Chapter 104: Always Imitated, Never Surpassed
Just seeing these line drafts was enough to get everyone's enthusiasm running high. Especially when they thought about how the world of Azeroth was about to be turned into an RPG game, everyone was extremely excited.
Wen Lingwei and Jia Peng and the others had never considered that Chen Mo might actually be making an RTS. After all, RTS games were dominated by foreign developers; domestic companies simply couldn't compete. Everyone felt that for Chen Mo, making an RPG was the safest choice.
Wen Lingwei suddenly remembered something and said to Chen Mo, "Oh, by the way, boss, have you been keeping an eye on Zen Entertainment's new game?"
Chen Mo shook his head. "No, what new game?"
Wen Lingwei said, "It's called something like 'Seven Heroes Chronicles.' It's a wuxia-themed large-scale RPG for PC."
Zheng Hongxi chimed in, "Oh, that one. I've been following it. It seems like they're opening up closed beta invites today, and the open beta will be in about two months."
Chen Mo became a bit interested. "Really? What type is it? Tell me more."
Zheng Hongxi said, "I watched the overview trailer. Basically, it's just a reskin of 'Sword Legend.' They swapped the xianxia theme for a wuxia one."
Jia Peng said, "Huh? They can do that? Zen Entertainment is really cutting corners."
Zheng Hongxi said, "It's not exactly cutting corners. Since 'Sword Legend' was so successful, messing with the gameplay might ruin the game. For them to reskin their own game like this is actually a pretty safe approach."
Chen Mo nodded. In fact, this was very common in his previous life too. Once a game became successful, most companies didn't have the guts to make major changes. Innovation wasn't easy, and it could even ruin the original appeal. So, reskinning your own game was actually a safer method. Swap the xianxia theme for a wuxia one, redo the content, packaging, classes, combat system, and everything else, but keep the core gameplay unchanged. That minimized the risk of failure.
Qian Kun said, "Looks like it's probably a test run. If it succeeds on PC, they'll develop a VR version. That's the usual routine."
Zheng Hongxi said, "The PC version should succeed, no doubt about it. After all, domestically, the gameplay of 'Sword Legend' is still top-tier."
As they were talking, Su Jinyu suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Hey? Everyone, check Weibo! Imperial Dynasty Entertainment's official account! They're releasing a new game too!"
Everyone pulled out their phones and opened Weibo. Sure enough, Imperial Dynasty Entertainment's official Weibo had just posted a new game announcement!
After "I Am MT," Chen Mo had developed "Thunder Chess & Cards" and "Lifeline." The development period was over a month, plus the time to accumulate players, conduct research, and do preliminary preparations. By now, nearly four months had passed.
Obviously, Imperial Dynasty Entertainment hadn't been idle during this time either.
Imperial Dynasty Entertainment's official Weibo: "The new game 'Ayn World' is about to enter closed beta! Pre-registration is in full swing! A grand world background, rich race settings, bringing you a different role-playing experience!"
Below the post were several concept artworks: a human knight, an orc warrior, an elven archer, and some scene illustrations. The overall feel was classic Western fantasy.
Zheng Hongxi was stunned. "What the hell is this? Why would Imperial Dynasty suddenly want to make a Western fantasy game?"
Wen Lingwei quipped, "And 'Ayn World'? That name is a knockoff of Azeroth, isn't it?"
Su Jinyu asked, "Boss, what do you think?"
Chen Mo chuckled. "What's there to think? Western fantasy as a genre is basically dead in the domestic market. Imperial Dynasty and Zen both used to treat it as a forbidden zone. Now they suddenly decide to make a Western fantasy game with a completely original world setting? Obviously..."
Zheng Hongxi finished his thought, "They want to copy Azeroth."
Chen Mo smiled and nodded. "Exactly."
Jia Peng said indignantly, "Wow, Imperial Dynasty is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's like every game the boss makes, they copy one. How can such a big company have no shame?"
Wen Lingwei added, "They're even copying games that haven't been released yet."
Chen Mo smiled. "Don't worry. They've copied so many things. Has any of them surpassed the original?"
Su Jinyu said, "Then, boss, we can't just ignore this, can we? This kind of world-setting plagiarism should be something we can sue them for, right?"
Chen Mo said, "But they've changed things. Look, this game is clearly based on classic Western fantasy settings. They're just 'borrowing' some ideas from the Azeroth universe, and they don't even dare to borrow too much."
Su Jinyu was still unconvinced. "Then, boss, are we just going to do nothing?"
Chen Mo shook his head. "How could that be? Do I look like someone who takes a loss? Come on, Goldfish, bring me my phone."
Su Jinyu was taken aback. "Huh?"
Chen Mo secretly pointed to the table next to him. "It's over there."
Su Jinyu was speechless. "Boss, you drama queen. It's only two steps away. You could get it yourself. You're acting like an emperor."
Even so, Su Jinyu walked over, picked up the phone, and handed it to him.
Everyone was curious. What was Chen Mo up to? Was he going to stir up trouble again?
Chen Mo posted a Weibo update with just one image: a concept design draft of Arthas.
He thought for a moment and added a caption: "Always imitated, never surpassed."
This post came out almost back-to-back with Imperial Dynasty Entertainment's post, with less than five minutes difference.
As soon as this post appeared, the netizens were stunned!
Originally, these people had seen Imperial Dynasty's post and were rolling up their sleeves, grabbing their little stools, ready to start flaming. But then they saw Chen Mo's post, and who cared about Imperial Dynasty's anymore?
Although Chen Mo's Weibo only had one line draft and one sentence, the amount of information was enormous!
In the Azeroth universe, there were over a dozen entries related to Arthas. Everyone knew he was a key figure in the entire Azeroth universe, and many netizens were already familiar with some of Arthas's deeds.
Moreover, even if they didn't know who Arthas was, just looking at the line draft was enough to feel how awesome it was!
Look at the design, the expression, the setting, paired with the cool skeletal horse and Frostmourne. In two words: freaking awesome!
Compared to this line draft, the beautifully polished concept art for "Ayn World" looked like a heavily made-up little girl, like the ugly imitation of a beauty. No matter how hard they tried to apply makeup, Chen Mo's line draft completely obliterated them!
Instead, it just reeked of cheap imitation.
And on top of that, Chen Mo had to add that caption: "Always imitated, never surpassed."
Yeah, that line was just too damn perfect!
"Plants vs. Zombies," "I Am MT," "Thunder Chess & Cards"—no matter the theme or genre, whether it was generous or a cash grab, basically every time Chen Mo made a game, other designers would swarm like flies to copy it. The onlookers were getting sick of it!
And now Imperial Dynasty was even copying the Azeroth universe? They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel of shamelessness!
But looking at Chen Mo's games, it was true: never surpassed! No matter how much these people copied, Chen Mo's next game would still beat them down!