Chapter 662 566 What? Pokeni Is Going to Acquire Square? !

After the release of "Violet Evergarden", the craze for slow games has exploded again.

Only two months have passed since Mushishi, but Pokeni has been able to touch the hearts of countless players with this gentle and delicate game.

Even though it is not a galgame, nor a mainstream battle-type game, even the simulation business only accounts for half of it. Most of the time, Violet is used to connect the characters and tell the stories behind different characters.

This work of Pokeni is simply amazing.

Not only can players gain touching and beauty from it, but they can also deeply appreciate that a company that makes games with heart, even an NPC is alive.

Even if you take Violet away, the story is still complete.

Everyone in this world does their own thing, experiences their own experiences, and tastes their own life.

There have been bitterness and happiness.

There are touching, tears, laughter, and singing.

Each NPC is the protagonist in their own perspective.

This is very similar to the real world.

Even though players know that all the identities and stories of people are compiled and just waiting for you to experience, how can people not feel happy when the game is done to this extent?

Every blade of grass and every ray of sunshine reveals delicate brushstrokes. This feeling is like a spring breeze, which is really too beautiful.

Even if you don’t compare it with other game manufacturers, you can still feel its uniqueness and beauty as long as you play "Violet Evergarden".

Paradox has really opened up another very special track in the field of games.

The name of this track is--

Slow Game.

Although it is slow, it makes people like it very much.

In the slow rhythm, you can experience things that you can’t feel at other times.

"I am a typical office worker. My daily life is very regular. I go to work at 9 am and get off work at 6 pm. After get off work, I will go out for a drink with my seniors, and then go home to take a shower and sleep.

Time seems to be accelerated.

Every morning when I squeeze into the subway, I look at the people around me. Everyone's expression is similar to mine, which is numb and stereotyped to the extreme. I don't want to talk to others at all.

Unless I have to speak.

Being in a hurry has become a symbol of modern people.

Especially in big cities, such as Tokyo, not only is time getting faster, but everyone's pace of life and behavior are also fast-paced.

On the road, it is rare to see slow pedestrians.

In the company, even the time to drink a cup of coffee is rare.

Everyone hopes to get everything done in a very short time. Complete your work. Although I know it is futile, I have adapted to being concise when talking to others, so that the conversation time is short enough.

In fact, looking back, if life is like this, it is no different from pressing the fast forward button.

You can see the future at a glance, and you may be old before you feel it.

In fact, sometimes I am quite scared when I think back.

Is such a life really lived?

I don’t know.

However, after experiencing Pokeni’s new game "Violet Evergarden" this time, I was deeply moved by it.

Everyone is thinking about how to make fast games, making the rhythm faster and the rewards richer, wishing that you can be stimulated in a very short time.

But Violet is not like that. It seems It's so slow, so slow that it doesn't fit in with the world.

Just like a game called "Reverse Dimension" released by Pokeni before, "Violet Evergarden" seems to be on another path.

Going in the opposite direction of the world.

Of course, this is not the first time Pokeni has made a slow game. The previous Mushishi gave people a similar feeling. And this time "Violet Evergarden" is even more obvious

After getting used to the fast pace of other games at the beginning, it's a bit uncomfortable to play Violet Evergarden for the first time. You don't even know who to talk to, who to find to hand over the task, and how to dig for clues.

It's as if you have suddenly returned to the state of social phobia that makes people confused.

However, when you calm down and study slowly, you will find that there is actually happiness in slowness.

You can completely regard yourself as Violet, living in this city, talking to people, playing games with people, helping others, and being helped by others...

Such an atmosphere is undoubtedly my ideal utopia, and after the game slowed down, I found that this game is so happy.

Some people may be dragged down by the task, thinking about collecting all the entries as quickly as possible, and completing all the clues and details, but in this way, they are a bit trapped in the real world, the working dilemma created by the capitalists.

I think this is also a very special place of Violet, which allows you to think about real life.

Whether to choose to work harder in the game to make money and improve yourself, become the object of enslavement by capitalists, or go out, enjoy the beautiful scenery and enjoy life.

Occasionally watch the sunset in the afternoon and drink a comfortable coffee?

What I want to say is that the real world has tortured people to the point of being out of breath, so it is better to feel it in such a beautiful slow game.

Thank you pokeni for the violet, it is like a beautiful flower blooming in my heart. "

“For the first time, I realized that playing games is not just about mobilizing your dopamine and making people feel great happiness in a short period of time.

After the pace slows down, it can actually make you feel the beauty of life. "

“We need endorphins, not dopamine, and we need to know how to enjoy the spiritual satisfaction that the slow pace brings us, instead of getting lost in the game. I feel very lucky to live in an era with pokeni.

You can also experience such a slow game.

Really amazing. "

…

In short, the slow games originally marketed by pokeni may indeed be a relatively niche category, but after so many years, P has used its own unique approach to give players a brand new choice.

And slowly began to penetrate and convey the joy of slow game experience to players, and accumulated a very rich foundation through word of mouth.

This is the only one with no other branches.

It's not that others don't want to do it, the problem is that no one has this level. Just like certain types of films, if someone else makes it, it won't be the same.

If not done well, it can easily overturn.

To put it bluntly, you need to be top-notch in all aspects, otherwise you will fail.

Not to mention small companies, even large companies may not be able to afford this risk.

In other words, pokeni has achieved a monopoly on the slow game track whether it relies on hard power or soft power.

…

Therefore, on the basis that the game is good enough and is scarce, the sales volume of "Violet Evergarden" has naturally achieved good results.

It exceeded 500,000 copies in the first week after it was released, and the final score will probably be maintained at around 2 million.

Since the establishment of the Dandelion game platform, pokeni has opened up a much larger market. With a large base, basically as long as it is a game produced by P, it starts with 1 million copies and reaches 5 million copies.

"Violet Evergarden" can achieve 2 million copies, which is already very good.

Although the audience for slow games is not large enough, just like other types of games, it is constantly accumulating.

…

Although other game manufacturers are also very upset, they say they are not envious at all.

If the story is written in a delicate and touching way, it may not necessarily have pokeni skills.

With POKENI technology...

It seems that it does not exist in this world.

So it becomes an unsolvable problem.

"Damn pokeni, this has created a generational gap with us. It's completely a positive cycle:

With better technology, you can develop games that are powerful enough to crush others. If you are powerful enough to crush others, you can make more money.

With more money, better technology can be developed.

No solution, no solution.

All we can do is hitchhike with pokeni and follow them to have some soup. "

"The strangest thing I think is--

There are bottlenecks in the development of technology. Logically speaking, who can make major breakthroughs every time they invest money in technology research and development?

But pokeni is too weird. Their company can achieve technological breakthroughs in many of the industries it invests in.

For example, Qing Zhiyuan initially participated in the production of Sony's controllers. As a result, dual joysticks have almost become the standard for games in the new era in the future.

Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to play 3D action game masterpieces.

Then pokeni invested in NVIDIA. The chips produced by this company are improving the performance of the chips at a rate of doubling every year. This is too scary.

As for pokeni themselves, all Internet technologies are like making rockets. I have never seen them get stuck or encounter bottlenecks.

Look at Sega doing game console research and development, and Sony doing PS2 research and development. They are both so difficult.

Why does it feel so easy when I get to pokeni? "

“Not only is the hardware vision extremely accurate, but pokeni’s soft power is also obvious to all. The game engine alone is already very powerful after iteration to Trailblazer 2.

Pokeni is the only one on the market that can maximize the performance of Nvidia's graphics cards and promote Nvidia's growth every year, right? "

"It's terrible, it's terrible."

…

But while everyone was praising Qing Zhiyuan's precise vision and powerful technology, Qing Zhiyuan was secretly doing something that shocked the world——

Busy negotiating with Masashi Miyamoto to acquire Square.

Logically speaking, this is basically impossible to happen, but some things are so wonderful:

In the spring of 2002.

There’s a big problem on Square’s side:

At the end of last year, Square Enix learned from pokeni and wanted to create a movie-game linkage, and both box office and game sales boomed.

So I spent a lot of money to produce a movie called "Final Fantasy: Souls Within".

The total investment in the film was US$137 million, and US$40 million was spent on the production of the heroine’s hair alone.

The story background of the film takes place in 2065. The earth has been invaded by ghosts, and humans can only live in a fully enclosed modern castle. In order to save mankind, Rose finally used the wavelength remaining in his body to save the world.

The 3D special effects in the movie are quite impressive. Even 20 years later, you will still think it is quite amazing. The $40 million hair of the heroine is not exaggerated.

Square Enix even used hair to carry out a wave of publicity, so that the world can see that 3D animation can also achieve such delicate and realistic effects, not to mention the various cool special effects in the movie.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this movie is a work of honor by Hironobu Sakaguchi.

But...

Perhaps it is too advanced, or the animation plot is messy and fragmented, resulting in a small number of viewers who actually entered the theater to watch it.

The global box office has only received more than 80 million US dollars so far.

After the split, Square Enix can only get less than 30 million at most.

It didn't even recover the production cost, and it lost a lot.

Masashi Miyamoto said that he was very heartbroken.

The father of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, was under great pressure. He was defeated in his attempt to win the honor. He had no face to face the people in the company, and was scolded by his own players.

He even had the idea of ​​resigning.

Resigning due to blame is an old tradition in Japan, just like Yokoi Gunpei resigned from Rentendo due to blame. This time, the responsibility was completely placed on Sakaguchi Hironobu.

…

When Qing Zhiyuan saw the news, it seemed that Square Enix was also like this in his previous life. Because of the loss of movie box office, the company was in deficit and was forced to sell 20% of its shares to Sony.

From then on, it was deeply tied to Sony.

So Qing Zhiyuan rushed to Square Enix to negotiate as soon as possible.

He said that this was called a protective acquisition.

He didn't want to acquire it, but if Square Enix turned to Sony, he really didn't want to see it.

…

… (End of this chapter)