Chapter 167: Extremely Arrogant 17/17
The interview lasted about two hours. Han Lu had meticulously prepared a series of tactics, but Chen Mo dismantled them one by one. Not only that, Han Lu felt she was in danger of being led into a trap by Chen Mo instead.
In the end, Han Lu had nothing left to ask and stood up to take her leave.
“Thank you so much for your time today.”
Han Lu was also a bit puzzled. Although she hadn’t gotten anything out of him, why did this feeling of inevitability seem so natural?
Chen Mo stood up. “No need to be polite. I hope you can write this interview well, so the players can feel the love I have for them.”
Han Lu: “…Goodbye.”
After Han Lu left Chen Mo’s experience store, she roughly reviewed the notes she had jotted down.
Hmm, it looked like there was a lot of content, but in reality, there was nothing at all…
Still, this was probably to be expected. Han Lu suddenly realized she seemed to have become quite open-minded about it.
…
Three days later, the article was out.
This article basically faithfully recorded what Chen Mo had said during the interview. There was no artistic embellishment, nor any malicious distortion. Whatever Chen Mo said, Han Lu wrote down.
It wasn’t that Han Lu didn’t want to embellish it; there was just no way to do so!
What surprised Han Lu, though, was that the editor-in-chief was quite satisfied with the article. Soon, it was published on the Sky Network’s gaming channel under the title: “Interview with ‘Onmyoji’ Creator Chen Mo: Making Money Is Just a Side Thing.”
One passage read like this:
“When the interviewer asked if, as the country’s most profitable mobile game designer, he had a unique secret, Chen Mo replied: Actually, making games isn’t just about making money. Making money is just a side thing. Making games is about letting players feel joy, about creating value for society, about art, and a lot of the time, it’s about losing money.”
After this article was published, it naturally sparked a frenzy of player complaints. It was even forwarded to various forums and websites and widely reposted by many gaming media outlets.
“Here we go again! This damn journalist and Chen Mo are raping my intelligence together!”
“Damn it! If I believed that, I’d be an idiot!”
“‘Onmyoji’ is fairer? Are you kidding me?”
“Above, Chen Mo’s not wrong. In the end, it all comes down to luck. It’s pretty fair, lol.”
“Holy crap, 18 months of year-end bonus? Chen Mo is seriously loaded. Anyone know the recruitment number for Thunderbolt Interactive? I want to go sweep floors for Chen Mo!”
“Above, wasn’t that debunked? It was a quarterly bonus.”
“Seriously loaded! My mind is blown! How can this be!”
“Chen Mo, give me back my hard-earned money!!”
“Here we go again, making happiness with money! I’ve wanted to say this for a while: this guy is still a scammer at heart. Don’t be fooled by ‘Warcraft’ and ‘Tales of the Chivalrous’ being so generous; as soon as he makes mobile games, his true colors show!”
“Right, from now on, only play Chen Mo’s PC games. Boycott Chen Mo’s mobile games!”
“You two up there, think carefully. Are you trying to force Chen Mo to port that mobile game business model to PC?”
“Huh? It wouldn’t come to that, would it?”
“Stop talking! If he actually ports it, what will we do!”
“Damn it, making money is just a side thing? Side income of 200 million a month? I’m in awe. Can this guy not go a single day without showing off?”
“Side money maker, Silent?”
“Saying he’s losing money and we’re winning? Damn, I’m laughing out loud.”
“The king of showing off in the gaming circle has been born!”
…
Other designers were also stunned when they saw this interview.
“What the hell? Is this Chen Mo so arrogant?”
“What does he mean by ‘sincerely advising everyone that the card game mobile market is only this big and there’s no room for others’?”
“Damn, what a big mouth!”
“Does he really think ‘Onmyoji’ can dominate everything and that money can do whatever it wants?”
“I don’t accept this. I’m going to develop another card game mobile game right now!”
“Don’t, calm down. With ‘Onmyoji’s’ momentum right now, anyone who challenges it will die!”
“This is infuriating!! Chen Mo is way too cocky! Can’t someone take him down a notch!!”
“Who can take him down? Even ‘Demon Slayer 2’ has gone quiet!”
…
The entire mobile game circle was thrown into chaos by ‘Onmyoji,’ but Chen Mo was enjoying the peace.
Anyway, he’d just enjoy the feeling of making money while lying down.
One thing that bothered him, though, was that the experience store was getting busier and busier. Especially the first floor—many ‘Onmyoji’ players were traveling long distances just to come and pray to Shikigami for an SSR, causing the store to be constantly packed.
Moreover, Su Jinyu was acting as both an assistant and a receptionist, and she really couldn’t keep up.
Previously, Chen Mo’s idea was to maintain a small team focused on developing small to medium-sized games to accumulate funds. Small teams communicated more efficiently, and it was better for training the three assistants.
But with the success of ‘Warcraft’ and the massive popularity of ‘Onmyoji,’ Chen Mo increasingly felt the urgency of expanding his staff and improving the work environment.
After all, making Zheng Hongxi and Qian Kun work every day in an environment surrounded by players was a bit ridiculous.
And after the explosive expansion of ‘Onmyoji,’ Chen Mo now had a lot of money.
‘Warcraft’ had sold a total of 5.7 million copies so far, bringing Chen Mo total revenue of about 630 million. ‘Onmyoji’ was earning 260 million a month. These two were basically the main sources of Chen Mo’s income.
As for ‘Tales of the Chivalrous’ and the earlier games, the money they made was just pocket change. Chen Mo didn’t really care about them anymore.
Among these games, ‘Warcraft’ had the highest development cost. Including the later addition of full CG cutscenes, the cost was about 80 million. ‘Onmyoji’ was much cheaper, at less than 20 million. After deducting the promotion and distribution costs for these games, Chen Mo now had about 700 million in hand.
Of course, most of this money came from ‘Warcraft.’ ‘Warcraft’ was still doing well, with various RPG maps constantly being updated, so sales hadn’t shown a clear decline. Of course, sales would inevitably slow down over time.
After all, it was an RTS game with a naturally smaller player base, and Thunderbolt Interactive’s overseas influence was limited. Its promotion and distribution couldn’t reach the level of Blizzard in the previous life, so its revenue was lower than its quality warranted.
Fortunately, just as ‘Warcraft’s’ sales were declining, ‘Onmyoji’ was about to explode. Chen Mo estimated that ‘Onmyoji’s’ monthly revenue next month would be even higher, possibly reaching 500 to 600 million.
Chen Mo now had a lot of capital. The average development cost for a PC triple-A game was around $40 million. Just in terms of money, Chen Mo could already afford it.
As for VR games, the development cost was roughly ten times that of PC. Porting a triple-A game to a VR platform would cost at least $200 million, which was still very risky for Chen Mo.
By now, Chen Mo had relatively ample funds, and the three assistants had become quite well-rounded. It was time to consider further expansion.
Genius remembers this site’s address in one second: