Chapter 275: New Channels, New Games
On November 3rd, just as everyone thought the channel war Chen Mo had ignited was over and he had emerged victorious, another piece of news stirred up new waves.
Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Divine Fantasy Game Platform announced a strategic partnership to share channel resources. Any game released on either platform would automatically go live on the other and also receive recommended placements.
Beyond that, over a dozen smaller channels also joined the alliance between Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Divine Fantasy Game Platform.
In other words, Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Divine Fantasy Game Platform took the lead, integrating all the resources of these smaller channels to establish a massive joint-operations platform.
Any game released on any of the above game platforms would simultaneously go live on the other platforms and might even receive an extremely powerful recommendation: the all-channel recommendation.
If a game was fortunate enough to receive this recommendation, it meant it would simultaneously get homepage placements on all the above game platforms. The promotional effect of this was nothing short of terrifying.
Originally, Thunder Game Platform was the third-largest game platform in the country, and its user base alone wasn’t completely crushed when compared to Emperor Dynasty Game Platform or Divine Fantasy Game Platform. But after these channel providers united to form a large joint-operations platform, the resource gap between the two sides widened dramatically.
Although neither Emperor Dynasty Entertainment nor Divine Fantasy Game Platform mentioned the words “Thunder Game Platform,” it was clear that this move was a counterattack. Faced with a powerful disruptor, these established channel providers had no choice but to band together to protect their own interests.
The situation became murky once again.
...
Emperor Dynasty Entertainment Headquarters.
In Lin Chaoxu’s office, all three S-level designers were present, a rare occurrence.
Qiu Jiang and Yan Zhenyuan sat on the long sofa, while Qin Xiao lounged on a single sofa to the side, his feet carelessly propped up on the coffee table in front of him.
Lin Chaoxu said, “You all know about the all-channel joint operations by now.”
Yan Zhenyuan nodded. “Yes.”
Qiu Jiang fiddled with her nails, looking bored. “With all this commotion, how could we not know?”
Lin Chaoxu nodded. “Mm, I called you all here for this matter. I’ll be direct. Right now, the all-channel joint operations are progressing smoothly. Ding Xing gritted his teeth and sacrificed a lot of benefits to make this cooperation happen, but overall, it’s a good thing for both us and Divine Fantasy Game Platform.”
“The most critical issue now is that we need a key game to show players and independent designers the immense power of this new platform.”
Qin Xiao perked up. “A new game?”
Lin Chaoxu nodded. “Yes. Ding Xing is also privately discussing with Liu Yuanfeng, hoping that Zen Entertainment can produce a competitive premium game as well. The same goes for us at Emperor Dynasty.”
“This time, we’ll release three to five new games and have them compete internally. The best two will receive the strongest all-channel recommendations. That means, aside from Thunder Game Platform, every other game platform will feature these two new games.”
Qin Xiao, Qiu Jiang, and Yan Zhenyuan listened attentively. Clearly, this was a great opportunity for them as well.
Lin Chaoxu continued, “The game we make this time must be a super hit—one that captures the largest possible player base.”
Qin Xiao thought for a moment. “What about the platform?”
Lin Chaoxu said, “No platform restrictions, but the game type definitely can’t be something simple like chess or card games. Pushing up player numbers with that kind of game would be meaningless.”
Qiu Jiang considered it. “So it should be an MMORPG, then. That’s my specialty.”
Qin Xiao said, “Not necessarily. FPS games also have a large player base in the country.”
Qiu Jiang shot him a glance. “But FPS games usually don’t go for VR or PMORPG markets. The real contenders are MMORPGs, especially with VR and PMORPG potential. Do you really think that’s likely?”
Lin Chaoxu asked Qiu Jiang, “What do you think? Does the MMORPG genre still have room to grow?”
Qiu Jiang paused for a moment before replying, “It’s hard to say. Based on the current operation of *Oracle of the Moon*, MMORPGs still have great potential. But if we want to create a game that can dominate the entire MMORPG market, it needs to meet at least two conditions.”
“First, comprehensive improvements in technical level, art quality, and so on. Second, major innovations in gameplay and world-building.”
“Given the current situation, there’s no way to make a full-scale leap in technology or art. So the only opportunity lies in gameplay and world-building.”
Qin Xiao cut in, “In other words, it’s hopeless. Because MMORPGs won’t see any major gameplay innovations in the short term, and as for world-building, nothing particularly impressive has come along either.”
Qiu Jiang rolled her eyes at him.
Lin Chaoxu said, “It’s fine, no need to rush. No one can say for sure what the next game will be that dominates the domestic market. You can think it over more broadly and not limit yourselves to MMORPGs. For example, a couple of days ago, I found a promising game prototype overseas.”
Lin Chaoxu pulled up a video on his laptop.
“What’s this? Isn’t that *Warcraft*?”
Qin Xiao, Qiu Jiang, and Yan Zhenyuan were all a bit surprised.
Lin Chaoxu shook his head. “No, it’s an RPG map inside *Warcraft* called COG: Clash of Gods.”
The three of them carefully watched the entire video from start to finish.
Lin Chaoxu said, “According to inside information, the creator of this map has decided to cooperate with GA to turn COG into a standalone game independent of *Warcraft*.”
Qin Xiao frowned. “GA? They’d take an interest in such a simple map? And one derived from *Warcraft* at that?”
It was no wonder Qin Xiao was puzzled.
GA was a very famous game developer, full name GeniusArt, ranking among the top three in Europe and America. It was a true industry giant.
From the video, COG was entirely an RPG map dependent on *Warcraft*, so its perspective was also a third-person god’s-eye view.
Moreover, the game’s content wasn’t rich. It was all about fighting on a single map over and over. The only thing worth praising was its relatively complex hero and equipment system.
Such a simple map could catch GA’s attention? That sounded incredibly far-fetched.