Chapter 497: Still Have Time to Play Ball

After negotiating the revenue-sharing ratio with domestic Android smartphone manufacturers, a three-year cooperation agreement was signed.

That means for the next three years, the revenue-sharing ratio between Honor of Kings and the smartphone manufacturers is 50%, splitting the gross revenue equally.

The game publisher provides the channel by uploading the official version of the game to their respective app stores.

They don't need to handle advertising, rankings, or any other promotions.

Player data operations are entirely managed by Swan Castle itself; whether successful or not, Swan Castle bears full responsibility, and the smartphone manufacturers cannot interfere.

Those smartphone manufacturers didn't care—no one knew how this game would turn out, and their app stores had so many games they couldn't keep up.

Dozens of games are uploaded daily, requiring at least dozens of such revenue-sharing agreements to be signed each day; Yutu was just slightly special, as they didn't allow them to run channel-specific versions.

Running channel-specific versions has an advantage: it can quickly boost visibility and open up the market, since the smartphone manufacturers operate them directly and often offer preferential treatment.

But they love to harvest leeks, completely ignoring the game's survival.

For example, they sell loot packs with stat boosts inside the game, so these smartphone manufacturers don't care about the game's health—they only care about quick cash extraction.

With so many games available, they never worry about lacking new titles to upload.

Channel-specific versions have both advantages and disadvantages: for large game publishers, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits because they rapidly consume a game's lifespan;

for small studios, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages because they enable rapid capital recovery.

As for the Apple iOS channel, there's no need to negotiate revenue-sharing—they take 30%, and Yutu keeps 70%.

There's also no need to discuss server operations or channel specifics; their system is closed, and they know exactly how much money users spend within it.

Therefore, Honor of Kings could be uploaded directly and enabled for pre-download.

Bilibili, Toutiao, and Chang'e Video also opened official channels for pre-download; Chang'e Video displayed Honor of Kings ads in the bottom-right corner of every video it streamed.

These versions downloaded through their own channels don't require revenue sharing with smartphone manufacturers, effectively bypassing their distribution channels.

Thus, Chang'e Technology has some capacity to bypass smartphone manufacturer channels.

But to compete against Tencent, Pig Factory, and other game publishers, and to seize market share, they chose to sign revenue-sharing agreements with smartphone manufacturers.

Otherwise, Chang'e Technology's channels would remain too limited; if a smartphone manufacturer issued a virus error report, it would be painful, and wouldn't help rapidly seize market share.

Fang Hong's strategy, in short, was speed—no delays allowed!

On September 1, Honor of Kings officially launched on all major smartphone app stores, beginning its non-deletion public test.

Bilibili, Toutiao, Sina, Tieba, Duowan, and Game posted banners and released promotional videos—these were naturally advertisements placed by Swan Castle.

Meanwhile, all major smartphone app stores also displayed Honor of Kings advertisements.

This is known as game user acquisition: placing ads on popular channels to attract more users to download and install the game.

Bilibili even saw a flood of game walkthroughs and clip videos, with streamers dedicating entire broadcasts to explaining this game.

In the livestream of a streamer named Pei Xiaofeng, he opened his broadcast as usual: "Hello everyone, I'm Pei Xiaofeng, today I'm bringing you a brand-new game: Honor of Kings!"

Livestreaming was still relatively professional back then—streamers focused on explanations, not the later excesses of gimmicks and exaggerations to attract traffic.

The livestream footage showed the game interface, and the "Swan Neck" artistic animation appeared, with a small line of text beneath: Swan Castle.

This "Swan Neck" was drawn based on Liu Tianxian's head-tilting pose, and it was quite beautiful.

Then came the game loading screen, during which an animation played: "Since ancient times, a supreme force has existed in the universe—the Gods brought it to a new world."

This animation was intense and highly compelling—it was also the online promotional video.

"What kind of game is this?" asked a player.

"It's Honor of Kings, a new MOBA mobile game from Swan Castle," replied Pei Xiaofeng.

"Is it from the same company as Hero Glory?" asked a viewer.

"Yes, it's essentially the mobile version of Hero Glory," explained Pei Xiaofeng.

Hearing this, the livestream audience formed a clear idea of what kind of game this was.

Even those who hadn't played Hero Glory had seen videos and livestreams of it.

The game screen loaded quickly, clean and minimalist—no flashy first-recharge events, no endless promotions, just pure simplicity.

The interface featured two large, clean icons: Battle Mode and Ranked Mode.

Within Battle Mode, there were tutorials, AI matches, live matches, or room creation options.

It was instantly understandable—extremely simple.

Honor of Kings currently had over thirty heroes: Diaochan, Lv Bu, Arthur, Lao Fuzi, Angela, Ailin, Wu Zetian, and others.

Soon, Pei Xiaofeng selected Lv Bu and chose a Skin; the Skin had no stat bonuses—Tencent's version had a few stat boosts, but Fang Hong forbade stat enhancements to ensure fairness.

The game loaded quickly and began immediately.

Viewers watching the match could understand it at a glance—there was almost no learning curve.

Controls were simple: left hand swiped to move, right hand tapped to use skills; battle stats appeared in the top-right corner, and clicking that corner showed detailed match data for all players.

The map was in the top-left corner, clearly marking how many towers each side had on top, middle, and bottom lanes, and where the crystals were located.

The visuals were clean and clear, with no unnecessary clutter—anyone could understand it.

The controls were simple and easy to pick up!

The map lacked texture, looking like a flat sticker—but this didn't affect gameplay fluidity.

To suit current mobile hardware, Honor of Kings stripped away many features, keeping memory usage around 200MB.

iOS versions were slightly larger, around 300MB, due to the system's unique nature.

The entire match was highly competitive and visually engaging, with spectacle no less than Hero Glory.

Of course, mobile games can't match the professionalism of PC games. The same scenario occurred across other streamers' channels—Swan Castle deliberately pushed this, paying them to stream.

This sparked immense interest among players and netizens: no computer, no internet cafe—just download and play on your phone, incredibly convenient.

Many were drawn in and downloaded the game from various channels to try it out; login was simple.

Users could log in with their phone number, or directly with their Toutiao, Bilibili, or Chang'e Technology accounts—no identity verification, no excessive restrictions.

There were only two major servers: one for Android, one for iOS.

My service area has many zones, but all zones are interconnected; in this zone, you can match with players from another zone, and it's technically feasible.

We can't avoid zoning; without zoning, too many people will cause lag.

In just three days, Honor of Kings' daily online players surpassed 4.51 million.

Mobile gamers still have a much larger base; for a PC game, surpassing four million is extremely hard, and surpassing one million is already a phenomenal game—no wonder everyone's rushing into mobile.

Of course, it still can't compare to Hero Glory, which has nearly thirty million daily active users globally and immense influence.

On October 1, the global Grand Finals will open again, and this global Grand Finals will be held in Baodao, Singapore, Shanghai, and Shou'er.

Two rounds of Group Stage will be in Baodao; the Quarterfinals in Singapore; the Semifinals in Shanghai; the Grand Finals in Shou'er.

Everything is arranged in advance; after hosting two editions already, we've gained some experience.

The Propaganda Department of Honor of Kings did not use Tencent's promotional channels; the internet isn't dominated solely by Tencent.

But player-to-player communication and content sharing—Tencent can't stop that.

Seeing Honor of Kings' public test and its overwhelming propaganda, its popularity surged instantly; knowing this was a fierce rival, Tencent's gaming division grew restless.

They wanted to launch All People Super God and Hero Trace, but both games were still in testing and development—how could they possibly release half-finished products?

If they launched and died instantly, it would be ridiculous; trying to revive them afterward would be nearly impossible.

No game that dies can ever be revived, unless it was once excellent and they reopened a nostalgia server.

Either rework it entirely and relaunch under a new name.

"You spent so much money, so much time, so many resources, and you tell me it's still not done? Are you all just eating rice and doing nothing?" Ren Yuxin, President of Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group, exploded in a meeting room.

The gaming department leaders in the meeting room sat in frozen silence, heads bowed, saying nothing.

Attendees included the General Manager of Speedlight Studio and the team behind All People Super God, as well as the General Manager of TiMi Studio Group and the team behind Hero Trace.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Ren Yuxin slammed his fist hard on the table: "I don't know what you've been doing day after day—after all this time, two studio groups still can't outdo one from another side. Do you have any sense of crisis at all?"

His final words were heavy, yet the room remained utterly silent; no one dared speak.

"Chen Yu, what did you do yesterday?" Ren Yuxin called out directly.

He was the General Manager of Speedlight Studio, later merged with Quantum Studio to form LightSpeed Studio.

"Played golf." Chen Yu's voice lacked conviction; he looked embarrassed.

"You can't even keep your business alive, and you still have time to play golf?" Ren Yuxin barked sharply, then slammed the documents onto his desk with a loud "slap," clearly furious.

Everyone in the room involuntarily shuddered—mostly from fear.

"I don't care if you work overtime or hire more people—by year-end, I want to see the finished product online. If you don't, you're all fired. Go do whatever you want." Ren Yuxin issued a direct ultimatum.

Damn it, these people have gotten too used to easy living—no pressure at all. If we don't apply pressure now, we'll truly get our nest stabbed from behind.

Remember, games are Tencent's core monetization engine. Past PC games were fine—they never had a large base—but now mobile is being stolen right out from under us.

These people simply have zero sense of crisis.

It's normal—big companies, used to copying, everyone copies whoever's ahead, plus with such massive social traffic, no one can stop it.

In fact, Tencent has always moved slowly in the MOBA mobile space too; Pig Factory already released Chaos and Order: Warriors of the West, and other companies released Hero's Anthem, which had been out for two years.

Tencent still hasn't even brought its own MOBA mobile game to the table.

But these early entrants all relied on pay-to-win and character progression, or crafting gear, crafting stats, and so on.

They always couldn't resist squeezing money from players—this disease runs deep in their bones; they can't change the habit.

So in the end, Tencent still laughed last—being late has its advantages: learning from others' mistakes.

Combined with its own powerful strength, it quickly overtook the leaders.

And Fang Hong didn't compete on gameplay or content—he competed on service, on treating players like humans, and he had both traffic and funding.

In truth, such a game is just copying—there's no trick to it, only who copies better.

The President of Tencent's gaming division exploded in rage—something similar happened at Pig Factory, but Pig Factory remained relatively calm.

They wanted to enter the competitive gaming space, but lacked the genetic DNA for it, so they didn't react as strongly as Tencent.

Now, Honor of Kings has competitors on the market—it's just a matter of who can stay steady and retain players.

Players for such games all come from groups: wherever more people play, they go; wherever it's not pay-to-win, they go.

In this world, the poor still vastly outnumber the rich.

As long as you don't self-destruct or get blinded by greed, you can outlast your opponents—many simply self-destruct.

For example, once-popular Freedom Battle and Vanity—all self-destructed, giving Tencent its chance.

(End of Chapter)