Chapter 83: Differentiation
For a company like Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment, its Imperial Dynasty Gaming Platform had tens of millions of active users, with peak concurrent online users reaching over two million. Whenever these players logged into any game under Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment, they had to first log into the Imperial Dynasty Gaming Platform, and naturally, they would see other games featured on the platform's various recommendation slots. Many players even exclusively played Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's games, rarely hesitating to purchase games or buy premium services.
Chen Mo now also had a group of such players, but the numbers were far too different. Most players didn't pay attention to what Chen Mo's next game would be, nor would they buy or play a game just because it was a "Chen Mo work." Chen Mo knew well that focusing solely on development wasn't impossible, but it would ultimately be constrained by distribution channels. Moreover, sooner or later, Chen Mo would need to create his own gaming platform to integrate all his games. Besides, many games required a massive user base to thrive.
At present, Chen Mo had two key tasks. One was to develop the "Thunder Game Platform," so that players with Thunder Game Passes would know about it, and to lure players away from other platforms. Just like how Blizzard had done with Battle.net in his past life, or Tencent with TGP and WeChat Games, he needed to consolidate all existing player resources. This would make it easier to promote new games and facilitate cross-game interactions.
However, for Chen Mo, simply launching a bare-bones Thunder Game Platform wouldn't be enough. The platform would only have three games: *Flappy Bird*, *Plants vs. Zombies*, and *I Am MT*. That looked far too thin. Of course, Chen Mo could negotiate with other game companies to have them list their games on the Thunder Game Platform, enriching the game library. But for one, Chen Mo didn't think much of those games, and for another, those companies probably wouldn't think much of Chen Mo's new platform either. So even if he tried to negotiate, the result would likely be a mutual parting of ways.
Chen Mo planned to release two new games at once: one to fill out the game library, and the other to further expand his player base. Chen Mo opened a document and wrote the title: *Thunder Card and Board Game Design Overview*.
...
In China, what type of game had the most users? Card games? Role-playing games? Shooting games? None of those. The most popular were card and board games. In his past life, Tencent's card and board game user base had reached a staggering 240 million or more, meaning one out of every five Chinese people was a user of such games. By creating card and board games, Chen Mo aimed to leverage the Imperial Dynasty Gaming Platform's recommendation slots and the inherent appeal of these games to attract as many players as possible to the Thunder Game Pass, paving the way for his future flagship products. This was a plan Chen Mo had laid out early on, also to maximize the use of the recommendation slot he had won from the previous bet.
But Chen Mo hadn't yet figured out the specifics of how to make these card and board games. The category was too broad, encompassing games like Dou Di Zhu (Fight the Landlord), Mahjong, Bridge, Chinese Chess, Go, and so on. It was neither realistic nor cost-effective to do them all; he had to pick and choose. Moreover, this world already had card and board games. Platforms like Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment and Divine Fantasy Game Platform had their own versions with a decent number of players. Chen Mo was now considering how to create differentiation; otherwise, he couldn't possibly poach players from these two major companies.
Over the past two days, Chen Mo had downloaded all the card and board games available on the market, essentially conducting market research. Games like Dou Di Zhu and Mahjong, which were hugely popular in his past life, also existed in this parallel world, with similar gameplay. Chen Mo could optimize the interface design and specific rules, but that was just optimization. He couldn't rely solely on these tweaks to steal players from other card and board games. He needed something that clearly set his games apart.
Even within the same category, different types varied greatly. For instance, Dou Di Zhu and Mahjong appealed to all ages and had massive user bases. Games like Chinese Chess and Go might have many players but weren't profitable at all. As for Bridge and similar games, the player count was even smaller. If Chen Mo wanted to use card and board games to attract more players, Dou Di Zhu and Mahjong were unavoidable; he had to include them.
However, after studying many card and board games, Chen Mo realized other companies weren't stupid. Any company that made such games almost always included Dou Di Zhu and Mahjong, incorporating various classic regional variations like the "Wild Card" mode in Dou Di Zhu and the "Blood Flow" mode in Mahjong. The optimizations Chen Mo could think of fell into three areas. First, a comprehensive tutorial and guidance system for beginners, including beginner lessons, daily tasks, welfare tasks, daily minimum guarantees, and so on. Other games either didn't have these or did them poorly, so Chen Mo could excel here.
Second, a tournament mode. In this world, card and board games were mostly lobby-based, with few tournament modes. For Chen Mo, introducing tournaments could be a good gimmick. Third, a shop system with items and a VIP system. While this world had some premium services, they were relatively limited. If he optimized, he could add VIP emoji packs, avatars, clothing, and even allow players to exchange points for physical items.
But these alone weren't enough, far from it. The beginner system would only reduce the cost of acquiring players and slightly improve retention. The shop and VIP systems could modestly increase revenue. The tournament mode was a differentiating feature that could set his games apart from others. However, none of these were decisive. Card and board game users tended to have strong loyalty. For example, if a player had millions of beans on the Imperial Dynasty Gaming Platform, why would they switch to Chen Mo's games? Chen Mo couldn't transfer those beans for them.
To overcome this loyalty, Chen Mo needed a breakthrough—something no other card and board game had. Chen Mo began searching for gameplay that existed in his past life but not in this world. Dou Di Zhu? Sheng Ji (Upgrade)? Zha Jin Hua (Blow Gold Flower)? Qi Gui Wu Er San (Seven, Ghosts, Five, Two, Three)? ... He couldn't find any obvious breakthrough. Popular games were already overdone, and niche games had too few players to expand his user base. Chen Mo felt a bit frustrated. Why were card and board games so similar across the two worlds?
No way, he had to keep looking. There had to be differences! Standard Mahjong? Sichuan Mahjong? National Standard Mahjong? ... None of those either! Chen Mo felt something was off. He had a nagging feeling that there was a type of card and board game that existed in his past life but not in this one. What was it?