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Google's focus on social networking will cause the gaming industry to fall into a further trough. The logic behind this, let alone lay investors and institutions, is rarely analyzed by even industry insiders.

As it happens, Zhou Buqi is the special one.

Some time ago, he mentioned this topic when discussing the future development of the game industry and Changyou with Lao Zhang.

Google+, the social networking website launched by Google, is actually an SNS-type website, and its benchmark is Facebook. Therefore, after the launch of Google+, the most nervous and urgent thing is of course Facebook.

Originally, Zuckerberg did not want to push Facebook to go public so early, because the market is not very good at this stage, and it is best to wait for one or two years before going public.

Moreover, Facebook has a strong ability to make money. This year's net profit can reach 1 billion US dollars, and it is growing at a 100% growth rate.

If you have money and the market is not good, there is no need to go public.

The reason why I went public was because I wanted to raise a lot of money and then go against Google!

After getting the money from financing, Facebook will temporarily slow down its goal of making money, return to the route of polishing products and attracting users, and concentrate on making good products to compete with Google+.

Because once the goal is to make money, the richness and playability of the product will inevitably be sacrificed, which may make competitors stand out.

And now the most profitable part of Facebook is the open platform.

The most profitable area in the open platform is social games.

In the past two years, social games have become popular in the United States and even around the world. This is also related to Facebook's recommendation mechanism. Because this game can make money and users like to play it, Facebook gives most of its recommended traffic to social games.

This has promoted the popularity of social games.

However, this also has disadvantages.

If most of the traffic is used to recommend social games, many other rich and interesting gameplay and diversified content on the Facebook platform will not be taken care of.

If the functions and content cannot be oriented to users, it means nothing.

In order to compete with Google+, Facebook is bound to reduce the recommendation ratio of social games, so as to introduce more content and functions in the platform to users, so that users understand that Facebook is not a social game platform, but a real platform with a large user base. A social platform with interesting gameplay.

All in all, in the competition with Google+, Facebook will definitely slow down its profits and focus more on products and users, thereby firmly locking in the throne of the "big brother" in the social market.

If Facebook wants to go public and raise funds, it needs to get a large amount of money to ensure the stability of cash flow and promote a subsidy strategy in the process of competing with Google+.

Unfortunately, social games have become victims of the struggle between the two powers.

Without the traffic forced by Facebook, the popularity of social games has become less and less popular.

Zhou Buqi said: “Before Facebook goes public, they will not adjust their strategic goals. Even in order to give a more beautiful IPO financial report, they will be more active in promoting commercialization so that Facebook can make more money in the fourth quarter. . The real crisis is after Facebook goes public. After it goes public and gets money, it’s time to adjust its strategy to compete with Google+.”

Don Mattrick said: "In the market of web light games, there have been some very dangerous forks in the road. Gambling games have become very popular recently."

"I heard," Zhou Buqi smiled and said lightly, "It's not a big problem!"

Mattrick explained, "Gaming games are online card games, lottery draws, dice rolling, lottery games and other games with a gambling nature. These games are not social games at all. Social games are mainly about social interaction and in the form of games. Come socialize. Gambling games have no social attributes at all.”

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Of course, but it doesn't matter. How many people can understand it? Today's web-based gambling games appear as social games, which is somewhat deceptive. Is there any reaction from EA? ?Do they have any objections to the Friend’s Studio deal?”

Mattrick smiled, "No."

Zhou Buqi said: "It's not surprising. Whether it is social games or gambling games, these are all new things. Once people get older, their understanding of such new things cannot keep up, and there will be Delay, lag.”

Mattrick said solemnly: "The emergence of gambling games will exacerbate the decline of social games."

As the incoming CEO of Changyou, Don Mattrick, this is his biggest worry.

The current gaming industry has been in decline for more than two years.

On the one hand, there is the impact of the economic crisis.

On the other hand, it is also a fork in the road for the gaming industry itself.

In the past, traditional PC games have almost reached their peak, and their growth momentum has slowed down. Instead, new markets are social games and more distant mobile games.

Therefore, EA's acquisition of Friend Studio is actually to keep up with the era of social games. Including Blizzard, they have also launched several versions of card-based web games based on the theme of "Warcraft".

The era of mobile games has not yet arrived.

Social games are the main direction that can boost market confidence in the game industry at the moment, and it is also an area that capital can pay more attention to.

Once Facebook adjusts its strategy and once gambling games become popular... then it is conceivable that the vitality of social games will gradually disappear.

When capital reacts, it will be a fatal blow to the global game industry!

The current slump in the gaming industry is just the beginning.

The real lowest point will be when social games collapse.

Although Ziweixing International sold its friend's studio to EA early, it was a big bargain and the deal made a lot of money.

However, Mattrick is now thinking about what will happen after he becomes Changyou's executive director and CEO.

There are no eggs left under the overturned nest.

Once the social gaming industry collapses, the gaming industry will hit its lowest point and Changyou's stock price will continue to fall. This is not something he wants to see.

The capital market has no human feelings and no reason to speak of.

Once a company's stock price continues to slump, the first thing the board of directors of a listed company often does is to take action on the CEO.

If the company's performance is poor and the stock price is sluggish, it makes sense to take action on the CEO. But many times, the entire industry fails, causing the company's stock price to slump. At this time, the board of directors will not show mercy and will attack the CEO mercilessly. No matter whether he is innocent or not, he must give an explanation to the market and shareholders.

That was Don Mattrick's worst fear.

He had heard that Boss Zhou was extremely decisive and ruthless this time and fired Wang Fang, the founder and CEO of Changyou. Once the collapse of social games causes the gaming industry to fall into a trough, and the big boss, for the sake of his own face, inflicts surgery on himself to give an explanation to the outside world, what should he do?

Seeing his uncertain expression, Zhou Buqi really didn't expect this, so he asked him strangely what was going on.

The collapse of social games will not cause much harm to Changyou or Ziweixing.

Mattrick hesitated for a moment, then simply told the truth and expressed his worries very frankly. If you don’t say ugly things up front, you may become a scapegoat in the future.

"this……"

Zhou Buqi was slightly dazed.

This is an American. As expected, his thinking is different. He maintains a high degree of attention to the capital market. This is really different from Ren Yuxin, the other co-CEO in charge of domestic business.

Zhou Buqi communicated with Ren Yuxin many times, and each time they communicated from the perspective of strategy, management, business, and products. They never discussed the stock price.

So what if the stock price is high or low?

If the work is done well, the stock price will rise sooner or later; if the work is not done well, even if the stock price is high, it will be a castle in the air, with huge hidden dangers.

However, Don Mattrick's thinking cannot be wrong. As the CEO of the company, he should be responsible for the stock price.

Zhou Buqi felt that this matter was more important and said sternly: "First of all, what I want to say is that Changyou cannot only judge the stock price. Stock price is not the only criterion for measuring work results. Changyou is a game company. In the final analysis, it is to make good games. Good products. The product should be the core, not the stock price. Changyou is a prosperous company that is still in the startup stage, so we cannot focus on the stock price!"

"Start-up companies……"

Mattrick twitched his lips, this tone was really loud. The current market value of Changyou exceeds 14 billion U.S. dollars. It is so large that in the eyes of big bosses, it is still in the entrepreneurial stage.

Zhou Buqi continued: "Second, the prospects of traditional PC games are bleak, but new categories of PC games have appeared. Haven't you noticed?"

"What is it?"

"Competitive game!"

"Oh," Mattrick suddenly realized, ""Dota 2", indeed, this is indeed a new type of game that has the opportunity to become popular on the PC side."

Zhou Buqi continued: "The operation of "Dota 2" is still a bit complicated, but we also have "League of Legends" which is simpler to operate, easier to use, and has a lower threshold. These two games are enough for Changyou to continue its The popularity of gaming on PC.”

Mattrick's eyes were bright, "If so, that would be great, and it is also good news for the market and the industry."

This angle is great.

It is in line with Changyou CEO’s vision and pattern.

Only when the market and industry are better will the best in the industry be better. The market is sluggish and the industry is sluggish, and even the best ones are not much better.

Zhou Buqi continued: "Third, it's the mobile games I've been emphasizing. Social games will decline, that's for sure. No matter what Facebook does, it doesn't dare to play games to disrupt the social game market. Changyou only needs to Do your own thing well, and do your mobile games well! The era of smartphones has arrived. There are hundreds of millions of smartphones in stock around the world. This is a vibrant new market! Changyou should serve as the leader in the mobile game industry and lead the world. Gaming industry!”

Mattrick took a deep breath and said, "Use mobile games to launch as soon as possible to hedge the market risks caused by the collapse of the social game industry."

Zhou Buqi smiled slightly, "Risks mean opportunities. Changyou has done this, resolved industry risks, and helped all peers avoid disasters. We will be a well-deserved industry leader!"