Chapter 437: Competitive Game Development Prospects Exchange Meeting
"Exchange meeting?" Li Feng chuckled. "Dog group leader, you want to go have a verbal brawl with the people from Imperial Dynasty and Zen Intent?"
Zhang Xiaokong said, "What verbal brawl? How can academic exchange be called a verbal brawl? This is about designers sharing design ideas."
Qiu Hengyang nodded. "Alright, let's go check out the exchange meeting. Those lectures this morning really weren't interesting."
The group headed toward the venue for the exchange meeting.
In reality, the so-called exchange meeting wasn't much different from a lecture. The scale varied, big or small, but the theme always revolved around free discussion on a specific game genre or a certain direction of game development.
The biggest difference between an exchange meeting and a lecture was that lectures were generally educational in nature, with only one speaker and a certain level of authority. Exchange meetings, on the other hand, were interactive; most people could speak freely, and it was fine to be wrong, because the issues discussed at exchange meetings often had no definitive answers—no one knew the correct answer.
Of course, such exchange meetings inevitably involved debates and verbal brawls, but that was normal, since similar refutations occurred in other academic exchange activities as well.
Originally, Chen Mo hadn't been keen on attending such exchange meetings. He disdained bickering with other designers, and too much arguing might accidentally leak his own ideas, causing him trouble.
But the morning lectures were indeed boring, and since everyone wanted to go to the exchange meeting, they decided to check it out.
Like the lectures, the exchange meeting was divided into several sub-venues, both large and small. Smaller exchange meetings had just one or two long conference tables, accommodating a dozen or a few dozen people. Larger exchange meetings used a big hall that could hold over a hundred people.
Of course, in a large exchange meeting, not everyone could speak. When organizing such events, the host would estimate the number of attendees in advance, arrange for several well-known designers to speak, and reserve plenty of seats for the audience.
Generally, audience members couldn't speak freely; they had to submit a request. After all, time was limited. If every small fry came up to discuss, the exchange meeting would yield nothing substantial.
Zhang Xiaokong and the others arrived at the venue and found that there were many exchange meeting themes, but the attendance varied greatly. Some niche topics had little interest, with only a dozen people; some popular topics were packed, with the large halls completely full.
"Hmm? This one looks good. Shall we check it out?" Chen Mo pointed to a signboard at a nearby venue.
Everyone looked. The sign read: "Competitive Game Development Prospects Exchange Meeting."
Everyone: "..."
Zhang Xiaokong said, "Alright, let's go see it. A few of us are pretty interested in competitive games, but Chen Mo... are you sure listening to this exchange meeting will be useful for you?"
Chen Mo chuckled. "Why wouldn't it be? Mutual learning, right? Maybe others have better ideas?"
Zhang Xiaokong nodded. "Alright, let's join this one."
The group entered the venue and found seats in a relatively cornered spot.
Clearly, the exchange meeting had just started. The first designer was still explaining some basic knowledge about competitive games and their current development status.
Although these things seemed very elementary to designers familiar with competitive games, there were still hundreds of designers in the hall, each with their own expertise. Many mobile game and VR game designers didn't understand competitive games, so this kind of educational introduction was still necessary.
Each scheduled speaker had a slideshow presentation. The current speaker was an A-level designer from Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment, also the organizer of this exchange meeting.
"So-called competitive games have actually existed for a long time. For example, the RTS games 'Legion Conquest' and 'Warcraft' from a few years ago, as well as later COG and 'League of Legends.' After a long period of development, competitive games have undergone many changes."
"In the past, competitive games were always considered a niche genre, because they basically referred specifically to RTS games. Although some FPS games also had competitive elements, the viewership and popularity of competitive matches couldn't compare to the number of players in the games themselves."
"Therefore, competitive games have received relatively little attention. But this year, with the hosting of the 'League of Legends' World Finals, competitive games seem to have been thrust into the spotlight, with their popularity skyrocketing."
"So, what exactly are the development prospects for competitive games? Is the success of 'League of Legends' a replicable and referable success? Regarding this, several designers will provide professional analyses. I hope everyone can gain something from this exchange activity. Thank you all!"
"Next, let's welcome the first speaker."
After briefly introducing the concept and current development status of competitive games, the organizer stepped down. This was mainly to set the tone for the exchange meeting, preventing the discussion from going off track.
Regarding competitive games, although 'League of Legends' had achieved considerable success in this world, its attention within the gaming circle hadn't become that high yet.
This was because, driven by Chen Mo, 'League of Legends' had developed in a leapfrog manner in this world. It grew so fast that many people hadn't even reacted yet.
Released before the new year, it wasn't well-received.
Started gaining momentum at the beginning of the year, defeating all similar competing games domestically, and gradually expanding to other gaming fields.
Continued to be popular through mid-year and spread overseas.
In October and November, the Global Finals were held, instantly attracting countless eyes.
This series of actions was all completed within a single year. Although 'League of Legends' had swept the entire PC platform and was very popular, for many designers limited to their own fields, they could only sense that 'League of Legends' was hot—but just how hot, they hadn't truly realized.
So, what was already stale for Chen Mo was still a novelty for many designers.
Additionally, this world placed more emphasis on VR rather than PC, so the enthusiasm for PC games was inherently slow to catch on. This situation was hardly surprising.
Many designers who didn't understand or care about 'League of Legends' remained indifferent: a god's-eye-view PC game with graphics that weren't particularly exquisite, no storyline, and seemingly simple gameplay—could it really be better than VR games?
Of course, many players had also realized the new path 'League of Legends' had charted for competitive games, which was why this exchange meeting existed.
This group of designers could be considered the most concerned about competitive games at the moment, more or less influencing the future development direction of domestic competitive games.