A real cheat was blocked, and the game industry was rectified with a backhand

"Call of Duty? Yes. Yes."

When Southgate saw the name, he almost blurted out and asked, "Is it a shooting game similar to "Warzone"?

But when the words came to my lips, I swallowed them back, feeling very uncomfortable holding them back.

There was once a genius game designer who left a classic quote to the gaming industry:

The plot of a shooting game is like the plot of an adult movie, it can be there but it is not necessary.

But later it turned out that this view was not entirely correct.

In an era when the Internet was not well developed and the main way to play games online was through a local area network rather than the Internet, the first generation of "Warzone" made its name with its solid campaign storyline.

Then, in the subsequent games, the game gained a foothold by relying on the exciting multiplayer mode. Many players even entered the multiplayer mode directly after buying the game, and did not even play the campaign story.

After the series became famous, games like this one, which feature a campaign story and multiplayer shooting modes, will be directly labeled and compared with "Warzone".

Lin Mo knew what the other party wanted to say, but he was not angry. He said calmly: "Yes, it is what many players think of as a "Warzone"-style action shooting game."

Southgate felt a little embarrassed when he heard his future boss speak directly out what he wanted to say.

But after thinking about it for a while, indeed, if you think this way, you can understand why your job search has been so smooth.

"Call of Duty" is obviously a large-scale project that requires long-term operation.

The young man opposite with amazing talent is the boss of Naughty Cat. He owns dozens of IPs and is still constantly expanding them. He must be too busy.

In this case, the Warzone project team's many years of front-line development experience and many years of experience as operations director have become invaluable assets.

Thinking of this, Southgate's heart couldn't help but feel a lot hotter.

He doesn't think he is a genius, but he still has enough confidence in this field.

Moreover, although he is not young, his heart is still strong.

I originally thought that my work on the Warzone project team was the pinnacle of my career, but now it seems that I have a good chance of achieving greater success in my career.

Thinking about it, my blood started to boil over.

But

Southgate asked again, somewhat puzzled: "Boss Lin, there are so many talented people in the gaming industry, why me? You have at least two other candidates to choose from."

Although he would not underestimate himself, he also knew how attractive Naughty Cat was to talented people nowadays.

Lin Mo smiled and said, "I heard that Moreno once threatened to 'see who dares to take you in', so I want to try what will happen if I take you in."

Southgate looked embarrassed and thought of countless answers in his mind, but he didn't expect it to be this one.

But this is in line with a rumor in the industry that this Mr. Lin is very willful.

Maybe he was joking too?

If Southgate had the superpower to listen to his heart, he would know that this is not a joke.

Lin Mo indeed thought so.

There have been several frictions with Baofeng Entertainment this year. Logically speaking, these are all misunderstandings and can be said to be unprovoked disasters.

You do your thing and I do mine, and we don't interfere with each other.

As a result, Baofeng Entertainment was in a state of panic every few days, blaming all the failures of its plans on Naughty Cat.

But the problem is, whether it is the interactive film game "Future World" or the mobile game "Tower of Infinity".

It has major flaws in itself, and even without Naughty Cat it would be difficult to promote the Baofeng platform.

In this situation, it would be a great pleasure to disgust Moreno, a colleague he had never met.

After accepting that he was chosen by Naughty Cat just because of luck, Southgate started to talk enthusiastically about the "Call of Duty" project team where he would stay for many years in the future.

It would be fine if we didn't talk about it, but the more we talk about it, the more frightened we become.

Just the variety of gameplay in the multiplayer mode was enough to make Southgate's scalp tingle.

After hearing the end, I couldn't help but ask, "Boss Lin, are you planning to catch all the shooting game players who haven't played Naughty Cat games?"

Lin Mo nodded and said, "Why not? Not every player likes competitive games. Many players just want to experience the refreshing shooting or various interesting small gameplays. Where was I just now? Oh, right, the capture of points and flags on small-scale maps, right? Then let's talk about the 64v64 large-scale map battlefield and the kill streak rewards."

This conversation lasted for three full hours and finally stopped when it was time to eat lunch at noon.

Finally, Lin Mo let out a long sigh, rubbed his stomach, and said, "Okay, let's eat first. Finally, I'll tell you one thing, which may be the most difficult problem to overcome in your future work."

Southgate's face turned serious and he said, "Please tell me, I will try my best to overcome it."

Lin Mo smiled and said, "You don't have to be so nervous. You need to learn Chinese. Although your daily workplace is in Naughty Cat Los Angeles, Naughty Cat is a Chinese company. You don't have to be proficient in it, but you must know it."

English is indeed one of the most commonly used languages ​​in the world, and the two had been communicating in English this morning.

But so what? This is a Chinese company.

I think you need to know Chinese, otherwise you should look for another place.

You can communicate in English before you learn Chinese, but you have to learn it.

What if you don’t want to learn?

To paraphrase a phrase, what you dare not have is Parugan.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Southgate showed an embarrassed expression on his face, and it seemed that he wanted to bargain.

But after hesitating for a few seconds, he finally gritted his teeth and nodded, "I will study hard."

"That's good."

"By the way, Mr. Lin, when do you plan to release the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare?"

“The game will be officially announced soon and will be officially released at the end of October.”

Southgate was stunned when he heard this, and quickly said: "Mr. Lin, I suggest that it is better to postpone it temporarily."

"Postponed? Why? Until when?"

"At least until the beginning of next year." Southgate persuaded earnestly, "The end of each year is the release time of the Warzone series, and this year's release is the orthodox sequel of the series, Warzone 9."

Lin Mo raised his eyebrows and said, "This is probably the worst official sequel in the series. What? Did Moreno guess the type of my new game? He's worried that it will affect the sales of Warzone 9, so he asked you to be the lobbyist?"

Hearing this, Southgate was a little confused and quickly explained: "No, no, no, that's not what I meant. I have nothing to do with Baofeng Entertainment anymore. It's just that the two games are very large in size, and most players will only buy one of them. The two months before and after are considered to be released at the same time. Moreno said before that if Naughty Cat has a shooting game released before the end of the year, it will let..."

"Let me also experience the feeling of being crushed after a car crash in this game type? You are afraid that I will be crushed, so you suggest that I postpone the release date?"

"Uh"

Southgate was suddenly at a loss for words and stammered for a long time without being able to utter a word.

Seeing this, Lin Mo couldn't help but smile and said, "This time, Call of Duty hasn't announced a release date. If Moreno is afraid that it will affect the sales of his Warzone and comes to me for help, it's not impossible to postpone it for a while for the sake of my peers, even if he is hostile to Naughty Cat. But if he is afraid that Call of Duty will not be as good as Warzone and cause a sudden death, then there is no need to worry. Rather, I am looking forward to the emergence of such a company, which means the overall progress of the industry."

"What amazing confidence." Southgate nodded in admiration, "I was overthinking it."

Lin Mo smiled without saying anything and did not explain further.

To say that it is confidence is not entirely correct.

I really can't find any reason to lose.

In the gaming world of Lin Mo's previous life, the name of "Call of Duty" was known to everyone.

Many older players first came into contact with this IP through pirated copies of "Call of Duty 4".

At that time, many people did not have the concept of genuine products. They either knew the name of the game from other game enthusiasts, or saw it on the download rankings of pirated websites, or it was recommended by the boss of the pirated CD market.

Then, you will be impressed by the grand scenes, wonderful plots, excellent shooting feel, and perfect level design.

Passed down from generation to generation, the accumulation of everything from technology to experience is truly terrifying.

Since killing zombies is popular, let’s make a zombie killing game in the COD style.

Since PUBG is popular, let’s release a PUBG game in the COD style.

It’s terrifyingly inclusive!

Several production teams take turns to ensure that the latest COD is released every year, and they also have an advantage in trial and error.

Try out some new things every year and eliminate some old things that players don’t like every year.

In the beginning, there were many competitors on the same track, but later on, no one could match them and they were no longer comparable.

In this case, how could they lose against Warzone, an IP that seems invincible because it has no competition?

But we can't be careless.

"Call of Duty" is not without its shortcomings. It can even be said that it has many shortcomings, especially concentrated in the multiplayer mode.

The biggest problem is

Plug-in.

This is a common problem in shooting games, and it is also something that is theoretically impossible to eliminate.

Even with Lin Mo's use of the system's black technology, he was unable to completely eliminate the existence of plug-ins.

It was only when CSGO appeared that a warning was made and Dawei was put in jail, which played a deterrent role. Later, it became much easier to deal with plug-ins.

So how did Activision deal with cheats in its previous life?

The answer is not to govern and basically give up.

I have heard of many players being banned for various unimaginable reasons, but I have never heard of a player being banned for cheating.

To what extent were plug-ins rampant?

If you only turn on the perspective, you are considered a half green player.

In other words, COD's multiplayer mode is not very competitive, and no one pursues competitiveness, so plug-ins have not completely ruined the game.

This problem obviously does not exist in this life.

If the biggest problem can be solved, the rest such as pricing, servers, ugly eating habits, etc. are not big problems.

Naughty Cat is not a listed company like Baofeng Entertainment, which has financial report pressure. Sometimes it has to find ways to get gold coins out of players' pockets.

In this case, Lin Mo only needs to consider how to use a better and more conscientious game operation model to snatch away the players who originally belonged to "Warzone".

There's no need to even rush to buy it. All you have to do is wait for Baofeng Entertainment to do something stupid, and players will naturally pursue better products.

Some rumors about "Warzone" have not spread widely among the player community, but among practitioners in the industry, especially the management of top game companies such as Naughty Cat, it is almost confirmed news.

If Warzone 9 is a serious sequel to the franchise, then Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is really hard to grab.

Many players have already developed consumption habits, especially in Europe and the United States. Many players may only buy five or six games in the seven or eight-year life cycle of a console, and buy "Warzone" every two years.

This "Warzone 9" is labeled as an orthodox sequel, but it is actually a large DLC for the previous game "Warzone 8", which is sold as a new game with some additions and improvements.

Sometimes business wars are so plain and simple that you just need to wait for your peers to make mistakes and serve as a foil for them.

I had almost finished talking with Southgate in the morning.

The other party declined Lin Mo's invitation and said that he would just have a simple meal in the company cafeteria.

"Boss Lin, Naughty Cat's promotions have always been unconventional. What are your plans for the official announcement of Call of Duty?"

Lin Mo smiled playfully and said, "I was originally planning to go through the normal process, but now I suddenly came up with a disgusting idea."

Disgusting?

Southgate's eyes lit up. It was obvious who the target was when he said this at this time.

Thinking of that greedy goblin-like CEO, it would be great if I could disgust him a little.

"All ears."

Lin Mo glanced at him and asked, "Would you mind starting a live broadcast for those fans who are saddened by the departure of you, a veteran of Warzone?"

Start a live broadcast?

Southgate said without hesitation: "No problem!"

An ordinary afternoon in September.

Southgate, a well-known practitioner in the industry, suddenly sent a tweet.

[Hello, players and fans! I am Southgate. As you all know, I have resigned from Baofeng Entertainment and left the Warzone project team. Many friends who care about me are asking me about my next plans, which will be revealed soon and will shock you. I have found a new job! And I have a surprise for you. Tomorrow I will start a live broadcast to announce this exciting news to you. ]

Below the tweet is the local time when live broadcasts will start in major countries and regions.

This tweet did not cause much sensation, but only caused a lot of discussion in a small circle.

Will a new studio be established? I hope to see an excellent shooting game like Warzone back then.

[So fast? Is this a resignation or a dismissal? ]

[A surprise so soon? I will definitely go and see it when the time comes]

[He is just a stray dog ​​that was kicked out of the house. He can’t make any waves.]

Moreno typed a line of words and clicked send.

"Surprise? I want to see which company dares to take you in! Then, I'll give you a surprise. A big surprise!"