Chapter 94: A Flood of Cash-Grab Games!
Soon, more and more players noticed the game "Lifeline." On the Thunder Game Platform, reviews for this game began to pile up.
"A text adventure game? Damn, I thought Chen Mo was stuck in the cash-grab game loop, but he's back to making single-player games?"
"First cash-grab games, then card and board games, now a text adventure—when it comes to being all over the place, I only respect Chen Mo!"
"Man, 'Thunder Card & Board' only came out a week ago. This guy's output is like a sow giving birth!"
"One yuan is super cheap. Let's buy it first..."
"A real clearance sale, a real fire sale. No need to ask the price—everything's one yuan! One yuan, you can't lose; one yuan, you can't be cheated; one yuan, you can't buy anything. You're just a broke loser!"
"Whoa, the guy above me totally changed the tone. I almost thought you were a salesman hired by Chen Mo!"
"Has anyone tried it yet? Is it fun?"
"I played it, and it's really interesting! I won't spoil too much, but the immersion in this game is strong."
"How many people searched for '150 rads' like I did?"
"The story is amazing. Did Chen Mo write it himself? I just found out he's this good at storytelling. It's incredible."
"With all this talk, what's so addictive about a text adventure game? Have you guys never seen a good game? Forget it, I'm done talking—Taylor's calling me."
"Looking for a guide! Has anyone gotten the perfect ending?"
...
Soon, the download count for "Lifeline" began to skyrocket!
At this point, the popularity of "Thunder Card & Board" was still rising, with over a million people logging in daily. All of them would see "Lifeline."
"Lifeline" also maintained a very high rating, hovering around four and a half stars. This high rating attracted even more players to download it.
Moreover, the price of "Lifeline" was extremely cheap—just one yuan, almost like giving it away for free.
Many players also spontaneously promoted it through their friend circles and Weibo. Even "150 rads" became a trending search term on search engines.
Soon, the 24-hour sales figures for "Lifeline" came in: 39,874!
This number was more than double the 24-hour sales of "Plants vs. Zombies" and slightly lower than "Guardians of the Holy Spring," but not by much.
Of course, the main reason for this high sales figure was the low price. "Lifeline" only cost one yuan, ten times cheaper than those two games. In terms of revenue, "Lifeline's" monthly net income might only be around three to four hundred thousand yuan, far less than "Plants vs. Zombies."
Moreover, the long-term profitability and viral potential of this type of text adventure game would be much weaker, as it's a relatively niche genre.
But none of that mattered. For Chen Mo, the main significance of "Lifeline" was to test the promotional capabilities of the Thunder Game Platform. As it stood, the platform's ability to promote games seemed comparable to a mid-tier recommendation slot on the official app store.
At the very least, the Thunder Game Platform had gotten off to a good start. In such a hostile environment surrounded by strong competitors, attracting this many users in just over a week was nothing short of a miracle.
...
Lin Zhaoxu never expected that a mere homepage recommendation slot could be leveraged by Chen Mo into such a big deal.
He had originally thought Chen Mo would use the slot to promote "I Am MT." In that case, it would just net him an extra ten million or so in net profit, without causing too much damage to Di Chao Interactive Entertainment.
But when "Thunder Card & Board" came out, Lin Zhaoxu immediately realized that Chen Mo wasn't the kind of designer who settled for small gains. His ambition was far greater than anyone had imagined!
This young man, who had been in the industry for less than a year, had already launched four different types of games, all of which sold well!
The emergence of the Thunder Game Platform, in particular, made Chen Mo's intentions crystal clear.
But by this point, there wasn't much Lin Zhaoxu could do. The Thunder Game Platform already had a loyal user base.
Now, Chen Mo had money and users. The only thing he lacked was a key product.
Games like "I Am MT" made a lot of money but had poor reputations. Meanwhile, "Plants vs. Zombies" was ultimately a casual single-player game. In the eyes of many players and industry insiders, Chen Mo still hadn't proven himself as a top-tier designer based solely on these games.
It would take a few more months for this storm to fully settle, and many players and designers were eagerly awaiting Chen Mo's next move.
What was he going to do?
Would he keep making cash-grab games? Continue expanding his user base? Or develop other types of games?
No one knew what Chen Mo was thinking.
...
Over the next two months, the user count of the Thunder Game Platform steadily increased.
The user base of "Thunder Card & Board" gradually stabilized, with a cumulative total of nine million users and a daily active user count of over 2.7 million. It became the main product driving the expansion of the Thunder Game Platform.
Although the Thunder Game Platform still couldn't rival the status of the Di Chao Game Platform or the Shen Huan Game Platform, it had become a moderately influential game channel.
"I Am MT" continued to operate steadily. Although its monthly revenue had declined, Chen Mo still earned nearly ten million yuan in net income each month.
During this time, some changes also occurred in the gaming circle.
On the official app market and various channels, seven or eight card-based games appeared. These games covered various themes, including martial arts, xianxia, fantasy, and anime. Some had original IPs, while others were adaptations of popular novels or anime. But they all shared one common trait: their gameplay was heavily copied from "I Am MT."
From the battle system to the VIP monetization system and various tutorials, they were all basically borrowed from "I Am MT." Even if there were some tweaks, they were superficial and didn't dare touch the core of the system.
These designers hadn't fully figured out the profit model of "I Am MT" yet. They were afraid that if they changed a key setting, the game might not be a hit.
Even Di Chao Interactive Entertainment released a game called "Demon Slayer Calamity," adapted from a popular web novel of the same name. However, its core gameplay was extremely similar to "I Am MT."
There was no helping it. The features of "I Am MT"—from its battle presentation to its gameplay systems and profit model—were all too unique. Even if these imitation games tried to cover it up, players who had played "I Am MT" could spot it at a glance.
If they changed it so much that it was unrecognizable, they would essentially be creating a completely different game type and profit model, defeating the purpose of borrowing (or copying) from it.
These games appeared one after another within two to three weeks, all scrambling to be first, afraid of losing the advantage.
Soon, the players exploded.
One cash-grab game wasn't enough? You're all piling on now? Is there no end to this? Why do you have to follow Chen Mo's lead with all these shady tactics? Can't you learn something good?
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