Chapter 52: The Soul of Card Games
In his previous life, *Plants vs. Zombies* took the world by storm, achieving over a million dollars in sales within just nine days and breaking numerous records.
Based on a price of three dollars per copy, if *Plants vs. Zombies* sold 1.5 million units, it would earn $4.5 million, nearly 27 million RMB.
So, what was the monthly revenue of *I Am MT*?
In 2013, when the domestic mobile game market was still in its early development phase, it had already reached 55 million RMB.
Comparing the two, *Plants vs. Zombies* relied on the global market, while *I Am MT* depended solely on the domestic market.
*Plants vs. Zombies* was a single-player game that profited from sales, which would inevitably decline over time. In contrast, *I Am MT* adopted a free-to-play model and remained active for three or four years, still thriving and even continuously updating with new versions.
The success of *Plants vs. Zombies* was not replicable, but the model of *I Am MT* could be mass-produced.
This comparison highlights the immense profitability of domestic card games.
*I Am MT* elevated the "domestic card game" model, providing game developers in the country with a lucrative path. As a benchmark for card games, *I Am MT* was repeatedly copied by various games, and even three or four years later, similar games continued to appear.
Before *Dot Arena* revolutionized card game mechanics, *I Am MT*, as the undisputed national card game mobile title, dominated the top spot on the bestseller charts for a long time.
Chen Mo wanted to make money using domestic game methods, and *I Am MT* was the first step. Its several features perfectly matched Chen Mo's current needs.
First, it was easy to make. Most of the art resources for *I Am MT* were concentrated on character cards. Whether it was stats, levels, gameplay, or concept art, none of it posed any difficulty for Chen Mo at this point.
Its gameplay wasn't complex, and the rules were relatively clear. As long as the art resources were ready, the actual development time wouldn't be too long—two to three months would be enough.
Second, it was moderate. Unlike later domestic games that stoked conflict and pushed players to spend recklessly, *I Am MT* was generous with giving out runestones. It practically showered players with them during holidays and events, making it relatively friendly to free-to-play users.
Moreover, the game didn't include high-intensity content like national wars or city wars, so free players experienced less frustration.
Chen Mo had to consider the acceptance level of players in the parallel world. If he came on too strong right away, they might not handle it. If he got roasted and his reputation collapsed, he could easily lose control.
From this perspective, *I Am MT* was a decent transitional work.
Third, it was easy to promote.
Chen Mo had thought deeply about this.
What was the core of a card game?
It wasn't the gameplay—it was the IP.
The so-called IP, or intellectual property, was the soul of a card game. The gameplay of card games was essentially similar, with the main differences being the IP and the art style. The IP determined the game's ceiling.
In the previous life, *I Am MT* was a classic example of creating an IP from scratch. It was a flash-animated series that, after gaining popularity, was adapted into a game. The game's success, in turn, boosted the animation's popularity. This created a virtuous cycle.
Among all the works Chen Mo could bring to this world, *I Am MT* was the most suitable for building a self-made IP.
Of course, Chen Mo had other options, such as...
Redrawing *One Piece* or *Naruto*?
Rewriting *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* or *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils*?
...None of those were very reliable.
Novels and anime take a long time to go from emergence to massive popularity. Setting aside whether Chen Mo's current concept art skills could handle *One Piece* or *Naruto*, even at a pace of one chapter per week, how long would it take him to elevate such works to the level of popularity they had in the previous life?
Novels were relatively faster, but they weren't well-suited for direct game adaptations. Typically, it went from film or TV to anime, then to games. It was rare to skip the film or TV adaptation and go straight to a game.
This was because the imagery in novels was abstract, while in-game character art was concrete. Moving from abstract to concrete usually required validation and sedimentation through film or TV adaptations to ensure the IP would become a hit.
After weighing his options, the *I Am MT* anime was the easiest to produce and was Chen Mo's best choice right now.
In this world, the domestic anime industry was developing reasonably well. Chen Mo just needed to provide the character designs, concept art, story, and storyboards for *I Am MT*, and have the animation studios follow them. The quality wouldn't be inferior to the previous life.
After all, in the previous life, *I Am MT* was entirely created by a few anime and game enthusiasts, with a low production cost.
*I Am MT* was incredibly popular. On iQiyi, the first episode of *I Am MT* had over 300 million views, making it a phenomenal anime work and a shared memory for a generation of Warcraft players and anime fans.
Thus, this work could be fully developed into a super IP, giving Chen Mo's new game a huge boost.
Of course, there were risks.
The biggest issue was that in the previous life, *I Am MT*'s popularity relied to some extent on the story background and massive user base of *World of Warcraft*. In the parallel world, there was no *World of Warcraft*, so viewers watching the *I Am MT* anime might not understand many of its settings.
For example, what did "MT" mean? What class was MT? Why was there a need for an MT class? What were its characteristics? Why was this character the protagonist?
For *World of Warcraft* players, these were things that needed no explanation—they just understood intuitively. But for viewers in the parallel world, could they grasp the game culture of *World of Warcraft* hidden behind *I Am MT*?
Even if they didn't understand, would it affect the anime's ability to become a hit?
A genius remembers this site's address in one second: