On July 16th, the new SLG work "World Qiyuan", developed by Tencent Games Northern Lights Studio Group and published by Ruyi Jingxiu, officially opened the public beta.

On the first day of the game's launch, it achieved the No. 1 place on the App Store's free list, once again establishing a strong IP for the SLG track, which attracted the attention of a large number of players and top KOLs in the SLG circle.

From the first exposure to the subsequent tests, "World Qiyuan" has been closely watched by players and the industry. In addition to the eye-catching points at the game level such as civilized genuine IP licensing cooperation and vigorous innovation in gameplay, Ruyi Jingxiu, as a new publishing team in the industry, won the distribution rights of Tencent Studio's self-developed products, and the special content produced by "World Qiyuan" at the operation and communication level must also be the reason for the high popularity of this work.

Whether it is a bold attempt to win the military-military linkage, or a strong attraction built for core users/guilds, it is an effective presentation based on the game's theme, gameplay characteristics and user needs - not only intuitively showing the charm of "World Qiyuan" at all levels, but also helping the game quickly establish a brand image, so that users can quickly retrieve the game in the market.

In addition, with the characteristics of SLG's long life cycle and strong long-term revenue generation ability, we also have reason to be more optimistic about the long-term performance of World Qiyuan. If "World Qiyuan" can quickly enter a positive cycle in subsequent iterations, it will definitely have a chance to become the next seeded player to hit the SLG commercial performance record.

So why can the strong attack of "World Qiyuan" stand out in SLG's cruel market competition? Will it further reconstruct our perception of the SLG track?

After actually experiencing this work, I think it's time to sort out the many attempts made by "World Qiyuan" to address the pain points of the category.

"ONE SLG" covering land, sea and air operations

At this node where the competition in SLG products tends to be white-hot, both new and old products are riveting some gimmicks to compete for users. If you want to carve up territory in the market, you can't do it without a little unique skill - why did "World Qiyuan" jump up?

First of all, the most intuitive point is that I think it lies in the genuine IP licensing cooperation of civilization backed by "World Qiyuan".

You must know that the impact of subject matter and IP on SLG products has become more and more prominent over the years. On the one hand, Chinese players have a great desire for more novel SLG themes, but on the other hand, if there is a lack of cultural content that can resonate, it is difficult to mobilize players' enthusiasm.

From this point of view, "World Qiyuan" can be said to have a unique advantage. As a civilized genuine IP authorized cooperative game, this work covers the cultures of a large number of countries and has a rich theme that far exceeds similar products.

You must know that "Civilization" created the 4X strategy category more than 30 years ago, and now "World Qiyuan" inherits the inclusiveness of the theme of IP, accommodating almost all cultural and historical themes since the birth of mankind, and the styles of civilizations such as China, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, France, and Britain have greatly expanded the richness of SLG's themes, which can be called an "earth simulator".

Therefore, "World Qiyuan" breaks the shackles of themes such as the Three Kingdoms and Chinese and foreign cold weapons with its extremely open new perspective, and brings the experience of accommodating all themes in one SLG game - that is, the ONE SLG concept.

If players can experience most of the genre in an SLG, they don't have to spend more money on new games just for the sake of freshness. It can be said that the profound theme accumulation of "World Qiyuan" makes it easy for players to locate this work at a glance in the SLG market.

The second is that the game has a large expansion in terms of gameplay.

SLG gameplay has been rolled up to this day, in fact, the core content of many products is no different. And although this kind of game focuses on realistic battlefields, many times players get feedback at the numerical level - after the two armies clash, it is just a 1-second pop-up battle report. Players arrange strategic layouts accordingly, of course, there is also a feeling of sand table deduction, but after all, it fails to truly present the rapid changes of the battlefield from a more immersive perspective.

In contrast, "World Qiyuan" not only has an intuitive sand table world battlefield, but also deeply exerts its own IP characteristics, bringing the gameplay of the "Civilization" series of "Civilization" such as multi-civilization, cross-era, technology tree, and grabbing wonders to the mobile game.

More importantly, the game creates a "three-dimensional war of land, sea and air", which largely makes up for the shortcomings of the lack of expressiveness of traditional SLG products.

Specifically, on the basis of cold weapons, "World Qiyuan" also introduces a lot of hot weapons across various eras. For example, using hot air balloons in the firearms era to various aircraft in the industrial age and the electric age to deeply show the "air combat gameplay" directly expands a new dimension for the performance of the SLG battlefield. It is reported that the naval battle script for the subsequent season is also in preparation, and the maritime war units from ancient times to the present are preparing to make up for the important strategic section of "naval warfare" for players.

At the same time, the game framework covering land, sea and air also plays a significant role in alleviating the old and difficult problem of strategic balance.

Because of the three-dimensional war of sea, land and air, civilian players have more means and dimensions to cause damage to the Kryptonite boss, although the battle report may not be able to beat the boss, but there is still an opportunity to use new tactics composed of artillery, bombers, transport planes and other combat units to cause damage to the boss on the battlefield of the big world without contact.

On the other hand, the bigwigs can also rely on their hard power to march quickly, get close to the battle, and gain an advantage in the head-to-head battle report. When the "long-distance bombardment" of civilian players collides with the more substantial troop deployment of the boss, it will definitely present a wonderful and changeable game. It can be seen that there are more abundant rules, so that players with different positions have different strategic space, and the fun of gambling is the same.

From this, we can see that the rich accumulation of the "Civilization" IP in the theme provides a unique framework for the development of the era of technology tree upgrading for "World Qiyuan", and the massive number of weapons and troops in the diversified era has opened up an unprecedented SLG battlefield picture for players, expanding more means, objectives and local battlefields. From cavalry and infantry to airplanes and tanks, and even more high-tech war games beyond imagination in the future, will become possible under the framework of cross-era warfare.

On this basis, "World Qiyuan" also further expands the R&D and linkage concept of "everything can be World Qiyuan", introducing many real-life military weapons into the game, fully mobilizing players' sense of belonging.

For example, the game has opened a "military all-star" linkage with many major countries in China, covering self-developed fighters such as J-8II and J-20, Type 055 destroyers, Dongfeng 3 ballistic missiles and other star military models, which have set off a lot of discussion on the whole network. All of these linkage content will be given away to players for free, such as: J-20 troops, login animation, main city skins, season commemorative cards, avatars, emojis, honorary titles, etc., which will surely strengthen the emotional investment of Chinese players from all directions.

In general, "World Qiyuan" has given unique answers covering themes, gameplay, ecological adjustments and other perspectives to address many pain points of the SLG category in the past. The new generation of SLG shaped by its differentiated design has indeed realized the opening of a new track of "Qiyuan Like".

Especially under the framework of the rich game, the continuous expansion of the subsequent gameplay such as Governor, Golden Age, naval battles, and climate change is likely to further lead to form innovation. It can be said that in terms of long-term operation, "World Qiyuan" has paved the way at the beginning. If the R&D team can deeply absorb the opinions of players, and continue to launch themes and gameplay that users like to see to completely establish this "ONE SLG", then its value to the category and industry will be immeasurable.

Cost-effective brand positioning, or a "trick" to break the circle

Starting from the game theme and gameplay framework, we can get a glimpse of some of the success factors of "World Qiyuan", but whether an SLG can gain a long-term foothold in the market, its business planning, welfare distribution and strategic gameplay optimization on this basis are also the core of success or failure.

In order to ensure that users at different levels can fully feel the charm of strategy, the game has given reasonable plans at the levels of krypton, burden reduction, and welfare related to the vital interests of players, in order to use high cost performance to allow more players to experience the charm of strategy games without thresholds, and fight their own way in the SLG track.

The first is the payment question that players are most concerned about, that is, "whether you need to be vigorous to experience strategic gameplay".

In this regard, the design proposition of "World Qiyuan" is that "fun strategies are not expensive", and we can calculate the account from two levels: reducing prices and increasing benefits.

In terms of price, compared with the beta period, the public beta version will reduce the 5-draw of 900 gold coins to 388 gold 5-draw, and the probability of 5-star gacha will be adjusted to 6.66%, with a 20-draw guarantee. Based on the situation that 4 times of five consecutive meals are fully guaranteed before shipping, the gold coins needed to get a five-star hero have been reduced from 3600 gold coins to 1552 gold coins for shipment, which is 43% cheaper, which is roughly equivalent to a 4% discount.

The current five-even price is basically maintained at 950 gold coins, the probability of five-star card issuance is 5%-6%, and the guarantee is 30 or 40 draws, compared to the great discount of "World Qiyuan".

The price advantage is clear at a glance

As for the welfare distribution prepared by "World Qiyuan", it directly hits the pain points of SLG players.

The first is the number of gacha times. There are 100 draws in the exploration path unlocked in 5 days, and the Trailblazer gets an additional 30 draws for the whole season, which is 130 draws, and according to the 6.66% five-star card probability, players can probably get 8.7 five-star hero cards.

The second is to give gold coins. By completing missions and participating in various activities, players can earn 16,000 gold coins per person throughout the season. According to the price of 388 five-store, the probability of 5-star card issuance is 6.66%, which is 13.6 five-star hero cards.

The third is to send five-star heroes directly. In the first chapter of the main game line, Zhou Yafu and 5 recruitment orders for Elinor were fixed. In the gift of time, the Bluetooth King was sent on the 2nd day, Kutuzov on the 3rd day, Hannibal on the 8th day, and Sun Wu on the 30th day. In the road of exploration, the super front row of King David is directly sent, and the others add up to a total of 15 five-star cards.

Add up these free card draws, gold coins, and direct heroes, which is a full 37 five-star hero cards, and it is obvious that 0 Krypton players also have the power to fight in the S1 season.

You must know that in addition to the fixed 15 cards that send heroes directly, the remaining 22 hero cards have a lot of room for prospects. If the player's character explodes and draws a card of the Four Emperors or T1 level, it will take off directly. Moreover, "World Qiyuan" does not engage in the lock card routine in the past SLG products, and the opportunity to obtain these 22 cards is equal enough, and players can completely put their imagination space larger.

The second is the problem of liver degree, which is also the root cause of many new players who dare not enter the pit and old players who can't persevere.

In this regard, "World Qiyuan" put forward the design concept of "fun strategy is not tired", and made a lot of functional optimizations from three dimensions, striving to avoid the limitations of SLG in the past and truly revolutionize the player experience.

First, decision-making is not tiring. The design of "heroes without card fees" in the game allows players to draw their favorite heroes and use them directly. There are also features such as hero level swapping, skill reset and 100% experience return, all of which are also designed to not stumble players on teaming up with generals, so that players can implement their own lineup layout and tactical arrangement.

Second, the operation is not tired. The game's automatic paving, automatic siege and other functions are smart enough, greatly simplifying mechanical and repetitive operations, allowing players to experience the game according to their own living habits and rhythm, which largely liberates the "sense of work" inherent in SLG in the past that must always keep an eye on and participate in order to ensure the direction of the battle.

The third is that the development is not tired, which is a concentrated embodiment of the idea of reducing the burden. Heroes in the game can level up at the speed of light, dismantling heroes can directly obtain complete skills, and between scientific and technological research and development, idle research time will be converted into technology value compensation, which basically dilutes the garbage time of character development to the greatest extent, which not only retains a certain amount of growth fun, but also allows players to focus on the strategy experience itself.

Attracting new users is the main theme of the SLG track at the moment, and the preparations for "World Qiyuan" in this regard are fully in place, fully taking into account the difficulties of the category in attracting new users. I believe that combined with Tencent's huge user scale, it is not an empty phrase that more players can "experience the fun of strategy games for the first time".

Create a healthy community ecology and make players comfortable for a long time

Obviously, the current achievements of "World Qiyuan" are largely due to the deep accumulation of IP and keen insight into the SLG market. However, as a category that is deeply bound to the player group, there is often no shortcut to the operation of SLG at the level of community ecological construction, and this is an important dimension that affects the long-term performance of the product.

Of course, "World Qiyuan" is also well aware of this, so it has maintained enough attention and sincerity in communicating with players.

On the eve of the public beta on July 6, the official held an open beta tasting meeting at the W Hotel on the Bund in Shanghai. Not only producer Yang Hai, distribution producer Su Jun, and Chen Chao, the head of the distribution of Ruyi Jingxiu, were present to give in-depth sharing, but also well-known players in the SLG circle such as Ding Dong Cat, Super Super Demon King, Handan and other well-known players in the SLG circle also came to help, and more representatives of the top 100 guilds such as Guangwu Zhizhi, Shenzhou丨Lingyunzhi, Qi 丨Lu, Picturesque Jiangshan and Xinyue Club settled in.

At the meeting, in addition to sharing product design concepts and announcing military-military linkage, the main creators also said that they would give a lot of operational benefits outside the game, so as to create a healthy and vibrant community ecology with real help, so that new players can feel the exclusive social charm of SLG.

For example, the game arranges tens of millions of guild settling-in fees, plans a million-dollar prize in the Sky City Race, and the UGC Navigator Program where everyone can participate in making money, all of which are focusing on attracting more alliances and KOLs to settle in, thereby driving more players to participate and maximize the advantages of the innovative framework of "World Qiyuan" in a healthy and sustainable game ecosystem.

The perfect ecological idea and enough distinctive game content are paving the way for the subsequent development of "World Qiyuan", and the long-term operation results of this game will surely be an indispensable example for observing the SLG track in the future.

Epilogue:

Whenever we talk about the SLG category, we always emphasize that the competition is fierce and iterative is difficult, and it seems that it is difficult for new products to set off any waves. However, products like "World Qiyuan" clearly let us see that there are still many dimensions that can be optimized, mined, and shaped into a gameplay category with deep experience.

In particular, "World Qiyuan" has a new "Qiyuan Like" product form brought by the special gameplay covering the sea, land and air battlefields, the easy-to-use rhythm of reducing liver and krypton, and the grand theme structure of ONE SLG. It is also an accurate answer given after an in-depth analysis of the pain points of the SLG category, which is of reference value.

At the same time, it can be seen that in terms of building new user attraction, SLG has clearly not reached its upper limit. I believe that with the richer gameplay of the future version of "World Qiyuan" and the more diversified player ecology, our inherent impression of SLG will also produce a wave of large iterations.

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