Moutai launched Xunfeng Yuan Universe. What do you think?

Recently, Moutai launched the "Xunfeng Digital World" APP. It is very different from most of the so-called brand metaverse projects on the market. It is not a short-term marketing campaign with a vain name of metaverse. However, Xunfeng World still has many shortcomings. In this regard, this article analyzes the metaverse infrastructure of Xunfeng World from the perspective of IP. Let's take a look.

At the Golden Dragon Award Forum at the end of last year, I once said: "IP is the infrastructure project of the Metaverse, because the Metaverse is inseparable from the creation of IP character images, scene worldviews, story narrative interactions and other designs. These are the cornerstones of the Metaverse."

Afterwards, a guest lamented: " Although IP is the infrastructure of the Metaverse, that is, bricks, there is still a big difference between whether it is a brick, adobe brick, or a gold brick. We have to become the gold brick in the Metaverse... "

Indeed, although the Metaverse has given IP people a greater future, not every IP practitioner can get a share of the cake, after all, everyone has different abilities and specialties in making bricks.

Then, just as we entered 2023, a major brand metaverse event happened, which fully demonstrated the power of IP - Moutai launched the "Xunfeng Digital World" APP on January 1, 2023.

It became the number one in the Apple market on the first day of its launch on January 1, and the number of users exceeded one million on the second day.

How is it actually? I went to experience it for a short time, but I could really feel it.

This is very different from the vast majority of so-called branded Metaverse projects on the market, which are basically just short-term marketing campaigns with only the empty name of the Metaverse.

The Xunfeng world is actually already——

• A gamified digital world platform that supports multiple people online at the same time;
• Players can tour, explore, socialize, trade, and complete tasks here;
• The scene is digitally mapped, mapping every blade of grass, every scene and every object in the Moutai town into the virtual world, creating a "parallel world" belonging to Moutai and its users.
• Players can obtain Xun values, which are virtual points in the Xunfeng metaverse. Through the points, they can currently obtain tickets to Moutai press conferences, Moutai limited edition zodiac wine digital collections, the qualification to create an exclusive digital home, etc., and can also purchase physical Moutai wine.

Therefore, Moutai’s Xunfeng World can be said to be the first truly complete metaverse created by a Chinese brand!

Behind this is the cooperation result of two giants, Moutai and NetEase.

On one side is Moutai's brand, history, culture, products, and user base, and on the other side is NetEase's virtual reality technology capabilities, game development capabilities, and digital twin capabilities. The two parties have also formally established a joint venture, Xunfeng Technology (Guizhou) Co., Ltd., to be responsible for operations. Obviously, Moutai and NetEase are going to work together to create a long-term brand metaverse.

But to be honest: Xunfeng World still has many shortcomings.

There are many places that are too simple, and there are some low-level small mistakes, such as the one in the picture below -

The Xunfeng world is indeed very complete and rich, and it fully demonstrates that IP is the cornerstone of the metaverse, but there are still many shortcomings in its initial implementation.

Next, I will evaluate the metaverse infrastructure of Xunfeng World from the perspective of IP...

1. IP characters of Xunfeng Metaverse

In this regard, if 10 points is the full score, I think I can only give 6 points, which is barely passing.

This is because the digital clones that are most directly used in the Xunfeng world and most commonly used by users are really a bit weak in image——

These AVATARs are the most common passers-by, wearing very daily clothes, and there are very few facial shapes to choose from, which makes the player's experience insufficient, especially when walking in various scenes, they feel particularly ordinary.

What's more, this is a "Xunfeng world" with Chinese humanistic cosmic concepts, so such AVATAR costume changes are indeed somewhat inadequate.

Of course, I guess this is because the first version has just been launched, and there is not enough time to create its own system for the digital avatar image. I believe there will be great improvements in the future. After all, the digital avatar has the closest relationship with the players.

In comparison, the main image IP "Xiaoxun" of "Xunfeng World" is much better. Its prototype comes from "Bai Ze" in "Classic of Mountains and Seas", a auspicious beast in Kunlun Mountain. When it encounters the liquor spirit of Maotai, it turns into a wise child "Xiaoxun", which has the charm of oriental ink painting.

Xiao Xun and his original form "Bai Ze"

There will also be new digital humans "Iridium Wind" and "Sanshi" generated by digital twin technology, performing on the same stage with Xiaoxun.

"Iridium Wind" looks a lot like Ding Xiongjun, chairman of Moutai. And Sanshi looks a lot like Ding Lei, founder of NetEase. "Sanshi" spelled together is the Chinese character "Lei", which really means to connect reality with digital and realize digital twins.

It is said that in the future, IP characters will include the four-season gods that are the embodiment of the twenty-four solar terms, as well as characters based on Moutai's top brewing talents.

In short, although the main image design of Xunfeng World's IP characters is very interesting, it is obviously insufficient in the design of the most commonly used user digital avatars.

2. IP scenarios of Xunfeng Metaverse

In this regard, I think it can only score 7 points at the moment.

Because although the concept of the scene is very brilliant, the actual scene still seems to be lacking in precision or details, as shown in the following series of pictures:

In fact, in terms of conception, the scenes of the Xunfeng world are still very rich and exciting.

For example, the "Source of Maotai" is the place where Maotai liquor originated, that is, Maotai Town, which is the origin of the Xunfeng digital world. The three major distilleries of Chengyi, Ronghe and Hengxing have all been mapped into the virtual world, and the real site of the Source Square and the bluestone corridor have also been mapped into the Xunfeng world one by one.

The "Xunjing Home" which is still under construction will allow users to own their own home, a home with beautiful mountains, clear waters and blooming flowers. It can also be built according to the user's own ideas, whether it is a farmyard, a garden building, the ancient style of the Tang and Song dynasties, or a futuristic science fiction.

Wentong Bookstore, a creative center also under construction, is named after "Wentong Bookstore" founded by "Huamao", one of the three distilleries of Maotai Distillery in the early 20th century. It will reappear in the digital world and provide various digital creation tools, allowing users to display creative content such as text, music, art, marketing, video, live broadcast, etc., so that creative works can be gathered together to become a cultural and creative digital platform for co-research and co-creation.

In the future, the "Xunfeng Laboratory" will become an application and incubation base for various new digital technologies.

In short, if we look at the various IP scenarios planned for the future, it can get full marks or above 9 points. However, for now, the scenes in Xunfeng World are still not good enough, only 7 points.

3. Xunfeng Metaverse’s IP Worldview

In this regard, it can score 8 points because it goes beyond the brand and enters into the concept of the humanistic universe.

The key to unlocking its worldview, of course, lies in the name "Xunfeng".

In the Book of Changes, the "Xun" hexagram is the wind hexagram, which is located in the southeast position of the Post-natal Eight Trigrams. Xun wind is the southeast wind. In the physical world of Maotai Town, the dominant wind direction in all four seasons is the southeast wind, which is all "Xun wind", thus achieving the echo between the real world and the digital world.

The LOGO design presents the IP universe, with the word "Xun" like wind blowing through a collar, the bright blue background of the starry sky, the six virtues represented by the hexagon, and the constellation of the six stars of the Southern Dipper in the upper left corner. The brightest one represents the wisdom "Tianji Star" and also represents the protagonist "Xiao Xun", which as a whole constitute a six-virtue Xunfeng universe.

And in every corner of the Xunfeng APP, statements related to the hexagram universe also exist from time to time...

Therefore, the worldview design of Xunfeng World is not just about presenting the past brand history and culture, and mapping the digital version of Moutai Town. Of course, these have been done, but its worldview goes far beyond that.

What Xunfeng World will create is an oriental humanistic universe based on the Tai Chi Bagua cosmology, which is a transcendence and enhancement of the Moutai brand.

4. IP Narrative of Xunfeng Metaverse

In traditional IP content, this item can be called a story.

In the content of the metaverse, it is more appropriate to call it meta-narrative , because it contains many interactions, tasks, and explorations, and is more open.

In this regard, it can definitely get 9 points, because the design is quite wonderful and has strong follow-up development potential.

Users can do all kinds of things in the Xunfeng world, which far exceeds the level of all previous brand metaverse projects and is close to a sandbox open game world.

• Players can volunteer to clean up fallen leaves on the streets, rescue stray cats, etc.
• You can do research tasks, such as picking sorghum or wheat for brewing and handing it over to designated people.
• You can also look for martial arts treasure chests scattered around the place, and when you open the treasure chests you will find an introduction to the history of Moutai.
• You can also obtain Xun values ​​by completing various tasks, and Xun values ​​are virtual points in the Xunfeng Metaverse app.

There are four ways to obtain Xun value, including exploration, answering knowledge questions, unlocking treasure chests, shopping at the market, etc.

In short, the narrative and interaction in the Xunfeng world are quite rich——

• You can learn brewing techniques, wine tasting, and how to get along with brewing microorganisms from a brewing instructor. You can also find various brewing materials and tools here, and brew your own digital collection following the changes of the 24 solar terms, which can then be converted offline.
• A time capsule can take you back to any historical period and help you understand the cultural landscape and historical heritage of Moutai at that time.
• Personalized selection of different landscapes of the 24 solar terms, office, meeting, tea break, reception, all are accompanied by the enjoyment of beauty.
• The built-in e-commerce and digital commodity trading platform is deeply integrated with Moutai liquor subscription and Moutai digital collections to complete the transaction closed loop.
• There are also certain social features, including communicating with other players or online IM chat.

Plus the subsequent narrative interaction——

• In the future, users will be allowed to brew their own digital wine, and it will be possible to convert it offline;
• In the future, when users have their own "Xunjing Home", they can live their own personal lives;
• In the future, you can carry out your own creative activities and create your own digital collections;
• Experience participating in various cutting-edge digital technologies in the future.

After reading this, you will find that Moutai and NetEase are really creating a very ambitious digital world with extremely rich experiences for users to do and create. They are not only experiencers, but also producers and creators.

Therefore, this is a true metaverse product, and it is a metaverse that is integrated with real industries and where digital and real things coexist.

To create the above-mentioned metaverse experiences, we need IP methods and the cultural power of IP.

Therefore, creating IP is the infrastructure project of the metaverse.

Since 2023 will be the year when the Metaverse will be put into practical use, I am very optimistic about the development of IP in 2023.

Author: Chen Ge Li, WeChat public account: IP Fried Rice (ID: IPCOOK)