Chronicles of Chinese Games: Episode 3

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跳出游戏产业的视角来看，电子游戏始终与电子设备硬软件技术贴身同进，甚至从某种意义上，游戏是电子产品普及和技术革新中的最有效的催化剂。不乏游戏和技术互哺的故事。智能手机问世之后，中国移动通信产业快速进步，中国电子游戏迎了一个新的机遇窗口。经过中国游戏人近二十年的摸爬滚打，人才、技术的积累和玩家群体的迭代带来的推动力共振，一批精品手游开始走向海外。尽管公认的3A大作还未诞生，但不可否认，从所有艺术门类来看，游戏正在成为最成功的文化产品输出品类。另一方面，产业的成熟带来了游戏赋能其他的领域的可能性，在数字虚拟技术长足发展的今天，游戏也成为人们窥见未来最重要的入口。本集通过米哈游、莉莉丝、腾讯、心动公司、三七互娱、网易、bilibili等企业领导人物，讲述中国游戏从大到好的故事。
Looking beyond the perspective of the gaming industry, electronic games have always closely intertwined with the hardware and software technologies of electronic devices. In a sense, games have been the most effective catalyst in popularizing electronic products and driving technological innovation. There are numerous stories of mutual influence between games and technology. With the advent of smartphones, the rapid progress of China's mobile communication industry created a new opportunity window for the Chinese electronic gaming sector. After nearly two decades of exploration and development by Chinese gaming professionals, the accumulation of talent and technology, coupled with the iterative evolution of the player community, propelled a batch of high-quality mobile games to go global. While acknowledged 3A masterpieces are yet to emerge, it is undeniable that, from the perspective of all art forms, games are becoming the most successful category for cultural product export. On the other hand, the maturity of the industry brings possibilities for games to empower other fields. In today's era of significant development in digital and virtual technology, games have also become the most crucial gateway for people to glimpse into the future. In this episode, leaders from companies such as miHoYo, Lilith Games, Tencent, Xindong Company, 37 Interactive Entertainment, NetEase, Bilibili, and more narrate the story of China's gaming industry, from its size to its excellence.

## Video

惊人的增速背后，年轻人悄然拉开手游时代的帷幕。
Narrator: Behind the astonishing growth, young people quietly ushered in the era of mobile games.

刘伟：2010年底我有个学长从硅谷回来，跟我们在讲说整个美国现在智能终端的发展情况。那时候我们有开发者论坛，就能够看到一些很激动人心的，哪款游戏月流水又过100万人民币了。国外的那什么游戏又开始过100万美金了，所以就看到这样的事情很快的都在社区发生了，所以那时候感到确实一个激动人心的这个移动互联网的时代可能要来临了。
Liu Wei: At the end of 2010, I had a senior fellow student return from Silicon Valley, telling us about the development of smart terminals in the United States. At that time, we had a developer forum, and we could see some exciting news – which game had monthly revenue exceeding one million RMB. The games overseas were starting to surpass one million USD again. So, we quickly saw these things happening in the community, and at that time, it felt like an exciting era of mobile internet might be approaching.

2011年，《捕鱼达人》《世界Online》等手游，让国产游戏厂商在智能手机市场上初露锋芒。但对于大部分中国游戏厂商来说，他们仍然缺乏做一款爆款手游的经验。同年，在上海交大的一间学生宿舍里，刘伟和他的合伙人蔡浩宇为他们的手游敲写代码。
Narrator: In 2011, games like *Fish Hunter Champion* and *The World* marked the debut of domestic game developers in the smartphone market. However, for most Chinese game developers, they still lacked the experience of creating a blockbuster mobile game. In the same year, in a student dormitory at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Liu Wei and his partner Cai Haoyu were coding for their mobile game.

刘伟：确实当时没有找到那个投资人。大家对移动游戏啊，对这个二次元都不是那么了解，所以，在找这个投资的过程中就比较坎坷。后来呢，有一位我们的天使投资人，然后就是在宿舍里面找到我们，给了我们这个100万人民币的天使投资。靠这100万人民币，我们就开始正式创业了。
Liu Wei: Indeed, at that time, we couldn't find that investor. People weren't very familiar with mobile games and the two-dimensional [genre], so the process of finding investment was quite difficult. Later on, we had an angel investor who found us in the dormitory and provided us with a 1 million RMB angel investment. With this 1 million RMB, we officially started our entrepreneurial journey.

“国民手游”一词被人津津乐道之时，在上海打拼六年的米哈游团队决定将目光投的更远一些，放眼全球。在2017年，还没有人能做出一款成熟的原创开放世界手游。开放世界游戏也被称为漫游式游戏，玩家可以自由地在一个虚拟世界中漫游，并可自由选择完成游戏任务的时间点和方式。然而，一款开放世界手游大幅超前了当时手机的性能。
Narrator: While the term "National Mobile Game" was gaining popularity, the miHoYo team, after six years in Shanghai, decided to set their sights even further – globally. In 2017, nobody had yet created a mature original open-world mobile game. Open-world games, also known as sandbox games, allow players to freely roam and choose when and how to complete in-game tasks. However, creating an open-world mobile game far exceeded the capabilities of phones at that time.

刘伟：这是个iPhone 7，苹果手机。2017年上半年，我们准备立项做这个新项目，《原神》的时候啊。这个是我们当时在市场上能够买到的最好的这个手机了。然后当时，这样的手机肯定是跑不了一个开放世界的游戏的。我们每做一款产品，可能是需要三到四年的时间。那以我们当时对整个移动平台的这种芯片，包括手机性能这个进化速度，当时的速度啊，每一年大概可能就会进化50%到100%。那我们其实推演了说，两三年之后，当我们做出一款旗舰产品的时候，应该是说当时的手机性能是能够符合我们的需求的。
Liu Wei: This is an iPhone 7, an Apple phone. In the first half of 2017, when we were planning the new project, *Genshin Impact*, this was the best phone available in the market. However, such phones couldn't run an open-world game at that time. Each product we create takes about three to four years, and looking at the evolution rate of the mobile platform, including chipsets and phone performance, it was advancing at around 50% to 100% each year. So, we deduced that two or three years later, when we release a flagship product, the phone performance at that time should meet our requirements.

简单来说，米哈游要为三年后的手机设计一款游戏。手机性能是否达到预想的水平，没人有确定的答案。
Narrator: Simply put, miHoYo aimed to design a game for phones three years ahead. Whether the phone performance would reach the expected level had no definite answer.

刘伟：我觉得，对我们来讲确实是一个很大的赌注，但这是我们公司的一种选择。
Liu Wei: I think, for us, it was indeed a significant gamble, but it was a choice our company made.

除此之外，米哈游还想实现全世界范围内的一项创举，在手机、电脑和主机实现游戏同账号登录。这让开发难度进一步提升。
Narrator: Besides that, miHoYo also aspired to achieve a groundbreaking feat globally, allowing game accounts to log in across phones, computers, and consoles. This raised the development difficulty further.

刘伟：就是整个这个底层的技术和这个美术的这个大世界的设计，它是牵一发而动全身的。我们大概当时引擎每天都会升级一个版本，但是每天下午引擎一升级的时候，在这个引擎之上的这些美术资产，这些玩法就全部都乱掉了。那个时候，办公室每天都能听到有人在吼叫，“谁又把我的东西弄坏了？”这个过程是持续了很长一段时间的，有好几个月吧。
Liu Wei: The underlying technology and the design of this vast world in art are intricately connected. At that time, the engine would upgrade almost daily, but every afternoon when the engine upgraded, all the art assets and gameplay built on that engine would go into disarray. At that time, you could hear someone shouting in the office every day, "Who damaged my things again?" This process lasted for a long time, several months.

追赶和对标，是中国游戏人耳熟能详的词语。而要想超越，就必须忍受痛楚，在提瓦特超过50平方千米的大世界构筑每一个细节。
Narrator: Chasing and benchmarking are familiar terms for Chinese gamers. To surpass, one must endure pain, meticulously crafting every detail in the vast world of Teyvat, exceeding 50 square kilometers.

刘伟：《原神》上线的第一天，特地去我们办公室里面走了几圈。异常的平静。我们在做《原神》这个过程中时间实在是太长了，经历的事情也非常多了。大家有一个预期，这个产品不会太差。但是真正上线的成绩，坦白讲还是远超我们预期的。
Liu Wei: On the first day *Genshin Impact* launched, I purposely walked around our office. Unusually calm. The time spent developing *Genshin Impact* was exceptionally long, and we faced numerous challenges. Everyone had an expectation that the product wouldn't be too bad. But the actual results upon launch, to be honest, far exceeded our expectations.

与这群年轻人的淡定形成鲜明对比的是他们的产品在全球掀起的《原神》浪潮。2021年在获得了TGA（美国的年度电子游戏奖）最佳手游大奖之后，《原神》首次实现了中国游戏的国际奖项大满贯。这款游戏的影响或许远不止此。
Narrator: The tranquility of these young individuals sharply contrasts with the global wave *Genshin Impact* unleashed. In 2021, after winning at The Game Awards for "Best Mobile Game," *Genshin Impact* achieved a grand slam of international awards for a Chinese game for the first time. The impact of this game may extend far beyond.

当知道要做璃月的时候，大家是抱的那种心态是很兴奋的。终于要做中国城了，整理了一大堆的素材。中国元素的璃月上线后，意外引发了国外玩家对中国文化的好奇。
Unknown: When we learned about creating Liyue, everyone was excited. Finally, we're making a Chinese city, sorting through a ton of materials. The introduction of Chinese elements in Liyue unexpectedly sparked curiosity about Chinese culture among foreign players.