Video Game Designer

EA crazy? Or is he Charles crazy?

After listening to Charles' remarks, Chuhe couldn't help but look at him in surprise.

Chu He was too surprised by what Charles said just now, even when he heard that the sales volume of Left 4 Dead was 170,000 copies on the first day, he was not so surprised.

According to Charles, EA wants to cooperate with Tianhe Network to develop a new game.

And the conditions given by EA are simply not too superior. The two parties jointly develop a game, including technology and channels. EA can provide support, and EA will also provide the bulk of the development funds. The copyright of the game belongs to both parties. Shared, of course, the ultimate profit of the game also depends on EA. At the same time, there are also issues about the platform. The platform of the game on the PC must be exclusive to EA's Rotten Orange.

In short, basically all the risks are on EA, Tianhe Network does not have to bear any pressure at all, and the development location does not need to be in the headquarters of EA in Redwood City, and the game development can be carried out in China.

Listening to what Charles said, Chuhe had to admit that he was a little moved.

Of course, what is exciting is not that there is no risk, but the technical assistance support for the EA proposed by Charles.

It can be said that 35% of the credit for the development of Left 4 Dead belongs to Merrick and his team.

For such a long time, the technical team of Tianhe Network has learned a lot of technology from the other party, which can be said to have raised the originally immature team to a higher level.

The technology of domestic game developers has always been inferior to the international level. Why?

It's not that you can't learn, but that you have nowhere to learn.

Now that the deadline for Merrick is approaching, Chuhe often thinks about how to dig into the wall, but now he just dozes off to sleep on the pillow. In fact, Chuhe doesn't pay much attention to the rest of the conditions, and only EA is really fancy. technical assistance.

But these sounds good, Charles can really represent EA, to convince other high-level EA?

This is the only question.

However, Chuhe was worried about this issue. For Charles, he was 80% sure to convince EA.

Because EA really needs it too much, needs a game, a game that is good enough.

In the past, EA was the overlord of the game industry. Whether it was publishing games or developing games, its multiple studios created countless successful IPs.

Need for Speed, The Sims, and Battlefield, which were not first-line projects at first, but burst out with amazing potential.

Medal of Honor, FIFA series, it can be said that EA is completely a super boss in the game industry.

But that was the glory of EA in the past. With the rise of digital platforms in recent years, game distribution has begun to be slowly squeezed.

In addition, more and more manufacturers are dissatisfied with the 30% high commission of the steam platform, and choose to set up their own platforms. Among them, Ubisoft's Uplay and EA's rotten oranges came into being. On the one hand, they are not to be taken away by the steam platform. % of the high commission, on the one hand, it also wants to build its own platform, not like Blizzard's Battle.net, which is purely its own nest.

In the early days, Villefort, who made games, because of a steam platform, directly allowed him to do nothing every year, and he could collect a lot of money while lying at home. It is not an exaggeration to say that the money came from the wind.

If the game sells well, Valve will earn more, and if the game doesn't sell well, it won't have to bear the cost.

In addition to the cost of servers, it can be said that the steam platform is simply a huge profit, a typical white wolf with empty gloves.

For EA, although its business is not limited to games, there is no doubt that games are one of EA's most important businesses, but today's EA feels a bit old-fashioned.

What can be obtained is nothing more than classic series such as FIFA, Need for Speed, and Battlefield.

As for the new IP, it’s not that EA hasn’t tried it, but basically it hasn’t caused any splashes. In a word, it’s mediocre, it doesn’t lose money but it doesn’t make much money, and it doesn’t meet EA’s expectations.

Globally, a large number of high-quality game studios have been acquired, but these acquired studios basically have no outstanding works, and then what awaits these studios is to dissolve and merge.

When the famine appeared and the rivers and lakes caused waves, Tianhe Network was also targeted by EA, but EA gave up this idea after investigation.

Because judging from the information obtained from the investigation, Tianhe Network is not short of money at all.

The annual revenue can reach hundreds of millions of dollars. If you want to win it, let alone whether the other party is willing or not, the price alone is not necessarily something that EA can afford.

At the same time, EA also affirmed Tianhe Network's technology and game production. From famine to rivers and lakes, if it can't explain its ability, the success of the road to survival is obviously enough to impress EA. .

What's more, compared to spending hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to acquire a well-known game studio in the industry, and then spending hundreds of millions of dollars to establish a new project, it is obviously just a trivial matter to cooperate with Tianhe Network.

"We are very interested in cooperation with EA, but we need to have autonomy in the development of the project, and EA cannot interfere." Chuhe said to Charles seriously.

The autonomy of game production is the only condition. Chuhe didn't expect that when the game was developed, EA would dictate whether the content of the game could be changed, the theme was wrong, or it was urging the production to be completed as soon as possible to catch up. A good release date.

"Of course EA is very reputable in this area." Charles nodded.

"However, for more things, I have to go back to the headquarters for a meeting to discuss, and soon there will be a formal intention to convey to the Tianhe network." After a pause, Charles said to Chuhe.

"I'm looking forward to it very much." Chuhe also nodded.

And when Chuhe and Charles were discussing cooperation matters, IGN's latest evaluation of Left 4 Dead had also been released.

Overall: 9.0, the descriptions of the people and the environment in the game are more attractive and have personality, and the whole game maintains the flavor of a B-grade movie.

Graphics: 9.0, the functions of the console in the new era are well displayed. Although there may not be a draining function, the graphics are attractive enough. The real background makes you feel like you are really in that doomsday city.

Sound effect: 9.0, the overall sound effect performance is very good. Remind you to wait for the zombie boss, the sound of weapons, groans, and screams together create an atmosphere. If you are playing alone in the middle of the night, you must pay attention, because you may be startled by zombies that appear at any time. But this is not a complete horror game. The slightly exaggerated words of the characters' narration add some humor to the whole game.

Feel: 9.0. Compared with Valve's anti-terrorist series and classic FPS such as Call of Duty, the shooting feel of Left 4 Dead is too unreal, which makes people feel a little strange, but it doesn't matter. Pick up the submachine gun in your hand and enjoy the thrill of killing all directions, but who cares about the shooting feel and bullet trajectory?

Playability: 9.0, good multiplayer mode experience, if you have your own friends, I believe this will be a masterpiece for you, even if you don't, but the artificial intelligence program in the game makes single-player battles easy More interesting, a lot of modes make you addicted to it.

IGN Overall Rating: 9.0/10.0

With the release of IGN's evaluation of Left 4 Dead, the foreign reaction to Left 4 Dead has not yet come out, but the country has already exploded.

According to the time, it is still early in the morning in China, but a call from Tianhe Network came to Chuhe's mobile phone. After answering and listening to the content, Chuhe couldn't help but look confused and helpless.