Player comments: "StarCraft 2"--the evolutionary pain of blizzard

12 of Waiting, 2010, blizzard after the immediate strategy of the jump Ticket "StarCraft 2: Wings of Freedom" finally long-awaited began to come out.　　In the pursuit of countless fans, the first day of sales that broke the million, it surpassed the 3 million mark, became the fastest selling strategy game ever.　　However, reputation, this innovation in business strategy means much more than the game itself, but also for Blizzard brought a lot of problems: not only from the quality of the game and the way the operation of the question, in China and South Korea and other regions of the promotion even in the global sales also encountered a substantial obstacle. How much success can StarCraft 2 bring to Blizzard? Why should blizzard take the risk of bold change through this main game? After cheering or stomp sighs, we may wish to explore the phenomenon of the behind: adhere to and change, the quality of the strategy under the best known, adhere to the quality strategy is the principle of blizzard, its formal establishment for 17 years, although all the works include various pieces of information and this year will be online "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm"　　A total of only a few 18, but each work is excellence, enough Zuba. The price of a game can be higher than the other similar products 10 U.S. dollars and sales are not reduced, a stand-alone work can survive 12 years of wind and rain and still remain alive; boutique strategy for Blizzard set up a strong brand, but also make its works of user loyalty and life greatly increased, so that Blizzard brought a virtuous circle,　　Let it be able to maintain a high degree of freedom with a considerable amount of time to elaborate a game, and there is ample money income.　　It is noteworthy that, although more than 10 years of painstaking development of the boutique strategy for Blizzard brought great benefits and unprecedented impact, but does not mean that blizzard as long as the original strategy to maintain the same, can continue to food and clothing without worry and high speed. In recent years, a wave of free gaming, which relies on the profit-making of virtual goods, has swept the global gaming market, undermining the original advantages of blizzard. Many players are starting to adopt this fast strategy, which makes the investment curve of game development benefits smoother than the way the player experiences the game.　　Blizzard still retains a large number of loyal fans and hardcore players, but the potential players and the middle class of mobile players will inevitably be lost. More importantly, this trend in the online gaming industry has led to a number of timed fee games forced to lower service prices caused by the overall ARPU value (per user average income) reduction, in the stand-alone market to further promote the game itself low price, relying on DLC (downloadable content, append contents download package , similar to the online game of the information film) way to make a profit trend. This is for Blizzard's main game product "World of Warcraft" and the Stand-alone Games "Warcraft" series, "Diablo" series and "StarCraft" series undoubtedly caused considerable impact. In particular, the single game part, the original market encountered various kinds of platform game squeeze, and long been plagued by electronic copyright issues, such asThis is even worse.　　Therefore, in the face of this situation, blizzard arises a force of change, in order to stabilize its position in the current market, it is not only to find solutions to existing problems, but also to go farther, do better.　　"StarCraft 2" stand-alone network exploration, it is the embodiment of this demand.　　Network, the only way to be reborn in a single machine Blizzard in "StarCraft 2" on the stand-alone network to explore not only the passive driving force, but also a number of active advantages. First of all Blizzard itself launched the Battle Network (Battle.net) function as early as 1997, as the embryonic form of BN2.0, BN1.0 has provided a good experience both in terms of game expansion and copyright protection, while its heyday of 700,000 users online and the cumulative 13 million player online record has also provided confidence for BN2.0 's promotion.　　。　　Secondly, with the development of the game industry, the evolution of the online games industry, the boom of the electronic athletics, and the rise of the single game platform have also provided a lot of places for the blizzard to learn from.　　Therefore, Blizzard believes that the time is ripe, the establishment of BN2.0 platform to cancel the LAN mode, relying on the "star 2" the Great appeal of the foundation, and the other products are integrated into the development of the blizzard as the game platform and social network, so as to solve the problem of electronic copyright, increase the profitability of its Of course, change will always encounter resistance, Blizzard in the "Star 2" production and promotion also made a lot of countermeasures, in the game content, "Star 2" although in the quality and detail is full of sincerity (even in the version of the game even the map of the small billboard text has been Chinese), but obviously the contents of a single part of the Cut, The focus of its game continues to the network against the tilt, many players think that "star 2" innovation is not enough, just "StarCraft 1.5", "3D StarCraft" or "StarCraft Power enhanced Version", in fact, excluding players on the increasing expectations of blizzard factors,　　Perhaps more important, Blizzard has focused on networking models, and it is more conducive to a smooth transition of strategic innovation than innovation for the elements of StarCraft 1. Game on sale, as early as in BlizzCon08 Blizzard announced that "Star 2" will be the trilogy mode for sale, StarCraft 23 is not only a simple "circle Money" program, it provides blizzard with a "strategic depth", that is, blizzard into the attack-through the last two songs to deepen the game itself and the War network innovation　　--If the sales performance or platform promotion does not reach the expected level, the following two songs are reserved for the completion of the plot as a guide to the whole strategic plan adjustment and repair. Sales promotion, Blizzard is also very careful and hard. such as pricing, in addition to the usual buyout fees, different regions have also added a wealth of other means of payment, such as in the game market potential in Russia, the 1-year average version of only about 115 yuan, low price increases a lot of attractiveness, and in the "Star 2" the largest market in South Korea,In addition to the one-time purchase of lifelong network services, also launched a day card and monthly card for the player to choose.　　And, in South Korea and the Taiwan Region of China, Blizzard also conducted the "Star 2" of the public test, its experience and the fee version of the same, for South Korean players, from the hesitation to buy a more stable transition, and Taiwan, is like a window, so that the market wide mainland players also have the opportunity to deepen the desire to buy.　　As the above analysis, although Blizzard made full preparation, however, "StarCraft 2" from the announcement to the sale, still encountered more than the imagination of the dilemma, because it is not only to deal with the players, many stakeholders are more difficult to deal with. Redistribution of benefits, the ups and downs of the road Blizzard Entertainment has always been a strong company, good at maximizing the benefits of their own game products, all of the game itself related to the profit registration owned or from the big piece. For example, "World of Warcraft" authorized operation, Blizzard profit percentage is far higher than other general agent online. And in the field of game derivation, such as Warcraft card, Blizzard first authorized upper deck production, and then the sale of a good directly from the establishment of a branch called Cryptozoic Entertainment even production also contracted.　　The same situation also happened in many other blizzard games, a strong profit strategy to make Blizzard's income a higher level, but also naturally encountered a lot of "nails." "Star 2" to cancel the LAN mode and only use platform versus mode on the great touch of the relevant interests of the nerves, as early as the "star 1" period, the Korean electric competition, the rapid development of economic output has been considerable, and blizzard from the benefit of the very little, The same strategy was also moved out of the way: supporting new partners in South Korea, replacing KESPA (The Korea Electronic Athletics Association), thus making more profits in the electronic athletics of products such as Star 2. But Blizzard's wishful thinking is not good, with the development of the whole game industry, the situation has changed, it should not only come from the Korean Electric Competition Association of protest and resistance, but also to face the intervention from the Korean government. First Korea's game rating Committee in the "star 2" game classification dilemma, now the South Korean Ministry of Culture has come forward to ask Blizzard to Korean internet cafes game "excessive fees" and other issues to explain.　　In the face of government-level opponents, blizzard hard to go on, after all, "Star 1" in the global sales, South Korea's consumption of almost half, Korea's electricity competition for the prosperity of Blizzard games and even the world of the development of electricity competition has a pivotal impact. Moreover, the same problem will occur in other countries, regions, such as in China, "World of Warcraft," the difficulties encountered in the operation, it is likely to happen in the "Star 2", The regulations of the Chinese Ministry of Culture have largely blocked the possibility of Blizzard's establishment of a wholly-owned company in China and the way it attracts players by operating outside the mainland (the buyout is more expensive for Chinese players, and Taiwan's foreignDay card, month card and so on and not allowed to sell, through the cooperation with NetEase Blizzard although can get a good percentage of the proportion of the examination and approval problem is worth a headache. To sum up, with the "Star 2" opened the transformation of the exploration from the Times, it is indeed for the evolution of blizzard to bring more help, and the resulting problems are still a lot to be properly dealt with, especially the game industry is maturing, become a major contributor to local economic power, Local governments are bound to produce a trend to protect the development of the game industry, how to deal with, the need may not be hard or soft power, but also need to have "smart strength" to tide over the difficulties. (Edit/Heavy)