Chapter 91: Burning Money
It wasn’t just Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment that was tearing its hair out over the launch of Thunder Chess & Cards; Ding Xing, the CEO of Divine Fantasy Game Platform, was also jumping in frustration.
Divine Fantasy Game Platform was a major domestic channel distributor, but its research and development capabilities were far inferior to those of Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment and Zen Interactive Entertainment.
Divine Fantasy Game Platform placed great importance on chess and card games, using them as a key means to expand its user base. But as soon as Thunder Chess & Cards came out, Ding Xing was dumbfounded!
What the hell?
Ding Xing felt more wronged than Dou E. How did a clash between Chen Mo and Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment end up affecting him?
Chen Mo had actually used Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment’s homepage recommendation slot to promote a chess and card game?
And Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment actually went along with it and promoted it for him!
Wasn’t that like handing someone a hoe to dig up your own foundation?
Chen Mo was even giving away game pods through the tournament mode? Such a crude method!
The most infuriating part was that the players were actually buying it!
What the hell!
Ever since Thunder Chess & Cards launched, the daily active users of Divine Fantasy Chess & Cards had been dropping by tens of thousands each day. How could Ding Xing not be anxious?
Ding Xing was also baffled. This was clearly a matter between Chen Mo and Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment. He was just lying down and getting shot for no reason!
Ding Xing faced the same dilemma as Lin Chaoxu. He wanted to fight back, but how? The game itself didn’t even have a tournament mode!
Using a lottery to give away prizes? The effect was poor! If they were dragged into a money-burning war, it would only be like drinking poison to quench thirst or carrying firewood to put out a fire—treating the symptoms, not the root cause!
But even knowing it was drinking poison, he couldn’t afford not to do it. If he didn’t, the daily active users would plummet wildly, and before long, a massive number of Divine Fantasy Game Platform’s users would be lost.
With no other choice, Ding Xing gritted his teeth: “We’ll give away game pods too! And immediately, work overtime to develop the tournament mode!”
…
With this move, Chen Mo had completely stirred up the waters of the entire chess and card game industry. Countless designers were burning the midnight oil to develop tournament modes. If Chen Mo could collect resentment to level up, he’d probably jump three levels in a single week.
However, this turned into a carnival for the onlookers. Three or four chess and card games launched lottery events, and many people stopped doing anything else. They opened their phones and emulators, logged into multiple clients simultaneously, just to snag a chance at the lottery.
But even though they were logged into other chess and card games, they were just going through the motions, since those games used lotteries and didn’t require serious play. Only Thunder Chess & Cards used a tournament system, so players were all grinding for points and climbing the rankings within it.
…
Sunday.
The three chess and card games in Thunder Chess & Cards—Fight the Landlord, Mahjong, and Thunder Poker—all reached their final tournament tables. After over an hour of intense competition, the top three were decided for each table.
Chen Mo had been closely following the event, live-streaming the key moments of the tournaments on his Weibo. He also announced the winners and immediately called them to arrange shipping of the prizes.
After the final tournament tables ended, the buzz around the event intensified, and players became even more eager for subsequent matches.
“Watching the entire tournament through the live stream had me shaking. Damn, those final table players are monsters. I only just realized how many hidden chess and card experts are out there…”
“The competition was open and transparent, no tricks. I know two or three of the players—they’re old card buddies. Gotta give Chen Mo a thumbs up this time!”
“Seriously impressed. Chen Mo can even make chess and card games bloom. I guess some people are just number one at everything they do!”
“Other game designers are trembling, once again experiencing the fear of being dominated by Thunder Games…”
“I have to say, Chen Mo has so many clever ideas. I don’t usually play chess and card games, but he’s drawn me in. Even though I’ve been playing forever and haven’t even qualified for the finals, I still play every day.”
“After getting used to Thunder Chess & Cards, I can’t go back to other chess and card games. They’re all too crude! Thunder Chess & Cards has the best gaming experience of any chess and card game on the market, no contest!”
“Tell Imperial Dynasty Chess & Cards, I’m not going back…”
“+1 to the above.”
“And pass the word to Divine Fantasy Chess & Cards, I’m not going back either.”
“Everyone above, wait for me! I’ll join you guys after I finish this lottery draw!”
…
By the end of the first week, Thunder Chess & Cards’ user count had surged to 2.2 million. It took My Name is MT a whole month to reach that number, but Thunder Chess & Cards did it in a week.
The momentum continued to build. Chen Mo estimated that, if things went smoothly, Thunder Chess & Cards could bring over 8 million users to his Thunder Games Platform in a month, and maybe even 10 million.
What did 10 million users mean?
In League of Legends’ Season 1, the player count was around 1.4 million. By Season 2, it was roughly 11.5 million.
Ten million users was roughly on par with Dota 2 and Overwatch, just slightly below.
Of course, the active user count for chess and card games was inflated and had no comparison with MOBA games. More than half of it was fluff—there weren’t many core players. Most people just hopped on for a game or two and then left, not to return for ages.
Moreover, Thunder Chess & Cards’ active player count couldn’t compare to Tencent Chess & Cards’ 200 million users in the previous life. They weren’t even in the same league.
Still, it was pretty good for Chen Mo. At least with these users, it would be very advantageous for promoting future games.
Chen Mo didn’t plan to make a profit from chess and card games. Next, he intended to give away all the revenue from chess and cards, and even subsidize it with income from My Name is MT. He would continue hosting weekly tournaments and giving away game pods every week.
At the current rate, he was giving away about a million per month. Even adding the costs of renting servers and hiring a customer service team for the chess and card games, Chen Mo could still afford it.
Just like the ride-hailing app wars or the bike-sharing wars in the previous life, once you start burning money, you can’t stop. Chen Mo was in the challenger’s position now, and to poach users from other games, he had to go all out.
Besides, this was pocket change. Spending one or two million a month to buy this many users was well worth it in the long run.
…
Starting from the second week, Imperial Dynasty Chess & Cards and Divine Fantasy Chess & Cards also launched tournament modes, giving away prizes through them.
This move helped them win back some users, but it was ultimately just a defensive measure. Their scale was too large, and Thunder Chess & Cards offered a better user experience and was the first to introduce the tournament mode. So, without a doubt, in this money-burning war, Thunder Chess & Cards was the undisputed focus.
A tripartite balance had formed. The chess and card game field had originally been dominated by Imperial Dynasty Chess & Cards and Divine Fantasy Chess & Cards as the sole superpower and strong contender. But Thunder Chess & Cards’ aggressive entry snatched a large number of users from both games, making it the third major influential game.
As for the other chess and card games, they could only tremble in fear.