Why did Shanghai Softstar disband? Is there any more fairy sword?

Before reading it, I hope you can read it to the end. It is a bit long and takes twenty or thirty minutes, but I believe you will not regret reading it after reading it!

Shangruan has been disbanded, and I feel really complicated. I don’t know when I can see the style of Xian 5 again. Maybe by then, "children can even play soy sauce." Here, I would like to pay tribute to all the staff of Shanghai Softstar and thank them for everything they have given and brought to us. I also hope that everyone can reply and send invisible blessings to those who have made efforts for Fairy Sword!

After learning about the disbandment of Shangsoft, many players felt helpless and sad.

Because they know that what they lose is not just a production company, but a team full of spirituality, blood and personality, a game producer who deeply understands traditional Chinese culture and insists on an independent style. There may be fairy swords in the future, but it will definitely not be the fairy sword of the Foreman. It will definitely not be the fairy sword that is a little bit vicissitudes of life, a little self-deprecating, but with a sense of rebelliousness and Chinese dignity in its bones. , it will definitely not be the fairy sword that can make players cry. I always believe that the form of a game can be copied, but the soul cannot be taken away no matter what.

With extremely limited funds, but carrying the expectations of countless players, no one is allowed to A little perfunctory and careless; working several times more than ordinary people, but receiving a salary that is lower than the industry standard; games made with care, but in exchange for unreasonable accusations and scorn from players who use pirated versions. This is what Shangsoft employees have always said. Under pressure.

Many of the character dialogues in "Sword and Sword IV" strongly reveal a kind of vicissitudes and bitterness, which is hard to guarantee is not the voice of the production staff. In a hidden location in the game, the developers of Xiansi transformed into little monsters and told the players their ideals and grievances. After seeing this, people felt uncomfortable, as if these endings were already destined, it was just a matter of time. No wonder many players said with emotion after playing the game that the story of Xiansi is actually Shangruan’s own story.

In the original manual of Xiansi, Zhang Yijun wrote an intriguing preface. It tells the story of Shangruan's bitter journey over the past seven years, as well as the troubles that cannot be explained to outsiders. "Perhaps everyone who left has their own reasons, but the most pity is that some comrades who can't stand the abuse of players and leave in despair. They work overload and still feel content! The sales volume seems to be high, but the profit is very low. I can still strive for low results! I can still keep my hope while playing European and American masterpieces despite financial constraints! But whenever I face malicious criticism, I often fall to the ground.”

Seeing this, I didn’t know who was waiting for the game to be released, so I asked around on the Internet "Is it available for download?", and then I only played the beginning and went to the forum to curse "garbage" and "completely incomparable with FF and DQ." How do the so-called "players" feel now?

Zhang Yijun also wrote in the preface, "A hundred years from now, the fairy sword itself will not matter, nor will it matter how much you earn, nor how much you pay, because everything will eventually return to dust... What matters is the game. Driven by human nature, if you don’t know how to manage, grasp, and persevere, you are just waiting for the culture of other countries to brainwash you. The younger generation will not be able to remember what traditional culture is. Isn’t it sad for the people?”

It can be seen that Zhang Jun not only treats "Fairy Sword" as a game, he hopes that "Fairy Sword" will become the carrier of traditional Chinese culture and penetrate the vast five thousand years of Chinese civilization into the hearts of every player. Although Xian Si is not as good as those foreign masterpieces in all aspects, this kind of cultural heritage is something they do not have, because Xian Jian is a game developed by us Chinese. If one day Xian Jian and Xuanyuan Sword (reviews, news, mini-games) will be If it ceases to exist, or exists in name only, it is definitely a very sad thing for Chinese players.

However, piracy and malicious slander from players could not defeat the strong Zhang Yijun. What made him determined to leave was his grudge against the headquarters. The profit of Xian Si in the mainland is about 10 million yuan. Most of the funds that should have been prepared for the development of Shangsoft and Xianjian Wu were diverted to other projects, leaving only 6 million yuan for Zhang Yijun. This and The scale of funds used to develop Xian III seven years ago and Xian IV three years ago were the same, but the difference is, what is the cost of manpower and material resources today? What is the scale of game development today? Many people like to compare Xiansi IV with Final Fantasy (news, clubs, forums, question banks) - well, the net development cost of Final Fantasy 7 is US$45 million, which is equivalent to RMB 360 million based on the exchange rate at the time. Those who criticize Xiansi IV all day long as inferior to foreign masterpieces might as well do some calculations: How many times is this number approximately the development funds of Shangsoft?

So, now you know why the animations (related news) of Xiansi are few and ugly, the pictures are a bit outdated, and the character movements are a bit dull, right? Okay, if you understand, I don’t want you to say anything or do anything, just understand.

The birth of Xian Si is somewhat tragic.

It was originally a good game, but it was frequently stuck due to the Star Force encryption software; it was understandable to verify the original version, but it could not be authenticated because there were too few servers and congestion caused it; it was a good thing that Taiwan released a hardcover version, but it was because of its poor quality that it discouraged players. Passion for collecting genuine copies.

Players who don’t know the truth scold Xiansi and Shangruan. Isn’t this what Zhang Yijun is worried about in the preface? Looking at these unreasonable abuses, recalling Daewoo's cold treatment of Shanghai Softstar over the years, and facing several "impossible tasks" such as Xianwu in the future, Zhang Yijun really felt a little tired.

In September 2007, Zhang Yijun and Zhang Xiaoquan resigned, the official forum of Shanghai Softstar was closed, and Shanghai Softstar announced its dissolution. The remaining work of Shanghai Softstar, including R&D and operations, will be taken over by Beijing Softstar. The official statement is that "Shanghai Softstar will be merged into Northern Soft." However, it seems that no one from Shanghai Softstar has joined Northern Soft.

The surroundings of the various fairy swords originally placed in the display window of the company have been divided up by all employees as a commemoration of their long-term work. Currently, the display window is empty, and its mission has officially ended

3. The heavy responsibility is on our shoulders

The situation of Shanghai Softstar is quite special. Although it is a branch company, its real nature is just a sub-team. Yao Zhuangxian once asked Zhang Yijun to only develop games in the "Legend of Sword and Fairy" series, and must do them well. There is a reason for this. When Yao Zhuangxian proposed that Shangsoft be responsible for developing the sequel to "Sword of Immortality", it was rejected by Daewoo headquarters. The headquarters believed that Zhang Yijun had never been independently responsible for a large project before, and his abilities and experience were not qualified for the job. For such a heavyweight product as Fairy Sword, I also doubt whether the technology of mainland R&D personnel can produce high-level games. With Yao Zhuangxian's strong assurance, the headquarters reluctantly let him go. The main reason why Yao Zhuangxian insisted on taking "Sword of Sword II" to Shangsoft was to avoid too much interference from the headquarters. Faced with this trust and expectation, Zhang Yijun deeply felt the weight of his responsibility.

Soon, something that worried Yao Zhuangxian and Zhang Yijun happened. Xie Chonghui's "Sword and Sword II" proposal was approved by the headquarters, which made Yao Zhuangxian furious. He believed that the headquarters' approach was somewhat inappropriate and he must take certain measures. Therefore, while urging Zhang Yijun to submit the proposal for "Sword of Sword II" as soon as possible, he actively contacted the headquarters to express his dissatisfaction. However, in the end, Daewoo handed over the development rights of "Sword of Sword II" to Xie Chonghui, and Shangsoft provided The "Sword of Immortal II" became "Sword of Immortal III".

Since the headquarters did not have high expectations for Shangsoft, the initial start-up capital was only US$650,000 (approximately RMB 5.4 million). It may be enough to make a third-rate game on this scale, but it is a bit stretched to make a masterpiece like "Sword and Sword III". Not to mention that the RTS game "Han Dynasty and Rome" that Zhang Yijun has been developing has also entered the stage of eating money, which has accelerated the consumption of funds.

Just when the situation was not very clear, news suddenly came from Daewoo headquarters that Xie Chonghui's development team had resigned collectively, leaving behind the unfinished "Sword and Sword II". In order to prevent the reputation of "Fairy Sword" from being damaged, Yao Zhuangxian had to return to Taiwan and work with several other producers to clean up the mess. But at this time, there was less than a year before the end of the production schedule, and the completion of the game was not high. No matter how capable Yao Zhuangxian was, he could not turn a fragmented game into a classic in such a short period of time, so " "Sword and Sword II" was hastily launched without being perfected, which naturally aroused strong dissatisfaction among players, and for a time there was a flood of bad reviews.

The failure of "Fairy Sword II" puts more pressure on Zhang Yijun. "Fairy Sword III" may affect sales due to players' rebellious psychology. Once "Fairy Sword III" also fails, the consequences will be very serious. , not only the reputation accumulated by the first generation of "Sword and Fairy" over the years may disappear, but Shangruan may also close down. Even if it is lucky enough not to go bankrupt, it will be insulated from Fairy Sword in the future. It can be said that even before "Sword and Sword III" was released, it was destined to be a work that could only succeed and not fail.

In July 2003, "Sword and Sword III" was officially released after only half a year. The quality of the game greatly exceeded expectations and conquered all players including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The limited edition of the game was once priced at 12,000 yuan, sweeping away the haze of the previous failure of "Sword of Immortal II" and becoming the real sequel to "Sword of Immortal" in the minds of players. Even many players who had never known what "Sword of Immortal" was were also attracted by "Sword of Immortal III". 》Attracted by the unique Chinese cultural heritage and good gameplay, he became a loyal fan of this series.

According to statistics, "Fairy Sword III" sold more than 500,000 units (approximately 3 million copies were pirated), with total sales reaching more than 60 million yuan, which was absolutely absolute in the Chinese game market at that time. It's a miracle (it would be even more of a miracle if there were no piracy). The excellent results of "Sword and Fairy III" not only made Yao Zhuangxian proud, but also allowed Daewoo headquarters to dispel all doubts and retain the independent development rights of "Legend of Sword and Fairy" with Shangsoft.

“Many of the interactions between the little savage and characters such as Lingsha, Mengli, Ziying, Courage, etc. are actually the feelings that the developers give me on a daily basis.

I am very glad to know this group of colleagues, because they all have a playful but persistent heart, and they work hard but still have fun

” ----Excerpted from Zhang Yijun’s BLOG on learning about the dissolution of Shangsoft After the news, many players felt helpless and sentimental.