Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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"Buy it now!! Otherwise, if it gets cracked, people will definitely speculate on it again!!"

With so many factors combined, orders flooded in as soon as pre-sales began.

Following the conclusion of the StarCore launch event, the StarCore handheld console, with its unique design, appeared on various news websites.

"The Spark handheld console has entered mass production and may be available to players even sooner than the Steam Dack!"

Will next-generation handheld consoles, handheld consoles, and graphics card docks be the future trend?

"A globally unique external graphics card dock, enabling handheld consoles to deliver insane performance. Spark aims to revolutionize the handheld console market!"

Just half an hour after the press conference ended, reporters from IGN, PCGAME, and other media outlets immediately wrote articles reporting on the event.

These reports clearly reveal the biases of these media outlets.

For example, IGN

"Spark's latest handheld console, Star Core, makes its debut."

This type of writing is more conservative, mainly just announcing that such a thing happened.

For example, PC Games

"The pinnacle of technology, the most powerful handheld console on Earth, capable of connecting to a graphics card dock—this is exactly what I want!!"

Besides the media, many content creators also worked overtime. Spark provided them with a trial of the graphics card dock mode, because in this mode, the graphics card's performance can smooth out the system's lag.

Moreover, the one prepared is the ultimate version of the 5700XT.

Even with some negative optimizations in the Starfire graphics card, this card is still more than capable of handling games like Galaxy Paradise, Girls' Frontline, and Destiny's Path.

"I feel like this version of the game is clearer?"

"Yes, thanks to the better performance of the StarCore handheld's graphics card dock mode, we have added volumetric clouds to the game. This feature will also be updated to the official version later."

Lin Li has a very good grasp of the players' mentality.

Simply letting these people try out a game that can also be played on a PC won't generate much buzz, but if the new handheld console's games include some other features...

Then this topic will suddenly appear.

For example, the previous version of Genshin Impact included volumetric clouds in the PS5 version, specifically to attract players to play the PS5 version of Genshin Impact.

However, Lin Li's situation was simpler this time.

It's just for the sake of creating hype.

Following the conclusion of the StarCore press conference, CCTV News also released a brief news report.

"It is reported that Spark, a well-known Chinese game company, today launched its first dual-use handheld console equipped with a graphics card docking system, which has generated a great response worldwide, with pre-orders exceeding 100,000 units in just three hours..."

In today's world.

To become famous, you need to be alive.

While biting a lighter might seem silly, this incident is definitely sensational. If Spark had simply released a handheld console today, even if it were Spark, it wouldn't have generated much buzz.

Because everyone can roughly guess what kind of person you are.

But now, Spark's stand with a built-in graphics card dock immediately drew everyone's attention.

Gamers are shouting that they're saved! They no longer have to buy overpriced graphics cards from scalpers. On the Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace) app, there are many comments from gamers under listings for high-priced graphics cards.

"5000 for this? I'd rather buy the new Spark game console!"

There are many similar comments on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace), and many players also voluntarily list Xinghuo game consoles on their product pages.

Lin Li didn't spend a single penny on any of these things. In fact, he himself hadn't even imagined that Xianyu (a second-hand marketplace app) could become a promotional channel before the game console was released.

The current popularity of gaming equipment is entirely due to the fact that the world has been suffering from the mining boom for too long, and players have finally found a gaming device that does not increase in price during the mining boom.

Chapter 513 Bytes

of course.

As the seller, Xinghuo is grateful to Kuangchao.

To some extent, it is precisely because of the mining boom that domestic players are more likely to accept handheld game consoles and game home consoles.

After all, in the domestic console market, it's common for cracked versions to sell better than legitimate ones.

Given the uncertainty surrounding whether Spark's handheld console can be hacked, domestic sales are expected to be somewhat slow under normal circumstances.

In the past, whether it was Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, or Steam Deck, sales in the Chinese market only surged after the console was hacked. However, the pre-order sales of the Spark handheld console have now defied this rule.

This is a pre-sale.

It is clear that the world has suffered from mining for too long.

~~~

Let's move the time forward a little, to the same day as the Spark launch event.

imperial capital.

At 9 a.m., ByteDance CEO Zhang Ming had just arrived home and was about to go to sleep.

As for why you should go to bed at 9 a.m.?

This is because he went to Europe a few days ago and just returned home from the quarantine hotel at the airport this morning. This is a special policy that China has been implementing since November.

Moreover, as the mask shortage became more severe overseas and the global death toll continued to rise, the policy was enforced more strictly, and more and more people in China were wearing masks on the streets.

Overall, however, the situation in China is much more stable this time compared to the panic of the previous life.

For some countries, there may be no difference between being prepared for a disaster and not being prepared, but for domestic countries, the difference is quite significant.

This can also be seen from the public's mindset.

In addition, the numerous free masks given away by Xinghuo on various occasions and through the Xinghuo Mall also prevented a mask shortage like the one that occurred in the previous era in China.

Not at all.

When strict policies were first implemented in China, some people tried to speculate, but Xinghuo's inventory was like a bottomless pit, and it could never be emptied.

In addition, due to the limited availability of masks through the Spark program and the fact that there weren't as many people speculating on them as in the previous life, the program was quickly brought under close government control.

Therefore, the situation in China is still relatively normal at present, except that you can see uncles and aunts wearing masks with the Spark Games logo on the streets.

The name Spark Games has become more widely known.

The only ones who might be affected are people like Zhang Ming who were forced to go overseas. Going out is difficult, but coming back is even more difficult. The 14-day quarantine period is extremely long, and he gets his throat poked every day.

That feeling.

Anyway, Zhang Ming plans not to go out anymore.

Under such isolation conditions.

Zhang Ming was healthy, but he was exhausted. He went home, took a shower, and went to bed.

He set an alarm before going to sleep, thinking that the Spark press conference was in the afternoon anyway.

A few hours of sleep followed by waking up is just right.

However, he underestimated his exhaustion. When he woke up, it was already 5 p.m., and Zhang Ming's wife had already prepared dinner.

Five p.m.

At the dinner table, Zhang Ming picked up some food while watching a replay of the Spark press conference on Douyin on his tablet.

Zhang Ming's wife, Li Rui, couldn't help but laugh when she saw Zhang Ming acting like this.

"Is it really necessary to check things even while eating? People who don't know better would think you've got some Xinghuo stock..."

Zhang Ming smiled slightly upon hearing this.

"Hehe, you don't understand. Although I don't own any shares in Spark, I do own part in Spark..."

He told a lame joke, but his wife didn't smile at all.

Zhang Ming added another sentence.

"Although I don't own any shares in this project, it does have some connection to me."

In recent years, the cooperation between Spark and ByteDance has become increasingly close. On the one hand, ByteDance and Spark have partnered on the game company Chaoxi Guangnian, and several of their games have entered the operation stage.

They started being listed on the Spark platform one after another. Although Lin Li didn't have time to control their quality, he could still control the top management.

Compared to its previous success where it was completely out of the loop and managed by outsiders, this time, with a normal top-level structure, ByteDance still managed to produce a few decent games with its funding.

Although some of these games resulted in failures, they were certainly much better than in the previous life, and overall they were profitable.

Furthermore, regardless of whether the game succeeds or fails.

ByteDance's ability to directly drive traffic through Douyin is quite significant.

In addition, 70% of ByteDance's game advertising revenue comes from Spark and its allies, such as NetEase, Seasun Entertainment, and Kuro.

In its previous life, ByteDance's advertising revenue mostly came from NetEase, so it eventually chose to acquire Tencent.

However, now, not only does ByteDance advertise on Xinghuo, but the merchant portal on the Xinghuo platform also has the option to promote on Douyin. Therefore, Douyin's advertising revenue on this line is even higher than in the previous life.

Some overseas game developers even choose to place advertisements on domestic channels.

It is precisely because of this cooperation and Lin Li's personal shareholding that the cooperation between ByteDance and Spark is becoming increasingly close.

This kind of cooperation.

This is especially evident in the two companies' "internal communications" initiatives. As communication software, the most important thing is to have a use case.

No matter how powerful or good your features are, they're useless without a stable user base.

In its previous life, Douyin itself carried a massive amount of traffic and launched several social software such as Duoshan, Xintu, and Feiliao, but without exception, all of these software were corrupt.

Just like how Tencent can't beat ByteDance in short videos no matter what it tries.

ByteDance also seems unable to defeat Tencent in the social networking field.

It was precisely because it seemed unable to defeat Tencent that ByteDance reached a reconciliation with Tencent, which was essentially a halftime break in the battle.

Lin Li naturally considered this issue when he promoted "internal communication".

His solution for competing with the penguins on this track is...

"Just survive."

Survival—these three words are incredibly difficult for a newly launched social networking app. Looking back, there's Sohu's FoxFriends, Xiaomi's MiTalk, Alibaba's Laiwang, China Mobile's Fetion, and YiXin, jointly developed by NetEase and China Telecom...

But none of them survived.

Just as a soul needs a body, software needs a body to survive, so that it won't drift aimlessly like duckweed.

Lin Li's body is the Spark Platform and the Star Core Control Unit.

The plan is to integrate this communication software into the StarCore handheld console, allowing handheld users to chat using the software, and also enabling users to install the software on mobile phones and computers.

It enables data exchange between mobile phones, computers, and handheld consoles.

Users can also use the software to chat with friends who are using the handheld console.

This looks the same as the Spark platform.

But in reality, it's different. When players use the Spark platform and want to play games with friends, they will mostly use QQ or WeChat.

Chapter 514 An Alternative "Stampede" Incident

However, there is no QQ or WeChat on the handheld console, so you can only use the software that comes with the Spark.

It may not be used frequently at first, but as long as you use the StarCore handheld console, you will definitely use this software, and in this way, the software will have a basic user base.

With a base of users, there is the potential for snowballing growth, and Spark's biggest advantage is its global reach.

Once a basic user base is established, Lin Li can make a comeback. In its previous life, the large number of foreigners registering on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) indirectly led to an increase in domestic users.

It's actually a very interesting example.

That is, whether in China or abroad, ordinary users yearn to come into contact with unfamiliar civilizations.

This interest is ingrained in human DNA.

However, before this, there weren't many software programs that could do this. Douyin was one, and Xinghuo platform was another, if we were to do a statistical analysis.

If Spark and ByteDance were combined, they would likely be the company with the largest global internet user base.