NetEase spent 10 billion to buy the lesson
Text/Isaac
It is hard to imagine that a large project of "double-end + martial arts + open world" from the hands of a leading manufacturer, which has been invested since 2018 and has a total cost of nearly 1 billion yuan, will fall out of various rankings and disappear less than 3 months after it was launched.
Moreover, this big factory is still NetEase, which has countless successful experiences in the MMO field.
According to the estimation of a practitioner who has followed the project, the actual research and development cost of "Condor Shooting" may be less than one billion, but as of the public beta, at least seven or eight billion yuan of consumption must be there. However, after the open beta on March 28 this year, "Condor Shooting" only reached the top 15th place on the best-selling iOS game list, and has been declining since then.
On TapTap and Haoyou Kuaibang, the score of "Condor Shooting" is only about 5 points, which can be said to be the same word-of-mouth revenue.
On the other hand, before it was launched, "Shooting the Condor" has maintained a high-profile publicity caliber, such as a truly free martial arts open world, the top Jin Yong game, and 150 years of slow money...... But judging from the quality, performance, and player feedback of "Condor Shooting", these goals are indeed too high.
Although NetEase has not given up on this project, and it does not rule out the possibility of its comeback, judging from its situation as of before the overhaul, "Condor Shooting" should be regarded as the industry's most failed gamble in recent years comparable to Sony's "Star Attack".
In May this year, NetEase CEO Ding Lei also mentioned on the earnings call that they were not satisfied with the results of "Shooting the Condor", and a new person in charge and core members were sprinting for a new version. But it is not easy to redo it on such a basis. The new person in charge recently said on the official public account, "After I took over and got to know the situation of the project, once upon a time, I learned that the complexity of the problem was far from what I expected".
I can feel the bewilderment of the person in charge of the airborne. Because I believe that whether it is Boss Ding, or other MMO or open world practitioners, or old players like me, who have come from the first test, have had similar doubts to him - how did such a project become like this?
Putting aside the technical flaws of performance optimization, today we will talk about what is wrong with "Condor Shooting" and how it fell deeper and deeper into the trap of the industry.
01
The direction is wrong, the stronger the art,
The more serious the rollover
According to the documentary of the "Condor Shooting" project team, in 2018, NetEase was ready to start a new martial arts MMO project, so it set its sights on Jin Yong's IP.
The first producer of "Condor Shooting" once told Grape Jun in the dialogue that NetEase originally planned to talk about the IP of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", but in the end simply talked about the "Condor Trilogy" ("The Legend of the Condor Heroes", "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", and "Heaven and Dragon Slayer").
The three novels are all popular martial arts masterpieces, and the huge works that run through the 150-year plot line are to be adapted into an MMO by a large factory, which naturally has to be full of specifications. This may have become the starting point for NetEase and the project team to place too high hopes on "Shooting the Condor".
After the project was established, the project team also set their own goals very high - their core positioning is to "make a different MMO", not too homogeneous numerical, social, and copy one-stop, and tend to do a younger big world + sand table direction.
But this seemingly good goal led to a lot of risky decisions from the start. For example, in terms of art style, "juvenile modeling" has been criticized a lot by players.
NetEase's art style exploration should be recognized as strong in the industry. Regardless of the results of the project, there are many good examples of differentiation, such as "Onmyoji", "The Fifth Personality", "Harry Potter: Magic Awakening" and so on.
If you just look at the 2D art of "Shooting the Condor", it is difficult for you to deny that the style and quality of this batch of original paintings are still in place.
But the most fatal problem is that 2D concept art can be freehand and can blend styles from different fields, but when it comes to 3D modeling, these are extremely difficult to achieve.
However, under this difficulty, the project team has high expectations, hoping to break through the martial arts category with stylization. The main beauty in the documentary said that they hoped that the character art of "Shooting the Condor" "should not only have a sense of substance, but also look different, but also delicate and beautiful". As an original intention, this is a good ambition. But to be honest, I think it will be difficult for Yang Qi to do a good job when he comes.
However, under these labels, the project team eventually found a style - BJD Doll ("ball-jointed doll"). There is also a rumor that this style stems from the creator's preference for the style of works such as "Thunderbolt Puppet Show", but this cannot be accurately verified for the time being.
It's also quite strong to be able to find a new style, but this style has a lot of impact on players, and many people can't accept it. In the first and second tests, there has been a lot of relevant feedback. However, according to a friend close to the project, at this stage, the project team always felt that they were going in the right direction, "but they were not good enough". After the open beta, despite several iterations of "Shooting the Condor", most players still didn't buy it. At this time, it is indeed difficult to change the art again.
On the other hand, such an attempt is somewhat unflattering. Not only do the new generation of players dislike it, but the old MMO players and fans of Jin Yong's original work suddenly see Ke Zhenwei and Mei Chaofeng under this style and quality, and it is even more difficult to accept. After all, in their impression, this kind of IP is more of a simple martial arts style, and many classic characters have also formed a deep inherent impression.
A friend told me, "They always seem to feel that most of the users who ask questions are not their core users." ”
In the end, maybe the project team itself didn't understand who the real core users were and what was the real player voice.
In fact, at least in terms of scenes, the technology and art of "Condor Shooting" are well done. It is said that a certain big world MMO tried to use UE4 to do a seamless scene in 2022, and the final conclusion was that it couldn't be done - "there is no precedent in the industry, and it can't be made with it", but "Condor Shooting" really made it.
But looking at the character art, I think they also confirmed a conclusion: the direction was wrong at the beginning, and the stronger the art ability, the more serious the rollover.
02
The taste of martial arts is as light as water
Martial arts open world
In September 2020, Genshin Impact was launched, and its success goes without saying. After this, "Shooting the Condor" seems to be even more attracted and has come to a road of no return.
The idea of "Condor Shooting" wanting to differentiate is good, but it chose an extremely twisted path: between "Genshin Impact" and "Against the Cold". Or take a step back, Genshin Impact + MMO. But at that time, of course, there were no similar successful attempts in the industry.
This positioning makes "Condor Shooting" fall into self-pulling. It is necessary not only to do multiplayer social gameplay, but also to make an open world that emphasizes single-player experience, and the world is full of content; It is necessary not only to do the numerical system of MMO, but also to do the two-dimensional card drawing team; It is necessary to be a traditional sect and a free martial arts......
Theoretically, these are not impossible to do, and "Tower of Fantasy", which will be launched in 2021, has done part of it. But in the case of game development, the most feared thing is that there is more than enough to compare with the above, and I always want to make a big production and challenge the most difficult innovation problem in the industry.
Many people's first impression of "Condor Shooting" is the martial arts version of "Genshin Impact", but in fact, "Condor Shooting" does not have enough depth to think about how to integrate the mode of "Genshin Impact" and MMO, and what bad experiences will be if it is integrated.
So in the eyes of many players, the result of the challenge of "Shooting the Condor" is: the innovative part is either not done well, or it is on the wrong path; And the traditional part is not much different from the game from ten years ago.
We say the same. The first is the world view and content level - the most embarrassing point is that because "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is a masterpiece, it is difficult to have a good sense of recreation and expectation in the plot, so either the production team can make drastic adaptations, or they can only shift the focus of the content.
What is the approach to "Shooting the Condor"? It's a compromise: on the one hand, it chooses to do a branch plot, which not only restores the original plot, but also wants to create the original Yang Kang branch line - but players can't escape the fate of the camera, and it is difficult for some two-dimensional players to buy it. And even in terms of quality alone, the original plot has not received much praise;
No matter how much I like Mu Nianci
You can't change the story of her and Yang Kang
On the other hand, they shifted the focus of martial arts to cultural content. is different from the vague or overhead background of the usual martial arts MMO, "Shooting the Condor" starts from the background of the times and does a lot of content about the customs of the Southern Song Dynasty. Among them, the two most typical ways to play are Menghualu and Small Classroom, the former requires you to collect cultural illustrated books through various ways, and the latter directly gives you popular science.
When I tested it, I was really moved by this part of the content. Because this kind of cultural atmosphere is rare in today's online games, you can treat it as a unique quality of stand-alone products. Coupled with the particularly nice and flavorful music, and some of the atmospheric scenes, my expectations at the time were too high.
Of course, it's a good thing to pay attention to content, and I can also feel that the production team is enthusiastic about this part. But the fact that "Shooting the Condor" does the cultural atmosphere itself belongs to using part of the force in the wrong place. Because martial arts games should have a world view, the core lies in martial arts, followed by ancient culture.
The official also said that this game was made into a "Great Song Simulator" by them, but the question of many players is: "I am here to be a chivalrous man to be happy and revenge, not to be an ancient person who picks up garbage all over the world." ”
So some people also commented like this: Looking at the cultivation system like cultivating immortals in "Shooting the Condor", and various exaggerated skill effects, you will feel that the degree to which it is realized at the level of martial arts flavor is not as good as many stand-alone games.
Just take an example: "Taiwu Picture Scroll"
In general, the problem with the content of "Condor Shooting" is that its cultural atmosphere and narrative quality are not enough to support the content drive, but in many ways, it accurately avoids the content that players are most familiar with martial arts and the original book.
So whether it is the original party, martial arts lovers, or two-dimensional players, plot parties...... No one is completely happy in the world.
03
After leaving for half a life, he still returns
MMO from ten years ago
After talking about the content, let's talk about the gameplay. In this regard, the integration of "Condor Shooting" into the big world exploration + traditional MMO gameplay system is not successful, which makes the game experience unbalanced and fragmented from time to time.
For example, in the single world of exploration, the gameplay and content of the game to fill the world are many and miscellaneous, but they are not fun and interesting, and some are even a little tortured - the aforementioned Menghualu, it can be regarded as a relatively outstanding system, and most of the other designs, the player's evaluation is not too good.
See watermark for the source
For example, every day after going online, I will first brush up on NPC favorability. The imbalance in the design of the goodwill task is quite serious, the simple one only needs to pass a word, and the complex one may require you to come to someone at a specific time the next day, and then run the process of the five rings - this task is a daily repetitive task; But this NPC is even just a less important villain.
For some tasks, the problem is not that it is complicated, but that the experience is not satisfactory. For example, one of the tasks of the Quanzhen Sect Master is to force you to meditate for more than a minute. In this minute, you can only look at the scenery and take pictures, and you can't skip it. Some people may think that it is good to slow down and look at the scenery and slow down the rhythm, but every time I encounter it, I feel tormented.
On the way to do tasks and run maps, you will also encounter all kinds of mini-games scattered throughout the big world. These mini-games and NPC quests are also unbalanced: troublemakers such as the rhythm game, you must first use light skills to collect wind chimes before you can open the stone pillar to solve puzzles; If you run with a kitten for a while, you will get a reward for the run.
In addition, the collection and collection content of "Shooting the Condor" is very full, almost three steps and a bamboo basket, five steps and a box, and ten steps and a treasure chest. This lack of a core objective, and the tendency to break the rhythm of exploration, makes the experience seem like it's constantly aimlessly running around the big map, gathering everywhere. It may be a good pastime in your spare time, but it's a bit too liver for party-collecting and goal-oriented players.
A practitioner who has worked as an MMO told me that he felt that "Condor Shooting" did not seem to have a unified direction in terms of design. "It seems that different groups, or even different plans, have their own plans, and they want to test and seal the version, so they are stitched together, resulting in high repetition and fragmentation between many gameplay methods."
There is also a typical example of this, which is called the schoolwork game. "Shooting the Condor" wants to restore the real school experience through this gameplay - similar to taking classes in college. This original intention is not bad, but these games are sloppy and boring, lacking guidance and being heavy and complex. Some gameplay requires multiple players, but sometimes it's just you.
Pointless quiz game
During testing, the project team also identified these issues. What to do? You'll find that their approach is to go back into the comfort zone of MMOs, such as adding stat bonuses, which are adding a little bit of a mosquito leg to each collection element.
This is also a solution, but it leads to a new problem - the mosquito legs all over the world accumulate into too much, so that there is an inexplicable gap between players with and without liver. "The two of us stand together, and when we look at the values, your attack power is 1k higher than mine, and your HP is 2k higher than mine, and I don't even know where the gap is opened."
On this basis, players will find that there is also a very deep cultivation system in the game - "their own five-dimensional values, equipment with high loading scores, equipment refinement, inlay, martial arts grades, martial arts moves, and chivalry, and a complete set of ......" Seeing these, you will find that this is not much different from the MMO ten years ago, or even twenty years ago, in terms of essential ideas and experience.
If "Condor Shooting" was a traditional MMO from the beginning, there would be nothing wrong with doing so, but it is a big world exploration + traditional MMO. So those players who rushed to the MMO came, and found that they were single-player in the early stage, picking up garbage everywhere and being tortured, and it was difficult not to lose; Those players who like to explore solo have to form teams, socialize, and play in groups in the middle and late stages......
Still unflattering.
The "Condor Shooting" team's desire to innovate is certainly worthy of recognition, but they may not fully realize that they still have traditional MMO genes in their bones. If you take too big a step, it's easy to pull the egg.
Just like the creator said in the documentary: internally, the company has high hopes for the project, ""Shooting the Condor" has passed all the trials"; Externally, the special atmosphere of the industry during that period also gave them confidence - "Genshin Impact has firmly (believed) that the path of making content is possible".
It seems that the internal and external elements are complete, but the direction is wrong and the ability is insufficient, and all this has finally become empty talk.
04
"I told all the lies,
You believe them all."
You can't just look at one side of the problem. For example, when watching "Shooting the Condor", you can't just look at the problems it already has, but also look at the big pies that it can't achieve.
The expectations of "Condor Shooting" are too high, which leads to a high tone of propaganda. A lot of publicity may be what the project team really wants to do, but in the end, it is found that either it can't be done, or it does not match expectations, and it becomes false propaganda in the eyes of players.
The most typical of several boomerangs, the first of which is "do not sell values". "Condor Shooting" was not sold directly, but it was a different way, selling key material packs at grocers, and selling some values in disguise. Of course, you could also say that all games are sold indirectly to varying degrees, but Condor Shooting does a bit more obviously.
The second is the "9.9 yuan appearance". For this strategy, "Condor Shooting" has made quite a high-profile announcement, and even cued other MMO products on the official account. In particular, in other games extremely expensive gray hair is also only 9.9.
But in reality, the quality of the appearance of "Condor Shooting" is not quite satisfactory to most traditional MMO players. And many players found that not all suits sold for 9.9, but clothing, crown hair, and accessories were sold separately, of which accessories were divided into headdresses, back ornaments, earrings, waist ornaments, and shoulder ornaments...... Each part sells for 9 pieces of 9. After such a set, it is at least a few dozens.
At the beginning of the open beta, some of the skins also had an inexplicable purchase level threshold. That is to say, no matter how rich you are, you can't buy some clothes if you don't have enough liver, you can only watch them. This restriction was soon revised.
If you don't roll up your power and don't buy cosmetics, these are fine. But the third heavyweight boomerang may be the biggest piece of cake drawn by "Condor Shooting" at all levels - "Jin Yong's Rotation Universe".
"Spanning a 150-year timeline, 19 rivers and lakes eras, bringing together more than 300 Jin Yong heroes. The game's setting and setting era will gradually evolve as the world progresses. Map plates and regions will take on different appearances in different eras; Dynasties will change with it. In the context of different eras, martial arts characters will also be born, old, sick and die or change. For example, Guo Jing will change from a silly boy to a weather-beaten hero who guards Xiangyang City. ”
It sounds very ambitious and idealistic, but in fact, the self-consistent behavior of the NPCs at the bottom of "Condor Shooting" and the time operation mechanism of the scene are not perfect during this time, and it may be more difficult to support a greater degree of freedom.
NPCs, their expectation may be that everyone will be manipulated by AI to manipulate the relatively free behavior logic, and eventually form a feeling of AI rivers and lakes. But the NPCs in "Shooting the Condor" are still inseparable from the dead behavior tree.
Many players have been playing for a long time and can already memorize the list of NPC activities: "Guo Jing feeds the little red horse in the morning, writes letters at night, and practices at other times, goes shopping, and is touched by porcelain; In addition to practicing guns, Yang Tiexin is doing a good job every day to pull me to save a wild dog; Han Xiaoying's sweat medicine for flower thieves in the sky...... Thunder can't be moved every day. Get out of "The World of Golden Gate". ”
And the time mechanism has given many players the impression of burdening - "NPCs work at sunrise and rest at sunset, but players go to work and school during the day, and most of them go online at night, can we only see the rivers and lakes at night?" In response to such problems, the project team modified and adjusted the mechanism to multiple rounds of circulation every day.
Looking at these experiences, you will feel that "Shooting the Condor" is like a young and vigorous young man who has just entered the rivers and lakes. It's a pity that he is not Guo Jing, nor is he Yang Guo.
05
Get out of the "lying rails",
It's better than lying down all the time
There are many other big and small problems with the game, which I won't repeat in this article.
For example, the chivalrous system, although it has done a lot of attention in terms of cultivation and content, and has been on par with the specifications of the two-dimensional game, there are also player feedback, after experiencing it in the previous version, in addition to the feedback of the card drawing, it actually does not have much sense of existence - the battles that can be fought basically do not require the player to do it; If you can't beat the dungeon, you can only go into battle with all players, and you can wait for death to make up the number with chivalrous waiting.
Judging from the trend of the list, if "Condor Shooting" has not changed, it will be difficult to see the light of day again. Fortunately, they quickly realized the problem. According to friends, after the open beta in March, within about a month, "Condor Shooting" has already decided to abandon the so-called "Genshin Impact" route and focus on MMOs.
The recently announced Condor 2.0 plan is a change they made. These contents make many veteran players cry and laugh, because on the one hand, you will find that this is an airborne producer, and the changes made in half a year, its ideas are not unclear. Compared with the previous 6 years, the project's self-pulling, tangled and twisted, and unwilling to face the reality of the situation is like waking up from a big dream and recovering from a serious illness.
On the other hand, this overhaul once again slapped the old version of "Shooting the Condor" in the face. A lot of what was said before has been completely overturned, contrary to the original version. For example, the previous emphasis on "light power is to lead the eagle to fly, not to take off on flat ground", in the new version it has become the latter.
Maybe life is like this, it will make you the person you used to hate.
Along with the past, the 2D art, which was difficult to achieve but had a unique style, has also been replaced, and it has become a design that players can't find too many faults, but always feels a bit cheesy and AI-flavored.
Some people commented: The remake of "Condor Shooting" has made it go from failure to mediocrity, from vacillation to a determined MMO.
In the future, it's hard to say whether it will be on the right track, at least back to the level of a normal MMO, or even whether those ambitions will be realized. But at the very least, change is better than nothing, and they haven't given up on the project yet, which is enough to move a handful of die-hard players.
For the industry, "Condor Shooting" is really a typical living case.
You can listen to the stories of successful creators, and believe that a truly revolutionary product requires stubborn self-persistence, putting personal preferences and creative desires first, and letting the market resonate with you - this may be true for an indie game. However, if in a large-scale, large-scale and large-scale project, there is still no scientific way to control it, and it is easy to ignore the market, decades of experience in the Chinese game industry will teach you how to behave.
Everyone has a dream and wants to make a big project with both specifications and innovation. This may be especially true after Black Myth: Wukong. However, if the ability is not enough and the direction is wrong, one will step on the trap of the industry if one is not careful. If at this time, the company also happened to take a fancy to the vacancy of the track and the opportunity of the industry, and bet on the field that it was not familiar with......
The end result may be that it is better to be honest and do a traditional project from the beginning. The Guanyin Monastery burned down, but at least the hearts of the people are still there.
I hope that the experience of "Shooting the Condor" can become a lesson for more teams.
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