Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: NemoTheCaptain

Towards 3D, towards the Internet, towards the world.

Editor's note: 20 years ago, 2002 was a crucial year for both the global game industry and China's game circle. The rapid development of hardware makes more games into the full 3D world, the popularity of Internet and broadband makes PC and host players feel the fun of online, online video is beginning to take shape, e-sports and game TV programs are developing rapidly.

Time flies, and 20 years later, some players left the circle for a variety of reasons, while others persevered with remarkable results. In many ways, today's gaming industry is the echo of the golden age of 2002, and the history of 20 years ago has laid the foundation for today's pattern.

Because of the long length of the article, we will serialize it in three parts.

The PC game industry in 2002 is in the golden age, which is the era of stars shining in masterpieces such as "Warcraft 3: governance of chaos", "Battlefield 1942", "No Winter Night" and "Qin Shao". It is the era of TV programs such as "game things" sweeping the country, the era of e-sports and broadband online popularity all over the country, and the era of rapid development and crazy price reduction of PC hardware. The glorious history of 20 years ago is still shining today.

The feast of the rich and powerful. "I will inherit your throne, Father."

Arthas, "Warcraft 3"

Among the many new PC games released in 2002, Warcraft 3 is the most influential one. The first batch of shipments reached 4.4 million and sold 1 million in half a month, setting the record for the fastest sales of PC games at that time, demonstrating Blizzard's strong appeal in its heyday.

Full-effect Studio (Ensemble Studios), which is famous for its "Age of Empire" series, also released its new "Myth Age" in 2002. There are many differentiation factors in the matchup of other giants this year, while "Warcraft 3" and "Myth Age" are head-to-head showdowns. The two new works are both fantasy styles, and they are the first time for big companies to challenge full 3D games. There are many similarities between the two systems, and the game quality is also incomparable. However, some subtle differences determine the success of Warcraft 3 in terms of sales.

"Warcraft 3" sweeping the world

The pictures of "mythological era" and "mythological era" with the theme of ancient mythology are more detailed than "Warcraft 3" and have higher requirements for the configuration of PC, which limits sales. In addition, the heroic units of the "Myth Age" cannot carry equipment or learn new skills, maintaining the traditional RTS thinking. "Warcraft 3" incorporated more RPG elements, which laid the foundation for a large number of module maps played by MOBA later, while the number of modules in "Myth Age" was small. In the end, it took five months for "Myth Age" to reach 1 million sales, which is not as fast as "Age of Empire 2", let alone comparable to "Warcraft 3".

Unexpectedly, the "old age" of the "mythological era" is better than "Warcraft 3". In 2014, the high-definition "Myth Age: extended Edition" integrated the content of the past, and although there are many details in the 2016 DLC "Legend of the Dragon", Microsoft has released the Myth Age: retelling version of the Myth Age, which is expected to fix these problems when it is released in the future. On the other hand, Warcraft 3: recast version, which was released in 2020, was originally highly expected, but it was caught in the controversy of false propaganda, and word-of-mouth also met with Waterloo. Maybe Warcraft 3 won the whole war, but the Myth Age won the last battle.

For RTS players who love historical themes, classics such as "Middle Ages: total War", "raid 2" and "War Commander" were also released in 2002. Today, with the decline of RTS's new works and the popularity of MOBA, looking back on the golden age of RTS 20 years ago, it feels like a lifetime ago.

2002 was also a bumper year for RPG. "dungeon siege", "Ancient Scroll 3: morning Wind" and "No Winter Night" all used 3D engines, which were acclaimed and popular. The development team of the classic RTS "sweeping the Thousand Army" has been reorganized in the name of the new company Gas Powered Games, with a new "dungeon siege" comparable to Diablo, allowing players to fully experience the pleasure of playing monster and swiping treasure. "Ancient Scroll 3: morning Wind" is the first full 3D work in the series, showing an amazing sense of space and freedom. The single-player mode of "No Winter Night" is not as good as "Baird Gate", but the perfect multiplayer mode and module tools provide players with more creative space.

The battle of the dungeon siege is full of pleasure.

The vast world of "Ancient Scroll 3: morning Wind" was amazing in 2002.

"Neverwinter Night" is a space that allows players to play freely. Larian Studios, which has won the development rights of "Baird Gate 3", was only a small generation at that time. The original Divine World, which was released in 2002, won some praise as a quaint 2D game, and received several nominations in the RPG selection of the major media at the end of the year, but lost to the above three masterpieces. All this is just the beginning for Larian, who will slowly cultivate the fruits of victory over the next decade.

As for "Ice Wind Valley 2" and "Heroes of Magic 4", these two games were still classic in 2002, but they were full of signs of work rush and fatigue. In 2003, Interplay closed the Black Island Studio, and the bankruptcy of 3DO also took away New World Computing Studio. The history of the two time-honored brands came to an end because of the mistakes of the parent company, which broke the hearts of the old players. Because the source code has been lost, Bingfeng Valley 2 has not yet released a high-definition version, which may leave a permanent regret.

EA released three new FPS films in 2002: 2015 Studio's Medal of Honor: joint raid, DICE Studio's Battlefield 1942 and Westwood Studios Command and Conquest: renegade. Among them, Medal of Honor: joint raid is mainly in single-player mode, with a cinematic level script design, and the team is poached by Activision after the game is released and becomes the studio Infinity Ward for the development of call of Duty. Battlefield 1942 is based on multiplayer mode, emphasizing large maps and armed warfare. Command and Conquest: renegade incorporates the RTS worldview into the FPS framework, but plays similar to Battlefield 1942 and the engine is not mature enough, so the development plan for the sequel is halted by EA.

The Landing Battle of Omaha in Medal of Honor: joint raid

The Navy is a feature of Battlefield 1942.

Despite being defeated by the same brother's Command and Conquest: renegade, the PC game market in the United States declined slightly in 2002. The total sales of PC games in the United States decreased from $1.75 billion in 2001 to $1.4 billion in 2002. On the other hand, US console game sales increased from $4.6 billion in 2001 to $5.5 billion in 2002. In the face of the decline and decline of the situation, a large number of PC games launched the host version.

Microsoft's Xbox mainframe, which was launched at the end of 2001, is essentially a PC, and a similar hardware environment facilitates migration. "Ancient Scroll 3: Morning Wind" is supported by Microsoft, and the Xbox version is only a month later than the PC version. Contemporary Sony PS2 and Nintendo NGC lack this kind of convenient environment, and the effect of migration depends more on the level of developers. On the other hand, although the US PC game market has suffered a decline, it is still profitable, and publishers will decide the time for mainframe games to transplant PC according to factors such as time-limited exclusive contracts.

Bully 3, the top-selling console game in 2001, did not release the PC version until May 2002, half a year later than the PS2 version, due to a time-limited exclusive contract signed between publisher Rockstar Games and Sony. The documentary "bullying: the Sin City" went on sale on PS2 in October 2002, and the PC version will have to wait another half a year.

Six months later, the PC version of "bully 3" is still a big hit. Czech studio Illusion Softworks launched its new "Mafia" on PC in 2002. The freedom of this game is not as good as that of "bully 3", but it is better than the picture quality and plot, and it has become a classic. The PS2 and Xbox versions of this work were not released until 2004, but the transplant effect is not good. In 2020, the remade Mafia: the Ultimate Edition was launched, reintroducing a "godfather" story to a new generation of players.

At that time, the PC version of the Mafia had a first-rate picture because of "Cell Division" and "Dragon Bourne 2". The PC version was not released until 2003, and the 2002 PC sneaked into the game into the world of "Unmanned Immortal 2" and "Killer 2: silent Assassin". The second journey of Beauty Agent Kate and bald Assassin 47 was a success. The styles of the two espionage games are very different, one is easy and funny, the other is relatively serious, but both are brilliant, so that players are looking forward to the performance of the sequel. However, since then, the "Unmanned Eternal Life" series has been involved in copyright disputes, and players have not yet looked forward to the "Unmanned Immortal 3" series. The development of the "Killer" series is going well and is still updating its content this year.

The copyright of "Unmanned Immortal 2" was shared by many companies, which eventually led to a copyright dispute.

Bald 47 made a comeback in Killer 2. "I used to love to play" the Age of the Great Navigation ". I also thought about how sad a captain would feel when he looked at the rough sea around him when he was old. Sailors bid farewell to the sea, just as soldiers bid farewell to weapons and knights bid farewell to horses, there will be many memorable things left. As long as there is something left behind, there is no need to regret. It's the same with me. I need to leave something behind. "

-- Zhang Chun, Chief producer of Qin Wan

2002 is not a lucky time for the domestic stand-alone game industry, although there have been many masterpieces, game sales in this year showed a significant decline. The domestic sales of single-machine games were 200 million yuan in 2001, 50 million in 2002 and 300 million in 2003. Since then, for many years, the sales of domestic stand-alone games hovered between 5000 million and 300 million, which was not broken until the rise of digital game platforms such as Steam.

Many of the above-mentioned foreign PC masterpieces have been introduced into China in 2002, while domestic games have left many bright names in 2002. The plot is full of historical weight and is known as the "Gate of Bode" made in China. "Sword sealed Magic record", which features continuous skills and part destruction system, and "Heavenly King", a 3D action game developed by the engine "Unmanned Immortal 2". Create the martial arts 3D battle type of "meteor butterfly sword. Net". There are so many classics, but none of them sell well.

"Sword sealed Magic record" sold 60,000 sets at home, and many people abroad attributed the decline in genuine game sales to piracy, but the actual situation is more complicated. For example, under the impact of piracy, the 2001 "Xuanyuan Jian San" sold 150000 sets within 60 days of its first launch. In 2002, "Xuanyuan Sword Restaurant" used Star Force encryption technology, sold 120000 sets without piracy within 60 days of its first launch, and sales declined instead of rising.

Today's players are used to convenient digital gaming platforms like Steam. In 2002, Steam was still in the testing stage, with only Valve's own products and no third-party games. At that time, almost all the stand-alone games in the world were sold through physical channels, and comprehensive supermarkets such as Wal-Mart abroad had their own game business, and buying game CDs was as convenient as buying fruit. As for domestic, whether genuine or pirated, stand-alone game CDs are lack of adequate and stable sales channels.

At that time, the game CDs were mainly sold around the computer city. In addition, there were only a small number of bookstore channels left for genuine games, and they had to be easily purchased in first-and second-tier cities. The purchase volume of genuine games in third-tier cities is very small, and more unpopular genuine works are difficult to find in third-tier cities, even if players can find unpopular games in computer cities and bookstores. What you buy is often the "Sesame Open door" series, which focuses on low price and simple packaging, and there are both genuine and pirated copies in this complex series. There are also some beautifully packaged and higher-priced "big boxes" on the market. At first glance, they look like genuine ones, but in fact they come from unknown sources. People call these things "fake copies".

The pirated CDs in the "Open Sesame" series take a step back, assuming that digital platforms such as Steam have grown in 2002 and attracted domestic games to join, but still can not solve the problem of payment. At the beginning of its establishment in May 2003, Taobao also encouraged users to adopt the same-city model of "online orders and offline transactions". After Alipay was launched in October 2003, this problem was gradually solved.

Faced with such a dilemma, some domestic game companies chose to go out to sea. The three Kingdoms of the target software participated in the E3 exhibition in 2000 and became the first domestic game to be unveiled in E3. "the three Kingdoms" sold 250000 yuan abroad, the expansion "three Kingdoms: three Kingdoms" sold 150000, and "Qin Shao" sold 200000, but the actual revenue of the target company does not match this figure. As a physical game, the price of these works at 69 yuan in China does not make much profit, and after the US version is priced at $29 by the publisher, there is not much profit left.

Today, 20 years after the release of the Japanese version of Qin Sham, entitled "the Light of Tianba", it is necessary for us to enter the international environment and re-examine these domestic classic games in order to understand their state in the foreign market. 2002 is already the world of 3D masterpieces, "No Winter Night" and "Ancient Scroll 3: morning Wind" can sell for $49, as a 2D game "Qin Sham" selling for $29 is actually a helpless choice. Small profits and quick turnover can only work best on digital platforms, but Steam in 2002 could not take on this task.

As for domestic 3D games, the picture and action design of "Heavenly King" is among the best in China, but not in foreign countries. Although "Meteor Butterfly Sword. Net" has designed unique subjects such as "Light Gong", the development team also admits that they have made reference to Japanese games such as "Dao Soul". The concept of 3D multiplayer fighting is not unfamiliar to foreign players. The game version "Rebirth Knight" developed by Capcom in 2000 is an example.

"Heavenly King" developed by Xishanju Studio

The domestic players of "Meteor Butterfly Sword. Net", which can fly through the eaves and walls, did not agree on the evaluation of these domestic classics in 2002. Many martial arts game users think that the picture of "Qin Shao" is not bright enough and there are not enough love scenes. Qin Shao pursues a sense of historical weight, which is very different from the martial arts game. today, we will find these views quite laughable, but these comments represent the general aesthetic of the domestic market 20 years ago.

In fact, the target company as a whole is still pursuing popular themes, such as the history of the three Kingdoms and the Qin and Han dynasties. The truly maverick domestic game company is Hantang, whose works often amaze newcomers. In terms of game style, Hantang is also out of the ordinary. Take "lethal Force" released in 2001 as an example, its "King of Boxing" style and sci-fi worldview are rare in domestic works, leading to poor sales of the game, and the hasty end of "lethal Force 2" in 2002. Also listed in 2002, "Heaven and Earth robbing the Outer Chapter: the knot of the World and God" is also full of traces of rush to work, but the original novel "the Battle of Amadeus" is quite successful, drawing a decent full stop for Hantang's single-machine career. After the last three stand-alone machines were developed in 2002, Hantang was transformed into an online game company.

The unique style of "lethal Force 2" has changed, and 20 years later, many game developers still haven't given up completely. Guan Lei, the battle planner of "Meteor Butterfly Sword. Net" is now the producer of "Forever robbery", which is a great success. "Qin Sham" and "Sword sealed Magic record" have also launched the Steam version in 2022, and the Steam version of the former also supports 1080p high-definition screen, which makes old players feel deeply.

In 2002, 7 of the 10 companies that developed online games were losing money. as for the 90 online games in operation, only about 10 are profitable, and the income is concentrated in the top 4. "

Bao Yueqiao, founder of Lianzhong Game

In 2002, the sales channel problems faced by stand-alone games also exist for online games, so it is also necessary for us to look at how online games 20 years ago solved the channel problems, which is often overlooked when discussing the comparison between stand-alone and online games in the past.

Shanda agent's "Legend" is undoubtedly the highest-paid online game in 2002. Chen Tianqiao, the founder of Shanda, sees that the gaming industry in the United States and Japan has kept pace with the film industry. He believes that this phenomenon is not impossible in China, but it just takes a certain amount of time to accumulate. The national box office revenue in 2001 was 800 million yuan, while Legend generated 400 million yuan in just one year from charging fees in November 2001 to November 2002.

In order to "Legend", Shanda developed a digital point card e-commerce system called E-Sales for Internet cafes. A total of 150000 Internet cafes across the country are connected to this system, of which 30,000 Internet cafes sell legendary physical cards directly. Relying on the support of countless Internet cafes, Legend passed the earliest 6-month charging period. After that, Shanda spread the legendary physical cards to bookstores and newsstands all over the country, and buying cards is as simple as buying magazines.

The biggest inspiration that Shanda brings to the domestic gaming industry is that this set of physical and digital combination of perfect marketing channels, and then want to challenge the grand company, whether it is nine cities, NetEase or Tencent, have improved the marketing channels, this is the key to the spread of products.

"Legend" a game accounts for 40% of the income of 2002 online games across the country. Operating online games is a high-input industry, but it does not necessarily have high returns. The popularity of "legends" covers up countless failed online games. The legendary "Legend" also encountered private servers and hackers in 2002, and it takes a lot of manpower and material resources to deal with these troubles. 2002 of the stand-alone games are still in a state of small business, the development team is basically no more than 20 people, and it is normal for seven or eight people to make a game. After such a stand-alone game company turns to online games, the pressure it faces can be imagined.

In 2001, the sales volume of domestic online games was 300 million yuan, and that of online game players was 5 million, of which 1.7 million were paying users. In 2002, the sales volume of domestic online games was 900 million yuan, and that of online game players was 8 million, of which 4 million were paying users. The digital change during the year is the power of the improved channel.

As for the remaining 4 million free users, they are mainly players of Lianzhong and Coke Bar. Lianzhong, as a veteran board game website, has a large number of middle-aged players, and Coke Bar is the page game site with the strongest technical strength at that time. When it comes to page games 20 years ago, most people may think of Mini Game provided by Flash sites such as the Flash Empire. In fact, Coca-Cola Bar realized simple free online games such as snowball fights and fruit fights through Fancybox technology as early as 2000. In 2002, Coke Bar launched a large-scale page game "Qiyu", which adopts a special charging model, which requires a fee after playing for 3 days or upgrading to level 10, but players can continue to create new accounts to play for free after 3 days.

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