Bridging the Divide: Western Development and Chinese Culture
Richard Tsao – Managing DirectorJean-Francois Vallee – Technical Production Manager
Ubisoft ChengduMarch 2010
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…a future leader in the online game industry?
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Why How Challenges
CHINESE GAME INDUSTRY
Consoles, PC Games and Piracy
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KING OF KING
1st MMORPG was born
2010
2000
2004
2005
2007
2009
Tencent, The9 & Shanda went publicShanda become No.1
FANTASY WESTWARD JOURNEY
WORLD OF WARCRAFT
Shanda started F2P
Perfect World & Giant went public
ZT ONLINE
DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE
Tencent became new No.1 NetEase took over WoW
A 10-YEAR OLD INDUSTRY
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PC Online Games
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CHINESE GAME INDUSTRY
Official number of Online game player population?
69 million (through 2009)
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CHINA, A BOOMING MARKETSource: China’s Ministry of Culture
2005 2006 2007 2008 20090
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
US$0.7B
US$3.8B
0.43
0.660.63
0.39
Online Game Market Size In China
Market Size (US$ in billions) Annual Grwoth
CHINA, A BOOMING MARKETSource: China’s Ministry of Culture
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361 existing online games (Open Beta)
MMORPG vs. MMO others = 79% vs. 21% Top 3 players combined take up 52.9% market
shares
DUNGEON FIGHTER ONLINE
AION, LEGEND OF MIR 2
WOW, FANTASY WESTWARD JOURNEY
CHINA, A BOOMING MARKETSource: China’s Ministry of Culture
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No. Title Genre BusinessModel
Developer Publisher2009 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
TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
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No. Title Genre BusinessModel
Developer Publisher2009 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
TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
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No. Title Genre BusinessModel
Developer Publisher2009 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
TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
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No. Title Genre BusinessModel
Developer Publisher2009 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
TOP 10 GAMES OF CHINA FOR 2009
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China’s past: A sign of the future
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CHINA’S PAST: A SIGN OF THE FUTURE
Release Date: Nov. 2008
Release Date: June 2009
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CHINA’S 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
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WHAT IS CHINA’S CASUAL MMO
Micro transactio
nsDouble Dragon
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WHAT IS CHINA’S CASUAL MMO
Micro transactio
nsNBA
Street
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WHAT IS CHINA’S CASUAL MMO
Micro transactio
nsMario Kart
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50+ Developers (Perfect World & Changyou)
40+ Developers (Shanda, The9, EA, Ubisoft & THQ)
30+ Developers (Tencent, NetEase & Kingsoft)20+ Developers
(Branches of major developers)
DEVELOPERS IN CHINA
More Than 160 Developers Nationwide
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DEVELOPERS IN CHINA
A few foreign developers
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Focused on Western Market
Local Presence
Local Develope
rsLocal
Games
Learn here first, and export best practices.
HOW TO LEARN FROM CHINESE GAME INDUSTRY?
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China’s Culture
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Humanity
Ritual
Loyalty
Filial PietyRelationships
Perfect gentleman
Rectification of
names
CONFUCIANISM
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Connections
FavorsBalance
GUANXI - NETWORK
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Lose Face
Save FaceGive Face
MIANZI - FACE
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NEW INFLUENCES
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New Influenc
es
One Child
Property Bubble
Catch up to West
Consumerism
Guidelines
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Mianzi GuanxiCONFUCIANISM
LEARN THE CULTURE
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Expat
Open-Minded
Optimistic
China Experienc
eChinese
Language
Patient
Core Values
SELECT YOUR EXPATS
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Technical
Skills
Core Values
Soft Skills
HIRING IS KEY !
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Training is a must
SCRUM
Clear Goals
Short Cycles
Course Correctio
n
Breaking Large Strategic Goals in small tasks no longer than 1 month
STRATEGY vs. TACTICS
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English is ForeignCultural InfluencesAmbiguityCulture References
MASTER COMMUNICATION WITH CHINESE
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Wrapping Up...
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Chinese Market
Online business model
Scalability
ADVANTAGES
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The future leader in online games!
CASE STUDY – CHENGDU CITY
Good pool of raw talent of artists and programmers• Didn’t compete with ourselves for recruitment• Escaped the rat race effect
Technology infrastructure for IT company was really available
Government support and subsidiesNo other major global game developer/publisher at the time
Physical separation from the Tier 1 cities
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Ubisoft Chengdu
(Est. 2007)
Expat MD
Expat Managers
RookiesGrooming Leadershi
pExperienced Support
Staff
CASE STUDY – UBISOFT CHENGDU
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Work In Progress
THANK YOU
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Q & A
Appendix
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KEY SOURCES
Internet and magazine articles Books Li Min “Hattie” – [email protected] Omar Bouali – [email protected]
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First dynasty: Xia Mostly warlords waging
wars
2100 BC
2010
HISTORY – ANCIENT2100 BC – 221 BCSource: Wikipedia
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Qin Dynasty – Unified China Han Dynasty – Unified
language Three Kingdoms Imperial rule ended by 1912
HISTORY – IMPERIAL221 BC – 1911
2100 BC
2010
Source: Wikipedia
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1912 – Republic of China 1949 – People’s Republic of
China under Mao – Ctrl-Alt-Del 1978 – Deng Xiao Ping in
power
HISTORY – MODERN1912 – Today
2100 BC
2010
Source: Wikipedia
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Deng Xiao Ping(1904-1997)
“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.”
Opening Up Socialism with Chinese characteristics
One Country, Two Systems
Source: Wikipedia
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COUNTRY AND POPULATION
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COUNTRY AND POPULATIONSource: PopulationData.net, 2010
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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
Ranked by size
COUNTRY AND POPULATIONSource: PopulationData.net, 2010
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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
Ranked by population
Year 2000 Year 2005 Year 2007 Year 2008-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14GDP growth (% annual)
%
ECONOMYSource: World Development Indicators database, September 2009
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ECONOMYSource: World Development Indicators database, September 2009
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2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 20070
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
Income(per capita)
USD
ECONOMYSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
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List of countries by GDP (nominal)