infodatos Chapter 222 Sales Data
Chapter 222 Sales Data
Thursday morning, December 18th.
Blizzard's marketing department sent Mike a sales data report.
The report shows that weekly sales of StarCraft (StarCraft Edition) game discs have fallen from a peak of 12 units last week to 4.3 units this week. It is predicted that sales may drop below 2 units next week.
Retailers report a 5% increase in return rates. Many customers purchased the products only to find the Battle.net environment unpleasant and requested returns. While software products are generally non-refundable, some retailers have accepted these returns to appease customers.
"What about the Star System version?" Mike asked.
"It's also declining," the marketing manager said, "but the decline is slightly slower, probably because players of the Star System are generally more dedicated to the game. However, in the long run, if the cheating problem isn't resolved, the downward trend won't stop."
Mike flipped to the last page of the report, where there was a summary of the player survey. One question was: "What is the main reason you have recently reduced or stopped playing StarCraft?"
Answer ranking:
1. Widespread use of cheats (68%)
2. Deterioration of the gaming environment (55%)
3. Worried about their accounts being banned (22%)
4. Switch to other games (18%)
Mike closed the report: "How's the tech department doing?"
"They released a temporary patch last night, adding some memory checks. But the cheat developers quickly updated their version, bypassing the checks. Now it's a patch war; we update, and the cheats update too."
"Can this be completely resolved?"
"The CTO said that we need to rewrite some of the client's communication and verification logic, and introduce stronger encryption and anti-debugging mechanisms. This will take at least two months of development and testing time. And... it may affect game performance."
Mike didn't speak. He looked out the window, his fingers tapping on the table.
Two months. Two months later, the game might be dead.
The phone rang; it was Lingyun.
"Mike, I've seen the data." Ling Yun's voice came through the phone, sounding somewhat distorted.
"It's terrible."
"I have a plan that we can try."
"you say."
12 PM, December 18th, Silicon Valley Star Technology Conference Room.
There were eight people sitting there: Lingyun, Eric (operating system), David (browser), Carly (ecosystem tools), Li Mo (newly transferred hardware engineer who just flew in from China), Chen (newly recruited expert) (head of network security), and two technical representatives from Blizzard.
The whiteboard reads: "Emergency Anti-Cheat Plan".
Lingyun stood in front of the whiteboard, holding a black USB flash drive in his hand. The flash drive was slightly larger than a regular USB flash drive and had a small indicator light at the end.
"This is the prototype," Ling Yun said. "We call it 'StarShield.' Essentially, it's a USB dongle."
He plugged the USB drive into the laptop in front of him. The indicator light turned blue.
StarCraft (StarCraft II) was open on the computer. Lingyun started the game and logged into Battle.net. The game interface looked the same as usual.
"Now, I'm unplugging the USB drive," Lingyun said.
The game froze the moment the USB drive was unplugged, and three seconds later a message popped up: "A security device was not detected. The game will close in 10 seconds."
The countdown begins, and the game will automatically exit at midnight.
"Put it back in," Ling Yun said, plugging the USB drive back in. "The game should start normally now."
He looked at everyone and said, "The principle is simple: the game client's key code and communication data are encrypted and decrypted through the encryption chip built into the USB drive. The USB drive stores a unique key for each account. For cheat programs to modify memory or intercept communication, they must first decrypt the data—but the key is on the USB drive, not in the computer's memory. Unless the USB drive chip is physically cracked, cheat programs cannot obtain the key."
One of Blizzard's technical representatives, a middle-aged man wearing glasses, asked, "What should I do if my USB drive is lost? Or broken?"
"Account binding," Lingyun said, "Each USB drive has a unique serial number, linked to the player's Battle.net account. If lost or damaged, a replacement can be requested, but identity verification is required, and the old USB drive is immediately invalidated. Replacement requires a processing fee—for example, $20. This also increases the cost for cheat users."
"What about the cost?" another Blizzard representative asked. "How much does the USB flash drive hardware cost? How long will it take to mass-produce it?"
Li Mo raised his hand: "Our Xinghuo Electronics factory can produce it. The hardware cost is currently estimated to be between $8 and $12, depending on the order volume. If the order exceeds 100,000 units, the cost can be reduced to below $8. The production line adjustment will take five days, after which the capacity can reach 5,000 units per day."
"Would players be willing to spend this extra money?" The Blizzard representative frowned.
"It's not about having players buy it separately," Ling Yun said. "The plan is: we'll launch the 'StarCraft Digital Collector's Edition.' The price... will be $15 more expensive than the regular edition. It includes the game disc (or digital download code), a Star Shield USB drive, and some virtual rewards (such as exclusive skins and avatars). At the same time, we'll launch the 'StarCraft Games Platform,' and all digital copies of the game purchased through this platform will be required to use the Star Shield USB drive for identity verification and anti-cheat measures."
"Platform?" David asked.
"Yes," Ling Yun nodded, "a platform that integrates game downloads, updates, matchmaking, anti-cheat measures, and community features. Similar to... a game store and launcher, with StarCraft being the first game supported."
The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds.
Carly spoke up: "Is it technically feasible? Platform development takes time."
"We already have the foundation," Eric said. "We can allocate manpower from the browser team and the ecosystem tools team. The core is the account system and download management. The anti-cheat part will be handled by StarShield Hardware. The UI can be kept simple. The first version... can be launched within a month."
"A month is too long," a Blizzard representative said. "Battle.net may not last a month."
"So we'll focus on the hardware first," Lingyun said. "Next week we'll start producing StarShield USB drives. At the same time, Blizzard will release an announcement about the 'Secure Play Environment Program,' where players using StarShield will be moved to a separate, protected play server. Players not using StarShield will remain on their existing servers. This way, players willing to pay for security can migrate first."
"Wouldn't that turn the existing servers into ghost towns rife with cheaters?" a Blizzard representative said.
"Yes," Ling Yun nodded, "but this gives players a choice. They can either stay in the free environment that may have cheaters, or spend a little money to enter a safer environment. We will promote the concept of 'pure competition'."
The two Blizzard representatives exchanged a glance, and one of them said, "We need to report to Mike."
"Sure," Ling Yun said, "but time is of the essence. I hope to get Blizzard's initial approval by tomorrow to begin hardware production. Meanwhile, the Starry Night gaming platform project will launch today."
He looked at everyone present: "Eric, you're in charge of the platform's underlying architecture. David, you're in charge of UI and user experience. Carly, you're in charge of resource coordination. Li Mo, you're going back to China to oversee production line adjustments. Chen, you're in charge of the secure communication protocol."
Everyone nodded.
"Meeting adjourned," Ling Yun said. "Go and prepare. I need to see the platform's design draft and hardware production schedule in 24 hours."
People got up and left. Ling Yun remained in the conference room, looking at the words "Star Shield" written on the whiteboard.
He picked up a marker and added, "Hardware-based anti-cheat measures are just the first step. In the long run, we need to rely on behavioral analysis and machine learning."
But that's a matter for later.
Now, we need to stabilize the situation first.