Chapter 88: Thunder Poker
Lin Chaoxu nodded. "Mm, what do you think of that game, Thunder Poker?"
Wu Zhao said, "This Thunder Poker seems to be a completely original gameplay. Playing it for just ten minutes isn't enough to judge its potential, but based on my initial impression, I'm taking a cautious stance toward it."
"Its gameplay is somewhat similar to Zha Jinhua and Showhand, but neither of those poker games is very popular. Their influence domestically is far less than Dou Dizhu."
"Zha Jinhua relies too heavily on luck. Everyone is completely in the dark, relying entirely on chance, so it's more like pure gambling, with no intellectual strategy involved."
"As for Showhand, because it involves one hidden card and one revealed card, too much information is exposed, which severely weakens the strategic element, making it hard to gain widespread popularity."
"The design intent of this Thunder Poker seems to be to take the strengths of both. Players can judge their opponents' hand strength through the community cards, while also hiding some key information, making the clashes between players more intense."
"However, whether this reform and attempt will succeed remains to be seen. Moreover, since this is a completely new type of poker, all players have to learn it from scratch. Even if it does become popular, it will take a long time."
"During that time, we can also develop this kind of poker."
Lin Chaoxu asked, "If we also make this kind of poker, there shouldn't be any legal risks, right?"
Wu Zhao nodded. "No legal risks at all. New poker game rules fall under 'rules and methods of intellectual activities' and cannot be granted patent rights. That means anyone can make them."
Lin Chaoxu said, "So, based on your judgment, this game won't pose a major threat to Imperial Dynasty Chess and Cards in the short term, nor will it be able to poach players from our Imperial Dynasty Game Platform."
Wu Zhao thought for a moment and said, "That's fair to say."
Lin Chaoxu said, "What if this game were promoted on the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform's homepage for a month?"
Wu Zhao: "Huh?!"
Lin Chaoxu said, "You know about the bet between Qiu Bin and Chen Mo from a while back, right? This game is going to be placed on our Imperial Dynasty Game Platform's homepage recommendation slot for a month."
Wu Zhao frowned. "President Lin, isn't that giving the other side a chance to poach our players?"
Lin Chaoxu said, "That's why I'm asking you how big the impact will be."
Wu Zhao looked troubled, thought for a moment, and said, "Well, there will be some impact, but it probably won't be crippling. Is this chess and card game made by that Chen Mo? Why isn't he promoting I Am MT instead of pushing this kind of game?"
Lin Chaoxu said, "As long as it won't be crippling, that's fine. As for the rest, you don't need to ask."
Wu Zhao nodded. "Yes, I understand. But President Lin, this guy has a lot of clever tricks. We still need to keep a close eye on him, so he doesn't pull any more stunts."
Lin Chaoxu said, "Alright, I understand. You handle this from start to finish. The recommendation slot itself isn't a big deal; the key is not letting him poach too many players from our Imperial Dynasty Game Platform."
Wu Zhao nodded. "Yes, I understand."
Wu Zhao left Lin Chaoxu's office.
Lin Chaoxu fell into deep thought.
"Wanting players, not money? This kid has quite the ambition."
Originally, Lin Chaoxu had also assumed Chen Mo would use this recommendation slot to promote I Am MT. After all, I Am MT itself had strong profitability. With the backing of the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform, its monthly revenue could easily double, potentially approaching fifty million.
At that point, Chen Mo's net monthly income could increase by over ten million.
But Chen Mo had actually given up over ten million in net monthly income to promote a chess and card game?
That kind of boldness wasn't something just anyone could have.
Chen Mo's intentions were obvious; Lin Chaoxu couldn't possibly miss them.
Chess and card games didn't make big money. Their profitability was far lower than I Am MT, but their characteristic was a lower cost for acquiring users. Combined with the newly launched Thunder Game Platform, this was clearly a move to grab users.
However, this was also a kind of open strategy. Even if Lin Chaoxu figured it out, it didn't matter. Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment couldn't resort to tricks or break its word just because Chen Mo posed a potential threat, especially with so many onlookers watching.
...
Chess and card games don't make money?
In the parallel world, they really didn't. But in Chen Mo's previous life, chess and card games were the most quietly profitable games, bar none.
The reason for this was that the designers in the parallel world hadn't thought of the various tricks and loopholes from Chen Mo's previous life.
However, Chen Mo didn't plan to use that method to make money.
Why didn't chess and card games make money? Because players lacked the motivation to keep recharging. Novice players kept losing; even if they spent money, they couldn't win, and they quickly realized it was no different from throwing money away. In other games, spending money could buy combat power, but in chess and card games, if your skills were poor, spending money just made you a charity poker king.
As for the skilled players, they didn't want to spend money either, because they could earn chips entirely through their own skill. Moreover, when these players' chips reached a certain value, like ten million or a hundred million, those chips couldn't be cashed out or exchanged for real money, so they would gradually lose interest in the game.
Thus, in this type of chess and card game, money only went in and never came out; it was pure loss. Most players' desire to recharge was severely suppressed.
The fact that chess and card games didn't make money became an industry consensus.
The in-game tokens in chess and card games, like Happy Beans, were strictly prohibited from being exchanged for real currency. The law explicitly forbade it; any chess and card game that allowed two-way exchange with real currency was suspected of being involved in gambling for profit and was illegal.
Once convicted, not only would the game be completely taken down, but the developer could even face prison time.
In Chen Mo's previous life, the reason chess and card games quietly made a fortune was that most developers used gray-area methods to circumvent legal risks.
For example, they set up a currency dealer overseas, who handled the two-way exchange of game coins for players, while the developer profited through a "rake" system.
In the game, through "friend tables," they facilitated game coin transactions between players, while the actual cash transactions relied on the currency dealer platform.
Many chess and card game companies that raked in huge profits basically used this model. Some local chess and card games, with just tens of thousands of users, achieved annual profits in the tens of millions.
Texas Hold'em was particularly notorious in this regard. Almost ninety-nine percent of Hold'em clubs used this model, with profits that were staggering.
But Chen Mo decided to let this secret rot in his heart forever, hoping that this model would never appear in the gaming circle of this world.
Genius remembers this site's address in one second: