Text/Thomas's Skull

A few days ago, an article that many gamers were reposting, listed games as the eighth most difficult industry in 2024. Many bosses sighed, this is the most real situation, now the gross profit margin of 15% is a very good product, everyone should say goodbye to fantasy.

It stands to reason that at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year, Grape Jun should cheer everyone up. But two days ago, I saw Tianmei's friends and talked about the fact that there were no layoffs in a super project, and everyone felt that this was a veritable success; A boss said privately that after reading Fan Luyuan's speech, he felt that the environment had changed, and he was even considering canceling the annual meeting; Even at miHoYo's staff meeting, the senior management emphasized "blowing the cold" and talked about how to cross the cycle...... I really can't convey confidence without credentials.

Looking back at 2024, we all had illusions, and the judgment of whether the industry will pick up is also a bit unrealistic.

At the beginning of the year, "Dream Star" and "Egg Boy Party" are still in full swing; "The Clown Card" was born; "Love and Deep Space" started to a hot start; "Phantom Beast Palu" stimulated everyone's nerves even more. Everyone believes that in 2024, there will be countless masterpieces pushing the industry forward, and even if Tencent's reform at the beginning of the year has laid the groundwork for the cost control of large manufacturers, everyone is becoming more and more dangerous about making gamesThe status quo is not impressed.

But soon, we found out that the global game industry was laying off employees, and gold and silver were empty words. In the next year, whether active or passive, the movements of the middle and senior management of large factories are not very calm - Zhang Dong left NetEase and returned to Giant, and was strictly transferred to the finance departmentYunfeng left Lingxi, Gu Yu left Tencent NExT, Huang Lanxiao stepped down as general manager of TiMi L1, and Yao Xiaoguang ended his rotation, Dong Ruibao resigned and added mutual entertainment...... Unlike usual, these personnel changes are not a footnote to the talent war, at least half of them belong to the people in the rivers and lakes, and they can't help themselves.

In the days that followed, we said goodbye to fantasies about hits. Throughout the year, how many masterpieces have met initial expectations?

The failures of "Condor Shooting" and "Operation Apocalypse" are just the tip of the iceberg. "Persona: Phantom of the Night", "Sword and Crusade: Departure", "Singing Tide", "Dungeons and Warriors: Origins", "Jeopardy Zero".Need for Speed Assemble"Three Kingdoms: Plotting the World", "Naraka: Bladepoint Mobile Game", "Return to the Dragon Tide", "Delta Operation", "Seven Days World", " Infinite Warmth", "Endless Dream Return", "Marvel Brawl", "Zhuxian World", "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun", ...... It is true that some products have soared, but many more games are still resisting the pressure, and even have unfortunately quit.

You must know that even Big Viagra has faced the pressure of Genshin Impact Fes and shed tears on the scene, and Sony's "Star Attack" has become a failure of the century. How easy is it to make "hot booking" a real hit, and it has always been a hit?

Fortunately, the stand-alone buyout system of "Black Myth: Wukong" finally landed smoothly. Although it failed to become a god in the TGA, it opened a small hole in the canopy of the Chinese game industry. Looking back on the 10 years of game science, we can also see the ways to be moved, hopeful, and stronger, and the spirit of giving it a try.

Gradually, we also bid farewell to the illusion of the industry's growth rate. Although NetEase Blizzard has resumed cooperation and Byte Games is also rebuilding, NetEase's corruption turmoil has made people worry about whether the game industry has begun to ask for profits from anti-corruption; Tencent's rank reform marks the end of the era of high-speed elevators; The reform of the incentive system of Thunder also represents the consideration of many large manufacturers. Looking around, we reflect on whether the gaming industry is too arrogant; If most people think that the success rate of game development is less than 5%, then is there something wrong with this industry?

In order to understand all this, we kept talking to each other – we talked to Ma Xiaoyi about why Tencent is no longer anxious; and Guo Weiwei talked about how to fight for the tone of "Limit Relief Machine"; chatted with Huang Xiwei about returning to the beginning and end of the heartbeat; Talk to Pan Hui about the 10-year experience of the Spirit Blade; Talk to Paperfold about how to create; Talk to Chen Zhiyi about the mission of the creator; and Ying Shuling to talk about e-sports and love; chatted with Zhang Hanjin about how to eat on the Rubik's Cube; Chat with the general manager of Ubisoft Shanghai; chatting with Yuzhong about the darkest moment of the explosion; Talk to AFK2 producers about category evolution; Talk to the producer of "Three Schemes" and Station B about how to live longer; Talk to the producer of Tiandao about the dilemma of MMOs; Chat with the creator of Riot about the Battle of the Two Cities; Talk to Luo Xiangyu about the crazy "Showa Rice Story" ......

We also talked to countless entrepreneurs, and it turned out that leaving miHoYo has become a new label, and investors and producers are also aware of the plight of Eryou; The good news is that if you want to make a game, you don't have to make a big game. "Mountains and Rivers Travel", "Cangyi: Chaos Effect", "Hunger: A Thousand Miles at the End of the Ming Dynasty", "The Legend of the Living Heroes", "Heroes in the World"."Butter Cat"."Cat God Ranch", "Mercury Sanatorium", "Backpack Brawl", ...... Dozens, dozens, or even two or three people can make works that make them live and be satisfied.

In this process, the changes in the hearts of the people in the world have also made us hear many wonderful stories. Some veterans have been on Keyun Road for 12 years until there is no way out; Some planners have to leave the industry even if the monthly turnover of the project exceeds 100 million; Some foreigners resigned, and NetEase refused to "class flavor"; Some art team leaders left the "Glory of Kings" team for their son; Some people no longer work after being laid off by bytes, but earn millions a year; Some young people are millions in debt just because they signed non-compete agreements...... In the three realms and four continents, all living beings are flesh and blood, and what people believe in has never been only reason.

And after all this, we have discovered one thing: only those who say goodbye to fantasy can withstand the cold cold.

In this frighteningly fast industry, everything is doubling: the pleasure is doubled, the pain is doubled, and the slow but resolute chill is doubled. It's just that this chill has to penetrate little by little, and the more marginal it is, the colder it will be - just as the head project is facing team adjustments, shrinking annual meeting prizes, and declining year-end bonuses; And more ordinary projects and ordinary people may already face layoffs, unemployment, suspension of bonuses and even unpaid wages.

The only fortunate thing is that human suffering also often comes from fantasy. When more and more people no longer fantasize about 100 F2P masterpieces like Genshin Impact on the market, no longer fantasize about the 200% profit margin of the project at hand, and no longer fantasize that they can earn millions of dollars a year with a little effort, this industry will usher in a more comfortable rhythm and supply and demand.

Of course, saying goodbye to fantasy does not mean giving up hope. As Feng Ji said, do concrete things, do difficult things, and do things that you believe in - as long as we do these things, we will not lose faith until the next cycle comes.

In any case, 2024 has been a hard year, my friend, and I wish you a happy new year in advance. In 2025, a lot of things are going to start again, so let's stay at the table together, wrap up and breathe. I know that everyone in the game has big ambitions, but ordinary days are not meaningless.

Floating life is like water under ice. The river may be frozen, but it won't stop flowing. At the moment of thawing, we need the rising sun of spring, and we need the efforts of every drop of water to wear the stars and the moon.

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