Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Page 850

Aldrich used even more vulgar language than he did, and Xu Dengke felt caught off guard. Little did he know, Steam was the one who was truly caught off guard at that moment.

It's still that same round sofa lounge.

Aldridge was lounging on the sofa without any regard for his image, and the others were in much the same state.

People who don't exercise much probably have this feeling: after a long period of inactivity, suddenly exercising or running can make you feel very tired and uncomfortable.

Aldrich and his subordinates are basically in this state; since they started working at Steam, they have almost never worked overtime.

Even though Spark pursued them relentlessly last year, they only worked overtime at specific times. But when Spark suddenly announced the Spark handheld console at the end of the year, Aldrich felt like he had been hit by a nuclear bomb on his way home.

"What the heck! Our Steam Dack has a competitor now!?"

Aldrich values ​​Steam Dack highly as a major product for the company's future, especially given the increasingly fierce competition in the platform market.

For Steam

The biggest pressure this year is not that user activity has reached a bottleneck.

However, in terms of public opinion, Steam is gradually becoming disadvantaged. Although Steam itself does not realize it, many users, encouraged or influenced by Spark, are gradually starting to feel that Steam is outdated.

"Ah, Steam? It's great, but it's too old and a bit outdated. Spark has more features."

"Steam is great to use, but it doesn't look as clean as Spark."

Even though Steam significantly updated its UI in the second half of 19, this ingrained impression has not only failed to dissipate, but is gradually becoming a stereotype.

Especially after the Spark New Year's Eve Gala.

"Steam has never figured out what players really need after all these years."

Such rhetoric has made Steam truly feel the crisis.

As the saying goes, public opinion can melt metal and accumulated slander can destroy bones. Once young people feel that Steam is really outdated and can't keep up with the times, that's the real blow to the company's foundation.

Not to mention, this kind of reputation will lead to a rapid decline in the number of young users.

This will put Steam at a disadvantage in the competition for new users, even though Steam has adopted a defensive strategy since last year.

Generally speaking, it means that no matter how the enemy plays, I will play my own cards.

However, this strategy of using defense as offense does not mean doing nothing.

The Steam Dack is Aldrich's nuclear bomb. As a piece of hardware that he considers groundbreaking, the Steam Dack is more than just a handheld console.

It's also an opportunity to showcase Steam's charm.

We need to make players feel again that Steam is a technology company, a young company, and a company that can create things that young people like.

more importantly.

Before New Year's Day, Aldrich had always thought that only Steam was running this track.

But who could have imagined it? Who could have imagined it?

Suddenly, out of the blue, Xinghuo presented a competing product.

What's even more alarming is that when Spark released its PV, Steam Dack hadn't even made an official announcement yet. This means that even though Aldrich immediately released news about the handheld console on Steam...

Aldridge also lost in the first round of marketing competition.

That's incredibly frustrating, almost like finding flies instead of chocolate chips on a cream cake when you're eating it.

It was both disgusting and uncomfortable.

As the saying goes, "If this is tolerable, then this is intolerable." After much deliberation, Aldrich concluded that Steam could not compete with Spark in terms of organizing events, especially in terms of developing new games.

Steam has increased its manpower, and Gabe Newell, who is usually not good at counting, has started working on the third installment of all his series under the pressure of Starfire.

We can give it our all next year; we can endure it now.

On the hardware front, Aldrich was truly fed up, so the moment he received the information, he summoned the engineers at Steam Dack.

"A press conference next week? But I still think it's a bit too hasty. We still have a lot of things to optimize."

Chapter 502 Comparing People

Round table lounge.

Samun Ward, the project lead for Steam Dack, raised his own question.

Although the Steam Dack in this timeline is much earlier than the previous one, the Steam Dack in the previous timeline was originally scheduled to be released in 21, because the mask was finally released in 22.

In this timeline, Steam Dack faced greater pressure regarding its future platform planning due to competition from Spark, and its overall development progress received more resources.

Therefore, the original plan was to launch the product in mid-20 and release it at the end of 20.

In other words, the current Steam Dack, like Spark's StarCore, is also a work in progress. However, while Spark has completed the hardware but the software is still in progress, Steam Dack is the opposite: the software is very complete, but the hardware has not yet been finalized.

"This plan can't be changed. The announcement has already been sent out. What you should be thinking about is how to give me a prototype that can be demonstrated normally before the press conference."

Although Aldridge was half-reclining, his tone was very serious.

After saying that, he noticed that Steamdack Ward looked troubled, so Aldrich added another sentence.

“It’s not me who’s forcing you, Ward, it’s Starfire who’s forcing you.”

Aldridge sat up and picked up the coffee on the table.

"It's like a competition. Spark has already seized the initiative and announced its plan, but that's just a plan after all. We still have a chance to make amends."

"The opportunity to salvage this situation is to unveil the actual device, hold a press conference, and let players know that we are also making handheld consoles, and not only are we making them, but we are doing them better and faster than Spark."

Aldridge's ability to become a senior executive at Steam indicates he has a certain level of competence.

He grasped the crux of the matter at a glance.

That is, although Spark announced that it would do it and announced the timeline, it did not release any hardware. If Steam could release hardware at this time and hold a successful launch event, that would be better.

So in this arena, Steam has not lost, and may even be able to capitalize on the current buzz surrounding handheld consoles to launch a promotional campaign.

"But boss, could Xinghuo and the others already have a usable prototype? After all, the promotional video said it would be available this year."

Aldridge smiled and shook his head.

"December 2020 is also 20 years. Don't worry, Spark will definitely not happen that quickly."

Although there was no information available, Aldridge was absolutely convinced of it.

Although he didn't know Xinghuo's situation, he was very clear about his own.

From its inception to its validation, Steam Dack has progressed remarkably quickly within Steam, taking a full two years.

Even if Xinghuo was initiated in 17, its progress should be similar to theirs.

"During our demonstration, we mainly demonstrated our system."

"The most important thing now is to let players know that Steam still has the ability to innovate. Otherwise, if we only defend, I'm worried that we will eventually collapse."

Of course, most importantly, Aldrich had a strong feeling that Spark was definitely not prepared and that this was just Spark bluffing.

Just like the fate of Xinghuo back then, it came to deceive and launch a sneak attack.

This is not just Aldrich's opinion, but also the view of mainstream media in Europe and America, and even many game media around the world. In the view of most media, handheld consoles and home consoles are things that major manufacturers need to deeply customize.

While Xinghuo certainly can't be called a small factory, its foundation is far weaker.

To some extent, the lack of cultural heritage is also a stereotype of Spark in mainstream European and American media. Therefore, during this period, the media, especially European and American media, have been reporting on the Spark Star Core handheld console.

They all like to use things like...

"I suggest that everyone not get too excited about the StarCore handheld game console."

"Spark's new attempt, but not necessarily a good one."

"Hardware is not the same as software."

The article clearly expresses a deep distrust of the StarCore handheld console, and the consequence of this extensive coverage is that many players have gone from initial excitement about Starfire's hardware to skepticism.

After all, Xinghuo released a promotional video, but then really didn't do anything else.

"Also, let's contact Penguin again. They came to us before, right? I think we can talk about this..."

After Steam announced its handheld console plans, it quickly received inquiries from many partners around the world. Among them, the most unexpected was the inquiry from Tencent.

The consultation with Penguin came from the highest levels of Penguin Games.

It conveyed two things: first, whether Steam intends to establish a deep partnership with Tencent in China; and second, that Tencent is willing to take over the release and operation of Steam Dack in China.

~~~

Qiongzhou

Compared to the cold of the capital, Qiongzhou is much warmer.

Ma Huateng and Ma Xiao just attended the 20th Internet Development Conference. This year's Internet Development Conference had a fairly complete lineup of guests, including Lin Li.

Logically speaking, this is, after all, an Internet development conference, but the loudest applause today came from Lin Li taking the stage, and then from the CEO of ByteDance.

Both of them gave a brief report on future developments.

Xinghuo advocates for vigorously developing overseas markets to drive the upgrading of the domestic game industry.

To be honest, this is a very big topic, and it could drive the upgrading of the domestic game industry. Even if you put Ma Huateng on stage, he wouldn't dare to say such a thing, but Lin Li did.

And it received enthusiastic applause at the scene.

In their subsequent remarks, the leaders present further praised Xinghuo's sense of responsibility...

Ma Huateng sat in the audience with a big smile on his face, but the helplessness beneath that smile was hard to judge, not to mention that ByteDance went up and gave another report right afterward.

The various data left the audience stunned.

Before TikTok, very few domestic internet companies were able to replicate their success in the domestic market and conquer the global market.

After the meeting, Ma Huateng did not return to the capital. Instead, he went to the tea break room prepared by the Internet Development Conference organizers and started an "overtime" meeting with Ma Xiao.

This year's Internet Development Conference was of a very high standard.

This tea break room not only has rooms, but also a small courtyard. The courtyard is not large, but it is decorated exquisitely and elegantly. In the center of the courtyard is a small lawn, and the grass on the lawn is neatly trimmed.

In a corner of the courtyard stood an exquisite tea table, upon which were several beautiful tea sets. The tea sets were simple yet elegant in style, exuding a faint aroma of tea.

The entire courtyard was filled with a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.

How did your negotiations with Steam go?

Ma Huateng picked up a cup of tea, gently turning the cup while holding the lid, and asked.

Chapter 503 Combination Technique?

The collaboration plan with Steam actually predates the Steam Dack announcement. It was something Ma Xiao had already reported to Ma Huateng before the Chinese New Year, after the huge success of the Spark Domestic Manufacturers Special Sale.

Ma Huateng approved the plan at the time, but under normal circumstances, he would not actively inquire about the details after making such a decision.

When asked now, there's a hint of something about being hurt and wanting to make amends.

Clearly, if Ma Xiao can't give him a satisfactory answer today, then Ma Xiao won't have an easy time today.

Fortunately, Ma Xiao was lucky.

Just before today's meeting, he had received the first official response from Steam.

"There has been some progress. They were forced into a corner by Xinghuo and also wanted to make a push in the Chinese and Southeast Asian markets."

The development history of Tencent Games' WEGEAM is quite interesting.

Since its establishment around the same time as the Spark platform in 17, WEGAEM's strategy has been divided into two very obvious categories.

The first stage was when both WEGAME and Spark platform went overseas. During this stage, WEGAME actually achieved certain results.

Thanks to League of Legends and continuous spending on promotion, although it can't compare to Spark, it still has a large user base worldwide.

However, during its rapid growth, WEGAME soon encountered the same predicament as EPIC.

The problem is that the game library is too thin. Even if you retain players through events, it's difficult to convert them into users.

Thus, we entered the second stage.

In the second phase, Spark has gradually expanded rapidly overseas by relying on its core business, namely the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) market, and has begun to stabilize its user base by maintaining the quality of its first-party games.

If you want to play Spark games, you can only play them on the Spark platform. This is Spark's core competitiveness, but many people seem to be intentionally or unintentionally ignoring this topic when analyzing it.

In addition to its own first-party games, the Spark platform also has a large number of exclusive games.