Zhoudao Shanghai 2019: Part 2

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## No Way Out

根据米哈游招股书披露的数据，2013年公司的全年营收只有130万元，扣除包括人工在内的各项开支后，利润不过28万元。刘伟还特意补充了一句，“当时公司账上只有100多万，就这点钱还是包含了2012年的100万融资在内的”。
According to the data disclosed in miHoYo's initial public offering (IPO) prospectus, the company's annual revenue in 2013 was only 1.3 million yuan, and after deducting various expenses including labor costs, the profit was only 280,000 yuan. Liu Wei also added, "At that time, the company had only a little over 1 million yuan in its account, and this amount included the 1 million yuan financing from 2012."

用刘伟的话说，整个2013年，他们都处在极度的焦虑中，构成焦虑的一部分来自于对未来不确定性的恐惧，一部分来自于公司账上的钱真的不多了。
In Liu Wei's words, throughout 2013, they were in a state of extreme anxiety. Part of this anxiety stemmed from the fear of uncertainty about the future, while another part came from the realization that the company had very little money left in its account.

有几个月，公司全员每个周末都会专门开会讨论公司未来的方向。“我们要做很多非常挣扎的选择，”刘伟说，讨论的主题主要落在接下来应该怎么走，是坚持原有的方向，继续开发“崩坏”IP，还是去做当时更流行的卡牌类的手游，以及要不要专门花精力去融资，以使得公司能够活得更久一点。
For several months, the entire company would hold dedicated meetings every weekend to discuss the future direction of the company. "We had to make many difficult choices," Liu Wei said. The discussions mainly revolved around whether to stick to the original direction and continue developing the *Honkai* IP or venture into the more popular genre of card-based mobile games at that time. They also deliberated on whether to allocate resources to fundraising efforts to ensure the company's survival for a bit longer.

这个关系到公司生死存亡的会议，并没有如想象中那样人人争得面红耳赤，不是因为大家对这个事情不关心，只是在那个时候，没有人能拥有非常坚定的意见。“即使称得上坚定，也是一种无知的坚定，毕竟当时我们视野和认知的局限性很大。”
The meetings that determined the life or death of the company were not as intense as one might imagine, not because people were indifferent to the matter, but because at that time, no one had a firm and decisive opinion. "Even if someone appeared to be resolute, it was a resoluteness born out of ignorance. After all, our vision and understanding were severely limited at that time," Liu Wei explained.

多次讨论的唯一结果是，除了专注于“崩坏”IP，开发第二代手游，他们无路可走。
The only outcome after multiple discussions was that they had no other option but to focus on developing the second generation [of the mobile game], with a strong emphasis on the *Honkai* IP.

刘伟把当时他们手上的牌面列了一遍：公司早就断了扩大规模的念头，一年多的时间里，没有招到过新人，因为在职的四个员工本身拿的就只是市场价一半的工资。除了创始人，剩下的人能够坚持下去，“纯粹靠的是对我们的信任，以及对公司在做的事情的热爱。”
Liu Wei listed the cards they had in their hands at that time: the company had long abandoned the idea of expanding its scale. Over the course of more than a year, they hadn't been able to recruit any new employees because the four existing staff members were only receiving half the market salary. Apart from the founders, the remaining individuals who managed to persevere did "so purely out of trust in them and their passion for the work the company was doing."

融资方面，行业状况和之前相比并没有什么改观，“又尝试过一两次，但基本上没有结果，觉得了解情况了，就马上停手了。”刘伟说，“也有一些机构的人本身是动漫的爱好者，对我们很认可，但他们无法说服机构拿出钱来。”
In terms of financing, the industry conditions hadn't improved much compared to before. "We tried a couple of times, but there were hardly any results. Once we understood the situation, we immediately stopped," Liu Wei said. "There were also some individuals within institutions who were anime enthusiasts and recognized us, but they couldn't convince their organizations to invest."

刘伟坦言，在当时的场景下，其他选择都会有更长的周期和不确定性，而公司的规模和资金也决定了他们没有任何试错的空间，绝境逼着他们专注于产品的迭代。
Liu Wei frankly admitted that, given the circumstances at that time, other options would have longer cycles and more uncertainties. The size and funds of the company also meant they had no room for trial and error. The dire situation forced them to focus on product iteration.

“那些最正确的路往往是最艰难的路，”这句话成了刘伟和伙伴们当时做艰难决定时用于自我慰藉的鸡汤，就像一个走夜路的人需要吹口哨来给自己壮胆。
"That the right paths are often the most challenging ones," became a comforting self-affirmation for Liu Wei and his partners when they made difficult decisions at that time. It was like a person walking a dark path who needs to whistle to bolster their courage.

虽然，回过头来看，选择在原创IP上死磕到底，并不是来自于什么坚定的决策，而是一种客观条件下的本能选择。但是，在当时的场景下，决定投入全部精力做第二代产品本身就是破釜沉舟之举，“不做出改变，继续维持第一代产品，至少还能勉强养活团队，公司还能苟活下去，做出改变却不成功，我们的创业也就结束了。”
Although in retrospect, the decision to persist with the original IP was not based on firm conviction but rather an instinctive choice driven by objective circumstances. However, in that particular situation, committing all their efforts to developing the second-generation product was a desperate move. "Without making changes and continuing to maintain the first-generation product, we could barely sustain the team and keep the company afloat. But if we made changes and failed, our entrepreneurial journey would come to an end."

2013年7月做完决定后，刘伟和伙伴们用很低的研发成本和不到半年的时间做出了“崩坏”系列的第二款手游《崩坏学园2》。他们从第一代产品存在的缺陷中吸取了大量教训，同时还借鉴了当时主流的商业化模式，“我们预期会比第一代产品多挣10倍的钱，”实际情况是多挣了100倍的钱。
After making the decision in July 2013, Liu Wei and his partners developed the second installment of the *Honkai* series, titled *Houkai Gakuen 2*, in less than six months and with a significantly lower research and development cost. They learned valuable lessons from the shortcomings of the first-generation product and also drew inspiration from prevailing commercial models at that time. "We anticipated earning ten times more than the first generation," but in reality, they ended up making a hundred times more revenue.

## New Anxiety

2014年1月，《崩坏学园2》在B站首发，当月就实现了几百万的营收。3月上线全平台后，很快就取得了月营收过千万，年营收过亿的成绩。
In January 2014, *Houkai Gakuen 2* was first released on Bilibili, and within that month, it generated revenue in the millions. When it launched on all platforms in March, it quickly achieved monthly revenue in the tens of millions and annual revenue in the billions.

刘伟把这种感觉称为坐过山车，瞬间从谷底冲到了山巅，“你以为会有想象中的兴奋和激动，但迎面而来的只有各种措手不及的情况，根本没有时间去高兴。”
Liu Wei described this feeling as a roller coaster ride, going from the bottom of the valley to the mountaintop in an instant. "You would expect to feel excitement and thrill, but instead, you are faced with various unexpected situations, leaving no time to celebrate."

此前，米哈游不过是一家由7人团队组成的小公司，当收入和关注随着《崩坏学园2》成为一款现象级手游蜂拥而至时，摆在刘伟面前的是无数的问题。
Prior to that, miHoYo was just a small company consisting of a seven-person team. When the revenue and attention poured in with the phenomenal success of *Houkai Gakuen 2*, Liu Wei was faced with countless challenges and questions.

公司需要并且有条件招人了，却连专职的HR都没有；账上有了大量的收入，却没有专业的财务人员 ；有很多公司想寻求合作，却没有专职商务；用户量飞速增长，服务器架构又不行。
The company needed and had the means to hire more people, but there wasn't even a dedicated Human Resources (HR) staff. There was a large amount of revenue in the accounts, but no professional finance personnel. There were many companies seeking collaboration, but no dedicated business development staff. The user base was rapidly growing, but the server infrastructure was inadequate.

刘伟清楚地记得，《崩坏学园2》上线的第三天，服务器就崩溃了。此后，蔡浩宇需要守在电脑前，每四个小时把服务器手动重启一遍。同时，因为产品存在很多BUG，用户付费经常会出现不到账的情况，而公司没有一个专职客服，只能由刘伟来受理用户的投诉电话。
Liu Wei vividly remembers that on the third day after the launch of *Houkai Gakuen 2*, the servers crashed. From then on, Cai Haoyu had to stay in front of the computer and manually restart the servers every four hours. At the same time, due to the presence of many bugs in the product, there were often cases where user payments did not go through, and the company did not have a dedicated customer service representative. It was only Liu Wei who had to handle user complaint calls.

“那时候，我一个人身兼数职，每天要干到凌晨3点才能把当天的事处理完，回家倒头就睡，第二天9点起来接着工作。”刘伟说，“营收只是流水上的一个数字，根本没有时间去关注，只是很庆幸公司终于可以活下来了。”
"At that time, I had multiple roles and responsibilities. I had to work until three o'clock at night every day just to handle the tasks for that day. I would come home and immediately fall asleep, only to wake up at nine o'clock in the morning the next day and continue working," said Liu Wei. "Revenue was just a number on paper; I didn't have time to pay attention to it. I was just grateful that the company could finally survive."

生存的焦虑总算翻篇了，但取而代之的是发展的焦虑。“压力其实更大了，”刘伟表示，这是一种局中人才能体会到的微妙心态。
The anxiety of survival was finally put behind, but it was replaced by the anxiety of growth. "The pressure has actually increased," Liu Wei stated. "This is a subtle mindset that only those in the midst of it can truly comprehend."

对于一个创业三年、一直都处在挣扎状态的年轻团队而言，这是一个非常来之不易的机会，越是珍贵，越担心抓不住。“我们不希望只是赚完一波钱就离场，于是会担心自己能力不足，会担心稍微做的不好就会崩盘，我们只能拼尽全力。”
For a young team that has been struggling for three years in the entrepreneurial journey, this opportunity is truly hard-won. The more precious it is, the more they worry about not being able to seize it. "We don't want to just make money and exit the scene. So we worry about our own capabilities, we worry that even a slight misstep could lead to a collapse. We can only give it our all."

说这些话时，刘伟不时会有胃反酸的反应。他说，自己的肠胃就是在那一年搞坏的，主要是吃饭不及时，总是能精准地错过饭点。失眠倒是很少，因为实在太累，没有精力失眠。
As he spoke, Liu Wei would occasionally experience acid reflux in his stomach. He mentioned that his digestive system was damaged during that year, mainly due to irregular eating habits. He would always manage to miss meal times precisely. However, he rarely suffered from insomnia because he was simply too exhausted to have the energy for it.

照常人的思路，公司有钱了，又这么缺人，就应该迅速扩张。但刘伟说，他在招聘时信奉的一条准则是，扩大规模不能以稀释人才密度和企业文化为代价。这是一条铁律，即使在米哈游最迫切需要扩张的时候也不曾打破。
According to conventional thinking, when a company has money and is in need of more staff, it should quickly expand. However, Liu Wei stated that one principle he adhered to during recruitment was that scaling up should not come at the expense of diluting talent density and corporate culture. This was an ironclad rule that was never broken, even during the times when miHoYo needed to expand most urgently.

这条铁律下，招聘变成了一件不容易的事，用刘伟的话说，符合条件又愿意来公司的要么是熟悉的人，要么是上海交大的学弟学妹。他宽慰自己说，情况已经比之前好很多了，至少他们有底气开出一份和市场价持平的薪水。
Under this ironclad rule, recruitment became a challenging task. As Liu Wei put it, those who met the criteria and were willing to join the company were either people they knew or younger students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He consoled himself by saying that the situation had improved compared to before, as they were at least able to offer salaries that were on par with market rates.

2014年过完春节，刘伟招到了公司两年来的第一个新员工，“我们之前就认识的一个用户，岗位是客服。”从此，米哈游走上了有序扩张的道路，当年年底，公司职员就达到了40人，此后基本保持着员工人数一年翻一倍的增长速度，目前米哈游的员工人数已经超过800人。
After the Chinese New Year in 2014, Liu Wei hired the company's first new employee in two years. "It was a user we already knew, and the position was for customer service," he said. From that point on, miHoYo embarked on a path of organized expansion. By the end of that year, the company had 40 employees, and since then, it has maintained a growth rate of doubling its staff every year. Currently, miHoYo has over 800 employees.

刘伟把《崩坏学园2》成功的主要原因归结为时代和行业的发展。“2014年，属于国产动漫的时代到来了，整个国产动漫行业都迎来了爆发。”他说，“我们只是非常幸运的成为了这轮爆发中的一个标杆，成为了助推这个行业并随之腾飞的一份子。”
Liu Wei attributes the success of *Houkai Gakuen 2* primarily to the development of the era and the industry. "In 2014, it was the era of domestic animation, and the entire domestic animation industry experienced a boom," he said. "We were just very fortunate to become a benchmark in this wave of growth, and we became part of driving the industry forward and soaring with it."

事实上，不只米哈游，目前做国产动漫比较出名的公司，比如有妖气、B站等，都是在2014年迎来了发展的春天，或是获得营收，或是获得外部的投资和关注。在此之前，整个行业都处在无人关注的状态。
In fact, not only miHoYo, but other well-known companies in the domestic animation industry, such as Youyaoqi and Bilibili, also experienced significant growth in 2014. They either achieved revenue growth or received external investments and attention. Prior to that, the entire industry was in a state of being overlooked and unnoticed.

但机会确实是留给有准备的人的，在刘伟看来，米哈游能够有幸把握住这个机会，离不开他们对于这个行业的热爱和专注。“我们是断然不可能在2011年就预测到，国产动漫行业会在2014年迎来爆发，之所以会做这个行业，还是因为发自内心的热爱。”
However, opportunities are indeed reserved for those who are prepared. In Liu Wei's view, miHoYo's ability to seize this opportunity is attributed to their passion and dedication to the industry. "There was no way for us to predict back in 2011 that the domestic animation industry would experience a breakthrough in 2014. The reason we entered this industry was purely out of our heartfelt love for it."

热爱指引他们进入了这个行业，而专注则将决定他们能够坚持多久。“我们当时去找投资的时候，并不是拉不到投资，不少投资人看重我们的研发能力，但投资的条件是我们同意做其他类型的产品。”刘伟说，接受这个条件，生存上会更容易，但他们基本想都不想就拒绝了。
Their passion led them into this industry, while their dedication would determine how long they could persevere. "When we sought investment at that time, it wasn't that we couldn't secure funding. Many investors recognized our research and development capabilities, but the condition for investment was that we agreed to develop other types of products," Liu Wei said. He mentioned that accepting this condition would have made their survival easier, but they instinctively rejected it without much consideration.

2014年挣钱以后，专注更多的表现在不盲目多元化。“外界觉得我们总归会去做别的东西，但我们依旧在坚持开发‘崩坏’这个IP”。2016年10月，米哈游推出了3D动作类手游《崩坏3》。到2017年年底，这款“崩坏”系列的第三代产品已经为公司带来了超过24亿元的充值流水。
After making money in 2014, their focus was more evident in their restrained diversification. "The outside world believed that we would eventually venture into other things, but we continued to concentrate on developing the *Honkai* IP," Liu Wei explained. In October 2016, miHoYo launched the 3D action mobile game *Honkai Impact 3rd*. By the end of 2017, this third installment of the *Honkai* series had generated over 2.4 billion yuan in recharge revenue for the company.

刘伟坦言，这份专注也使他们失去了不少机会。米哈游在业界小有名气后，很多公司来寻求合作和投资，但米哈游坚持不代理其他产品，也不做投资，都拒绝了。“我们拒绝投资的很多公司，现在也发展成了行业里不错的公司。”他笑着说，“会有遗憾，但也可能我们把握了这些机会，反而荒废了公司的主业。”
Liu Wei admitted that their focus had caused them to miss out on many opportunities. After miHoYo gained some recognition in the industry, many companies approached them for cooperation and investment. However, miHoYo remained steadfast in not representing other products or making investments, and they turned down those offers. "Many of the companies we declined to invest in have now become successful players in the industry," he said with a smile. "There may be regrets, but it's also possible that by seizing those opportunities, we would have neglected our core business."