Chapter 1074: Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment CEO Clocking In on Weibo (Third Update)
With the collective efforts of all players, sales of the Matrix Gaming Pod continued to climb steadily.
Meanwhile, Chen Mo wasn't idle either.
Not that he was putting in hard work on game development—those tasks were all handled by Jarvis and the team below him.
Chen Mo was busy with another very important matter, which was...
Posting on Weibo.
"Great news! Sales of the Matrix Gaming Pod have sold another million units! One step closer to the arrival of the world of Azeroth!"
"For the Matrix Gaming Pods that were out of stock the day before yesterday, there's still a batch available on Jingxi. Students who want to buy, hurry up and grab one! Full restocking is expected the day after tomorrow, so don't worry if you missed out."
"Recently, many students have expressed concerns via private messages about me selling the Matrix Gaming Pod at a loss. I truly appreciate everyone's goodwill. If you really feel bad about it... how about checking out this week's special-priced games?"
"To give back to the vast number of players, in the next batch of 1 million Matrix Gaming Pods, we'll randomly select 100 lucky players to receive 'Bloodborne' for free play!"
"Don't want 'Bloodborne'? No problem! You can freely exchange it for the remastered versions of 'Dark Souls,' 'Silent Hill,' and 'Outlast'—plenty of choices!"
Players were stunned. You, the mighty CEO of Thunderbolt Interactive Entertainment, are on Weibo every day hawking stuff like a market stall auntie—does that even look right?!
It was exactly like a market stall auntie shouting, "Today's potatoes are big, round, and delicious, almost sold out, last basket!"
But what you're selling is the Matrix Gaming Pod, the world's most cutting-edge tech product, each one costing over a hundred thousand!
Over a hundred thousand each, and another million sold recently—multiply that...
Mom, I can't do the math! Poverty is limiting my imagination!
But soon, a player pointed out, "Right now, the Matrix Gaming Pod is being sold at a loss! A subsidy of ten thousand US dollars per unit, sixty thousand RMB!"
Then they did the math on the losses...
Forget it, still can't do the math. Poverty is still limiting my imagination!
There were even players genuinely worried that Chen Mo might go bankrupt from the losses, and then wouldn't 'World of Warcraft' be stillborn?
No way, absolutely not!
For love and justice, for the sake of world peace, I'm buying this!
We must make sure CEO Chen goes further and further down the path to bankruptcy—definitely not letting him off!
The 100 lucky players who were selected also expressed their frustration. Are these games they're giving away even meant for humans?!
Look at what these are: 'Bloodborne,' 'Dark Souls,' 'Silent Hill,' 'Outlast'...
It's either suffering games or horror games. They've dug up all the evil forces on the Thunderbolt Game Platform and are ready to give them away!
The thing is, even if it's free, you still take it. What a great chance to add +1 to your library, how could you waste it?
Many players thought, these games are pretty expensive anyway; they'd never buy them themselves. Only through lucky draws and giveaways would they end up in their game libraries. They'd just set them aside for now, not necessarily play them.
But some players, after getting them, still felt a bit curious and jumped into the games for a little experience.
Then those players said: "Emmm, sorry to bother you. Could you please get the hell out of my gaming pod right now?"
And so, Chen Mo and the players happily watched the Matrix Gaming Pod's sales keep rising, slowly working toward the goal of 20 million.
15 million.
16 million.
17 million.
It was pretty bizarre, really. Sales didn't see any rapid surges, but they maintained a steady pace.
At this point, Chen Mo posted on Weibo again.
"Congratulations! Cumulative sales of the Matrix Gaming Pod have reached 17 million! Sorry, I don't have any particularly impressive rewards this time. So, please enjoy the new trailer!"
Players all chimed in, "Yay, another cinematic to watch! Happy!"
Even though each CG was only two or three minutes long, the players ate it up!
With 20 million sales almost within reach, the speed was really astonishing. This was a luxury item priced at 150,000 per unit, yet selling faster than phones—what was going on...
Players had never been disappointed by the new games Chen Mo released, and that's why every promotional CG felt especially precious.
...
On the screen appeared the map of the world of Azeroth.
This map had appeared many times in the Azeroth universe, so players recognized it at first glance.
On the left was Kalimdor, on the right was the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Maelstrom in the center was the result of an explosion. They could even roughly name the locations of the major cities.
A low female voice narrated the background of the story.
"Four years have passed since the Horde and the Alliance joined forces to fight against the Burning Legion's invasion."
"Though the continent of Azeroth was saved, the fragile pact between the Horde and the Alliance has long since shattered."
"Now, the war drums thunder once again..."
Amid a blizzard of snow, a dwarf's face appeared on the screen.
It was a close-up of the face. The dwarf's large nose was striking, his brown beard covered in frost, and the fine wrinkles on his face were all clearly visible.
This effect already surpassed most big-budget films, and this was just one of the game's promotional trailers.
Aside from the 'Wrath of the Lich King' CG, Chen Mo hadn't invested as much effort into these CGs, but just using real-time rendering technology with some simple post-production, the effect was already indistinguishable from reality.
In the howling wind, a dwarf hunter raised his musket, accompanied by his pet—a brown bear—as he trudged across the snowy plains, heading toward Ironforge.
Against a grand background melody, the camera slowly pulled back. Ironforge, built into the mountains, looked like an impregnable fortress—a city that was itself a mountain.
Snowflakes drifted past the lens. In a quiet forest, a female night elf with long, pointed ears was looking down at a broken sword in her hands.
Suddenly, she heard the clash of weapons in the distance.
The night elf druid sprinted forward, leaping over mountain streams and crossing rivers. Suddenly, she jumped, a purple light shimmering over her body as she transformed into a black panther and plunged into the water.
Water splashed everywhere. The camera shifted again. An undead warlock chanted a terrifying spell, and behind him, a massive infernal let out a roar.
A tauren.
An orc warrior.
A human mage.
A series of intense, thrilling combat scenes. Different professions fought in different ways. At the end of the video, a tauren raised a totem high and slammed it down toward the camera!
The screen went black, and the game logo for 'World of Warcraft' appeared.
And in the center of the logo, the Earth-like world of Azeroth slowly rotated.