This week, I'm in Shanghai, China. This is the third post from the trip - you can see the first here and the second post here.
Today, we visited with a big game developer in China. These guys are the largest game publisher in China, measured in revenue. Each year, they bring in approximately $2.4 billion in revenue. Yes, folks...serious money. They're called Tencent.
They're mascot is a cute little penguin. Things can get even cuter, when they dress their mascot ; ) For this year's Chinese New Year, it's the year of the Dragon. To celebrate, they dressed their mascots as dragons:
Inside the offices, I found this area...nobody was using it, as everything was still really quiet. I wonder why they had to be this specific:
After the meetings, we made our way back to the Chinese Game Developer Conference (CGDC). They had a convention floor with booths from various companies - all aimed at game developers. My company had an impressive booth, in my humble opinion:
Here is part of my team, actually working with a developer that came to the booth to ask technical questions. They actually pulled the developer's code up on screen and were showing ways to improve it:
Next door to the CGDC was a much bigger event. It's called ChinaJoy - it's a massive trade show that is aimed directly at consumers. All of the game publishers in China build really large booths to showcase their games and technology. About 150,000 people attend this, over a 4-day period. High school kids are on vacation, so the timing is just right. Today was a "light" day, because Saturday will be a human traffic jam.
Our company had it's own booth at the main show - it was several hundred square meters, with lots of games and hardware on display:
A short video clip, showing our booth:
PC graphics cards...a $2B business for us
These are called "motherboards" and are the main component in a PC...nerd paradise
OK, ok...I need to explain that last one. I couldn't write about ChinaJoy, without mentioning the biggest marketing tactic that companies use, to bring "customers" to their booths. When I say "customers", I'm mainly talking about young men - who dominate the demographic that buy games and computer hardware. At every single booth at ChinaJoy, you have these young ladies. Locals call them "showgirls", but they're not like the Las Vegas type ; ) Moving on...
A replica of the World Expo China Pavillion, made out of decks of cards..
An attempt by one company to replicate parts of DisneyLand - tea cups, Small World and all...
Let me try to give you an idea of what all this feels like. Play the following video clip. However, you need to turn the volume all the way up on your speakers, so that you can't hear what the person standing next to you is saying:
Yes, in fact, that IS a car on the left side of that wall...
Just a Lamborghini...that has nothing to do with any of this company's games...
Definitely NOT My Pretty Ponies...
Sorry for the shadow - trying to stand on a 3D painting....
I think that should do it. There were many, many more booths...but I think you get the point. Loud, hot, crowded...and a little bit of fun. Thanks for reading!
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