Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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It's a demo of Unreal Engine 4 SUPER.

This version is an upgrade based on the underlying logic of Fortnite, mainly optimizing the online component and also featuring graphical improvements.

The demo, in particular, fully showcased the graphics of the Unreal Engine 4.

Eric Nathan hopes to leverage the Unreal Engine 4 upgrade and the success of Fortnite to promote EPIC's full-stack services.

From engine to platform, it's a complete solution.

This is also what Eric Nathan thought was the most suitable way to promote EPIC.

Using Fallout 76 Station and Unreal Engine 4 to emphasize EPIC's technology, based on this.

Most of the manufacturers invited by EPIC are small and medium-sized enterprises, because these manufacturers are EPIC's potential customers.

Rather than calling this a carnival for players...

It was more like a technology launch event for the industry.

Following this line of thought, Eriksson's arrangement is perfectly fine.

The problem is that there are bad people among the masses!

Xinghuo is guilty of heinous crimes!

A platform launch event actually invited two major companies, Sony and Ubisoft, as well as Capcom and a bunch of other well-known Japanese manufacturers.

This is compounded by a whole host of platform support results.

This made Eric Nathan very uncomfortable.

Isn't it frustrating? You say EPIC wants to support small and medium-sized manufacturers, but the manufacturers don't know how much support you can provide.

Human Spark has made it very clear that it has already presented 10 successful support achievements.

Human Spark also has engine support and full-stack revenue sharing.

"Damn it, those are my words!"

This is Eric Nathan's biggest takeaway from watching the Spark live stream.

Although I complain.

But Spark has already launched first, what can you do?

What else can be done.

the next day.

Eric Nathan got a severe scolding from his boss.

"What kind of scoundrels have you invited? Not even a single big company! Look at them! Look at Xinghuo!"

The original words weren't quite so direct, but that's the gist of it.

Eric Nathan wanted to retort, asking why Bethesda wasn't considered a major company and why Fallout 76 wasn't considered a masterpiece.

But in the end, he couldn't muster the courage.

What should we do then?

The boss says one word, and the subordinates run themselves ragged.

But Eric Nathan was allowed to run himself ragged.

No, it just can’t happen.

Just like math, if you don't know it, you just don't know it.

The gaming industry seems very large.

But there are only a handful of truly world-class, well-known companies.

Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, the Big Three, then there's Ubisoft, Activision, EA, Rockstar, Bethesda, Paradox Interactive, CD Projekt Red, and a host of Japanese companies like Square Enix, Capcom, and Koei Tecmo.

Sony, Ubisoft, and a host of Japanese companies have all been poached by Spark. And on the PC side, it's unclear what kind of spell Spark cast on these companies, but they've decided to stick with Spark and don't even consider other platforms.

Remove these manufacturers.

The remaining major companies either have their own platforms, such as Microsoft, EA, and Activision Blizzard.

Some companies, like Paradox Interactive and Rockstar Games, have chosen to support Steam, and many other small and medium-sized companies are also fans of Steam.

There are two interesting details here.

It is Activision Blizzard. Before this year, although Activision Blizzard was a single company, it operated independently.

However, this year, the PC version of COD15 was announced to be exclusively available on Blizzard's Battle.net platform.

This can also be seen as a detail of Activision Blizzard getting involved in the platform wars.

Rockstar Games is a counterexample. Rockstar has its own platform, but in this platform war, it chose to side with Steam, in a way that is somewhat similar to Ubisoft's.

The game is only available on Rockstar's own platform and Steam.

In this kind of environment.

EPIC only acquired Bethesda, which is indeed a bit meager.

Epic Games, which originally aimed to compete with Steam, has unexpectedly fallen to third place in this platform war!

Having no other choice, Eric Nathan suddenly discovered that Activision Blizzard was actually present at Tencent's online press conference on the eve of E3.

That's how they found Penguin and sought to integrate resources.

Tencent has stakes in many large companies; even if it doesn't monopolize them, it can at least give them a platform.

After a series of discussions, it was perhaps because WEGAME was simply not up to par, or perhaps it was just a purely strategic partnership.

In short, Tencent's top management agreed to a strategic partnership with EPIC, facilitating a connection between EPIC and Activision Blizzard.

The WEGAME executives were in an uproar when they received the news.

They are the same as EPIC.

It also lacks big names to endorse it.

With Activision Blizzard gone, the already thin lineup for WEGAME Night became even thinner.

Even though Tencent executives said they could approve funding to move the WEGAME Night to Los Angeles and coordinate the timing, that would be fine.

then.

WEGAME's executives unexpectedly got a trip abroad... oh no, I mean a work trip abroad.

Even so, WEGAME's executives were still furious.

It's not because of the changes to WEGAM's guests for EPIC; the key issue is that the underlying logic makes one worry about the group's strategic direction.

You should know that this started in April.

Despite the turmoil surrounding WEGAME, including a change of leadership, it has made little progress in the global market.

However, the group's resources and funds did indeed end up in their hands.

If you have power, you don't have to worry about not having money.

With the group's resources being allocated to them, the senior executives of WEGAME have also risen in rank.

Now, Tencent's top management wants to get entangled with EPIC. They dare to coordinate guest resources today, but what if they dismantle WEGAM and merge it into EPIC the day after tomorrow?

no! Absolutely not!

Chapter 512 The Fierce Battle of Platforms

"Alright, stop arguing. Will arguing kill Xinghuo? Will it solve anything?"

Chen Zhou naturally knew that wouldn't work.

He rubbed his temples to relieve the throbbing pain.

I thought taking over WEGAME was a great job, a stepping stone in my career.

In retrospect, this is hardly a pleasant job.

The aura displayed by Xinghuo has grown stronger and stronger in just a few months, like oil being poured into a raging fire.

But on the other hand...

It's getting harder and harder for him.

The most painful point is the domestic game license freeze, which has brought WEGAME to a standstill in the domestic market, and Tencent's self-developed capabilities are really poor.

The number of foreign manufacturers acquired seems large.

It seems there have been quite a few successes, such as EPIC and Activision Blizzard.

However, there are also many cases of failure.

For example, in order to alleviate anxiety about mobile games, they spent $86 billion to acquire Supercell, the developer of Clash of Clans.

The acquisition barely made a ripple.

Moreover, it would be very difficult for Chen Zhou to use these foreign manufacturers.

It's naturally uncomfortable to be forced to play cards when you have no cards in your hand.

"Our primary goal is not to start a fire, but to prove ourselves and compete for internal resources."

The saying goes, "To repel external aggression, one must first pacify the internal situation."

"We do need to be more accommodating in the international market, but we remain competitive in the domestic market."

"Let's consolidate our current game resources and hold a September event, a September New Game Festival. Fox Spirit Matchmaker, Under One Person, these IPs are still around, right? I remember we've already prepared the game licenses for these in advance."

"And those games that haven't gotten a license but we have the right to use, like PUBG, will all be launched and put into testing. Even without a pay-to-win system, we can still attract popularity."

"Besides, I think even if EPIC gets Activision to back them up, they might not be able to beat Spark in terms of buzz. Spark's marketing capabilities are far superior to those idiots at EPIC. We'll submit our proposal then."

"Won't the resources come back?"

After analyzing the pros and cons, Chen Zhou...

The executives nodded in agreement, as if it made sense.

They don't actually need to beat Spark at E3.

If the EPIC presentation goes badly, doesn't that just prove that they can't beat Spark not because they're bad, but because Spark is too strong?

So a group of Tencent executives praised Spark at the meeting, hoping that Spark and the subsequent Microsoft, Sony, Bethesda, and SE press conferences would be more impressive.

Ideally, EPIC should suffer a significant loss.

~~~

It turns out.

Chen Zhou is indeed an investor; he may not be good at games, but he's quite accurate in this area.

With the E3 expo countdown underway, Microsoft, Sony, and EA are all ramping up their efforts.

Microsoft has brought a total of 52 games!

Exclusive games include Forza Horizon 4, Halo Infinite, and Gears 5. Furthermore, the article highlights Microsoft's built-in PC watermelon peel, suggesting that the true next-generation platform is a membership-based platform.

Sony's The Last of Us Part II is still in the promotional stage and is already a huge hit, while Ghost of Tsushima is even more thrilling.

In this situation.

Aside from three slightly off-the-beaten-path announcements at EPIC's presentation: the official launch in August, Bethesda's Fallout 76 exclusive, and the visuals from the upgraded Unreal Engine 4.

It barely caused a significant reaction, and Activision Blizzard only made a brief appearance, having little effect.

Moreover, even these three pieces of information quickly disappeared amidst the major news and announcements from various large companies.

However, it received a considerable response from Unreal Engine users.

Compared to EPIC.

STEAM's launch event was much more successful.

When the trailer for Half-Life: Alyx, released a year in advance, the entire audience stood up. The VR version, Half-Life, the nostalgia factor, and the details shown in the demo all contributed to the excitement.

It ignited the entire gaming industry.

The subsequent half-hour montage of new games further demonstrated the current status of Steam among small and medium-sized developers.