Chapter 1075: New Functional Component (First Update)
The new promotional video gave the players another shot in the arm, and everyone watched as the sales figures for the Matrix Game Pod slowly crept toward the 20 million mark.
In truth, even if Chen Mo didn’t subsidize the costs or run these various promotional events, the Matrix Game Pod’s sales would eventually hit the 20 million target anyway. And this was just a milestone, far from the end.
Because this was the inevitable trend.
The rapid development of virtual reality technology and the continuous refinement of the virtual world would ultimately create an unprecedented, massive market.
But Chen Mo didn’t feel like waiting. Always passively letting the market expand on its own wasn’t his style.
As the sales numbers drew closer day by day, over at Thunderbolt Interactive, the various testing phases for *World of Warcraft* were also proceeding in an orderly manner.
At this stage, testing no longer required humans to do it personally. A large number of specialized AI strictly followed test cases to execute the testing process and automatically generated feedback. Then, Jarvis would automatically modify the game content based on that feedback…
Yeah, automated production was great.
However, although everything seemed to be going smoothly, concerns about *World of Warcraft*’s payment model—both within the project and outside it—had never disappeared.
Relying entirely on a time-based subscription fee seemed far too risky to many people.
Chen Mo remained unmoved, simply waiting patiently for the Matrix Game Pod’s sales to reach 20 million.
…
…
Online, the players were even more anxious than Chen Mo.
“So what’s the sales number now?”
“No idea, should be close, right? Last time Chen Mo announced it, it was already 19 million. Should be any day now?”
“Rich folks, hurry up and buy those game pods! The long march goal is almost in sight!”
“I feel like I’ve become a spiritual shareholder of Thunderbolt Interactive. What the hell does it have to do with me how many Matrix Game Pods are sold? I can’t even afford one, but here I am refreshing Weibo every day, waiting to see the latest sales numbers.”
“Spiritual shareholder 666. Same here. I can’t afford a pod, but I’m still waiting for *World of Warcraft* to come out so I can be a cloud player.”
“You guys are all just hyping it up. You made me spend half a year’s savings on one… But hey, I heard *World of Warcraft* isn’t that expensive to play, pretty cheap. Now I’m just waiting for it to launch!”
“It’s here, it’s here! Chen Mo posted a new Weibo! Announcing that *World of Warcraft* will officially launch in one week!”
“Finally! But why not tomorrow, why not now, but a week from now?”
“Go check it out! They need to update the Matrix Game Pod’s system, download the game resources, and buy a new functional component!”
“A new functional component???”
The players’ first reaction upon hearing this news was confusion. Why, after reaching the sales target, did they still have to wait a week to play?
After reading Chen Mo’s Weibo, the players were even more baffled: What kind of new trick was this? What the hell was this new functional component?
…
The first two sentences of Chen Mo’s new Weibo were the usual thanks to the players. After all, everyone had been so enthusiastic about buying, helping the Matrix Game Pod quickly reach the 20 million sales milestone—it was only right to express gratitude.
But the content that followed was the real highlight.
*World of Warcraft* would officially launch in one week. Before that, players needed to do some preparation.
First, players needed to activate their game eligibility. The specific method: purchase a 200 RMB prepaid card or a 500 RMB monthly subscription card on the Thunderbolt Game Platform, which would count as activating game eligibility.
Second, download the *World of Warcraft* client. Since *World of Warcraft* was different from typical AAA games, the client was very large, so players needed to download it in advance. If they felt their internet was too slow and didn’t want to download it, they could purchase the Collector’s Edition on the official website for 598 RMB. It included a physical disc, a limited-edition Frostmourne weapon pendant, an *Azeroth Universe Art Collection*, and two large prepaid cards’ worth of game time.
Third, to play *World of Warcraft*, players needed to purchase a new functional component themselves and install it in a specific slot on the Matrix Game Pod. Additionally, they needed to upgrade the pod’s system.
This new functional component wasn’t cheap—it cost 5,000 RMB.
The players were instantly baffled. Wasn’t this way too expensive? That was outrageous!
5,000 RMB could buy a phone or a computer, or two or three VR games. The Matrix Game Pod worked just fine—who would want to spend money on some random functional component?
The main thing was, this component wasn’t mandatory.
The official statement only said it was recommended, but it didn’t say you couldn’t play *World of Warcraft* without it.
So, what exactly was this new functional component for? Why was it so expensive?
The official explanation shocked many players: Only after installing this component could the game pod activate Sleep Mode!
The players rubbed their eyes, afraid they had misread.
“What the hell? Sleep Mode?!”
“Holy crap, you can play games while sleeping? Is that for real? Such an insane black technology?!”
“Check the specific parameters? Whoa, in sleep state, the time ratio is 1:2? Sleep for 5 hours, play in the game for 10 hours?!”
“No wonder it’s so expensive. Forget 5,000 RMB—even 50,000 would be worth it! Totally worth it!”
“This kind of black tech is being used for gaming?! What a waste of life! You could memorize so many English words or do so many practice problems with it! But… I love it!”
“Normal mode and sleep mode can’t play on the same server?”
“Duh, if they could, that would be insane! The time flow is different—how could you play together? You play 5 hours, it’s 5 hours; I play 5 hours, it’s 10 hours. That would be total chaos!”
“Doesn’t that mean you never have to worry about not having time to play games anymore? Even if you’re super busy, you can always guarantee 8 hours of sleep, right? So you’d have several hours of game time every day!”
“Not necessarily. Do you know what Los Angeles looks like at 4 a.m.?”
“Yeah, that’s when I just got home from work.”
“…Sorry for asking.”
At first, the players thought this thing was way too expensive. 5,000 RMB—would any idiot actually buy it?
But after reading the introduction for this new functional component, the players realized that 5,000 RMB was practically a giveaway. Who wouldn’t buy it? Only an idiot would skip it!
If you bought this thing, from then on, every single day of your life would permanently have an extra 10 hours of game time. Assuming you could play for 50 years, that meant it cost only 100 RMB per year?!
This thing directly solved the biggest headache for the vast majority of players—no more worrying about not having enough game time!