Bridging the Divide: Western Development and Chinese Culture

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Bridging the Divide Western Development and
Chinese Culture

• Richard Tsao Managing Director
• Jean-Francois Vallee Technical Production
  Manager
• Ubisoft Chengdu
• March 2010

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a future leader in the online game industry?
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CHINESE GAME INDUSTRY
Consoles, PC Games and Piracy
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A 10-YEAR OLD INDUSTRY
Tencent, The9 Shanda went public Shanda become
No.1 FANTASY WESTWARD JOURNEY
Perfect World Giant went public ZT ONLINE
2004
2007
2010
2005
2000
2009
KING OF KING 1st MMORPG was born
WORLD OF WARCRAFT Shanda started F2P
DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE Tencent became new No.1
NetEase took over WoW
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CHINESE GAME INDUSTRY
PC Online Games
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CHINA, A BOOMING MARKET
Source Chinas Ministry of Culture
Official number of Online game player population?
69 million (through 2009)
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CHINA, A BOOMING MARKET
Source Chinas Ministry of Culture
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CHINA, A BOOMING MARKET
Source Chinas Ministry of Culture
DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE
AION, LEGEND OF MIR 2
WOW, FANTASY WESTWARD JOURNEY
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TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
No. Title Genre Business Model Developer Publisher 2009 PCU( estimation)
1 Fantasy Westward Journey MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 2,560,000
2 Dungeon Fighter Online MMO  Action F2P Neople (owned by Nexon, Korea) Tencent 2,100,000
3 Cross Fire MMOFPS F2P SmileGate (Korea) Tencent 1,600,000
4 World of Warcraft MMORPG Hourly Blizzard (US) NetEase 1,300,000
5 Westward Journey 2 MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 1,100,000
6 ZT Online MMORPG F2P Giant Giant 1,000,000
7 AskTao MMORPG F2P G-Bits Guangyu Huaxia 1,000,000
8 QQ Dance MMO Music F2P Tencent Tencent 1,000,000
9 Dragon Oath MMORPG F2P Changyou Changyou 900,000
10 QQ Speed MMO Racing F2P Tencent Tencent 800,000
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TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
No. Title Genre Business Model Developer Publisher 2009 PCU( estimation)
1 Fantasy Westward Journey MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 2,560,000
2 Dungeon Fighter Online MMO  Action F2P Neople (owned by Nexon, Korea) Tencent 2,100,000
3 Cross Fire MMOFPS F2P SmileGate (Korea) Tencent 1,600,000
4 World of Warcraft MMORPG Hourly Blizzard (US) NetEase 1,300,000
5 Westward Journey 2 MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 1,100,000
6 ZT Online MMORPG F2P Giant Giant 1,000,000
7 AskTao MMORPG F2P G-Bits Guangyu Huaxia 1,000,000
8 QQ Dance MMO Music F2P Tencent Tencent 1,000,000
9 Dragon Oath MMORPG F2P Changyou Changyou 900,000
10 QQ Speed MMO Racing F2P Tencent Tencent 800,000
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TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
No. Title Genre Business Model Developer Publisher 2009 PCU( estimation)
1 Fantasy Westward Journey MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 2,560,000
2 Dungeon Fighter Online MMO  Action F2P Neople (owned by Nexon, Korea) Tencent 2,100,000
3 Cross Fire MMOFPS F2P SmileGate (Korea) Tencent 1,600,000
4 World of Warcraft MMORPG Hourly Blizzard (US) NetEase 1,300,000
5 Westward Journey 2 MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 1,100,000
6 ZT Online MMORPG F2P Giant Giant 1,000,000
7 AskTao MMORPG F2P G-Bits Guangyu Huaxia 1,000,000
8 QQ Dance MMO Music F2P Tencent Tencent 1,000,000
9 Dragon Oath MMORPG F2P Changyou Changyou 900,000
10 QQ Speed MMO Racing F2P Tencent Tencent 800,000
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TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
No. Title Genre Business Model Developer Publisher 2009 PCU( estimation)
1 Fantasy Westward Journey MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 2,560,000
2 Dungeon Fighter Online MMO  Action F2P Neople (owned by Nexon, Korea) Tencent 2,100,000
3 Cross Fire MMOFPS F2P SmileGate (Korea) Tencent 1,600,000
4 World of Warcraft MMORPG Hourly Blizzard (US) NetEase 1,300,000
5 Westward Journey 2 MMORPG Hourly NetEase NetEase 1,100,000
6 ZT Online MMORPG F2P Giant Giant 1,000,000
7 AskTao MMORPG F2P G-Bits Guangyu Huaxia 1,000,000
8 QQ Dance MMO Music F2P Tencent Tencent 1,000,000
9 Dragon Oath MMORPG F2P Changyou Changyou 900,000
10 QQ Speed MMO Racing F2P Tencent Tencent 800,000
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Chinas past A sign of the future
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CHINAS PAST A SIGN OF THE FUTURE
Release Date Nov. 2008
Release Date June 2009
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CHINAS PAST A SIGN OF THE FUTURE
Release Date Nov. 2008
Release Date June 2009

• Developer Five Minutes (Shanghai)
• Number of players 23 million DAU through 2009
• Not on Facebook Chinese version at Renren.com,
  later got a port on Tencents Q-zone

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WHAT IS CHINAS CASUAL MMO
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WHAT IS CHINAS CASUAL MMO
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WHAT IS CHINAS CASUAL MMO
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DEVELOPERS IN CHINA
More Than 160 Developers Nationwide
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DEVELOPERS IN CHINA
A few foreign developers
Focused on Western Market
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HOW TO LEARN FROM CHINESE GAME INDUSTRY?
Learn here first, and export best practices.
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Chinas Culture
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CONFUCIANISM
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GUANXI - NETWORK
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MIANZI - FACE
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NEW INFLUENCES
One Child
New Influences
Property Bubble
Catch up to West
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Guidelines
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LEARN THE CULTURE
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SELECT YOUR EXPATS
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HIRING IS KEY !
Training is a must
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STRATEGY vs. TACTICS
Breaking Large Strategic Goals in small tasks no
longer than 1 month
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MASTER COMMUNICATION WITH CHINESE
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Wrapping Up...
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The future leader in online games!
ADVANTAGES
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CASE STUDY CHENGDU CITY
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CASE STUDY UBISOFT CHENGDU
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THANK YOU

• ??

Q A
richard.tsao_at_ubisoft.com jean-francois.vallee_at_ubis
oft.com
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Appendix
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KEY SOURCES

• Internet and magazine articles
• Books
• Li Min Hattie min.li2_at_ubisoft.com
• Omar Bouali omar.bouali_at_ubisoft.com

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HISTORY ANCIENT 2100 BC 221 BC
Source Wikipedia
2100 BC
2010

• First dynasty Xia
• Mostly warlords waging wars

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HISTORY IMPERIAL 221 BC 1911
Source Wikipedia
2100 BC
2010

• Qin Dynasty Unified China
• Han Dynasty Unified language
• Three Kingdoms
• Imperial rule ended by 1912

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HISTORY MODERN 1912 Today
Source Wikipedia
2100 BC
2010

• 1912 Republic of China
• 1949 Peoples Republic of China under Mao
  Ctrl-Alt-Del
• 1978 Deng Xiao Ping in power

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I don't care if it's a white cat or a black cat.
It's a good cat so long as it catches mice.
Source Wikipedia

• Deng Xiao Ping
• (1904-1997)

• Opening Up
• Socialism with Chinese characteristics
• One Country, Two Systems

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COUNTRY AND POPULATION
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COUNTRY AND POPULATION
Source PopulationData.net, 2010
Ranked by size
Rank Population Size (km2) Density (per km2) Year
Russia 141 927 199 17 075 400 8.31 2010
Antarctica 1 500 14 000 000 0 2007
Canada 33 993 106 9 970 610 3.41 2010
USA 308 470 703 9 629 047 32.04 2010
China 1 338 612 968 9 574 479 139.81 2009
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COUNTRY AND POPULATION
Source PopulationData.net, 2010
Ranked by population
Rank Population Size (km2) Density (per km2) Year
China 1 338 612 968 9 574 479 139.81 2009
India 1 166 079 217 3 287 240 354.73 2009
USA 308 470 703 9 629 047 32.04 2010
Indonesia 237 512 355 1 904 443 124.71 2008
Brazil 192 298 177 8 547 877 22.50 2010
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ECONOMY
Source World Development Indicators database,
September 2009
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ECONOMY
Source World Development Indicators database,
September 2009
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ECONOMY
Source http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count
ries_by_GDP_(nominal)
List of countries by GDP (nominal)
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