Chapter 262: A Single Stone Stirs a Thousand Ripples
Right now, the Thunder Game Platform had reached a turning point and was about to take a crucial step forward.
And what Chen Mo was about to do next would leave the entire gaming industry utterly stunned.
...
October 8th.
The first day after the National Day holiday, most people had yet to snap out of their sweet holiday dreams.
At noon, many office workers finished clearing up the leftover work from the previous week, hastily drafted their work plans for the week, and then began preparing to enjoy lunch and a nap to soothe their restless emotions on the first day back at work after the holiday.
During lunch, many people pulled out their phones, ready to play some mobile games as a pastime.
Then, they received a shocking piece of news.
This news spread throughout the gaming circle and among players within the very first moment.
On the homepage of the Thunder Game Platform, Chen Mo announced an extremely important message.
From that day forward, the Thunder Game Platform would become a comprehensive digital game distribution and social platform. Unlike before, it would now allow any independent game designer to publish games on the platform, provide them with promotional and recommendation services, offer them free user resources, and participate in profit sharing.
Of course, these games must first pass the review of the Game Committee and obtain a publishing license before they could be submitted for upload to the Thunder Game Platform.
In a nutshell, the Thunder Game Platform would no longer only sell games developed by Chen Mo himself. Instead, like the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform and the Divine Fantasy Game Platform, it would allow other designers to publish games and use the platform's resources to promote them.
And what was even more shocking was yet to come.
In terms of sales terms:
1. After developers release a game on the Thunder Game Platform, they can also sell it on other platforms, but the game cannot bypass the Thunder Game Platform for in-game monetization.
2. The Thunder Game Platform will offer designers some suggestions on pricing and marketing strategies, but the final decision rests with the designers themselves.
3. Regarding revenue sharing, the Thunder Game Platform will only take 10% to 30% of the net game revenue, with all other profits going to the designer. The specific split ratio depends on the game's quality. If the game is recognized as excellent, it could potentially achieve a 90-10 split (10% for the platform, 90% for the designer).
The first two points were nothing special; basically, other game platforms had the same rules.
Although there were some exclusive games abroad, overall, multi-channel game distribution was still the mainstream in the domestic market, especially for PC and mobile games.
As for marketing strategies, different game platforms had their own approaches. For example, when the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform and the Divine Fantasy Game Platform dealt with designers who had little bargaining power, they often forcefully demanded that the designers fully comply with their marketing strategies, sometimes even overexploiting the game's lifecycle to squeeze out maximum value.
On this point, Chen Mo's announcement was telling those designers that he would offer some guidance on marketing strategies but would never interfere with their decisions.
What shocked people the most was the third point, especially the exaggerated 90-10 split ratio.
Currently, the official domestic app store had a 80-20 split, with 20% of game profits taken for the daily operations and various tasks of the Game Committee. That was already an extremely low number.
General game channel providers often adopted a 50-50 split strategy. For example, on the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform, only very outstanding games could achieve a 50-50 split. Some new designers, if their products weren't particularly strong, might only get 10% to 20% of the revenue when placed on the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform, with 80% taken by the platform itself.
Of course, for designers, since the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform controlled a massive player base, even with 80% of the revenue taken, the game's profits were still considerable.
Thus, channel providers still held significant influence in the gaming industry. Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's R&D capabilities were almost on par with Zen Interactive Entertainment, yet it could suppress Zen Interactive Entertainment for a long time, precisely because of the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform, its trump card.
And the split strategy Chen Mo had set was essentially flipping the table, a blatant violation of the gaming industry's unspoken rules.
According to Chen Mo's split strategy, the Thunder Game Platform would take at most 30% of the game revenue. If the game was excellent, this ratio could even drop to 10%.
This would be a huge temptation for some new game designers.
Because the Thunder Game Platform was already the third-largest game platform in the country, controlling a vast amount of user resources, its ability to promote games was undoubtedly strong.
And the ultra-low split ratio could allow these new designers to double or triple their earnings, which was far better than what the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform offered.
(Of course, the official game market's split was also very low, but because there were too many games and the promotion mechanism was cumbersome, new games had to climb up from the lowest recommendation slots step by step, so the promotional effect wasn't good.)
...
A single stone stirs a thousand ripples.
Whether players, designers, or major channel providers, everyone was hotly discussing this matter.
A designer's chat group.
"Have you heard? Chen Mo's Thunder Game Platform is opening up; you can freely upload new games to his platform now!"
"I've heard, and the split is really low, at most only 30%!"
"This is definitely good news for us! I'm planning to release my new game on the Thunder Game Platform to test the waters."
"Be careful not to get scammed."
"No way, the Thunder Game Platform is already the third-largest game platform in the country, and Chen Mo has clearly stated it's non-exclusive, won't interfere with marketing and pricing strategies, and takes at most 30%. This is posted right on the platform's homepage, seen by countless people. How could he go back on his word?"
"Yeah, the Thunder Game Platform has developed so well in recent years; it's already a very influential major platform in the country."
"It's really a good opportunity. For struggling independent game designers like us, we can earn a bit more to support our families."
"But what exactly is Chen Mo thinking? With such a low split ratio, setting aside whether he makes money or not, isn't this basically slapping the Imperial Dynasty Game Platform and the Divine Fantasy Game Platform in the face?"
"Yeah, isn't the unspoken rule among domestic channel providers a maximum 50-50 split? Chen Mo directly drops it to 70-30. Isn't that clearly stirring up trouble?"
"This time, Chen Mo is going to offend a lot of people."
"Yeah, even though he's had issues with Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment before, he was still a designer, a developer. But now, pulling this stunt as a channel provider is practically smashing the rice bowls of all channel providers!"
"I think Chen Mo has big ambitions. He might be trying to turn the Thunder Game Platform into the largest game channel in the country. This is a full-on price war!"
A genius remembers this site's address in one second: