Su Ye

Biodata

Background / History

Transmigration and Inheritance

Su Ye transmigrated into another world several months before Minecraft’s release and inherited his family’s nearly bankrupt game company. Starfield had only three million yuan remaining, alongside a one-million-yuan game-engine licensing debt owed to Qisheng by former President Xu 1.

Luan Le'an initially regarded him as a recent university graduate, but came to respect his game knowledge and strategic judgment. Su Ye retained memories of games and businesses from his previous life, which informed his plans for Starfield 10 25. His parents were no longer present, and he lived alone; despite his growing success, he occasionally felt lonely in the unfamiliar world 34.

Minecraft’s Launch

Su Ye released Minecraft for free and committed Starfield’s remaining three million yuan to marketing and distribution. His employees questioned both the block-based graphics and the absence of an upfront price, but he maintained that a free game could still be profitable 1.

During Chen Ze’s sponsored livestream, he refused Luan Le'an’s suggestion to teach the streamer how to play, arguing that discovery was central to Minecraft’s appeal. Downloads soon rose from 563 to several thousand, providing the first sign that his approach was working 1.

He subsequently offered 100,000 yuan to the first player to defeat the Ender Dragon, despite Starfield not yet making a profit. Minecraft passed ten million downloads within roughly a week 3 5.

The Xingye Gaming Platform

After Minecraft’s initial breakthrough, Su Ye launched the Xingye Gaming Platform. He made Starfield’s existing Minecraft expansions free, released development tools and documentation, and allowed players to sell their own creations through a fifty-fifty revenue-sharing agreement 5.

Early character-skin sales brought the platform approximately 300,000 yuan in revenue. Su Ye followed this with a Creator Incentive Program rewarding the most-downloaded creators in each category. By the next financial report, Minecraft had earned nearly forty million yuan in a week, with daily revenue exceeding ten million 8 10.

PUBG’s Conception and the Qisheng Conflict

Su Ye gave Luan Le'an a notebook outlining PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield, introducing battle royale mechanics such as shrinking safe zones, squad combat, and airdrops. He directed the team to emphasize weapon differences, balanced damage, and immersive VR combat rather than graphical fidelity alone 10 11.

When Qisheng representative Liu Nong offered fifty million yuan for Minecraft, Su Ye rejected the offer outright. Qisheng subsequently pursued its competing Mini World project and a smear campaign against Minecraft 11 12.

Rather than immediately confront every hostile reviewer, Su Ye ordered Starfield to preserve videos and screenshots. Starfield later sued Qisheng, and Su Ye instructed Luan Le'an to seek a court date and publish regular updates if the case was delayed. CCTV’s coverage of Minecraft unexpectedly strengthened Starfield’s public position 12 25.

Starfield also sued dozens of game-review bloggers. Apology videos followed, with some bloggers facing account closures and compensation demands. Meanwhile, Minecraft exceeded fifty million players 30.

Physical Merchandise

Inspired by the potential of construction toys, Su Ye developed Minecraft-based building blocks under the Leshi Building Blocks brand. He approved an initial outsourced batch, proposed giving some away through an official-server event, and arranged a separate company to manage the physical business 25 30.

After Leshi sold tens of thousands of sets and generated approximately 3.7 million yuan in profit, he allocated 100 million yuan to opening quality physical stores, beginning in first-tier cities. He also proposed Minecraft blind boxes with limited collector’s editions 34.

PUBG’s Release

Before PUBG’s launch, Su Ye increased ordinary employees’ monthly salaries by 3,000 yuan and management salaries by 5,000 yuan. He explicitly allowed a delay if necessary to protect the game’s quality, although Luan Le'an remained confident that the team could meet its schedule 28.

Su Ye personally tested PUBG’s VR parachuting, environments, and weapon recoil. He also checked server preparations and promised each employee a 500-yuan bonus for launch-night overtime. PUBG launched free on the Xingye Gaming Platform on November 29, recording over one million downloads and more than fourteen million yuan in top-ups during its first hour 28 36 42.

Headquarters and Overseas Expansion

As Starfield outgrew its rented premises, Su Ye sought land beside Guangming Lake for a headquarters and future expansion. He proposed acquiring a contiguous 240-mu tract, paying one billion yuan initially and purchasing additional land at 500–600 million yuan per month. Zhang Zhiguo explained that reserving the land required district coordination and city approval 44 45 46.

By Chapter 49, Starfield had signed for ten mu, rather than the entire proposed tract. Su Ye drew a pixel-inspired cyberpunk headquarters with staggered block forms, a suspended blue-purple glowing core, and a glasses-free 3D LED screen. He insisted that the building glow at night and authorized a higher price if needed to realize the design 49.

During the same period, he authorized overseas promotion beginning with Minecraft and approved Chen Ze’s independently organized Minecraft tournament. He planned to release PUBG overseas after its first domestic tournament the following year 49.

Personality

Su Ye is confident enough to pursue decisions his employees consider financially reckless, including releasing Minecraft for free and spending Starfield’s remaining cash on promotion. His confidence rests on a specific business plan: free entry attracts players, while creator content and platform services provide revenue 1 5.

He combines commercial ambition with concern for the experience sustaining it. He wants both a favorable public image and substantial profits, but also insists on quality control, fair platform enforcement, and protection against cheating. He rewards employees financially when the company prospers rather than keeping all gains to himself 5 28 33 43.

Against competitors, he is patient and confrontational by turns. He mocks Qisheng’s acquisition offer, but gathers evidence before acting against its smear campaign. Despite his outward assurance, he acknowledges that the pressure of taking over Starfield has not disappeared with Minecraft’s success 11 12 25.

Abilities & Skills

Game Design

Su Ye adapts his knowledge of games from his previous life to the new world’s advanced VR technology 10 36.

• Discovery-driven play: Treats experimentation and learning as essential parts of Minecraft rather than problems requiring immediate instruction 1.
• Battle royale pacing: Uses shrinking circles to prevent indefinite hiding and airdrops to encourage clashes between squads 11.
• Weapon differentiation: Directs development around trajectory, recoil, rate of fire, and damage balance 10.
• Experience over strict realism: Rejects realistic lethality when it would make encounters end before players can meaningfully respond 22.
• VR testing: Personally evaluates parachuting and gunplay; caps realistic damage sensation at thirty percent 36.

Platform Business Strategy

Su Ye builds revenue around a wider platform rather than relying solely on game purchases 5 42.

• Creator economy: Publishes Minecraft’s API and documentation, provides free official resources, and shares paid creator-content revenue equally 5.
• Creator incentives: Rewards leading creators by download count within individual categories 8.
• Item trading: Proposes a player-to-player marketplace funded through transaction fees. He commissions a legal review before proceeding and later learns that no legal restrictions prevent it 42 46.
• Brand expansion: Extends Minecraft into building blocks, physical stores, and collectible blind boxes 30 34.

Platform Enforcement and Anti-Cheat

Su Ye treats deceptive monetization and cheating as threats to player trust and game balance 33 43.

• Creator violations: Orders evidence preservation, frozen funds, earnings recovery, and blacklisting when a server operator deceives players. Fei Wu’s punishment includes a repayment demand for 862,387.9 yuan 33.
• Cheat detection: Splits development resources between optimization and abnormal-data detection after attempted game-data tampering is discovered 43.
• Player reporting: Orders in-game reporting and manual reviews, with reviewers preferably recruited from people who play PUBG 43.
• Legal action: Refers cheat-related wrongdoing to the legal department. Once detection is complete, he delays deployment until legal action begins because the cheats have not yet been released 50.

Esports Planning

Su Ye regards tournaments as part of a game’s long-term development, not merely launch publicity 36 43.

• Envisions offline competitions and an eventual dedicated venue capable of holding hundreds of thousands of spectators 36.
• Delays PUBG’s first tournament until its player base and rankings mature enough to identify strong competitors 48.
• Supports community-run events while reserving the highest-tier competitions for Starfield itself 49.

Relationships

• Luan Le'an — Starfield’s game designer and a principal collaborator. Initially doubts Su Ye’s free-release strategy, then becomes an enthusiastic supporter who implements his designs, records his guidance, and reports technical threats 1 5 10 43.
• Deng Jiajia — His secretary and assistant. Handles promotion, legal inquiries, land coordination, and communication with the headquarters contractor 28 42 46 49.
• Chen Ze — A sponsored streamer whose early Minecraft broadcasts help the game gain attention. Su Ye later approves his proposal for a streamer-organized Minecraft tournament 1 49.
• Zhang Jiadong — Platform employee who brings a deceptive server event to Su Ye’s attention, prompting enforcement against its creator 32 33.
• Zhang Zhisheng — Oversees Leshi’s operations and receives Su Ye’s funding and instructions for physical stores and blind boxes 34.
• Zhang Zhiguo — Guangming District official with whom Su Ye negotiates the proposed headquarters land acquisition 45 46.
• Liu Nong — Qisheng representative whose fifty-million-yuan offer for Minecraft Su Ye rejects 11.
• Teng Hua / Qisheng — Business adversary responsible for competing releases and attacks on Starfield’s reputation. Teng Hua later orders the creation of PUBG cheats to sabotage the game 11 12 43.

Notable Quotes

“Starting today, Starfield will officially set out for the sea of stars!” 1

“A lot of the fun in this game comes from players discovering things for themselves. If you guide him, you'll take away the fun of discovery.” 1

“Gunfights are about short bursts of excitement, but short doesn't mean instantaneous. You need to understand that.” 22

“We don't have to be the ones organizing every tournament.” 49