enjoyebooks Chapter 184 The Terrifying Influence of "Happy Farm"
Chapter 184 The Terrifying Influence of "Happy Farm"
"What do you think they'll do next?" Lu Ran asked.
Zhou Mingzhe thought for a moment: "Two paths. Either acquire our company, or replicate 'Happy Farm'."
"The possibility of an acquisition is slim. Although we're just starting out, our growth momentum is currently very strong. If the valuation is too high, they'll feel the pinch; if it's too low, they know we won't sell. Besides..." Lu Ran smiled, "Even if we wanted to sell, they might not dare to buy. A new social software with such high user stickiness would be difficult for them to digest if they swallowed it whole."
"Then all that's left is to copy it." Zhou Mingzhe pushed up his glasses. "The core mechanics of Happy Farm aren't hard to imitate. With Weibo's technical capabilities, we can make a similar version in two weeks. If we can poach one or two of our employees, it might be even faster. They have an existing user base; we just need to add an entry point on Weibo, and they can quickly divert our users away."
Lu Ran nodded.
This is exactly what he was worried about.
Even if Happy Farm becomes popular, it's still just a small game.
The game itself doesn't have a high technical barrier, so it's only a matter of time before it's copied.
What truly makes TUTU valuable is its 25 million users and their social networks.
But users are fluid.
If Weibo launches the same game, or even a better one, will TUTU lose users?
The answer is yes.
"So we need to speed things up." Lu Ran stood up and walked to the whiteboard. "Happy Farm can stay popular for a while, but at most a month later, countless knock-off versions will appear on the market. At that time, a small game alone won't be enough to retain users."
Zhou Mingzhe asked, "What do you plan to do?"
Lu Ran wrote a few words on the whiteboard:
[Increase user engagement]
"You need to understand that what TUTU is going to do in the future is not just social networking and games." He turned around. "What is TUTU's core now? It's 'interest circles'. Games are just a means to attract users. What really retains users is the relationships they build within these circles."
"Once the preliminary rounds of 'Super Girl' begin, we'll have even more content. Contestant performance videos, fan support, discussions within the community... Weibo can't copy any of this."
Zhou Mingzhe nodded thoughtfully.
"Also," Lu Ran added, "keep a close eye on the team. Give raises to the core members who can get them, and stock options to those who can. We're not short of money right now, so don't let anyone get poached because of compensation issues."
"clear."
After Zhou Mingzhe left, Lu Ran sat back down in his chair and opened the system panel.
Current popularity score: 27,543,891
Twenty-seven million.
During this period, the popularity of "Super Girl" and the explosive growth of "Happy Farm" have led to a rapid increase in popularity.
He thought for a moment, then typed in the search box:
[QQ Pet Development Plan]
—The search requires 1,000,000 popularity points. Confirm?
confirm.
The next second, a massive amount of information flooded into my mind.
The amount of data this time is slightly larger than that of Happy Farm.
Similarly, it contains not only code and documentation, but also a complete set of product logic, operational strategies, and even psychological analysis on how to cultivate user habits.
It took Lu Ran half an hour to finish reading it. Then he leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
QQ Pet.
This is the real trump card.
Moreover, replicating QQ Pets is much more difficult than replicating Happy Farm.
...
On the day the auditions for "Super Girl" concluded, Lu Ran went to the Shanghai audition venue again.
It wasn't because there was anything important; it was simply because Shen Yuege said she was recording a special program today and asked him to come visit the set.
When he arrived at the scene, he discovered that the so-called "special program" was just Shen Yuege standing among a group of contestants who had advanced from the auditions, surrounded by dozens of girls asking for autographs and photos.
"Lu Ran!" Shen Yuege saw him from afar and waved, "Come here, come here!"
Lu Ran squeezed through the crowd and came to her side.
Shen Yuege naturally took his arm and introduced him to the other contestants: "This is my husband, Lu Ran. He's the chief planner of this show."
As Shen Yuege finished her introduction, a group of girls around her gasped in surprise.
"Teacher Lu! I absolutely love your songs!"
"I've listened to 'Rice Fragrance' on repeat a hundred times!"
"Mr. Lu, may I take a picture with you?"
Lu Ran was overwhelmed by the cacophony of voices and could only maintain a smile, cooperating with everyone.
If Lu Ran had known it was this kind of event, he wouldn't have come at all.
But now that we're here, there's no going back.
After all, I was the chief planner of the event, so I needed to understand the general situation of the contestants who advanced.
After the group photo was taken, a girl with a ponytail came over and whispered, "Teacher Lu, may I ask you a question?"
"you say."
"Did you really create 'Happy Farm' on TUTU?"
Lu Ran nodded, then asked, "You're playing too?"
"Let's play!" The girl's eyes lit up. "I'm setting my alarm for 3 a.m. every day to harvest my virtual crops! My roommate says I'm crazy!"
"...That's not necessary."
"But if I don't guard them, they'll get stolen!" the girl said, looking aggrieved. "The strawberries I planted were almost ripe when I woke up one morning and half of them were stolen. So I stopped sleeping and started setting an alarm to get up at three in the morning to collect them before going back to sleep."
Lu Ran: "..."
He really wanted to say, "Moderate gaming is good for the brain, but excessive gaming is harmful to the body," but looking at the girl's sincere eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say it, otherwise others would think he was being too forward.
After all, his company also has a group of people who set alarms to steal vegetables at the exact time.
"Um..." he said carefully, "you still need to take care of your health and not stay up too late."
"It's okay!" The girl waved her hand. "Anyway, I can catch up on sleep during the day. By the way, Teacher Lu, when will TUTU release a new mini-game? I've already reached 2,000 points in 'Jump Jump' and 300 levels in 'Candy Crush,' so I'm just waiting for the new game."
He's still one of my loyal fans.
Two thousand points.
Three hundred levels.
This girl practically lives in a tuk-tuk.
"Soon," was all he could say.
The feeling of being urged to update on the spot made Lu Ran very embarrassed, but on the other hand, it also showed that the TUTU software was indeed very successful, at least among the younger generation, its stickiness was still very high.
As they left the scene, Shen Yuege linked arms with him, laughing as they walked: "I recorded your expression."
"What kind of expression is that?"
"When fans asked about my expressions while playing games," Shen Yuege said, shaking her phone. "If I posted 'TUTU,' it would probably trend on Weibo."
"No." Lu Ran quickly stopped him. After all, he was a celebrity now, and he still needed to pay attention to his image.
Shen Yuege laughed and put away her phone: "Just kidding. But seriously, your game is so addictive. My mom called me yesterday and said she started playing it too, and she's been playing it like crazy, stealing vegetables."
Lu Ran paused, "Is Mom playing too?"
"Yeah. And she's now the 'Queen of Vegetable Stealing' in the neighborhood. She gets up at four in the morning every day, steals vegetables from the entire friend list, and then posts it on her WeChat Moments to show off." Shen Yuege paused, "By the way, she asked me to ask you if you could add an anti-theft feature, like having a dog or something."
Lu Ran's eyes lit up when he heard Shen Yuege's words.
Owning a dog.
That's a good idea.
In its previous form, Happy Farm did indeed have a "watchdog" function, which could prevent theft and even bite the person who stole the vegetables. The person who was bitten even had to pay for treatment.
This is not only a paid feature, but it can also increase user interaction.
Lu Ran originally planned to launch this feature later, but since his mother-in-law had a need for it, he decided to add it without hesitation.
"Auntie's suggestion is excellent," he said earnestly. "I'll have the technicians add it when I get back."
Shen Yuege looked at him suspiciously: "You're not serious, are you?"
"Of course we're serious. User needs determine the direction of our products."
"...My mom just said it casually."
"It's our mom."
...