Chapter 912: Development Strategy
"Hardcore Players? Hard Box Players? That name is great! Then... what about the price?" Zhou Jiangping asked.
Chen Mo thought for a moment: "Depending on the number of cardboard pieces needed, we'll create multi-in-one bundles. Each bundle will be priced under 200, including the game itself. After purchasing the game, the cardboard can be sold separately, each piece under 20, just a bit above cost price."
"Uh..."
Zhou Jiangping couldn't quite tell if this pricing was high or low.
Saying 200 bucks for a pile of scrap cardboard boxes? That sounded a bit outrageous, after all, even if these flimsy cardboard boxes were specially made, the cost was almost negligible.
But to turn that pile of scrap cardboard boxes into a piano or a robot, you needed creativity!
Creativity was priceless!
What Chen Mo was demonstrating now was still a relatively simple version. If it were officially released, the Switch screen would definitely need some flashy visuals and various sound effects, with the packaging all spruced up nicely.
In other words, the game design and the cardboard box shape design were the main costs; what was being sold was creativity. If it were a true multi-in-one game collection priced at 200, then each game would average out to about 2, which was basically a normal price point.
Chen Mo continued: "Actually, there can be more derivative features, like... 'Hard Box Players' limited-time memberships and lifetime memberships. We can specifically open a Hard Box Players creative workshop on the Thunder Game Platform, open-sourcing the 'Hard Box Players' game editor. The official team will regularly release new games, and other players can also create and upload their own."
"After players activate their membership, they can purchase games and cardboard at ultra-low discount prices. This way, when a steady stream of new games comes out, those true hard box players can maintain continuous spending power. Additionally, we encourage players to design their own games and allow them to sell them. The Thunder Game Platform will take a cut just like with normal games."
Zhou Jiangping nodded: "So, if a player designs an excellent hard box game, they can also earn income from it? That's not bad; it ensures the long-term ecosystem of this feature... But wouldn't offering discounts through memberships reduce revenue? We could easily sell them for more."
Chen Mo shook his head: "Mr. Zhou, whether it's Hard Box or these games, or even the Switch itself, strictly speaking, their positioning is the same as the Lehui phone. We don't rely on them to make money. Why do you keep hardware revenue so low with the Lehui phone? Because what you're promoting is the software; Lehui itself is an internet company, not a traditional phone manufacturer."
"The same goes for Hard Box Players. Through various added value services, we enhance the Switch's own value, attracting more people to buy the machine for various reasons. Then, we use that machine to expand the Thunder Game Platform and other game services. The Hard Box Players feature is just a gimmick, the most fundamental layer; selling it expensive would be pointless."
Zhou Jiangping suddenly understood: "I see, got it."
Zhou Jiangping himself understood this principle, but the "Hard Box Players" concept had impressed him so much that he momentarily missed Chen Mo's intent.
In fact, this strategy was simple. It was like why the Lehui phone could always maintain high cost-performance: because it never treated the phone itself as the main profit point, so each phone was sold relatively cheaply.
In an era of technological explosion, it was hard for hardware manufacturers to pull ahead of each other in terms of technology. If they couldn't secure a technological advantage, then high pricing would eventually be crushed by low-pricing disruptors.
So, Zhou Jiangping's approach with the Lehui phone was to sell hardware cheaply, focusing mainly on the ecosystem chain, smart systems, and added value services, binding consumers tightly to the Lehui brand through the ecosystem chain, thus remaining invincible.
"Hard Box Players" was the same.
What was this thing? To put it bluntly, it was just a gimmick.
Using cardboard boxes to make a piano that could be used as an electronic keyboard sounded impressive, but if you thought about it carefully, it lacked sustained fun in actual play.
Seeing the concept art, assembling it, and trying it out after assembly—these stages were very interesting.
But no matter how high-tech a paper piano was, professionals would only treat it as a toy; they'd still use a real piano or electronic keyboard regularly.
The same went for other toys. A robot controlled by a vibrating handle might seem novel at first, but after playing with it for two hours, you'd probably take the handle off to play something else, leaving those scrap cardboard boxes to gather dust forever.
If that was the case for professionals, it was even more so for ordinary people who couldn't even play the piano well. Expecting to learn piano or music with this was pure delusion, living in a dream.
So, this thing shouldn't be sold at a high price. If priced too high, some wealthy players might buy it, but for the vast majority of ordinary people, its cost-performance ratio was almost zero.
Was this made to make money? Of course, that was a small part of it, but definitely not the whole story.
The best thing about "Hard Box Players" was its concept and gimmick. Most players, upon first seeing it, would think: "Wow, awesome!"
Its true value lay in the fact that it was a product only the Switch could make, an exclusive form of entertainment for Switch players.
"Hard Box Players" would make every Switch player feel a sense of pride and excitement, and also make those without a Switch envious. Using these cool concepts and cool cardboard boxes to attract more people to buy the Switch, and further promote the game ecosystem of the Thunder Game Platform—that was the ultimate goal.
Moreover, this thing needed a constant stream of new products to keep its popularity alive. Once players got bored with the existing hard box games and no new games came to replace them, their interest would quickly fade.
So, the creative workshop and membership system were necessary.
The principle behind "Hard Box Players" wasn't complicated. It was just using the handle's vibration technology, gyroscope, infrared, and so on to read input signals from the cardboard devices. As long as the editor was open-sourced, many skilled players would figure out how to make it after some tinkering.
Since they could create and sell new hard box games, this group would have both motivation and income, allowing them to continuously produce more and better game resources for "Hard Box Players."
The membership system was about maximizing players' sustained purchasing power, making them feel from the heart that these "hard box games" on the Switch were very worthwhile and cost-effective, thereby attracting more players into the Switch's embrace.