Chapter 576: Zou Zhuo's Flag
It wasn't that Zou Zhuo couldn't speak tactfully; rather, as a regular at the experience store, his relationship with Chen Mo went beyond just designer and player—it was more like a friendship at times.
It's like when a friend comes to your house, and you cook a meal. If your friend says your cooking is terrible, if you two aren't that close, it's picking a fight. But it could also be a sign of a close bond.
Among some buddies, the closer they are, the more they like to rib each other.
So Chen Mo often called Zou Zhuo "Fatty" in return.
Chen Mo smiled. "You played Honor of Kings? How was it?"
Zou Zhuo nodded. "Yeah, I played it. It felt way too easy, no challenge at all! I jumped in and killed eight or ten people like it was nothing, felt like playing against bots. I gotta say, compared to League of Legends, Honor of Kings is way too fast-paced. Sometimes it feels like a joke."
Chen Mo chuckled. "You're having fun killing people, but you're still not happy?"
Zou Zhuo shook his head. "I just think the game lacks challenge. There's no goal to aim for."
Chen Mo looked at him and said, "You never made it to the Challenger tier in League of Legends, right? You could try for it in Honor of Kings."
Zou Zhuo shook his head again. "Forget it. If I hit Challenger in League of Legends, I can brag about it. What's the point of hitting Challenger in Honor of Kings?"
"It's like if Happy Match had a ranked mode, and I hit Challenger and bragged about it—wouldn't people think I'm an idiot?"
Zou Zhuo continued, "And I noticed Honor of Kings has some deep money pits! You have to pay for runes, pay for heroes, pay for skins—everywhere you look, there's a cash grab. This is way worse than League of Legends! Boss, I gotta criticize you. You're already so rich, why do you care about squeezing a few bucks out of players? You could just make it completely free!"
Chen Mo laughed. "Completely free? Do you know how much money I'd lose?"
Zou Zhuo shook his head. "How much could you lose? At most, a few million a month? Damn, that is a lot... Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything."
Chen Mo chuckled. "A few million? I could actually give away a few million. Let's just say you're thinking too simply."
Zou Zhuo was speechless. "Alright, boss, keep bragging. It's just a mobile game. You think it's going to take off? I think it's not even as good as Onmyoji. You'll make a few million at most."
Chen Mo smiled. "No problem. I'll take note of the flag you've raised today. Don't look down on it now, but what if you reinstall Honor of Kings on your phone someday?"
"Reinstall Honor of Kings?" Zou Zhuo didn't believe it. "How could I possibly reinstall it? With League of Legends, why would I play a watered-down MOBA game?"
Chen Mo grinned. "Just say it—what happens if you reinstall it?"
Zou Zhuo shook his head like a rattle drum. "Impossible."
Chen Mo thought for a moment. "How about this: if you don't reinstall Honor of Kings within a month, I'll give you ten limited-edition League of Legends skins. But if you do reinstall it..."
"When the Dark Souls prequel comes out, you have to finish it. Deal?"
Zou Zhuo's eyes lit up. "Ten limited-edition League of Legends skins? Boss, you said it—you can't back out!"
Chen Mo laughed. "Am I the type to go back on my word? Besides, ten skins don't cost me a cent. Why wouldn't I give them?"
Zou Zhuo was thrilled. In his mind, not reinstalling Honor of Kings for a month was a piece of cake! And ten limited-edition skins... their value was hard to estimate!
In League of Legends, many limited-edition skins are only sold during special events. Once they expire, you can't buy them through normal channels—you can only get them through some ridiculously luck-based lottery events, with costs skyrocketing exponentially.
In other words, even if you calculated all those limited skins at their lowest prices, picking the most expensive ones, it would still cost at least 2000 yuan. If some were discontinued, the value of those ten limited skins would be incalculable.
Zou Zhuo was a die-hard League of Legends player. He wouldn't sell an account with those skins, but for veteran players, these skins are like collectibles—extremely precious.
As for the risk, it basically didn't exist.
Even in the worst-case scenario, he'd just have to finish the Dark Souls prequel.
After going through the painful early stages, Zou Zhuo had already beaten Dark Souls. Although he endured countless hardships and suffered a lot, he had still cleared it, so he was mentally prepared.
So, this seemed like a bet he absolutely couldn't lose. Chen Mo was practically handing over ten limited-edition skins!
Zou Zhuo grinned. "Deal! Boss, don't you dare back out!"
...
Zou Zhuo's thoughts could represent a large portion of League of Legends players.
Most players who had played League of Legends would have the same reaction when first trying Honor of Kings: "This is way too similar, isn't it?"
Strictly speaking, the gameplay experiences of the two games were very close, aside from some subtle differences.
And since League of Legends had more complex mechanics and richer content, many League players were initially repelled by Honor of Kings. They couldn't find challenge or a sense of achievement in it.
Of course, some players who could only reach Silver or Gold in League of Legends easily climbed to Diamond or higher in Honor of Kings. Most of these people would end up liking the game.
But what about those who were already good at League of Legends? They might actually reject Honor of Kings, not even bothering to climb the ranks or care about their skill level in it.
At its launch, Honor of Kings was just a niche game. To many players, it was like those shoddy MOBA mobile games on the market—a copycat and watered-down version of League of Legends.
Even though Honor of Kings was stamped with Chen Mo's brand, for many people, whether they played a game depended on its quality, not the designer's identity.
Of course, since Chen Mo himself was the designer of League of Legends, Honor of Kings didn't spark much controversy. Most players just said, "Ah, let Chen Mo make his money if he wants. We'll just ignore this game and wait patiently for his new work!"
In that sense, Honor of Kings in this parallel world didn't face as much criticism as it did in the previous world...
However, there was another group of players who had completely different experiences and feelings.