On March 17 at the China Entertainment Industry Development Conference 2017, Liu Yuzheng, the General Manager of H.Brothers Films Studio & Resorts Co., Ltd., made a speech on “Building Real Entertainment Scene, Breaking Entertainment Status Quo”.  He said that when searching the key word “theme park” via Baidu, there will be thousands of theme parks in different sizes presented in front of the consumers and most of them are confused by these theme park advertisements.  Therefore, H.Brothers realized that they have to find a new path.  So they started from IP, to turn the theme-story era into the IP era.  Liu used three questions to explore new ideas - The feature of theme parks is “fun”, what if there is a theme park without “fun”, will it still be a theme park?  What are the Harry Potter’s characteristics without joy?  And what do tourists gain from the theme park?

If the selling point is not “fun”, then what should it be? – Go through the dream space to start a second life, this is the answer from H.Brothers!

Looking back to the gaming and amusement industry, whether the previously thriving arcade age or the hot children format at present, both of them need to experience three development stages: from products first to the IP theme and then the present stage of content innovation.  The competition among products drove the development of hardware and technology.  After the IP theme leading the serious hardware homogeneity, it provides a new dimension of content.  However, when people support the IP dimension, innovation is highlighted.  In the large-scale theme park industry, with the same homogeneous problems and intense competition, there are more corporations taking part in the development of the gaming and amusement industry and the competition is much more complex.  Bringing joy to customers is always the ordinary mission and innate self-conscious performance of the gaming and amusement products.  Naturally, it also becomes the core and focus of product winning, ushering in the most brutal competition and upgrading!

It is time for us to ask ourselves that if the selling point is not “fun”, then what should it be?

Since the development of products must be limited by the era and the technology, and IP theme also has its life cycles, an innovative content can derive more diversified entertainment experience, but the content should not separate itself from the product carrier.  If we regard the consumers as the spectators, they can only be a third party, and we can make sure that fun is not what they hate or reject.  But when the consumers become a role in the games, they will be more willing to experience game lives that are more different and more diversified, which can be happy childhood memories that have been forgotten for a long time, a fantasy dreaming experience that is hard to realize in reality, or even a new entertainment form that carries varied regional features and humanistic sensibility.  After all, aren't we all dreamers?

※The article is published in the GTI Magazine Issue No. 152 in April, 2017