Top of the big era

In the evening, Zhou Buqi received an invitation from Sun Zhengyi to go to dinner, with Ren Yuxin by his side. During the day, he took a long walk around Tokyo.

Most of Japan’s major game companies are in Tokyo.

Zhou Buqi told what he learned from Chen Dong. Many large game companies have been around for decades and have become rigid at all levels.

Not only are the employees old and out of step with the times, the company's business model is still the same as it was decades ago, and even the company's partners have decades of relationships.

You know, in the 1980s, when Japan's technology ranked first in the world, there was no problem. Technology companies could support a large number of channel dealers.

But with the decline of the economy, those old relationship households have gradually become unable to survive.

For a game company, the profit margin is only 10%, which is simply shocking.

This is usually data only available to manufacturing companies with little core technology.

Ren Yuxin nodded, "It is indeed complicated to take action against large companies. This is probably the reason why European and American game giants have not taken action against Japan's game industry."

“Is Capcom considered a big company?”

"Calculate."

"Fuck!"

Zhou Buqi rubbed his forehead, feeling a little headache.

The main goal of Changyou's acquisition in Japan this time is to acquire Capcom and obtain the intellectual property rights of its well-known games such as "Street Fighter", "Monster Hunter", "Resident Evil" and "Devil May Cry".

Monster Hunter, in particular, crushes all competitors in its genre.

The company's current market capitalization is only $800 million, which is really cheap.

The price of so many classic games together is the same as "Talking Tom Cat". The only trouble is that once Capcom is taken over, it will be really difficult to deal with the breakdown of the old relationships behind the company.

Ren Yuxin said: "It is really not good for large companies. Whether it is Capcom or Konami, even if the other party agrees to sell, they will sign a series of prerequisites, and they are not allowed to lay off employees or terminate old partners. "

Zhou Buqi said "hmm".

Ren Yuxin smiled and said: "However, there are no problems with several other small companies. Such a large company, even if Capcom's market value is only US$800 million now, is already very successful. Especially one with decades of history Game companies, while pursuing success, also pursue the company’s respectability.”

"Yes, decent." Zhou Buqi agreed with this statement, "Japan's business society is a market economy with cultural suppression. Small companies that have not yet succeeded, and the pursuit of success is their primary purpose, is really not decent. , but easy to operate.”

Ren Yuxin glanced at him and said, "How about we take down these small companies first, Capcom and Konami... It's really difficult. Don't say they won't sell, even if they sell, we will have to deal with a series of subsequent problems." It’s difficult to deal with, and we have to find a better solution.”

Zhou Buqi was sitting in a black Mercedes-Benz car and was going to Sun Zhengyi's house for a family dinner. He nodded, "Okay, I'll ask Sun Zhengyi later and see what he thinks. We can't let him go to waste." I won’t work with Changyou’s shares.”

Ren Yuxin twitched the corner of his mouth.

People spent real money to buy Changyou stocks, so why did they get it for nothing? Boss Zhou seems to have convinced Son, but he is really not polite at all.

However, Ren Yuxin did not dare to say anything about this, and said with a smile: "I walked around today and learned about some situations. I really... really feel the breakaway era of the Japanese game industry."

Zhou Buqi asked: "What's going on?"

Ren Yuxin said: "They were surprised to discover the prospect of social games and are actively planning it."

"What?"

Zhou Buqi thought he heard wrongly.

Ren Yuxin said with a smile: "Really, it's a social game. Social games on Japan's previous SNS websites were usually made by small companies, and those big companies didn't look down on them at all. However, by the fourth quarter of last year In the quarter, they seemed to have finally reacted, and individual companies began to transform in the direction of social games."

"I go!"

Zhou Buqi was really a little confused and didn't know what to say.

The hottest period of social gaming has passed!

The hottest period was around 2010.

By now, it's on a downward slope.

Domestically, the total revenue of Friends' social games exceeded 4.4 billion yuan in 2010, which dropped to 3.6 billion yuan last year. Not to mention the United States. Social gaming giant Zynga's performance after its listing was far less than expected, and its stock price quickly broke, pouring cold water on the social gaming industry.

Even the old guys at EA have smelled it, and suddenly discovered that EA's strategic transformation towards social games in the past few years has failed!

This led to a series of subsequent adjustments by EA, the reorganization of the board of directors and the change of management power.

It’s so ridiculous here in Japan.

When social games were at their peak, those big game companies turned a blind eye and looked down upon such low-grade gadgets. Now that the sun is fading, big companies have finally come to their senses and are proactively making strategic transitions to social games...

Compared with these Japanese game companies, EA is simply a god.

Ren Yuxin said: "Now, there are two big companies that are transforming towards social games. Guess who?"

Zhou Buqi looked at his expression and was slightly startled, "It can't be Konami and Capcom, right?"

Ren Yuxin said in a deep voice: "These are the two."

Zhou Buqi slapped his forehead.

Convinced!

What a fart purchase now!

These two companies are on a road to death. If they were acquired, wouldn't they be asking for trouble? It would be okay if we could decisively close unpopular business lines and lay off employees in large numbers, but these two things are simply impossible.

Ren Yuxin said: "Capcom is actually pretty good. It just tried to make social games and launched several products to test the water, such as "Smurf Village". So far, it is relatively successful. In the fourth quarter of last year Revenue generated over $3 million through Facebook's open platform."

Zhou Buqi seemed to understand it immediately, and suddenly said: "It's the profit margin! Social games are truly games that can be fully digitally operated and do not need to be divided by those old systems. The US$3 million in revenue from "Smurf Village" , with a gross profit of at least US$2.5 million.”

Ren Yuxin nodded, "That should be the reason. Capcom is just making some attempts, and it is Konami who is really taking steps to strategically transform towards social games. Well, it can't be said to be a transformation, it is Business expansion.”

Transformation generally refers to giving up old business and investing in new business.

However, Japanese companies have systemic shortcomings and cannot give up their old businesses. If Konami is interested in the field of social games, it can only expand its recruitment and form a new department.

If it can only be increased but not reduced, it will inevitably become more and more bloated and redundant.

Zhou Buqi narrowed his eyes and thought slowly: "So, Konami is going to increase the weight of social games..."

Ren Yuxin said: "Yes, the most important development direction of Konami next is Konami. They have just announced that they will raise their expected sales this year to US$3.48 billion. At the same time, they will raise their expected profits. to US$289 million, an increase of up to 20%. In this period of downturn in the game industry, Konami is not only the only major game company in Japan but also the world to announce an increase in expectations."

"Because of social games?"

"Yes, all the expected growth is coming from social gaming."

"What an opportunity!"

Zhou Buqi's interest in Konami is far less than that of Capcom, except for the game "Pro Evolution Soccer".

If Konami's core strategy is to shift towards social games, it will inevitably reduce the weight of "Pro Evolution Soccer".

Well, this is probably the reason why "Pro Evolution Soccer" had almost no struggles in its previous life and was far left behind by EA's "FIFA Soccer".

"FIFA Football" has always been EA's core ace game.