Chapter 31: Catapult Launch
Shi Huazhe wasn’t stupid either. He knew Chen Mo was full of clever tricks and might pull something unexpected to boost sales. So, he didn’t dare to predict too low a number for this data, afraid of being proven wrong.
As for the possibility of actually selling a hundred thousand copies?
Shi Huazhe would never believe it. In his view, the success of *Flappy Bird* was a complete accident. Chen Mo’s overall abilities were actually quite poor. Could this kind of blind luck—a dead cat hitting a dead rat—really happen again and again?
12 o’clock.
Chen Mo’s *Plants vs. Zombies* was released on the official app store right on time. The players who had been waiting eagerly all rushed in, searching and downloading!
For now, the PC section had fewer players paying attention and was more unpredictable, so Chen Mo’s main battlefield was the mobile game rankings.
He had also uploaded the installation package to the PC section, but he didn’t expect to climb too high on the PC leaderboard.
Chen Mo priced this game at 10 yuan.
The app store’s pricing tiers were: free, 1 yuan, 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan, and above 50 yuan.
In this world, the official app store mainly served domestic users, and there were no currency conversion issues, so there were no tiers like 6 yuan or 6480 yuan.
The free and 1-yuan tiers were both suitable for boosting sales volume, but Chen Mo definitely wasn’t willing to go that route—it would be too much of a loss!
*Plants vs. Zombies* wasn’t suitable for in-game ads, and Chen Mo didn’t want to ruin the players’ gaming experience.
If he sold it for 1 yuan, selling 200,000 copies would only net him 100,000 yuan, not even enough for a ten-pull in a gacha.
So, Chen Mo chose the 10-yuan tier, which was quite affordable. Of course, that wasn’t to say Chen Mo was being generous or selling it cheap; he mainly wanted to go for a strategy of small profits but high volume.
*Plants vs. Zombies* was a blockbuster game, suitable for all ages. Even elementary and middle school students with little spending power, or middle-aged and elderly people who didn’t like spending money on games, were Chen Mo’s target users. His goal was to make them all willing to pay without hesitation.
In the experience store, Jia Peng and a few other guys had also downloaded it and all gave it five-star reviews.
“Store manager, we’ve all downloaded it and left five-star reviews,” Jia Peng said.
Chen Mo replied, “Good, thanks everyone. Today, each of you gets a free milk tea.”
“Thanks, store manager!” Jia Peng and the guys were all delighted.
Jia Peng added, “Senior Wen and the others will probably come in the afternoon; they have classes in the morning.”
Another guy said, “Perfect timing, we can witness the store manager’s game dominating the new release rankings together.”
Jia Peng said, “Of course, *Plants vs. Zombies* is so fun, it’s bound to top the charts! We’re witnesses to history.”
Many people were keeping an eye on *Plants vs. Zombies*’ data.
On the app store, game data updated every hour, rankings refreshed every three hours, and recommendation slots updated every 24 hours.
Many players were downloading it.
Among them were those attracted by the *Flappy Bird* ads, those drawn in by Chen Mo’s Weibo posts, and those who simply liked the genre.
However, many players were still waiting to see the game’s player ratings after the first hour before deciding whether to pay for it.
At 1 PM, *Plants vs. Zombies*’ data refreshed!
Jia Peng rubbed his eyes: “Whoa, the download count has an extra digit?! The data is insane! Is this for real?!”
*Plants vs. Zombies*, one hour after release: 887 downloads, 9.4 rating!
Although these students weren’t clear on the ins and outs of the gaming industry, they knew what these download numbers and ratings meant!
*Storm Knight Adventure* was considered decent among new games, with only 400 downloads in 24 hours. But *Plants vs. Zombies*? 887 in just one hour!
If you looked at the 24-hour download count, this wasn’t just an ordinary blockbuster; it was a super blockbuster, the kind that only appeared once every few months!
Chen Mo was relatively calm. This number was even better than he had expected, but still within his predictions.
Remember, *Flappy Bird* had been funneling players to this game all along, and those game platforms had essentially given Chen Mo free publicity. By now, his Weibo post had been shared over a thousand times, potentially seen by tens of thousands of people. These were all potential players.
*Plants vs. Zombies* hadn’t appeared on any rankings or recommendation slots yet because they hadn’t refreshed. Otherwise, with its data, it would absolutely be dominating the new release charts!
The buzz was building, and *Plants vs. Zombies*’ download count kept rising!
At 2 PM, downloads: 1,333!
At 3 PM, downloads: 1,914!
It was adding about 500 downloads every hour, with no sign of slowing down!
If this pace continued, even with a drop in downloads late at night, boosted by a surge between 8 and 10 PM, *Plants vs. Zombies*’ 24-hour download count could easily break 10,000!
Selling 10,000 copies on the first day—what did that mean?
It was absolutely insane!
Moreover, the game’s rating hovered between 9.1 and 9.4, never dropping below 9! This showed that players had a very high opinion of the game, and the subsequent data was likely to hold up!
Jia Peng exclaimed, “Look at the new release rankings!”
There, at the top of the mobile game new release list, was *Plants vs. Zombies*!
“Whoa, that was fast! The rankings just refreshed, and it’s already number one on the new release chart! Is this some kind of cheat?” Jia Peng couldn’t believe it himself.
The new release chart wasn’t a major ranking. For big companies like Imperial Dynasty Interactive or Zen Interactive, it was common for their new games, after pre-release hype, to top the new release chart right away.
But Chen Mo’s *Plants vs. Zombies* hadn’t spent a single cent on promotion! Just uploaded it to the app store, and an hour later, it was number one? That was too surreal!
On the new release chart, *Storm Knight Adventure* was third, while *Plants vs. Zombies* was first.
After getting a new recommendation slot, *Storm Knight Adventure* had been on an upward trend, but it still couldn’t compare to *Plants vs. Zombies*.
If *Storm Knight Adventure* was a normal start, then *Plants vs. Zombies* was a catapult launch—the initial player count wasn’t even on the same scale. How could they compete?
The gaming media was stunned too. They realized that *Plants vs. Zombies* was highly likely to become a super blockbuster, the biggest dark horse of the month!
Although the real data would have to wait for the 24-hour numbers, *Plants vs. Zombies*’ first three hours of data were so good that they even crushed the works of some major studios!
For these gaming media outlets, *Plants vs. Zombies*’ sudden emergence caught them off guard, but for Chen Mo, it was just within expectations.
Topping the new release chart? For Chen Mo, that wasn’t even a small goal.
A genius remembers the website address in one second: