游戏邦注：本文原作者是Ant Hive Games联合创始人Matt Orlich，他在文中讲述了在中国创立游戏开发公司的经历，以及对未来的发展愿景。

现在人人都在议论风水轮流转，世界经济霸权又开始从西方转移到东方。对于一家驻扎在上海的企业来说，如果你能在此站稳脚跟，就意味着你在这轮经济大潮中占据了顶端优势。

上海是一个异乡客之城，聚集着从世界各地前来淘金的追梦人。中国有16亿左右的人口，上海则正处于这个新兴强国经济大潮的颠峰。

我对自己接触过的中国人一直抱有好感，因为他们总是很勤奋，并且充满抱负。中国人喜欢美食，重视家庭和朋友，尽管中国社会生活已经变得更加复杂，但他们还是追求简单的生活。

作为一个经历丰富的旅人，我所提到的关于中国、中国人以及在此做生意的种种经历，可以算是对这个新兴经济大国的一些观察。

上海的独特之处在于，它充满发展动力，拥有忙碌的文化生活，聚集着大批游戏及艺术家群体，提供了强大的基础设施，日常开支也很划算，而且拥有丰富的劳动力资源，这一切都是创立一家游戏工作室的有利条件。

本文是我这五年来在上海创立并运营游戏工作室的一些流水帐经历，但首先要澄清一点，我并不是在以中国通的身份自居，只是希望与各位分享有价值的信息。

招聘中国人才

游戏工作室的核心当然就是人才，第一要务就是招聘和留住人才。在这样一个人口大国中，你不难找到许多求职者，下图就是我们刚创业时，在短短一年时间中所招聘到的人员。

不过对于一名外国人来说，找到合适的人才却是难上加难，即使你有大量时间去评估这些应聘者也同样如此。Egon Zehnder在关于招聘的书中评细阐述了物色最杰出人才的难度，更何况该书所述的还是你在本国招聘人才的情况。Zehnder在书中指出，要找到最佳人才（例如10%的顶尖管理层人员）极为困难，即使在面试过程中的成功率达到了90%，最后也只会有50%的求职者符合你的要求。

假设一开始有100名的求职者，到后来你也只能从中挑出9名高级人才，9名非顶尖人才。而作为一名在文化和语言上都处于劣势的老外，你能实现这个成功率已经算不错了。

所以在招聘人员这个环节上，最好要借助本地合作伙伴的支持和帮助。同样重要的一点是，你得清楚自己对这些求职者的要求，并分析和评估他们在就职初级阶段的表现是否达到绩效目标。因为存在语言和文化障碍，你最好通过实际工作成果，不断评估员工的表现。

所有良好的关系都要建立相互尊重和理解的基础之上，根据我的观察，中国人显然很尊重西方文化，但有时候却并不能理解这一点。所以作为一个在中国做生意的西方人，你有责任让他们理解西方人的企业管理方式，同时也要理解和尊重中国人的文化和处世方式，否则就很可能因为疏于沟通而流失当地员工。

作为一个外国人，要做到这一点并不容易，而像我这样之前从未关注中国的西方人更是如此。虽然通过简单地观察和模仿，也可以学到许多东西，但如果真正去努力，光做到这一点是远远不够的。我最近读过的一本书是WSJ前记者张彤禾（Leslie Chang）所著的《工厂女孩》（Factory Girls），它讲述了中国年轻外来务工人员的辛酸生活。虽然游戏工作室雇用的主要是大学毕业生，但这类书还是有助于让我更加了解并思考当下中国人的工作与生活观。

繁琐的登记流程

外国人在中国做生意得创立一家WOFE（游戏邦注：Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise，外商独资公司）。要完成整个注册过程得做足大量的文书工作，为了避免繁琐，以下仅列举最简要的概括内容：

1.准备三个中文名称

2.确立运营范围（这一点一开始就要定义得很准确严密，如果过后再去调整，整个过程会更加复杂，相当于再注册一个新的企业）

3.租赁一间拥有合法注册地址的办公室

4.办理临时经营许可证

5.拥有企业印章

6.获得组织机构代码

7.在统计局备案

8.通过外币兑换批准

9.办理税务登记证

10.开通人民币及外币兑换银行帐号

11.在海关登记

12.注入资金

13.然后开始依法纳税……

以上的每一个环节都需要填写大量的文书资料，同时还要四处走访多个政府机关，所以一般都需要有一个代理人来揽下这些琐事。所幸这里有不少专门帮助外国人解决麻烦的本地代理机构和外国代理机构。根据我的经验，如果你雇佣了一个本地当理人，至少可以节省三分之一的费用。

而外国代理机构则通常会喋喋不休地强调，这个跑机关的流程是如何地冗长可怕，你极其需要他们的帮助，但事实上，真正让你抓狂的其实是企业运营范围的描述，如果稍有差池，后面没完没了的补求工作更让人纠结不已。我们工作室创立的时候，请了一名本地顾问负责监管本地代理人跑流程的事务，所以一切进展都很顺利。一般来说，这个过程需要3至6个月才能办完，可我们还不到3个月就办妥了。

这里需要指出的是，有一些业务类型是驻中国的外企不可染指的项目。暴雪在中国就需要一名本土运营商负责处理中国玩家的付费项目，这就可以说明这一点。

中西文化差异

几乎所有关于外企运营的文章都不忘提及语言障碍的问题，掌握一个至少需要3000个常用文字的语言系统也许不算困难，但中文的语法结构与英文是完全相反的，所以你无法一字一句地进行直接翻译（这也正是为何这里随处可见“中式英语”的原因所在）。

在工作环境中的另一重挑战是，中国人素有“爱面子”的文化传统，当然这一点并不难理解，因为世界其他地方也不免如此——大家都不喜欢在人前出丑，只是中国人的这种情结会更严重一点。即使是在日常交流过程中，大家也总会想法避免承认自己不了解情况。

这样就会有一种麻烦，那就是对方究竟是不是真的了解状况，只有从他的实际工作成果中才能看出问题。

不过幸运的是，中国人并不像西方人那样介意别人从肩膀后观察自己的举动，所以我就可以经常这样查看他们的工作情况。

最让我惊讶的是，中国人对学习英语所表现出的那种热情。对于像我这样从小在英语环境中长大的美国人来说，打从在这里落脚后，我就不得不开始佩服那些移民到美国的中国人，真不知道他们为何能如此顺利地克服语言关。

总之，中国人打破语言障碍的干劲实在很惊人，在西方媒体的熏陶以及年轻一代的英语学习热的推动下，这里的语言障碍的影响正在日益减少。

中国物价更低

总体上来说，这一点确实不假。但多数情况下，还是要牢记“一分钱一分货”也是个真理，在此我就举几个简单的例子来说明这一点。上海是个有趣的城市，这里的房租差别相当之大，价格在每月100美元至1万美元之间，甚至还有更高的房租，总之根据住房条件划成了三六九等。

吃的东西当然很便宜。一份简单的中式午餐可能只需要1美元，但如果想吃西餐，那就得花和西方市场一样甚至更高的价钱才能如愿。在好一点的环境吃一个汉堡，可能要花上80元人民币（约合12美元），我已经很远没去美国了，但还是觉得这种口味一般的汉堡真的忒贵了。而汉堡和房子正是我的生活必需品，当然还有牛肉，所幸的是这里的牛肉出奇地便宜。

至于具体的数据点，我如果在此公开分享过多的公司运营成本结构，那就有点不负责任了，但我认为分享办公室的房租应该不算什么有害的举动。我们的办公室位于长宁区，这里离所谓的市中心有两三个地铁站那么远，我们的每月房租是1.4万人民币（约合2100美元）——之前还花了4000美元进行装修。我们的办公室是由一家鞋厂改造而来的，大约130平方米。

中国人的工资标准确实比西方更低，但也要清楚你还得交各种各样的税。除此之外，雇用一名员工后，每个月都要为其支付七种不同的国家保险基金。

这其中包括养老基金（22%）、医疗保险（10%）、当地市政府的医疗保险（2%）、失业保险（2%）、工伤保险（0.5%），生育保险（0.5%）以及住房公积金（7%）。所幸这些保险费用并不是根据各人的薪资标准来支付，而是以全市普通标准来纳缴，所以这并不像当初听说的那样可怕。

但这些费用还是要从你支付给员工的薪水中扣除，所以他们永远无法直接看到这笔钱，也不会将其视为一种补偿。所以这一点对企业主来讲有点吃亏，因为员工会觉得自己到手的东西总是低于你实际支付的工资，而那些他们看不到的钱都流向了政府。

不过要知道，在最近几年，上海的生活成本也在不断上涨，而且丝毫没有减缓的迹象。人民币正在升值，原来的绿色美钞现在可兑换的红色人民币也变得越来越薄。

中国正迅速转变为一个劳动力成本不再像过去那样廉价的离岸市场，在我看来，现在只有那些打算争取本土市场的企业，才应该考虑在上海创办公司。不过对一个企业家来讲，中国仍然是个好地方，就算生活变得更加艰难，而且很有可能无法收回成本，但却仍然有办法幸存下来。

遇见上海游戏人

五年前出现在上海IGDA（国际游戏开发者协会）大会的基本上都是那5到10张旧面孔，但现在却有500多号参会者。我来到这里后，已经数不清究竟有多少工作室如雨后春笋般地涌现，当然竞争加剧也并非全是坏事，因为它也促使会你勤练内功，强化战斗力。

有一段时间我极不满这种状态，我就是不喜欢有人进入“我的地盘”，但很快就意识到两点：首先，上海并不是我的地盘；其次，能在这里看到这么多志同道合者，大家可以相互交流，这也是一件极好的事情。我开始觉得“人多热闹”，并且认为作为游戏开发群体，我们可以通过相互支持让自己更加强大。

抱着这样的想法，我在两三年前成立了一个名为上海游戏人联盟的社区，现有250名成员，并且不断有新人加入其中，他们都是上海游戏人。我希望可以通过这种方式，为推动当地游戏社区的发展出一份力。

当然，上海并非中国唯一的大城市。只要在中国，你就不难发现各个城市和市政府都在不遗余力地招商引资，甚至可以为你提供亲自到当地考察的车旅费。虽然他们有时候也出台一些减免税收、降低房租费的鼓励政策，但我还是觉得呆在上海最好。

因为根据这么多年的从业经验，我认为雇用一些至少曾成功完成一个项目的员工，总比刚出社会的新人要好得多。虽然中国许多城市都有不少高校，拥有大量的毕业生可供选择，但上海才是最优秀人才的聚集中心，他们的技术最过硬，经验最丰富，更能承担符合西方标准的项目。

最近有不少上海外资游戏工作室关闭，或者精简团队规模，各行各业都有成功者和失意人，游戏领域也不例外。只要还有人争相涌入游戏行业，成功者和落后者的名单也就还是会无限扩展。

但根据我们对这些年的观察，却发现上海游戏市场损失相对较小。正在走下坡路的主要是那些关注AAA级游戏开发或服务于AAA级市场的工作室，所以当AAA级游戏淡出发行商和投资者的视线时，这些工作室就和世界其他地区的同行一样沦遭遇重创。

在我看来，那些幸存下来的成功者，一般都是那些全身心投入项目运营，与市场和客户建立良好的关系 ，并同本土成员一起共渡时艰的公司。我这一生也曾多次濒临财政危机，所以对此深有深触，我也认为整个团队凝为一体共同面对挑战才是最有价值的东西。

我把这种团结一心，众志成城的精神视为任何项目获得成功的最核心要素，在海外运营项目要应对更多挑战，所以就更需要这种内在支柱。

反对山寨

ChinaJoy（游戏邦注：中国国际数码互动娱乐产品及技术应用博览会的英文名称）并不是一个真正意义上的体面游戏大会，如果在谷歌上搜索这个名词，你就晓得我的意思了——它实际上更像是一个大家摆摊设点的比基尼嫩模展会。

这个展会的本质，其实就是在众多以嫩模吸引眼球的摊位之间，夹杂一些风格相似、题材雷同的MMORPG游戏，由此可以引申出另一个话题：山寨现象。

除了MMO山寨游戏，我还发现iTunes也出现了越来越多来自中国的克隆产品。我从不认为大家一开始就希望将游戏打造成山寨产品，而是认为他们将其视为一种套现的方法。中国人做生意非常务实，而山寨恰好又是最有效减少成本，降低风险的方法，它的可行性仅次于在已形成气候的项目基础上开发继集游戏。

这其实并不只是中国的问题，而是整个游戏行业的通病，因为上海最大的外资工作室——世界顶级的游戏发行商Gameloft的中国工作室在这一点上的表现最为典型。他们投入巨大的成本模仿其他游戏，而且你还不得不承认：他们早期的克隆产品极为成功，而且还接二连三地推出继集版本，现在几乎没多少人记得他们原先是靠模仿起步的。所以我们也不难理解，为何人人都乐衷此道，欲将山寨进行到底了。

但作为富有创作激情的游戏开发者，我们笃信独特性和原创性的价值，并坚定地反对任何形式的克隆。我们在这里创办工作室的使命，就是想创造一种独立工作室的氛围，并随时准备应对这种特立独行所带来的风险。我们希望将独立游戏开发精神带到中国，并将亚洲独特的文化元素融入我们的西方设计理念中。

我们的第一个作品是iOS游戏《The Line HD》，它的设计非常与众不同，你无法用“《愤怒的小鸟》撞上《植物大战僵尸》”这类词语来形容它的游戏机制。在许多情况下，要在iOS休闲游戏市场推广一款无法用其他相似游戏的卖点来做文章的产品，确实不是件容易的事情。

因为我们拥有资深的PC和掌机游戏背景，所以很可能继续推出更复杂的游戏，并且相信随着市场的成熟发展，今天的新型游戏玩家，总有一天也会厌倦过于简单的游戏机制，从而寻找更具深度的游戏体验。不要忘 了，手机应用市场出现才几年时间而已……我们其实可以预见，人们厌烦发射小鸟和点击植物的那一天迟早会到来。

盈利的机会

毋庸质疑，中国市场的确有大把的赚钱机会，假如你出售的是《魔兽世界》的豪华道具之类的东西，那就更容易从中掘金了。但对一家小型独立开发公司来说，可行的创收之路仍然有待摸索。即使中国政府已经开始规范和保护知识产权，但从用户角度来看，大家谁也不愿意花钱购买原来一直免费的东西。

手机游戏显然已开始增势，许多公司都正抓住这个机遇打造相关项目。在中国，真正能创收的是MMO游戏，但随着移动技术的快速发展，重塑运营模式的机会也在不断增加，我们相信自己可以将上海的一些MMO游戏人才吸收进自己的团队。另外，广告赞助模式的手机游戏也正在兴起，我们希望通过与一些合作伙伴联手，证明这是一种可行的中国手机游戏运营模式。

这里正出现多种渠道，一系列迹象表明这个市场还会出现大量发展机遇。但就游戏营收来说，中国确实是一个极难攻破的市场。但俗话说得好，你在这里做到了，在一切地方就都能做到。所以我相信中国市场也不例外。

从许多方面来看，上海（包括整个中国）的游戏产业还没有真正形成自己的模式，目前主要依赖外包服务和山寨产品，采用的是引进外资和创意的工厂代工模式。

预言未来

众所皆知，当前中国游戏市场最大的发展机遇在于低端的MMORPG游戏，在将来也仍会如此，但我也看到手机游戏的发展潜力。目前中国的手机上网套餐资费标准还是很高，而且用户使用率并不高，但这种情况一定会发生变化，为在线手机游戏打开市场大门，而这一点也正是让游戏在中国顺利创收的关键因素。

这里的居民出行基本上依赖公共汽车、火车和的士，所以经常可以看到许多人在等车的间隙掏出手机打发时间，不是观看视频就是玩离线游戏，但和西方社会一样，只要智能手机可以上网了，那就绝不会有走回头路的可能。

我确实希望看到东方与西方市场的融合，这两者都有可相互借鉴和学习的地方，甚至可以说，直到现在东方市场还是没有实现真正的开放。

随着这种融合趋势的发展，双方都会学到许多东西，也会步入误区，但我真的相信中国人最终会与西方和谐相处，他们不太可能与西方为敌。我刚从美国回来，当然也感觉到了相当一部分美国人“谈华色变”的这种对立情绪。

上海仍将是一个每天都有万丈高楼平地起的大都市，时时都有公司倒闭并且被后来者取代，一拔人来一拔人往，一夜暴富一日破产等现象，踏进这片土地可绝不能只是一头脑热地碰碰运气，更不可能将这里视为避风湾，唯一不变的真理就是，与其他大城市一样，这里的竞争永远不会消停，要在这里生存下来非有一点魄力和街头智慧不可。

既然中国是一个拥有16亿人口的新兴经济国家，那么这里一定有大量的市场潜力。尽管中国政府设置了不少路障，但也建设了许多宽敞无比的高速公路，这就要求你需要有一定的技巧，以免发现自己面临此路不通的困境，或者无法灵活地更改方向重新开始。

变化是不可避免的趋势，如果能准确预测这个市场的变化，就很可能获得成功。中国的变化速度出奇之快，当然机遇的大门开得快关得也快，因为政府政策总是难以捉摸，有可能毫无预警地降临，并且一夜间彻底改变游戏规则——这一点却实在是无法预测。

很显然西方的知识产权已经开始受到中国政府的保护，大家也不用再像过去那样，眼睁睁地看着自己的盗版产品在四处叫卖。虽然这种情况的彻底改观尚需时日，但我相信这个市场终有一天会与西方接轨——盗版媒介并非盗版的源头，直接与其相关的其实是用户的消费行为。

我认为在中国的外资企业或者外国子公司的命运，很大程度上取决于它们是否能够适应当地文化，并最终服务于当地市场。用“根深蒂固”来形容中国文化的复杂性，其实远不足以道出其实际的复杂和深度。

因为中国公司地位的提高，之前的外企工作人员的优越感也已经被削弱。这里的民族自豪感也很难以理解，中国人任何时候都会护着自己的国家。所以，外国公司和领导者如果想吸引和挽留出色的中国人才，就要擅于将企业文化和中国人的价值观融合在一起，毕竟后者已经存在和发展了数千年之久。

这一点不但关系到在中国创建一个成功的资源中心以支持西方市场，而且还涉及开启中国市场的大量机遇。西方游戏开发者可以打开中国市场大门吗？如果能够凭实力做出肯定回答，相信他们有可能从中成功淘金。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

The Shanghai Game

In this in-depth feature, Matt Orlich, co-founder of Shanghai-based studio Ant Hive Games (The Line HD) speaks of his experiences in the ever-changing Chinese capital of game development as he and his company chart a course for the future.]

So much is said about the shift in economic power from West to East. For a company in Shanghai, it is good to know you are in prime position to catch this wave… That is, if you can get on your board and stay on.

Shanghai is a city of outsiders, aspirational people journeying to the bright lights of the big city looking for streets paved with gold. So don’t expect people to line up patiently, and do fully expect people to drop in on you. There are 1.6 billion people on the move in China, and Shanghai is right on the crest of the economic wave.

Despite the occasional blips, I have great warmth for the Chinese who I have met and worked with. They work hard and constantly aspire. They have a love for food, family, and friends, and seek simplicity even as all about becomes more complex.

But as a seasoned traveller, all the points I make about China, the Chinese, and doing business here could be the observations made of many of the new emerging economies.

What is unique about Shanghai is that it has the growth, but also a buzzing cultural life, a large gaming and artistic community, great infrastructure, affordable overheads and a rich pool of labor: all the pieces for building a game studio.

This article is my personal account of being in the middle of establishing and running game studio operations in Shanghai for the last five years, trying to be mindful that I’m not coming off like a self-proclaimed China expert.
Made in China

The first priority for a game studio is talent, recruiting and retaining it. Obviously in a country the size of China you’ll find lots of job-seekers. In my previous startup effort you can see from the picture below how many people you can hire in one short year…

However, hiring the right people is significantly harder for a foreigner, even if a great deal of care is taken assessing candidates. Egon Zehnder’s book on recruitment details the difficulties of landing the best talent, and this is all assuming you are in your own country. He states that to secure the best talent — i.e. the top 10 percent of management talent — even a 90 percent success rate in your interview process means that 50 percent of the candidates will not be what you were seeking.

With a starting sample of 100 people, you would end up hiring nine top talents and nine non-top talent. As a foreigner with all your cultural and linguistic disadvantages, you’ll be lucky if you get that high of a hit rate.

So when it comes to hiring talent, it is vital to have the support and input of a local partner. Equally important is to be clear in what you want from your candidates and be very analytical whether performance goals are being met in the early stages of employment. You must assess and re-assess employee performance constantly, as the actual work will be your best indicator in the murky water of language and cultural barriers.

All good relationships are built on mutual respect and understanding. From everything I’ve seen, the Chinese clearly respect Western culture, but may not always understand it. As a Westerner operating in China it is your responsibility to help them understand Western business practices, as well develop and understanding and respect for their culture and ways. Without this you’ll be unable to retain your employees.

As a foreigner this will require effort, especially if you are like me, and paid little mind to China before you were air dropped in. There is obviously a ton to be gained from simply observing and assimilating, but a real effort needs to be made beyond that. The most recent book I’ve read is a fascinating account of migrant factory workers in southern China called Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang. Although for a game studio you’ll be employing primarily the college educated, books like these I feel help to reveal some universal truths of the Chinese approach to work and life.
Incorporate This!

To operate in China as a foreigner you’ll need to set up a WOFE (Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise). Detailing this process would take several pages of writing and surely put you to sleep, so I’ll run through it as briefly as possible.

1. Get three Chinese names ready.

2. Establish your business scope. (This has to be tightly defined. Changing it later can be as complicated as setting up a whole new business.)

3. Rent an office that has the legal right to be a registered address (many are not).

4. Obtain a temporary business license.

5. Obtain your company stamps.

6. Obtain enterprise code certification.

7. Register at the Statistics Bureau.

8. Obtain foreign money exchange approval.

9. Register with the Tax Bureau.

10. Open both RMB & foreign exchange bank accounts.

11. Register with the Customs Bureau.

12. Wire in capital.

13. Let the taxpaying fun begin…

Given that almost every one of these steps not only requires a lot of paperwork, but also multiple visits to various government offices scattered around town, you will obviously need an agent. There are local agents and there are foreign agents that specialize in helping foreigners. In my experience, you’ll save about a third of the cost by going with a local agent.

Foreign agents will go on about the big scary process and how you desperately need their help to get it right. However, the truth of the matter is that it really just takes a lot of running around, and mucking up your business scope description is about the only thing that can really come back to bite you. In our case, we had a local advisor that watched over the local agent running the process and everything went smoothly and quickly. It usually takes three to six months; ours was done in fewer than three.

It is important to note that there are simply types of business that foreign-owned companies are not allowed to do in China. Look to Blizzard’s need to have a local operator as clear example of the strict guidelines in place for accepting payments from online game players in China.

Lost in Translation

Of course, no article on operating in a foreign country would be complete without a mention of language barrier challenges. As if trying to learn a system which requires 3000 characters at a minimum isn’t challenging enough, Chinese sentence order is usually the exact opposite from English and often there are no direct translations word for word (which might explain some of why you see so much funny “Engrish” around).

To compound the difficulties in a work environment, Chinese have a cultural norm which is referred to as “saving face.” Of course, we understand this concept in the rest of the world — being that no one ever really likes to be embarrassed in front of others. But there is something deeper going on here. Even in the most banal of conversations, if there is a way out of admitting a lack of understanding, it is considered the preferred method.

Canadian Game Conference

This can make confirming understanding difficult at times. Confirmation of whether the matter was understood sometimes does not come until the resulting work has been received or reviewed.

Fortunately, in my experience, it also seems that the Chinese in general don’t have the same issues that Westerners have about others watching over their shoulders or checking in on them too much, so do it often without reservation.

But even with the existing language challenges, it could be a lot worse. One of the great surprises upon moving here was seeing the effort the Chinese put into learning and accommodating English. Especially for an American — I grew up around the general attitude that you can either speak English or you can get out.

After living here I have to say I have a newfound appreciation of those who have migrated to the U.S. I really don’t know how they were able to do it.

All in all, the effort the Chinese are putting into breaking down the language barrier is amazing. They certainly are not waiting for the Western world to meet them half way. With the upswell of Western media influence and desire of the younger generations to learn English, the language barrier is becoming less and less of an issue every day.

Things Are Cheaper in China

By and large this is true. But in many cases the old adage of “you get what you pay for” comes to mind. In the spirit of brevity (this is a rich subject), I’ll just highlight a few necessities. Shanghai is funny in that I don’t know of a place that that has a wider disparity of prices when it comes to rent. As for housing, it literally goes from U.S.$100 to $10,000 a month, and beyond… entirely dependent on the living conditions you are looking for.

Can you eat cheap? Most definitely. A simple local style lunch can cost as little as a dollar. However, if you want Western comforts, expect to pay the same or in often cases more than in the West. Hamburgers at nicer places around town can go upwards from 80 RMB ($12). I haven’t been to the U.S. in a while, but that seems pretty high for an average-tasting burger. Yes, my two necessities include housing and hamburgers. Perhaps beer as well, which thankfully is super cheap here.

As for specific data points, it would probably be irresponsible of me to share too many details on our cost structure publicly, but I see no harm in sharing at least our office rent costs. Our office is in a district called Changning, which is a couple of subway stops from what you might consider the center of town (really, though, Shanghai is just one massive sprawl of a city). We are paying 14,000RMB (around $2,100) a month — after initially spending $4,000 in renovations. Our office is in a renovated shoe factory complex (of all things) and is about 130 square meters.

Relative to the West, salaries in China are lower. However this is a Communist Party-led state, after all, so it’s reasonable to assume there are going to be some taxes involved. When you hire an employee, there are seven different funds that need to be paid to the state every month.

These include a pension fund (22 percent), medical insurance fund (10 percent), another local government medical insurance fund (2 percent), an unemployment fund (2 percent), a work-related injury insurance fund (0.5 percent), maternity fund (0.5 percent), and a housing fund (7 percent). Mercifully this is not based on the individual salaries, but rather on a city-wide average, and has a maximum, so it ends up not being as scary as it initially sounds.

However, it is still on top of what you are paying your employee and he/she never sees that money directly, nor considers it a part of the compensation package. From that standpoint, it is kind of a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that your employees’ perceived compensation is lower that what you are actually paying, as the extra money goes directly to the government.

It generally seems to be assumed that this will be spent at the discretion of those lucky enough to land a cushy government job, and may or may not ever benefit the worker personally. I’m sure there are similar behind-the-scenes employee taxes in all nations, but I’m doubtful many reach the extent they do here.

Also, over the past several years, there has been a noticeable increase in the cost of living in Shanghai, which shows no signs of stopping. With the RMB on the rise, the joy of converting greenbacks into lots of redbacks is turning more and more into an “Oh crap, that’s all?”

All things considered, China is quickly becoming less of the off-shore cheap labor pool extravaganza it once was, and — in my opinion — only those with plans to go after the local market should think about setting up operations here at this point. However, at the end of the day, as an entrepreneur, it’s a pretty comfortable place to be. If times get tough, it is very possible to pull back your expenses to almost nothing and still be able to survive.

Shanghai’s Got Gamers

The IGDA meetings in Shanghai five years ago typically had about five to 10 of the same people turn up; now they can reach upwards of 500 during convention weeks. I’ve long lost track of the number of studios that have been opened since I’ve been here, and they continue to pop up like enemies in Robotron. But just like in Robotron, as the competition increases, so does your ability to play the game.

I had a brief period of not liking the idea of people moving in on “my turf,” but quickly realized that A) this isn’t my turf and B) it really was a great thing having so many colleagues around to bounce ideas off and get advice. I’ve come around to the idea of “the more the merrier,” and as a gaming community we are stronger with each other’s support.

With that in mind I started a community effort a couple years ago called ShangHai Association of Gamers, or SHAG. With 250 members and growing, all local to Shanghai, my hope is that through it I can do my part to help foster the local gaming community and be a contributor to it.

Of course, Shanghai isn’t the only city in China. One thing you’ll find is that there is no end to the various cities and local governments encouraging you to set up shop in their towns — and they offer free trips to go see for yourself. Although they can sometimes offer huge incentives via tax breaks, discounted office space, etc., I’ve always opted to stay in Shanghai.

One thing that I’ve learned from being in the trenches is that I would always take someone who has at least won one battle (successfully completed a project, for this metaphor) than an army of fresh unproven graduates any day. Even though the many cities around China have many schools, with many graduating students, Shanghai is where you find almost all the hardened veterans, and especially those that have successfully completed projects to Western standards.

Recently, there have been some closings/downsizings of ex-pat lead studios in Shanghai. Obviously there are winners and losers in every business sector, and in the game industry we are no different. And with so many people throwing their hats into the ring these days, it seems we have an ever-increasing list of winners and losers.

However, from what I’ve seen of recent carnage in the past couple years, there has been relatively less damage in Shanghai. Studios on the downtick seem to be primarily ones that focus on AAA development or servicing the AAA market, so when AAA went out of fashion with publishers and financiers, they took the hit along with the rest of the world.

Of these studios that I’ve had exposure to, it seems to me that the ones that were able to survive were the ones that had put some heart and soul into their operations, building enough goodwill with both their markets and clients, and their local staff, to weather the recent storms. Having myself been on the edge of financial disaster more than once during my time here, nothing has been more rewarding than to see the team rally together to overcome the challenges faced.

This solidarity, sense of purpose, and community is what I see as a central component to long term success of any business, and it’s more challenging to attain operating in a foreign land.

Attack of the Clones

ChinaJoy isn’t so much a gaming conference as it is an assault on the senses. Google it and you’ll see what I mean: wall-to-wall booth babes in bikinis — not so much soft-sell as soft porn.

Squeezed in amongst the flesh are a smattering of what appear to the same fantasy themed MMORPG in every booth (at least in the booths that even bother to display games at all — seriously, very few actually have any PCs). All this being, of course, an attempt to colorfully introduce the next topic: cloning.

In addition to the plethora of MMO clones, I’m seeing more and more very obvious clones on iTunes coming from China. In all fairness, I don’t believe there is something in peoples’ blood that made them born to clone; rather I see it as more of matter of practicality. The Chinese have an extremely pragmatic approach to doing business, and cloning has become the most predictable ways to mitigate your cost vs. risk profile, second only to having an established franchise to sequalize.

This is more of an industry problem than a China problem, as evidenced by one of the biggest offenders being one of the largest foreign-run game studios in Shanghai, Gameloft — who make their money by throwing big teams at high production value clones. And it is hard to argue that it doesn’t work: the successes from their earlier clones are now getting sequels and everyone seems to have forgotten they were ever clones in the first place! It’s no wonder people here look at the success of that model and try to replicate — in other words, clone — it.

As passionate game makers that believe in the unique creative opportunities our medium provides, we are adamantly opposed to any form of cloning. We founded our studio here with the mission to create an indie studio atmosphere and take risks with unique ideas. In this way we hope to bring the concept of indie game development to China, as well as twist the unique flavor of Asia into our Western design mentalities.

Our first effort is out on iOS: The Line HD, which was specifically designed to not be describable as something like “Angry Birds meets Plants vs. Zombies.” In a lot of ways, marketing something that cannot be easily described by its similarities to other games in the casual-driven iOS market is a challenge.

As old timers with backgrounds in PC and console gaming, we’ll likely continue to skew more towards more complex games and trust that, as we did at the advent of home video gaming, new gamers of today will tire of overly-simplified mechanics and seek out deeper experiences as the market matures. It’s easy to forget that the app market as we know it only came into existence a few years ago… and one can only assume it’s just a matter of time before people tire of flicking birds and clicking plants.

Money Matters

Without a doubt, there is money to be made in the Chinese market, especially if you are selling luxury items for the nouveau riche or signing up World of Warcraft subscribers. But for a small independent game developer, the road to revenue is less clear. Even though there seems to be a transition afoot to create and regulate legitimate channels for IP, from a consumer standpoint it seems a long way off before people will accept paying for what has, in effect, for a long time been free.

Mobile gaming is obviously going online, and many companies are being funded based on this trend. Currently in China, the only real source of game revenue is generated from MMOs, but as mobile technology quickly advances, the opportunity to recreate that model is here, and we are betting that we can absorb some of Shanghai’s MMO talent into our efforts. As well, ad-based models for mobile games are on the rise, and through some partners, we hope to be able prove this out as a viable way to monetize mobile games in China.

The channels seem to be opening and morphing quickly, and the signs are good that more opportunities will emerge. Generally speaking, though, it seems hard to argue that as far as monetizing games goes, China has to be one of the toughest markets. But as the saying goes, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

In a lot of ways the Shanghai (and China-at-large) game sector has yet to shape its own destiny. Up to this point it has been mostly about outsourcing and cloning, applying the factory model to bring in foreign money and ideas.

But this has laid the foundation for a next wave of creativity and independence to emerge, and we feel good about being caught by that wave as well.

Prognostications

As valuable as the past and present might be, the future is where the money is. No smarty-pants article would be complete without some predictions, so here we go!

It’s no mystery that the opportunities in China have thus far been lower-spec online MMORPGs. In the future, this will stay true, but I also see the same opportunities emerging on mobile. Currently data plans are expensive and generally not utilized by consumers, but this will certainly change, and thus open the door for more online type experiences on mobile – which is the key to monetizing games in China.

Residents are very largely dependent on buses, trains, and taxis for their commutes to the office. Presently you will see a great many idling that time away with a mobile device of some kind. Usually watching videos or playing offline games, but as in the West, once you go online with your smartphone, there’s no going back.

I fully expect to see a continued integration of East and West, as both sides have so much to learn from each other, and really up until very recently, there has not been much widespread exposure.

As this integration continues, there will surely be a lot of learning that needs to happen and lot of mistakes made, but I truly believe that the Chinese ultimately seek harmonious relations with the West, and there is no reason (other than fearmongering) to believe otherwise. Having just returned from an extended trip to the U.S., I certainly saw a fair share of “us against them” sentiment in relation to China.

Shanghai will remain in a constant state of upheaval; there is not a day that goes by where buildings are not torn down and new ones constructed, where businesses fail and new ones take their place, where people come and go in droves, where fortunes are won and lost. Throwing your hand in here is not for the faint of heart and not for the risk-averse. One thing for sure is competition will never cease, and like any other big city, it requires a fair bit of grit and street smarts to survive.

If you think about China as a growing economy of 1.6 billion people, how could there not be massive potential? For every roadblock that is placed by the Chinese government, a ten lane super highway is also being built. The trick will be to not find yourself on the roads that are blocked, or get hung up about the fact you were — and then fail to have the flexibility to re-route.

Change is guaranteed; predicting this change accurately is how businesses become successful. The pace of change in China is staggering to watch unfold, and in turn windows of opportunity close as fast as they open, with the wildcard being government policy, which can come down without warning and change the playing field completely overnight – which is seemingly impossible to predict.

There is evidence that Western IP is starting to get some protection from the government, which is no longer just sitting idly by watching pirates distribute their stolen wares. This will take time, but I believe will ultimately start to resemble more of what we see in the West, which really has more to do with consumer behavior than simply the accessibility of pirated media.

The future of ex-pat led companies and foreign subsidiaries’ fates in China will, I believe, be largely determined by their ability to integrate with the local culture, and ultimately service the local market. To say that China has a deep-rooted, complex culture doesn’t even begin to describe how vastly deep and complex it really is.

The status once prescribed for those working for foreign led/owned companies is quickly reversing as the status of Chinese companies rises. There is a nationalist pride that also cannot be understated, which points them always in the direction of supporting the home team whenever possible. In order for ex-pat business owners and leaders to attract and retain the best talent in China, it will require a much deeper assimilation of company culture and a respect for retaining the values that have, in effect, been developed over thousands of years.

This not only relates to the building successful resource centers to China to support Western markets, but to unlocking the Holy Grail that is the Chinese market. Can Western game developers unlock the Chinese market? That’s the million dollar question — or maybe more specifically in the case of China, the billion dollar question.（source:gamasutra）