Chapter 157: Remove the Pity System 7/17
Amidst overwhelming publicity, "Demon Slayer 2" officially launched!
In the early stages of its release, Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment spared no effort in promotion. The recommendation slot on the Imperial Dynasty game platform homepage was permanently occupied, and they even invited the original author of "Demon Slayer" to endorse the game.
As for advertising on major websites and offline channels, there was no need to mention it—they used every possible method. After all, Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment knew full well that card-based mobile games were like this: every extra user meant extra money. All the money spent on promotion would eventually be recouped many times over, so they held nothing back.
Industry insiders originally thought that Chen Mo, with his reputation for never taking a loss, would definitely stir up trouble. But he didn't. Chen Mo remained completely silent, not even posting a single Weibo update.
This greatly disappointed the onlookers who had been waiting for drama.
As "Demon Slayer 2" continued to gain popularity, various data points began to emerge.
In its first month online: 2.92 million active users, a 12% payment rate, an average revenue per paying user of 223 yuan, and a monthly revenue of 65 million yuan.
As soon as these numbers came out, the entire mobile game industry was shaken!
After this period of development, card-based mobile game designers in this world had basically figured out the numerical systems of such games, and they were highly sensitive to data like active users and payment rates.
In fact, many people had been pessimistic about "Demon Slayer 2" before. After all, the potential of the "Demon Slayer" IP had already been largely tapped by its predecessor. It was common for sequels to perform worse than the original.
But after seeing the rough data, there was no need to look at player reviews. Every card-based mobile game designer understood that "Demon Slayer 2" was a massive success.
Pushing monthly revenue to 65 million yuan in its first month was already impressive. If Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment continued to aggressively promote it, that number would surely rise.
Qiu Bin's prediction that the game's monthly revenue would reach 80 million yuan wasn't just empty boasting. Based on current trends, as long as "Demon Slayer 2" stabilized in the following months and no strong competitors emerged within two to three months, reaching 80 million yuan monthly revenue was highly likely.
For other card-based mobile game designers, this was both bad news and good news.
The bad news was that "Demon Slayer 2" would inevitably consume many card game players. During this period, other card games would have to avoid direct competition and might even see a drop in revenue.
The good news was that "Demon Slayer 2" proved that card-based mobile games still had potential for further development. Since this game pushed monthly revenue to 65 million yuan, it would be natural for subsequent card games to reach similar figures.
In the industry:
" 'Demon Slayer 2' has 65 million yuan in monthly revenue. It's going to dominate the charts again."
"How long will it hold the top spot on the mobile game bestseller list? Three months? Half a year?"
"I think at least three months. I played the game, and I have to admit it's impressive. Its quality surpasses all current card games on the market, and the art is top-notch. Qiu Bin really understands card games."
"Sigh, our revenue is going to drop again during this period."
"That's normal. When 'I Am MT' first became popular, everyone was trying to figure out if the model could be replicated, so no one invested too much. The quality of card games wasn't that great. But now that everyone sees how profitable card games are, big companies will want to monopolize the market. More high-quality games will appear."
"Yeah, we've been making easy money for over a year, and players are getting bored. It's time for a change."
"Anyone planning to make a card game now should play 'Demon Slayer 2' a lot and learn from its combat presentation and art style."
"At least we made a good amount of money before. Now, quickly, burn cash on art and music. We can't let 'Demon Slayer 2' dominate alone. We have to reclaim our market share!"
"Actually, we're not the worst off. The worst are the designers still developing other types of mobile games. They've been squeezed so hard by card games they don't even know what hit them."
"Nothing to be done. Design concepts have evolved. Everyone used to think mobile games were just casual games, but now they realize mobile games can be very profitable."
"Enough talk. I need to go back to studying my game and try to catch this wave."
...
With the launch of "Demon Slayer 2," the entire mobile game industry was stirred into turmoil.
Perhaps for players, it was just the release of a new game, but for designers, the signal was very clear.
After about a year of testing the waters, Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment had finally decided to swallow the entire card-based mobile game market.
It was foreseeable that after the huge success of "Demon Slayer 2," Imperial Dynasty would frantically increase investment, quickly reskin games, and use high-quality art, big IPs, and powerful channel promotion to rapidly produce several themed premium card games, monopolizing the entire market.
The dagger was finally revealed. Other card game designers had no choice but to seek innovation and change, significantly increasing their investment in game quality.
Suddenly, the once harmonious circle of card-based mobile games became fraught with deadly competition.
...
Chen Mo, on the other hand, felt no pressure at all. He was quite relaxed, watching the tigers fight from a distance.
The overall framework of "Onmyoji" was already complete. All that remained were some art resources and numerical adjustments, which would basically be finished in a week or two.
Qian Kun showed Chen Mo a spreadsheet. "Boss, the probabilities for drawing shikigami are ready. Take a look. If there's no problem, we'll finalize them."
Chen Mo looked at the spreadsheet.
This set of numbers was created by Qian Kun himself, and he had included a pity system.
For SSR shikigami like Great Tengu, Shuten Doji, and Arakawa, the probability was basically 0.1% each. For SR shikigami like Yuki-onna and Inugami, it was about 1% each. Some SR shikigami obtainable only through events, like Umibozu and Kuro Doji, had a 0.1% probability. Other R shikigami, like the Three-Tailed Fox, had about a 3.5% probability.
Overall, the total SSR probability was 1%, total SR probability was 24%, and total R probability was 75%.
The summoning mechanics and probabilities were all set by Chen Mo. Qian Kun had only assigned probabilities based on each shikigami's rarity to ensure the final summoning rates met Chen Mo's expectations.
Additionally, Qian Kun had written a pity system into the rules: if a player didn't draw an SR within 10 summons, they would be guaranteed one; if they didn't draw an SSR within 100 summons, they would be guaranteed one.
Chen Mo nodded. "It's mostly fine, but remove the pity system."
Qian Kun was startled. "Huh? Remove the pity system? Boss, are you sure?"
Chen Mo nodded. "I'm sure."