Chapter 143 Formalization of the Studio
Start a new day with fried dough sticks and soy milk.
Chen Ba opened the developer backend of the Steam platform early and checked the sales changes of many games under Tianba Studio.
Yesterday afternoon, the Steam platform launched a developer autumn sale.
It's an honour!
Tianba Studio has become the protagonist of this developer special sale event, which means that the entire event page only has games under Tianba Studio.
G Fat is really giving me too much face.
You know, developer sales events like this are generally exclusive to major global game companies.
Only they have the strength and appeal to support a special sale. If another developer were to create a game that a lot of players have never heard of, who would support it?
Tianba Studio originally did not have this qualification.
After all, to hold a developer sale, you have to prepare at least ten games on sale, right? There are not ten styles, but seven or eight styles, right?
The total number of steam platform games currently sold by Tianba Studio is only five. Among them, "Star Emperor" has been converted to a free game, which does not meet the conditions no matter how you look at it.
But Fatty G has his own plans.
He didn't know where he heard the news that Tianba Studio was developing a racing masterpiece, and it seemed that Tianba Studio was operating their "official website" channel.
do not!
Steam Platform has made a lot of money from Tianba Studio. Knowing that Tianba Studio’s wings have become stronger and there is now a trend of building its own platform to pursue a solo career, it is natural to retain it.
This developer special sale is the sweetener they give.
In addition, they also promised to give Tianba Studio preferential treatment to first-line game developers in terms of share ratio, and no longer take 30%.
Chen Ba was also very satisfied with the face given by Fat Brother G.
The Steam platform is the PC game distribution platform with the highest market share in the world. Tianba Studio cannot do without G Fat for the time being, and building its own platform is just a small effort.
The steam platform intended to show goodwill, and Chen Ba also accepted the goodwill.
The developer's special sales are still very impressive.
In just one night, the sales curves of "God's Grace Continent", "Love Staff" and the first two simulator games have soared.
Among them, "Love Staff" and "God's Grace Continent", as the latest games, have seen the most obvious sales growth. The two games sold nearly 300,000 copies in one night.
"Okay, okay!"
Chen Ba took out the calculator he used for online shopping, did some calculations, and finally came to a conclusion: "God's Grace Continent" has become the most profitable game in the studio's history!
This does not include the professional version and personalized customization services.
If these two items are added, the profit of "God's Grace Continent" will be even more exaggerated, even more than other games combined.
after all……
The reason why "God's Grace Continent" makes money is not because of how expensive the game is, nor how many millions of copies the game sells.
It's because Tianba Studio will charge a "toll" for any animation produced using "God's Grace Continent"!
This is an absolute huge profit!
For the famous Apple, many people think that most of their money comes from hardware products such as mobile phones, tablets, computers, and watches.
Yes, this hardware does make money.
But what’s even more profitable is actually the “extremely low cost” and “making money on the side” software mall channel commission, which is commonly known as the “Apple tax”!
Apple's software mall generates trillions of dollars in revenue a year, and although the vast majority of it is owned by developers, Apple also takes a toll from it.
Guess how much it pumped?
"Shen'en Continent" is not as powerful as Apple, and the market of Shen'en Animation is not that huge.
According to authoritative statistics released by the Shen'en Animation Association, the annual output value of the specific market of "Shen'en Animation" is approximately 4-5 billion yuan.
This is the annual output value, which does not represent specific revenue data, nor is it the target of Tianba Studio to collect tolls.
The actual toll collected per year is about 100 million, and after tax is deducted, it is about 80 million.
"Brother, that's outrageous."
When Wang Kun learned about these astronomical numbers, he almost fainted.
You can pick up tens of millions for nothing by lying around doing nothing for a year. What kind of fairy game is this?
"It's so outrageous..."
"The monthly turnover of King Pesticide is several billion! Compared with our mobile games, it is nothing to mention."
Chen Ba didn't think it was an exaggeration.
Mainly because in recent years, the gold-making ability of mobile games has greatly refreshed his cognitive limits.
Compared with the exaggerated record of making hundreds of millions or billions in mobile games every month, he only earned so much this year, which to be honest is already very shabby.
"It can't be compared like this!"
Wang Kun explained: ""God's Grace Continent" is a PC stand-alone game, and it is not on the same track as other mobile games."
"Besides, King Pesticide and the like still need to be exposed and active, and they need to be constantly updated and maintained. What have you done?"
Did nothing, just stood there and collected money.
Compared with the price paid and the income, these tens of millions are really good, mainly because the tolls are so easy to come by.
"makes sense."
Chen Ba nodded and said: "According to what you said, "God's Grace Continent" is really the game with the highest return rate for Tianba Studio."
"Star Emperor" is second.
Although he is inconspicuous and has always been very low-key, Star Emperor's income is actually not low.
Xianyu Digital is too profitable.
As an online dealer with the strongest background in the entire network, Fairyland Digital's reputation has long spread across the Internet, and business is simply not doing very well.
Not to mention, starting from last month, Xianyu Digital also started live broadcasting.
Brother Ba, GAL professional players, and official heads of graphics card manufacturers all came to the Xianyu Digital Live Room to bring goods...
Sales exploded!
In addition to Fairyland Digital, the in-game purchase of krypton gold in "Star Emperor" is actually doing pretty well as the number of players increases.
Based on these two points, "Star Emperor" is now one of Tianba Studio's most profitable games, second only to "God's Grace Continent".
Then it was the turn of "Love Staff", "Garbage Breaker" and two simulator games.
"Hey, Brother Ba!"
Wang Kun seemed to have thought of something and asked curiously: "Your studio has developed so well, no investors or investment institutions have come to your door?"
"Yes, I have……"
"These people's noses are more flexible than dogs. They have already sensed the smell and come to the door."
Chen Ba said speechlessly: "But I refused. After all, financing and so on will definitely affect the normal operation of the studio."
Mainly to influence decision-making.
He can now make a speech, and whatever he says is what he says. If he says to develop any game, then he will develop the game without having to be responsible to anyone.
But once investors are introduced and other shareholders and talkers are added, things become very troublesome.
"makes sense……"
Wang Kun said with emotion: "There are pros and cons. Anyway, it's hard to get their money. You don't want to go public and you're not short of money, so just ignore them."
Brother Ba has made his mark!
I still remember back then, among the buddies who graduated from the same dormitory, Wang Kun was still the most promising one. After all, if you join a state-owned enterprise and get an iron rice bowl, you will have a leisurely job and good benefits, so you can't be too happy.
At that time, he was often the one who supported Brother Ba and lent money to Brother Ba without telling his parents.
But it's different now.
Now that Brother Ba has become successful, he has become Brother Ba to help him and lend him money to buy a house in Jiangning.
"Brother Ba, thank you..."
"Okay, why should we be grateful for our relationship? When you helped me before, you weren't as pretentious as you are now."
Chen Ba waved his hand and said, "By the way, I haven't asked you yet, why do you want to buy a house so well?"
"Well……"
After taking a glance and confirming that his wife Zhang Xiaojuan was not there, Wang Kun explained: "Do you understand the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law? I'm caught in the middle, and I'm suffering from both sides!"
"After discussing with Xiaojuan, I decided to take out a loan to buy an apartment and move out to avoid being nagged all day long."
I see.
Chen Ba finally understood why Kunkun wanted to move out.
There must have been something going on at home. They said it was a conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but in fact it was definitely not as simple as a conflict. It might have been a big fight.
Every family has scriptures that are difficult to recite!
After patting his good brother on the shoulder, Chen Ba didn't say anything. After all, even Wang Kun found it difficult to deal with a family matter like this, and it was not good for him as an outsider to help anyone.
"anyway……"
After Wang Kun finished talking about his sad story, he asked very curiously: "Brother Ba, your studio is of this size, why don't you upgrade it to a game company?"
"It's just a matter of title!"
Chen Ba explained: "The day the studio was registered, it was registered as a company. It was originally a game company."
The reason why I say studio is because the scale is too small, so it is more appropriate to call it a studio to the outside world.
The name may be changed in the future.
But it doesn’t matter whether this thing is changed or not. Anyway, the core team only has a few people, so it’s no problem to call it a studio.
"The main thing is to look more formal."
Wang Kun said speechlessly: "I have never seen any studio where the game customer service left a private phone number."
Absolutely amazing!
If he hadn't seen someone posting in the community, he wouldn't have known that when "Star Emperor" had recharge-related issues, the customer service number he dialed was actually Brother Ba's personal mobile phone number.
Too abstract!
He couldn't even figure out what mistake Brother Ba had made to mistake his personal mobile phone number for the game's customer service number.
The key is that it’s been so long and no one has noticed?
"Uh! No one calls this phone, except for the occasional player or two whose recharge has not been paid..."
Chen Ba said awkwardly: "For other players, the first way to find game customer service is basically to go to Fairyland Digital."
It's not his fault for being careless.
What I did before was a stand-alone machine without Internet services, so I just left an email address and there was no need for a dedicated customer service phone number.
Later, "Star Emperor" launched an online mode and had an in-app purchase krypton gold service, so we reluctantly got a telephone customer service.
only……
When players of "Star Emperor" encounter problems related to the game, they will not call the mobile phone number at all. Instead, they will go to Xianyu Digital to find the store's customer service for feedback.
In the words of players, isn’t Fairyland Digital’s customer service just game customer service? Who says they can't solve gaming problems?
Wang Kun: "..."
Online store customer service, pretending to be game customer service?
Brother Ba can do this kind of thing. The key is that the players still think it is reasonable, and no one questions whether there is a problem with this method.
"But you reminded me."
"It's really not safe to use my personal mobile phone number as a customer service number. I will change it to Xiao Lu's number later."
Chen Ba didn't think of this level before, but he figured it out now.
Once the news spreads that he is using this phone, he will never be able to keep quiet in the future. Countless players will definitely come to talk to him in the middle of the night.
If you go too far, you may get too carried away with the game. You will call him and scold him severely.
There must be such people!
Now it's because everyone is used to reporting game-related issues through Fairyland Digital's customer service, so he hasn't been harassed.
But it will be hard to say in the future...
Chen Ba felt that he responded promptly. After Wang Kun's reminder, he changed the customer service phone number to Xiao Lu's number.
But he forgot one thing.
That is because someone exposed this matter in the community before, and he only wanted to hide the number now, and it was too late.
Didi didi!
Chen Ba's cell phone was completely unusable. It kept ringing all day long, and when he got through, he received cordial greetings from various players.
Xiao Lu wasn't much better.
The non-stop players simply used a double bombardment of phone calls and text messages, just to tell Brother Ba: hurry up and strengthen the Wings Supreme!
"It's just crazy..."
Chen Ba pulled out the phone card and found a moment of peace.
Crazy gamers are nothing.
The most outrageous thing is that a female player actually wants to seduce him over the phone. She hints in and out of words that she is beautiful and has a good figure. As long as Brother Ba nods, he will fly to Jiangning tonight...
Ouch, who can withstand this?
Chen Ba, who almost failed to withstand the test, decided to follow Wang Kun's suggestion and recruit a dedicated game customer service to deal with players after this incident.
Otherwise, if he and Xiao Lu were to receive these players, they might lose their minds in two days and be admitted to a mental hospital and take a lot of medicine.
“The studio needs to be formalized.”
"Recruiting game customer service is one aspect. We also need to form a dedicated R\u0026D team and operations team to make clear distinctions."
We can’t go the mixed and matched route.
As the number of people in the studio increased, Chen Ba felt that R\u0026D and operations must be separated and each should do its own thing.
Mixing them together will first lead to management chaos, and secondly, it will seriously affect normal work efficiency.
In the past, it was normal for four or five people to not make specific distinctions, and there was no interference between them.
But that’s not possible now. Game operation and game development are two components, and personnel must be managed separately according to the division of responsibilities.
He is in charge of the R\u0026D team.
Yang Dong is responsible for the operations team. Generally, he does not participate in the development of new games and is only responsible for old games. Under special circumstances, you can participate in game development projects.
"Then we need to work separately?"
"want!"
Chen Ba explained: "But there is no need to be too far apart. Normal communication is still necessary, as long as it does not affect each other's work."
There are only these two teams for now.
When the studio expands further in the future, the operations team may be split into marketing, customer service and technical product teams.