Chapter 309: Holiday Arrangements
On February 13th, COG launched its beta test.
This test was a non-wipe beta, and for the test players, Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment had also introduced some special events, such as log-in rewards for skins, cards, and so on.
After all, these days, the promotional strategies of channel distributors were pretty much the same. If others gave out gifts and you didn't, players would definitely call you stingy.
Once the test began, the staff at Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment responsible for COG's operations were all nervously monitoring various data points and player reviews.
Given Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's channel capabilities, COG's active player count and day-one retention rate shouldn't be bad. Many people were hoping it could achieve better numbers than *League of Legends* and deliver a harsh blow to Chen Mo.
However, Jin Jieguang, the head of COG's project operations, had a faint sense of worry.
Because he had played *League of Legends*, and the words Chen Mo had said back then still echoed faintly in his mind. Compared to *League of Legends*, COG was a more complex game. After players had already experienced a simplified version, could they still smoothly pick up COG?
Only when the data came out would they know.
After the test started, players flooded in.
More and more reviews appeared.
What surprised Jin Jieguang a bit was that everyone's feedback seemed pretty good?
There were many five-star reviews, pulling COG's overall rating quite high, already reaching 8.8, which surpassed *League of Legends*' rating.
Picking a few popular high-rated reviews at random, they were all full of praise.
"Great! It almost perfectly recreates the gameplay of the original COG. I slaughtered the enemy players so badly they stayed at level 3 the whole time, trembling under their tower. Awesome!"
"I'm telling you, this jungle feels right. You can gank any lane you want, and it feels like there are so many noobs here. A lot of them can't even deny properly. Easy kills, so fun!"
"I think this truly captures the essence of COG. As for that certain League... you can't even pull off any plays, boring."
"I really miss the Dark Ranger! Controlling a bunch of little skeletons and jungle creeps to sweep through the jungle, killing anyone who comes! Too bad the name was changed and the model was swapped. It's a real shame they couldn't get the copyright."
"Not bad, pretty fun. It suits me as an RTS player. Simplified controls, more emphasis on team coordination, great!"
"Great art style! For this kind of game, you have to play the authentic Western fantasy version. That cartoon style of a certain League is just unplayable!"
There were also some negative reviews, but not many, and in Jin Jieguang's view, many of them were just mindless rants, like complaining about bad game experience or getting killed too much. They weren't really worth considering.
"Could Chen Mo have been wrong? Is COG's approach the right one? Is simplifying game content not that important?" Jin Jieguang couldn't help but feel puzzled.
He was still a bit uncertain, but based on the current active player count and player reviews, COG was performing quite well under Imperial Dynasty Interactive Entertainment's promotion. Although it was too early to say for sure before the specific data came out, most people felt it would be a game that could go head-to-head with *League of Legends*.
...
Chen Mo was indifferent to COG's launch.
He was currently in the studio arranging matters for *League of Legends*' Valentine's Day event and the new version update.
The list of people staying in the capital had been finalized. Including Chen Mo, there were ten people, enough to ensure the smooth running of the Valentine's Day event and the new version update.
In fact, the new version of *League of Legends* was already mostly developed. The content wasn't much—just five champions, an opening CG, and the ranked mode—but in Chen Mo's view, with this content, *League of Legends* would finally be considered initially complete.
According to the original plan, the Valentine's Day event would be updated on February 14th, featuring a new skin: [Heartseeker] Vayne, along with a special premade event: from February 14th to February 20th, a one-week period, players who completed a certain number of matches in a party each day would receive gold, an avatar border, and a 30-day trial skin reward.
In other words, as long as players logged in and played in a party for seven consecutive days, they would definitely receive an exclusive Valentine's Day avatar border and a 30-day [Heartseeker] Vayne trial card. Players could also upgrade the trial card to a permanent skin by paying the difference, which was 60% of the original price.
On February 16th, the first day of the Lunar New Year, *League of Legends* would undergo a version update.
Additionally, on the 21st and 22nd, a Battle Carnival event would be held. From 7 PM to 11 PM, all logged-in players would enjoy double gold and double experience. Furthermore, each player would have a 3% chance of receiving a random permanent skin upon winning a match. For each additional friend in the party, this probability would increase by 0.5%.
In other words, during this period, if a five-player party won a match, they would have a 5% chance of receiving a random permanent skin.
This combination of strategies had been planned by Chen Mo long before *League of Legends* launched, aimed at maximizing the use of the Spring Festival holiday window to give *League of Legends* a flying start.
Besides Chen Mo, nine people remained in the studio. Among the core staff, Qian Kun, Zheng Hongxi, and Zhao Yunting stayed, while the other six were regular employees.
Of these six regular employees, four were locals from the capital, and the others had brought their parents to the capital and settled them in hotels.
Chen Mo gave a few more instructions, including some points to note before and after the Spring Festival.
After the meeting, Zhao Yunting sneaked over to Chen Mo and said, "Um, boss, I'd like to take a day off tomorrow..."
"Huh? Tomorrow?" Chen Mo didn't react for a moment.
Zhao Yunting nodded. "Yeah, tomorrow is, you know, that holiday..."
"Oh, right, right." Chen Mo almost forgot. "Okay, no problem. Have fun."
"Thanks, boss!" Zhao Yunting left happily.
Zheng Hongxi also came over and said, "Boss, tomorrow..."
Chen Mo nodded. "No problem, you have the day off tomorrow."
"Thanks, boss!" Zheng Hongxi left happily too.
Chen Mo simply asked, "Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Who else needs to celebrate it? Anyone who does can take the day off automatically."
Most of the people cheered: "Thanks, boss!"
In the end, among the nine employees staying at the experience store, only Qian Kun and another guy didn't need to celebrate the holiday.
Chen Mo patted Qian Kun on the shoulder. "Hang in there. The version update tomorrow is up to you two."
Qian Kun put on a tragic expression. "I understand, boss. I'll do my duty as a single guy!"
Chen Mo nodded. Sure enough, when it came down to it, Qian Kun was reliable!
Suddenly, Qian Kun remembered something and asked, "Boss, you don't need to celebrate the holiday either, right?"
Chen Mo: "...Get out!"