Games Must Hook Players Immediately or They'll Fail, Experts Say
He Tianjiao
DATE:  Aug 03 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Games Must Hook Players Immediately or They'll Fail, Experts Say Games Must Hook Players Immediately or They'll Fail, Experts Say

(Yicai Global) Aug. 3 -- The gaming market is highly competitive, insiders told Yicai Global.

"Products developed by game companies should be able to attract players at first sight," one insider said. "Otherwise, they will fail once they are released and the entire game development team's efforts for at least six months will become fruitless."

"There are too many games now," a director of an online game company said. "Even a casual reading of any gaming industry report will show a massive number of new games every day and every month. However, most of them lack distinctiveness and are unable to attract players at first sight. They fail once they are unveiled."

"Take a 20-strong team and initial investment of CNY1 million (USD148.7 million) for example," he said. "It takes at least six months for such a team to independently develop a game. However, if the game fails to win players over in five minutes, then tens of millions of yuan and the work done over the past six months will be lost. Many people use their own money to build businesses and develop games, but lose everything in the end. There are numerous such examples."

This has forced companies to explore ways of getting users to like -- and even become addicted to -- their games.

Tencent's game division has a dedicated team that focuses on studying user psychology, a project manager at the online gaming giant said. The team was set up to improve user experience, and its purpose should not be misunderstood, said Luo Shixian, public relations executive at Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group.

"Tencent's game division has a team focusing on user research to help the company attract users rather than getting people addicted," Luo said. "As a leading game company, we hope the masses can play games rationally and look at games properly."

Tencent has rolled out three measures to protect players from game addiction. It introduced limits on the length of time minors can spend playing, upgraded juvenile protection platforms and strengthened its real-time authentication mechanisms after King of Glory, a popular mobile game developed by Tencent, was criticized as disrupting kids' lives.

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Keywords:   Gaming