The Genesis of a Dream Factory / 梦工厂的诞生

第一章：梦工厂的诞生

The Genesis of a Dream Factory

2012年的上海，移动互联网的大潮正在席卷中国大地。在这座永远在建设的城市里，一栋普通的商住两用楼中，三个年轻人正站在命运的十字路口。他们是上海交通大学的校友：蔡浩宇、刘伟和罗宇。这三个被外界称为“技术宅”的年轻人，刚刚做出了一个改变中国游戏产业格局的决定——创立一家专注于动漫风格游戏的科技公司。

Shanghai, 2012. The tide of mobile internet was sweeping across China. In an ordinary commercial-residential building, three young men stood at a crossroads of destiny. They were alumni of Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yu. These three young men, later dubbed "tech nerds" by the outside world, had just made a decision that would reshape China's gaming industry landscape—to establish a technology company focused on anime-style games.

此刻的中国游戏市场，正处于从端游向手游过渡的关键时期。腾讯、网易等巨头垄断着市场的大部分份额，中小游戏公司如雨后春笋般涌现又迅速消亡。在这样一个竞争激烈的红海市场中，三个刚毕业不久的大学生，凭什么认为自己能够杀出一条血路？

At this moment, China's gaming market was undergoing a critical transition from PC games to mobile gaming. Giants like Tencent and NetEase dominated the bulk of the market share, while small game companies sprouted like mushrooms and quickly perished. In such a fiercely competitive red ocean market, what made three recent graduates believe they could carve out a path to success?

答案或许藏在那句被米哈游奉为圭臬的口号之中：“技术宅拯救世界”——Tech Nerds Will Save the World。这不仅是一句口号，更是一种信念，一种对技术力量的崇拜，以及对ACG（动画、漫画、游戏）文化的深沉热爱。

The answer might be hidden in the motto that miHoYo has held sacred: "技术宅拯救世界"—Tech Nerds Will Save the World. This was not merely a slogan, but a belief, a reverence for the power of technology, and a profound love for ACG (Animation, Comics, Games) culture.

初生牛犊：从校园到创业

From Campus to Entrepreneurship: The Boldness of Youth

让我们把时间拨回到2008年。那一年，上海交通大学的一间学生宿舍里，几个计算机系的学生正在热烈讨论着一个共同的话题：为什么中国没有真正意义上的二次元游戏？为什么玩家们想要体验日式动漫风格的精美游戏，只能选择日本厂商的作品？

Let us turn back the clock to 2008. That year, in a student dormitory at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, several computer science students were passionately discussing a shared topic: Why was there no true anime-style game in China? Why could players who wanted to experience the exquisite Japanese anime style only choose works from Japanese developers?

蔡浩宇是这群人中的核心人物。这位出生于1987年的济南少年，从小就展现出对计算机技术的惊人天赋。在同龄人还在学习基础编程的时候，他已经开始尝试开发简单的游戏引擎。在上海交大期间，他参与了多个技术项目，积累了丰富的开发经验。然而，真正让他着迷的，始终是那些充满想象力的ACG世界。

Cai Haoyu was the core figure among this group. This young man from Jinan, born in 1987, had shown amazing talent for computer technology from an early age. While his peers were still learning basic programming, he had begun attempting to develop simple game engines. During his time at Shanghai Jiao Tong, he participated in multiple technical projects, accumulating rich development experience. However, what truly captivated him was always those imaginative ACG worlds.

刘伟和罗宇则是蔡浩宇的左膀右臂。刘伟负责运营和产品策划，他对中国互联网用户的需求有着敏锐的洞察力；罗宇则专注于技术架构，确保每一个产品都能在技术层面达到最优表现。这三人组合，恰好形成了一个完美的创业团队：技术、创意、运营，缺一不可。

Liu Wei and Luo Yu were Cai Haoyu's left and right arms. Liu Wei handled operations and product planning, possessing keen insight into the needs of Chinese internet users; Luo Yu focused on technical architecture, ensuring every product could achieve optimal technical performance. This three-person combination perfectly formed a startup team: technology, creativity, operations—each indispensable.

2010年，他们迈出了创业的第一步：开发了一款名为《FlyMe2TheMoon》的iOS游戏。这是米哈游的处女作，也是一次大胆的实验。游戏讲述了主角为了拯救被机器人入侵的地球，踏上前往月球寻找解决方案的冒险之旅。虽然游戏的画面和玩法在今天看来相当简陋，但在当时，这款游戏已经展现出了米哈游团队对动漫美学的追求和对游戏品质的坚持。

In 2010, they took their first step toward entrepreneurship: developing an iOS game called *FlyMe2TheMoon*. This was miHoYo's debut work, and also a bold experiment. The game told the story of a protagonist who, to save Earth invaded by robots, embarked on an adventure to the moon to find a solution. Although the game's graphics and gameplay seem quite primitive by today's standards, at the time, this game already showcased miHoYo team's pursuit of anime aesthetics and their insistence on game quality.

《FlyMe2TheMoon》在App Store上架后，获得了数千次的下载量。对于一个没有任何推广预算的学生团队来说，这个成绩已经相当不错。但更重要的意义在于，这次尝试让三人团队验证了自己的技术能力，也让他们看到了市场的潜力。

*FlyMe2TheMoon* received several thousand downloads after its release on the App Store. For a student team with no promotional budget, this was already a considerable achievement. But even more importantly, this attempt allowed the three-person team to verify their technical capabilities and see the market's potential.

蛰伏与积累：崩坏的诞生

Incubation and Accumulation: The Birth of Honkai

2012年，米哈游正式成立。此时的中国手游市场正处于爆发前夜，智能手机的普及率正在快速攀升，用户对移动游戏的需求日益旺盛。然而，对于定位于“精品动漫游戏”的米哈游来说，市场的机遇与挑战并存。

In 2012, miHoYo was officially established. At this time, China's mobile gaming market was on the eve of an explosion. Smartphone penetration was rising rapidly, and users' demand for mobile games was growing stronger by the day. However, for miHoYo, positioned in "high-quality anime games," market opportunities and challenges coexisted.

成立之初，公司只有十来个员工，大多是蔡浩宇、刘伟、罗宇的学弟学妹。他们大多来自上海交大、同济等高校的计算机或相关专业。这些年轻的技术人才，怀揣着对动漫文化的热爱和对技术的执着追求，汇聚在米哈游的旗下。

When founded, the company had only a dozen or so employees, mostly juniors and sophomores from Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yu. Most came from computer science or related majors at Shanghai Jiao Tong, Tongji, and other universities. These young technical talents, carrying love for anime culture and pursuit of technology, gathered under miHoYo's banner.

公司成立后的第一款重要产品是《崩坏学园》。这款于2012年上线的游戏，是米哈游对“崩坏”系列IP的首次尝试。游戏采用了日系二次元的美术风格，讲述了主角在充满僵尸怪物的学园中求生的故事。

The company's first important product after establishment was *Honkai Gakuen*. Released in 2012, this game was miHoYo's first attempt at the "Honkai" series IP. The game adopted a Japanese anime art style, telling the story of a protagonist surviving in a school campus filled with zombie monsters.

《崩坏学园》虽然在学校里取得了不错的反响，但商业化之路却并不平坦。那时候的中国手游市场，付费下载模式还不太被用户接受，免费+内购（Free-to-Play）模式才是主流。米哈游团队面临着艰难的抉择：是否要改变自己的商业模式？

Although *Honkai Gakuen* received positive reception in schools, the path to commercialization was not smooth. At that time, in China's mobile gaming market, the paid download model wasn't yet widely accepted by users; the free-to-play + in-app purchase (F2P) model was the mainstream. The miHoYo team faced a difficult choice: whether to change their business model?

经过深入的市场调研和激烈的内部讨论，米哈游最终决定转型为F2P模式。这个决定对于当时的团队来说并不容易，因为它意味着要放弃一部分对游戏设计的坚持，去迎合市场的规则。但正是这个务实的决定，为米哈游后来的成功奠定了商业基础。

After in-depth market research and intense internal discussions, miHoYo ultimately decided to transition to the F2P model. This decision wasn't easy for the team at the time, as it meant sacrificing some of their insistence on game design to cater to market rules. However, this pragmatic decision laid the commercial foundation for miHoYo's later success.

2014年，《崩坏学园2》上线，这是米哈游发展历程中的一个重要里程碑。游戏在美术品质、剧情深度、玩法丰富度等方面都有了质的飞跃。洛天依联动、符华角色、极秘任务等创新元素的加入，让游戏吸引了大量核心玩家。

In 2014, *Honkai Gakuen 2* launched, marking an important milestone in miHoYo's development. The game achieved qualitative improvements in art quality, narrative depth, and gameplay richness. Innovative elements like the Luo Tianyi collaboration, Fu Hua character, and secret missions attracted many core players.

《崩坏学园2》的成功，不仅为米哈游带来了可观的营收，更重要的是验证了公司的产品能力和品牌影响力。游戏的月流水很快突破千万人民币大关，成为当时细分市场的头部产品。更重要的是，通过这款产品，米哈游积累了宝贵的运营经验和用户数据，为后续产品开发提供了重要支撑。

The success of *Honkai Gakuen 2* not only brought considerable revenue to miHoYo but, more importantly, validated the company's product capabilities and brand influence. The game's monthly revenue quickly exceeded ten million RMB, becoming a top product in its niche market. More importantly, through this product, miHoYo accumulated valuable operational experience and user data, providing essential support for subsequent product development.

抉择时刻：押注原神

The Moment of Choice: Betting Everything on Genshin Impact

2016年，对于米哈游来说是至关重要的一年。《崩坏3》的上线标志着公司正式进军3D动作游戏领域，也展示了米哈游在技术上的又一次突破。游戏采用了Unity引擎打造，角色模型精致，动作流畅，特效华丽，在当时的手游市场中堪称标杆级产品。

2016 was a crucial year for miHoYo. The launch of *Honkai Impact 3rd* marked the company's formal entry into the 3D action game field and showcased another tech