In April, Grape Jun reported that "Food Language" announced the suspension of service.

This two-dimensional female-oriented mobile game, which was launched in 2019, was developed by Tiantai Interactive Entertainment, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Baiao, and distributed by Tencent. With the differentiated theme of food anthropomorphism + national style, as well as the group portrait content that focuses on companionship, the turnover of the game exceeded 100 million yuan in the first month of its launch.

However, after 4 years of operation, due to the decline in revenue and sharing problems in the long tail period, the game finally came to the end of service suspension.

It is worth noting that in the announcement of the suspension of the server, in addition to announcing the suspension date on June 18, the developer also revealed that they are preparing the "Food Language" companion version", which is expected to be launched in the third quarter of this year, and promised to retain all important functions in the game and ensure that the server will never be closed.

On August 16, after being suspended for nearly 2 months, the companion version of "Food Language" was officially launched, and the topic also rushed to the hot search list on Weibo on the same day.

However, Grape Jun is a little confused about this: in addition to the lack of commercial content, what is the difference between the companion version and the original version? Why did the developer bear the server operation and maintenance and labor costs after the game was suspended, and launch a fully free companion version? What does the launch of the companion version mean for players? Will this approach provide some new ideas for women to operate games?

01

What is the "Companion Edition"?

Friends who play games often may have heard the term "stand-alone version" or "offline version".

The former refers to the version of the game that players can play without any network verification by downloading it through a physical carrier or network data package; The latter is the digital version of the game provided by the platform after the rise of digital distribution platforms. On Steam, players can use the games in the library normally for half a month after one online verification.

And this "companion version" is indeed the first time that Grape Jun has heard of it.

In fact, Food Language Companion Edition is a completely free version of the original game.

According to the developer's Weibo account "Food Language· Kongsang Shilu", the companion version of "Food Language" retains all the important functions in the original game, while simplifying some of the gameplay systems, reducing the overall liver and difficulty of developing the game.

Compared to offline or stand-alone versions that can't connect to the internet, the companion version retains social features and can be said to be a more player-friendly form. In the case that the operator cannot authorize the transfer of game data, the developer seems to have the best solution for them at present to keep the game and take care of the user's emotions.

Specifically, as a card-based turn-based combat game, in the original version of "Food Language", players need to summon "Soul Eaters" through kryptonite card drawing, and develop characters through paid items such as skins and props. In the game, players can spend 180 gold and jade for a draw of the most basic prize pool, of which the small guarantee is 80 draws, and the big guarantee is 240 draws. In addition, the direct purchase price of character skins usually ranges from 68 yuan to 168 yuan.

Character "Horse Wine" to be released at the end of 2023

Skin "Snow Soup · Snow Warm Bath" to be released in early 2024

However, in the Food Language Companion Edition, players can log in to the game every day to receive gacha and cultivation items. For example, the "homecoming benefits" provided at the time of server launch include "shell coins" that can be exchanged for cultivation items, and "soul cores" required for 100 card draws.

At the same time, the companion version is not just a simple copy of the original game, they are even making new things. According to the developers, the game will complete the main plot of the second chapter, and invest the remaining manpower to make a small number of new appearance resources such as avatar frames, avatars, and skins. These will also be available to players for free.

02

Why is there a companion version?

In April this year, after the operator Tencent and the developer jointly announced the suspension of the service, the topic of "food language suspension" quickly topped the top 1 of the Weibo hot search list, and on June 18, the game was officially suspended, and similar topics once again rushed to the Weibo hot search list.

In the face of the suspension of "Food Language", some players chose to post in the community: someone accompanied the game until the last minute before the server was closed, as a memorial; Someone shared their four-year experience of playing the game and expressed their reluctance to play the game.

After four years of operation, Food Language has cultivated a group of core players. For them, the emotional companionship that comes with play is deeply ingrained. And a large amount of public opinion before the game was closed, and even appeared on the hot search, all of which illustrated the influence of this IP and the deep emotional connection between users and it.

At the same time, in contrast to the above-mentioned reluctance, players are looking forward to the upcoming launch of the companion version of "Food Language".

In recent years, too many women have stopped serving the game: in February 2023, "Too Busy" announced that it would stop content updates; In May of the same year, Tencent's "Bright Star Journey" announced its suspension due to the expiration of the agency agreement; In June of the same year, the "Untouchable Palm" of Station B was announced to be suspended due to the expiration of the authorization contract...... Every time like this, the player will feel a little uncomfortable.

The needs of these players are real, and the suspension of service may sometimes be helpless for manufacturers, but it can be cruel for players. In this environment, it is not difficult to understand the practice of the developer to launch a companion version, in the words of the developer, "I hope to be able to retain everyone's feelings for a longer time."

But in the beginning, most players didn't believe that there would be a manufacturer willing to pay the cost to do and maintain an unprofitable companion version.

However, then, in the two months after the suspension of the service, the developer made a series of actions around the companion version of "Food Language", and gradually built up players' confidence in the companion version.

In terms of user communication, the first is that in the middle of each month, they regularly synchronize the progress of R&D. For example, the developer said in a Weibo post in July that the story content and dubbing work of the second main story completion have been completed. In addition, they have also increased the summoning chance of "Wish Eater", making it more difficult for players to obtain characters.

When syncing progress, they will also respond positively in the comment section to answer players' concerns.

Secondly, the developer and the player have maintained face-to-face communication. On August 3, they held an offline symposium on the "Food Language" companion version in Guangzhou.

At the meeting, the developers fully announced the new, adjusted and retained content of the companion version for the first time, and announced that the game will be launched as soon as possible in August.

Part of the panel discussion

Grape Jun noticed that before the symposium, many players expressed their worries, worried that the companion version could not be launched as scheduled, and that the companion version might delete their favorite plots, characters or gameplay; After the symposium, these newly announced information alleviated their worries to a certain extent, making players feel "hopeful".

Player reviews after the symposium

In addition to the game, the developer also held an offline celebration of the fifth anniversary in Guangzhou, where players could go to the site to stamp and check in and receive postcards as a commemoration.

Of course, some friends may feel that the game is free after all, and no matter how nice it sounds, is it really necessary? And even if it does, how much is it worth?

In fact, for the developer, the cost of operating such a companion version is not high, as the announcement said, "In the case of no subsequent updates, the cost is much lower than the cost of game development".

Although the operating cost of the companion version is relatively low, it can play a practical role for developers and players.

On the one hand, the launch of the companion version retains a communication channel between the developer and the user, which not only helps the developer understand the needs of users, but also makes users feel that their voices are heard and valued. On the other hand, it can also help developers maintain some old players, and in this way, the game can maintain the activity of the community and maintain and enhance its IP value to a certain extent.

03

A human touch

In fact, their decision to launch the companion version of "Food Language" can essentially be said to be after the expiration of the agency cooperation, in the face of the possible loss of users, the developer hopes to give users a better explanation in a low-cost maintenance method that is not profitable.

For women to the second game, they do face some dilemmas in the long-term operation process: high user emotional appeal, high R&D costs, and agency share ratio...... These issues may lead to the eventual suspension of the game.

But unlike other types of games, players are emotionally invested in these types of products, which means that the impact of their suspension is relatively large.

If we start from the suspension cases of the same type of games on the market in the past, we can observe that some teams choose to directly suspend the service and develop a sequel; Some teams choose to re-launch products in pursuit of secondary profits. But perhaps because once user confidence is frustrated, it is difficult to recover, and these efforts are unlikely to be successful.

In such a market environment, the developer chose to launch the companion version of "Food Language", on the one hand, it is a respect for the game IP and user emotions, and on the other hand, this low-cost maintenance method can also be seen as a humane attempt made by them in response to market changes.

This approach, while not able to retain the data of the player's original account, at least provides the player with an opportunity: a chance to project emotions freely, and a chance to continue to communicate with their favorite characters.

For other women who are also at the end of their lives, this may be a solution that can not only take care of players' emotions, but also maintain the game IP.

This article is from Xinzhi self-media and does not represent the views and positions of Business Xinzhi.If there is any suspicion of infringement, please contact the administrator of the Business News Platform.Contact: system@shangyexinzhi.com