18岁的杨正华原以为自己会在伊利诺伊大学度过平淡的首个学期：上课、熬夜、在新生社交场合中略显局促。然而入学仅仅几周后——就在万圣节那天——他的世界崩塌了。
故事要从2008年一次看似普通的流鼻血说起，这一小病症最终演变成危及生命的重症：他体内血小板严重不足，医生一度告知，他的生命仅剩三小时。杨正华最终战胜了病魔，但在接下来的两年时间里，他不得不频繁进出医院。
在那段艰难岁月里，杨正华意外发现了救命稻草：《英雄联盟》《我的世界》《魔兽世界》等电子游戏。
“《英雄联盟》这类游戏并非为我量身打造，却最终成了拯救我生命的光，”现年35岁的杨正华告诉《财富》杂志，“如果我开始制作旨在帮助他人的游戏，又会释放出怎样的能量？”
带着这些问题，杨正华转学至离家更近的科罗拉多大学博尔德分校，攻读商科专业。他仅凭1000美元启动资金，创办了游戏开发发行公司Serenity Forge。公司的使命宣言，源于他当年在课堂间隙随手写下的一句话：“我们打造富有深意、触动人心的游戏体验，挑战固有思维模式。”
十余年后，这家拥有40余名员工的工作室已发行约70款游戏作品，包括《荒芜星球》和下载量达3000万次的《心跳文学部》，年营收达1000万至1500万美元。对杨正华而言，成功的衡量标准从来不是销量或营收，而是游戏带来的社会影响力。
不以利润为终极目标，灵感源自全食超市前掌门
在创立Serenity Forge前，杨正华曾于暑期在富国银行和美联储实习。但真正对他职业生涯产生决定性影响的，是在大学课堂上听到的全食超市联合创始人兼前首席执行官约翰·麦基（John Mackey）的一句话：“正如人类离不开食物，企业运营离不开利润。但人活一世，绝非只为三餐温饱，企业经营，同样不该以盈利为唯一目标。”
这一理念已成为Serenity Forge的核心战略：凭借经得起时间考验的创意与情感游戏体验推动世界进步。但杨正华坦言，坚守这一使命往往意味着舍弃高回报机会。
“这些年来，有太多游戏项目找上门来。我们一眼就能判断，‘这个项目能让我们赚2000万美元’，但最终还是会拒绝——因为它不符合Serenity Forge的理念。”杨正华说道。
尽管将社会影响力置于利润之上并非易事，但杨正华表示，正是用户的反馈在不断强化这份坚持，甚至有人会在公共场合跑到他跟前。
“会有大批青少年粉丝排队等候，想与我交谈。他们会热泪盈眶地拥抱我，告诉我：‘正是你的作品让我意识到自己深陷虐待关系，如今我变得更健康、更快乐。’”杨正华向《财富》杂志透露。
“比起盈亏状况、员工数量或其他指标，这些反馈始终是支撑我前行的最大动力。”
给创业者的建议：快速试错
杨正华认为，成功的秘诀并非天赋异禀或时机凑巧，而是学会以果断的姿态直面失败，在挫折中汲取经验，实现快速成长。这一点在游戏开发这样竞争白热化的行业里尤为关键——数千家工作室争相博取市场关注，最终能脱颖而出的寥寥无几。
他以《愤怒的小鸟》开发商罗维奥娱乐（Rovio Entertainment）为例：在这款现象级手游爆火之前，该公司曾推出50余款游戏作品。Serenity Forge也有过类似的历程，杨正华率先承认，并非每一款游戏都能成为爆款。
但杨正华强调，创业者能够掌控的，是面对挫折时如何重整旗鼓，最理想的姿态便是秉持勤勉与自律的态度。
“生活本就错综复杂，”他说道，“当你走上创业之路，想要成就一番事业，就应当尽可能细致地考量一切，同时保持开放心态，正视现实世界的种种挑战。”
Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. （*）
译者：中慧言-王芳
18岁的杨正华原以为自己会在伊利诺伊大学度过平淡的首个学期：上课、熬夜、在新生社交场合中略显局促。然而入学仅仅几周后——就在万圣节那天——他的世界崩塌了。
故事要从2008年一次看似普通的流鼻血说起，这一小病症最终演变成危及生命的重症：他体内血小板严重不足，医生一度告知，他的生命仅剩三小时。杨正华最终战胜了病魔，但在接下来的两年时间里，他不得不频繁进出医院。
在那段艰难岁月里，杨正华意外发现了救命稻草：《英雄联盟》《我的世界》《魔兽世界》等电子游戏。
“《英雄联盟》这类游戏并非为我量身打造，却最终成了拯救我生命的光，”现年35岁的杨正华告诉《财富》杂志，“如果我开始制作旨在帮助他人的游戏，又会释放出怎样的能量？”
带着这些问题，杨正华转学至离家更近的科罗拉多大学博尔德分校，攻读商科专业。他仅凭1000美元启动资金，创办了游戏开发发行公司Serenity Forge。公司的使命宣言，源于他当年在课堂间隙随手写下的一句话：“我们打造富有深意、触动人心的游戏体验，挑战固有思维模式。”
十余年后，这家拥有40余名员工的工作室已发行约70款游戏作品，包括《荒芜星球》和下载量达3000万次的《心跳文学部》，年营收达1000万至1500万美元。对杨正华而言，成功的衡量标准从来不是销量或营收，而是游戏带来的社会影响力。
不以利润为终极目标，灵感源自全食超市前掌门
在创立Serenity Forge前，杨正华曾于暑期在富国银行和美联储实习。但真正对他职业生涯产生决定性影响的，是在大学课堂上听到的全食超市联合创始人兼前首席执行官约翰·麦基（John Mackey）的一句话：“正如人类离不开食物，企业运营离不开利润。但人活一世，绝非只为三餐温饱，企业经营，同样不该以盈利为唯一目标。”
这一理念已成为Serenity Forge的核心战略：凭借经得起时间考验的创意与情感游戏体验推动世界进步。但杨正华坦言，坚守这一使命往往意味着舍弃高回报机会。
“这些年来，有太多游戏项目找上门来。我们一眼就能判断，‘这个项目能让我们赚2000万美元’，但最终还是会拒绝——因为它不符合Serenity Forge的理念。”杨正华说道。
尽管将社会影响力置于利润之上并非易事，但杨正华表示，正是用户的反馈在不断强化这份坚持，甚至有人会在公共场合跑到他跟前。
“会有大批青少年粉丝排队等候，想与我交谈。他们会热泪盈眶地拥抱我，告诉我：‘正是你的作品让我意识到自己深陷虐待关系，如今我变得更健康、更快乐。’”杨正华向《财富》杂志透露。
“比起盈亏状况、员工数量或其他指标，这些反馈始终是支撑我前行的最大动力。”
给创业者的建议：快速试错
杨正华认为，成功的秘诀并非天赋异禀或时机凑巧，而是学会以果断的姿态直面失败，在挫折中汲取经验，实现快速成长。这一点在游戏开发这样竞争白热化的行业里尤为关键——数千家工作室争相博取市场关注，最终能脱颖而出的寥寥无几。
他以《愤怒的小鸟》开发商罗维奥娱乐（Rovio Entertainment）为例：在这款现象级手游爆火之前，该公司曾推出50余款游戏作品。Serenity Forge也有过类似的历程，杨正华率先承认，并非每一款游戏都能成为爆款。
但杨正华强调，创业者能够掌控的，是面对挫折时如何重整旗鼓，最理想的姿态便是秉持勤勉与自律的态度。
“生活本就错综复杂，”他说道，“当你走上创业之路，想要成就一番事业，就应当尽可能细致地考量一切，同时保持开放心态，正视现实世界的种种挑战。”
Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. （*）
译者：中慧言-王芳
As an 18-year-old, Zhenghua Yang expected his first semester at the University of Illinois to be nothing out of the ordinary: classes, late nights, and the awkwardness of freshman social life. Instead, just weeks into campus life—on Halloween—his world collapsed.
What began in 2008 as a seemingly simple nosebleed had turned into a life-threatening crisis: his body was critically short of blood platelets, and at one point, doctors told him he had only three hours to live. Yang survived, but not before spending two years in and out of hospitals.
During that difficult stretch, Yang found an unexpected lifeline: video games like League of Legends, Minecraft, and World of Warcraft.
“Games like League of Legends weren’t really made to help me, but in the end, they basically saved my life,” Yang, now 35, told Fortune. “What if I start making games with the intention to help people? What kind of power would that be able to unlock?”
Those questions followed him when he transferred closer to home to the University of Colorado Boulder and began studying business. With a $1,000 initial investment, he launched Serenity Forge—a game development and publishing company built around the mission he scribbled in between lectures: “We create meaningful and emotionally impactful experiences that challenge the way you think.”
More than a decade later, the over 40-person studio has published roughly 70 titles, including Lifeless Planet and Doki Doki Literature Club(which has been downloaded 30 million times), and brings in between $10 and $15 million annually. But for Yang, success has not been defined by copies sold or revenue made—but impact.
Profits aren’t the north star, inspired by the former CEO of Whole Foods
Before Serenity Forge, Yang did summer internships at Wells Fargo and the Federal Reserve—but it was a quote from John Mackey, the cofounder and former CEO of Whole Foods, that he heard in school, which shaped his career the most: “Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most people don’t live to eat, and neither must a business live just to make profits.”
That framing has become core to Serenity Forge’s strategy: pushing the world forward with timeless creative and emotional gaming experiences. But keeping true to that mission often means turning down lucrative opportunities, Yang admitted.
“There are so many games over the years that were pitched to us where we looked at it was like, ‘Yeah, this is gonna make us, like, $20 million but we’re gonna say no to it, because it’s not a Serenity Forge game,’” Yang said.
And while prioritizing impact is not always easy, Yang said it is reinforced by the company’s customers who even run up to him in public.
“There will be all these fans, teenagers, that would line up, talk to me. They will cry, they would give me hugs and tell me, ‘you’re the reason that I realized that I was in an abusive relationship and I’m now way healthier and way happier because of the art that you created,’” Yang told Fortune.
“That, I think, has always been the thing that drives me way more so than the bottom line or like your employee count or all the other stuff.”
Yang’s advice for founders: fail often—and do it quickly
The secret for success, Yang said, isn’t talent or timing—it’s learning to move through failure quickly and deliberately. That’s especially true in crowded industries like game development, where thousands of studios compete for attention and only a sliver break through.
He pointed to Rovio Entertainment, the company behind Angry Birds, which created over 50 other games before striking gold with the mobile game franchise. Serenity Forge has faced its own version of that reality, with Yang being the first to admit not every one of its games has landed.
But what founders can control, Yang added, is how they move forward—ideally with diligence and discipline.
“Life can be complicated,” he said. “When you’re starting a business to do things, be as nuanced as you can about it, and try to try to keep an open mind about the realities of the world.”