# Chapter 219: Revenue
Many designers in the industry were closely watching the expansion pack "Reaper of Souls."
Everyone could see the decline that "Diablo" was showing. Although both players and designers were thinking about how to reverse this trend and extend the vitality of this quality game, no consensus had been reached.
Some players or designers had offered suggestions, but they were quickly shot down by other players. These suggestions would more or less change the original characteristics of "Diablo," or further drain its vitality, causing it to cool off even faster.
"Diablo" was a game whose core fun came from grinding and looting, but this kind of unlimited grinding could easily become tiresome.
In the eyes of many designers, this was a vicious cycle. If you wanted to solve this problem, you would definitely have to change the grind-and-loot gameplay model, but doing so would inevitably reduce the game's core fun.
Fun and flaws seemed like two sides of the same coin, making improvement very difficult.
But what no one expected was that Chen Mo adopted an approach no one had thought of—taking the path all the way to the end and continuing to strengthen this grind-and-loot gameplay.
You think grinding is annoying?
Fine, I'll use various means to keep stimulating you to grind. How about now? Still annoyed?
Many players found that, on the contrary, they weren't annoyed anymore, and it actually felt great!
It was like exposure therapy. Although the game seemed to become even more grind-heavy when seasons, leaderboards, and other activities were introduced, everyone was enjoying it.
Some gaming media even did a special review of "Reaper of Souls," comprehensively analyzing how it managed to save the endgame of "Diablo."
"As a player who had grown tired of 'Diablo,' I found it hard to imagine that 'Reaper of Souls' would be such a comprehensive turning point."
"First, it enriched the game's content."
"The expansion's dark and desolate scenes inherit 'Diablo's' consistent style. Mountains of corpses, citizens fleeing in panic, evil spirits everywhere, possessing every living creature. This atmosphere is maintained until the very end, and you can clearly feel that this world is calling out to you."
"The most satisfying part is that Chen Mo arranged a showdown between the protagonist and Adria in the storyline. This disgusting old hag deserves to be killed a hundred times, no, a thousand times!"
"Even more surprising is the Nephalem Rift system. Different maps and environments are randomly combined, turning every journey through the portal into a wild and passionate dream."
"When you kill the final boss, equipment falls like snowflakes, and almost every time, a legendary item drops. Chen Mo created a very simple but effective system: log in, kill the boss, get rewards, log out. This allows players to skip those tedious steps and directly enjoy the thrill of grinding and looting."
"In fact, Chen Mo used this expansion to tell us that 'Diablo's' true core competitiveness is grinding and looting. Chen Mo used a series of new gameplay mechanics that fit 'Diablo's' characteristics to save this game."
"Pros of this work: dark atmosphere, adventure mode, lasting sense of achievement, diverse visual effects."
"If you like grind-and-loot games, then without a doubt, 'Diablo: Reaper of Souls' will be your best choice."
...
The "Diablo" expansion "Reaper of Souls" completely completed the game, allowing it to gain longer-lasting vitality, thereby establishing "Diablo's" foundational position in the "grind-and-loot game" genre.
Its unique style and distinctive features also became a typical branch of RPG games, repeatedly studied by many later designers.
The designer most inspired by "Reaper of Souls" was probably Yan Zhenyuan.
After he had finalized the endgame gameplay for his new project and even started preparing specific design plans, "Reaper of Souls" arrived belatedly.
After deeply analyzing the characteristics of the "Reaper of Souls" expansion, Yan Zhenyuan spent three days making major changes to some already-formed game designs.
Although this caused some parts to be scrapped and redone, objectively increasing a lot of work, Yan Zhenyuan knew it was worth it.
After seeing how "Reaper of Souls" solved the problem of "Diablo's" boring endgame, Yan Zhenyuan also recognized the issues with his previous plans.
Originally, Yan Zhenyuan planned to solve this problem by adding online game mechanics and extending playtime. But now it seemed that while this approach could alleviate the endgame fatigue to some extent, it would damage the game's inherent characteristics.
Chen Mo's solution, on the other hand, turned out to be the best option currently available.
Of course, the design philosophy for VR differed from PC. As an S-class designer, Yan Zhenyuan certainly wouldn't copy everything wholesale. However, he still gained some inspiration from it and developed a new respect for Chen Mo.
"This guy... isn't simple."
...
The greatest significance of "Diablo" wasn't just paving the way for future RPG development; more importantly, it served as a test in many aspects.
Testing players' acceptance of the third-person perspective.
Testing players' acceptance of dark, occult styles.
Testing players' tolerance for grind-heavy gameplay.
And the release of "Don't Starve" tested players' love for sandbox games.
Each of these points could be expanded into many different game genres and would guide Chen Mo's future development plans.
With the great success of "Reaper of Souls," Chen Mo's funds were unprecedentedly abundant.
"Diablo" had sold 9.8 million copies worldwide. Although far from Blizzard's 30 million copies in the previous life, it was still a very commendable achievement.
"Reaper of Souls" had not yet been released overseas. Domestically, it had already sold over 2.9 million copies, and almost all players who bought "Diablo" were considering buying this expansion.
(Players in this world's domestic market finally got to experience the thrill of having a major game version lead the global release.)
"Don't Starve" sold 4.35 million copies domestically. Although this sales figure couldn't compare to the previous life, in this parallel world, a sandbox game with such a small investment achieving this sales volume was nothing short of a miracle.
Both games were huge successes, accumulating a lot of popularity for Chen Mo while also bringing him massive revenue.
Originally, Chen Mo had about 700 million in development funds. The development cost for "Diablo" was relatively high, including the "Reaper of Souls" expansion, costing nearly 200 million. In comparison, the development cost of "Don't Starve" was just a drop in the bucket.
After all, this kind of quality game was incredibly expensive.
Fortunately, "Diablo" also performed well in the international market. So far, Chen Mo's revenue was as follows:
"Diablo" domestic version revenue: 340 million.
"Diablo" international version revenue: 1.23 billion.
"Don't Starve" domestic revenue: 61 million.
"Reaper of Souls" domestic version revenue: 236 million.
Of course, during this period, "Onmyoji" and "Warcraft" were still continuously providing Chen Mo with income.
After all this effort, Chen Mo's development funds finally achieved a key growth, breaking through the 3 billion mark.
# Chapter 220: Chen Mo in Slacker Mode
On the second floor of the experience store, Chen Mo was happily basking in the sun on the balcony.
He was comfortably reclining in a lounge chair, wearing sunglasses and drinking an iced beverage, as relaxed as if he were on vacation in Hawaii.
Although the temperature outside wasn't high, the indoor area was quite warm under direct sunlight. Closing his eyes, he could imagine scenes of sunshine and beaches.
But this pleasant atmosphere was soon broken.
"Store manager, you're slacking off during work hours again! Didn't you say you'd have the concept draft for the new game written within this week?" Su Jinyu said, hands on her hips, somewhat frustrated.
With the release of "Reaper of Souls," all development plans for "Diablo" had been finalized. And because of "Don't Starve's" inherent game characteristics, it didn't require too frequent version updates. So Chen Mo very naturally entered slacker mode, eating and drinking and sunbathing every day, barely even wanting to turn over.
As for the company's daily operations, game maintenance, balance adjustments, and so on, these were now handled by dedicated personnel. Chen Mo only needed to break up the work he originally handled and assign it to others to be completely free.
"Ah, being the boss is great," Chen Mo sighed.
Su Jinyu: "...Store manager, get up and write the concept draft!"
Chen Mo said, "Hey, Goldfish, you've been with me for so long. Don't you understand? Let me ask you, what's the most important thing in making games?"
Su Jinyu was stunned: "Uh... execution, and, inspiration?"
Chen Mo nodded: "Not bad, you're improving. So, where does inspiration come from?"
Su Jinyu was confused: "Inspiration... where does it come from? It just naturally pops into your head."
Chen Mo shook his head repeatedly: "No, no, no. Inspiration comes from relaxation. If you force yourself to be busy like a dog every day, how can inspiration come? I need rest. Emptying my mind every day and not thinking about anything—that's when inspiration arrives."
Su Jinyu said, "Uh, so you mean we have to wait for inspiration to come before we can start work?"
Chen Mo nodded: "Of course. You have to remember, the most important thing in making games is having the right direction. If the direction is wrong, no matter how much work you do, it's all wasted effort. So you coming to rush me now is actually counterproductive."
Su Jinyu said, "Oh, then I won't disturb you. Store manager, take your time accumulating inspiration."
After tricking Su Jinyu into leaving, Chen Mo continued lying happily on the balcony.
Actually, he wasn't accumulating inspiration at all. He was just being lazy and didn't want to work.
After repeatedly confirming the balance in the company account, Chen Mo suddenly realized that he was far richer than he had imagined.
"Should I consider buying a bigger experience store? And a bigger house too."
"Hmm, with a house, I'd need to get a wife, and then have kids. Would it be a boy or a girl?"
"The cost of baby formula isn't a problem, but the key is schooling. Would I need to buy a school district house? I could afford one, but the household registration is a big issue."
"Ah, forget it. If I can't get the registration, I'll just send the kid abroad. I wonder if the kid could adapt to being alone in a foreign country."
Fortunately, these thoughts were all in Chen Mo's head and no one else knew about them. Otherwise, someone would surely remind him that all the above premises required having a girlfriend first.
If the players found out, they would definitely say: "Whether you get married or not doesn't matter. Whether you have kids or not doesn't matter. Even if you stay single your whole life, it doesn't matter. The key is... get the hell back to developing new games!"
That's just how it was—cold and indifferent.
Actually, Chen Mo wasn't a person without desires or ambitions. It's just that for him, the joy of making games surpassed everything else. That was his nature.
When it came to making games, Chen Mo could be considered a workaholic. This kind of slacker state rarely appeared.
Moreover, making games was different from other jobs. It required timely listening to player feedback, responding to market changes, and making timely adjustments to the game. So once work started, it was hard to stop midway. Only during the stable operation period after a game was released could some free time be squeezed out.
This also meant Chen Mo was always busy.
Chen Mo calmed down and thought about it. By a twist of fate, his development plan had indeed deviated slightly from the original route.
Earlier, he told Zhuo Yao that he would develop a super blockbuster game that could revive the PC platform within two years. That was almost three years ago, and it still hadn't been put on the development schedule.
On the contrary, the progress on VR games had advanced quite a bit. Chen Mo originally thought it would take at least five years to develop VR games, but unexpectedly, he could now touch the threshold of VR game development.
Of course, these slight deviations weren't critical. Everything was still within Chen Mo's plan.
Currently, given Chen Mo's fame and funds, this experience store was already too small. He had enough money to move to a larger storefront and properly build up his storefront image.
However, considering that the upcoming game development schedule was still tight and moving was very troublesome, Chen Mo set the relocation time for August or September of next year.
Before that, Chen Mo had his assistant Lin Xiao scout out the location for the new experience store, considering all aspects and submitting a complete written report.
After all, this change of experience store was a big deal. Chen Mo was prepared to not move again for the next five to ten years, so it had to be done right in one go. He absolutely couldn't move in and then find it unsuitable shortly after.
Next, it was time to continue spending money to upgrade his abilities.
Speaking of which, as a time traveler, Chen Mo often forgot that he had a system.
Mainly because this system was too expensive. Chen Mo, who was naturally frugal, always forgot about its existence.
Besides, developing games and buying new stores also required a lot of money. Chen Mo didn't want to pour too much money into the system, always adhering to the philosophy of "just enough is fine."
He opened the virtual wristband.
The current price was 100,000 yuan per draw. The prizes that could be drawn included many possibilities: design-related (numerical, story, professional knowledge), presentation-related (art, music, CG), and item-related (consumable, permanent).
Chen Mo had just entered the second stage. Strictly speaking, he needed everything in there.
Chen Mo thought about it. Let's start with something small. Charge it up with 10 million.
Considering his frequent bouts of non-bloodline luck, it was better to restrain his spending impulse a bit. After all, this should be the most expensive gacha system in the world, bar none.