VERYCD: The transformation of the web game over billion

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January 2011, VERYCD because the massive deletion movie, the music resources downloading and the flow rate drops 50%, outside once thought the company will be finished.

But over the past year, the company unexpectedly became a cash cow with a monthly income of over $40 million or 50 million. Today, more than 90% of VERYCD's revenue comes from web games, which have become the biggest black horse of the 2011 web game industry, in terms of numbers and number of people online.

VERYCD's employees crowded into a loft-style old factory in Xujiahui, Shanghai, where the long hall had not been able to accommodate new recruits, and the company's newly-identified independent building was being renovated.

What happened to the young company over the past 12 months?

"If we did get financing for the video download business, there might be no verycd today," he said. "Talking about the company today, the company's founder Huang Yimeng (Weibo) can not help feeling.

Now, in the face of investors demanding investment, cash-flow VERYCD has been hard to talk to investors about the price. VERYCD, a senior executive, claims that the company's valuations are as high as 3 billion yuan-and many investors offer just the equivalent of VERYCD months of income.

Flick The video

"At that time, the VCs couldn't look at us. "Sitting in the boardroom, Huang Yimeng recalls the hard entrepreneurial years.

2003, Huang Yimeng and Daiyunjie and other people founded the VERYCD, they were the first peer-to-peer download Software "Electric Mule (EMule)" into the country, and played a "share, the Internet" slogan, in the domestic formation of a huge resource sharing community.

Since then, the rapid rise in the number of VERYCD users, become the largest film and television, music, games, one of the resources to share a Web site, and a computer to open the electric mule software hanging on the Internet to download resources, become a habit of many netizens.

"At that time many people thought VERYCD was a big website, in fact we are a very small company." "Huang Yimeng said. Until 2009, the company's size has been hovering around 30 people, and the annual profit of only about 1 million yuan, at that time VERYCD's founding team to their own high expectations, but there is always a "strong feel".

The problem is that in VERYCD's video industry, the entire industry's profit model is not clear, and almost all video-type sites are overly reliant on advertising revenue.

At the same time, because the content that the Netizen shares in VERYCD contains a lot of pirated movie, music, game resources, VERYCD face very high legal risk.

Although VERYCD has always claimed that all files are stored in the user's computer, uploaded and downloaded by the user themselves, they only provide a platform for sharing resources, but some copyright owners still believe that the existence of VERYCD poses a real threat to them, because it can be easily downloaded to Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang's new high-definition products, There's the latest one in the United States the night before.

2010, the National Copyright Bureau, the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Ministries launched a joint "sword Network Action", Governance, play

The violation of copyright piracy films including internet cafes has been prosecuted frequently since VERYCD.

"leaves asked 2" the production side pointed out that in the film "Leaf Ask 2" just soon after the release, they found that "VERYCD" website recommended infringement of the clear version of "Leaf Ask 2", they according to page click Rate, box office loss, the average price of cinemas, and other data, More accurate calculation of the economic losses of 11.8508 million yuan, and to prosecute VERYCD, claim 12 million yuan.

The VERYCD's founding team was worried about the risk of criminal prosecution for the VERYCD, which touched more than 6 of the aerial video's top executives.

January 22, 2011, VERYCD site suddenly large-scale adjustment of content, all pirated video and music download links were deleted, when the reporter called Huang Yimeng, he said that after the company will transform to do the electric donkey Daquan-This is a similar to the Watercress film review aggregation site, Just one more movie show link to the video online playback site function.

Huang Yimeng later told reporters that it was a very difficult decision, when the company did not get the network audio-visual business license, and did not like Youku and potatoes to get huge financing, "We are in the video industry competition in a very disadvantageous position."

Since then, the flow of VERYCD has slipped by 50%, and many people even think VERYCD will be finished.

Bumpy transition

There was a heated debate inside VERYCD before the decision to abandon the download business.

VERYCD once also considered to do the TV box, cloud storage and other transformation direction, and some also made a simple attempt, but finally feel not particularly suitable and give up.

Since then, some people began to think of playing games, in this respect, the company's internal opinion is still not uniform. VERYCD A senior executive recalls that many people inside the company did not understand the game, but Huang Yimeng held most of the shares in the company, so it can be finalized, "an entrepreneurial company needs a final decision of the people."

As early as the end of 2009 and early 2010, VERYCD began recruiting a team from outside to play games and allocating some people from within.

Huang Yimeng's explanation is that several of VERYCD's founders are veteran gamers who have always had a dream of playing games. Perhaps a more realistic explanation is that the gaming industry has a much clearer profit model than the video industry, with a high income. To be exact, VERYCD had used his huge traffic and some web game companies to run the game, feeling that this is a very lucrative market.

Huang Yimeng feel, these at that time the quality of the web game is not high, and there is such a problem, "VERYCD internal evaluation, think you can do it, but also to develop better."

A video download company to do the game? To the outside world, this seems to be a big span, but Huang Yimeng doesn't see it that way.

Enlightenment from the resurrection of VERYCD

After that, VERYCD set up a heartbeat game, there is a game operating platform, and its own development of several web games. However, Huang Yimeng pointed out that VERYCD's film and video business and the heart of the game is not too much association, but it is undeniable that VERYCD huge flow for it to save the cost of promotion.

By July 2010, VERYCD's first web Game "Heaven and earth Hero" online, this is a RPG round web game, the game online is not particularly successful. Operators and developers in the industry are not particularly bullish about the game.

At this point, the whole company faced great pressure, once lacked enough funds to maintain the operation of the company, Huang Yimeng individual even maxed out 3 credit cards.

Web Game Dark Horse

"Huang Yimeng's job every day is to keep saying no to your plan." VERYCD vice President Zhang described Huang Yimeng as the company's largest product manager, and every day people in various departments would take their own plans to the yellow one Meng side to discuss, and then Huang Yimeng would point out the mistakes in detail.

"He will tell you one by one what is wrong, and then propose how to solve, most of the time, you have to take, what he said is reasonable." Zhang said there were times when it was necessary to believe that the feeling of the product required some talent, and that Huang Yimeng's ability to do so was strong in the eyes of the company's employees.

By May 2011, after the constant revision of "Heaven and Earth Hero" at the same time online number of 200,000 people, the number of servers to reach 500 per month, has become one of the first echelon of the web game.

At the same time, VERYCD development of the "Immortal Road", "prosperity of the Three Kingdoms" and other follow-up games, the same great success. Gao Dongxu, director of Wenrui Research Consulting Division, said VERYCD was the biggest black horse in the 2011 web gaming World. By the end of 2011, the company's monthly income had been billions of dollars.

"We have no experience in playing games, but have experience doing web sites." "Huang Yimeng said, do web games and do the site very much like, are first on the line and constantly reflect changes based on users."

In the late adjustment of the whole game, many methods and data are used to do online games. "For example, statistics, and the previous site statistics is the same, nothing but the user on which page, in each page for how long, which button points, which did not point." ”

Huang Yimeng pointed out that the use of these statistical methods in the game, the effect is very good.

In the operation, VERYCD development of the net game and operating party 37 divided into (VERYCD Three, operating party VII), rather than in accordance with the industry generally adopted just start 55, do well again 46, 37 divided, so that the operator's enthusiasm.

VERYCD's other founder, Daiyunjie, has accumulated a wealth of experience in the server's operation--a decisive role in the VERYCD transformation of the web game. Because VERYCD has accumulated a tens of millions of level of access to the site's server maintenance experience, so the use of these to the Web game.

Should I take the money from the wind?

When you find yourself choosing a wrong industry, do you want to change it as soon as possible? In fact, the inspiration of VERYCD is to take the money that the wind throws.

In the capital market after the cold, the video industry has come out of the news, those unable to list or continue to finance the domestic video companies will face a great danger in the next year-the entire video market is still a single profit model, and burning money ferocious.

VERYCD A senior executive once recalled that if he still clings to the video industry, he will likely face the same risks as these companies.

In fact, when the opportunity is fleeting in the Internet industry, once the first advantage is missed, the consequences will be disastrous.

Wenrui Research Gao Dongxu Evaluation Way, to now the Web game market shuffle has been almost, the successor to the entrepreneurial opportunities will be greatly reduced, unless there is a larger platform and users, otherwise to VERYCD and Tencent such a market leader will be very difficult to pose a threat. That is, if VERYCD a few years later into the game, perhaps now will be a complete fate.

Huang Yimeng concludes that the biggest advantage of VERYCD's lack of money is that the company's operating costs have been low and flexible, making it easier for companies to make quick decisions, such as daring to take away the download business. And if you took the money of investors, then the transformation of the game is likely to face no small resistance.

For the next need to refinance or go public, Huang Yimeng said he did not think well. He thinks the company has no money for investors, is freer, has no need to go public, and now that the company is doing well, he hopes to do something he likes to do, like he's developing a mobile social product.

"When you want to raise money, be sure to figure out what to do with it." "Huang Yimeng concludes, VERYCD is always not think well, in the end financing what, perhaps, sometimes not financing is also a better choice."