two share the same view.

That means VR isn't working. This doesn't mean the technology is bad, but rather that developing VR games isn't profitable.

Compared to consoles, PCs have a user base of hundreds of millions.

The adoption rate of VR devices is extremely low, even for the lightest ones currently available, such as Meta's (formerly Facebook) Quest series.

It only sold two million units.

VR equipment is expensive overall, and the player base is relatively small.

In addition, the development costs and technology of VR games differ from those of mainstream games. All these factors have led traditional major companies to adopt a wait-and-see attitude towards the VR market.

Conversely, because these major companies are taking a wait-and-see approach to VR, the VR game lineup has consistently failed to take off.

The logic is simple: even game consoles need AAA titles to support them, let alone VR.

But this time.

Bobby was somewhat conflicted.

On the one hand, Activision Blizzard was indeed affected by the Warcraft 3 remaster some time ago, and its stock price plummeted.

Even now, Activision Blizzard's Warcraft III Reforged is constantly being compared to Starfire's Heroes of Might and Magic III Reforged.

Bobby saw this comparison as malicious.

But that doesn't stop players from enjoying it immensely.

Just a few days ago, at an Activision Blizzard offline event, the host randomly selected audience members to ask Activision Blizzard executives questions.

I actually got a viewer who called on Activision Blizzard to stop making games altogether and just sell all their IPs to Starfire so they can make them, instead of wasting their IPs.

This disruptive behavior actually drew cheers and applause from the audience at a Blizzard fan event.