Chapter 780: A Year to Witness History
However, Chen Mo had no plans to launch World of Warcraft on a large scale.
One major reason was that maintaining this level of artistic quality across the entire world while achieving seamless map transitions was still quite difficult. In Uncharted, the full performance of the VR gaming pod was utilized to create a single small level, with loading screens cleverly hidden between levels to ensure consistent high-quality graphics. Building an entire Stormwind City, while seemingly massive, was still far from the scale of the entire World of Warcraft world.
If World of Warcraft were launched now, it would require a large team of developers, significant time and financial investment, and sacrifices in overall game quality, making it hard to maintain the current standard of Stormwind City. If that standard were forced, players would likely be tormented by loading screens everywhere.
So, Chen Mo planned to take it step by step.
The next target was Orgrimmar, followed by Ironforge...
He would assign a dedicated project team to create the various scenes in World of Warcraft, producing them in batches and stretching the development timeline. This way, the necessary art resources would be prepared in advance, and when technology improved later, these small maps could be pieced together, saving a lot of work.
For players, this process would also serve as a gradual buildup of excitement and a learning experience.
Strictly speaking, what Chen Mo was creating now wasn’t a game, but merely a scenic area for sightseeing. However, once the time was right, these scenes could be connected to form a complete world.
Of course, this step couldn’t be completed this year.
It was already mid-November, and the end of the year was fast approaching.
As a special Double Eleven event, Stormwind City could serve as a perfect conclusion to this year’s launch plans. Looking back, this year had been quite fruitful.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Uncharted, The Last of Us, and Beachfront Mansion had all made significant impacts worldwide. It was a year when Thunderbolt Interactive’s overseas influence had skyrocketed.
Of course, due to the various Double Eleven promotions, the losses were also unprecedented.
From around this time, foreign game review organizations and authoritative gaming websites would begin their annual game awards. Designers were generally wrapping up their year’s achievements and preparing for the next year.
Meanwhile, after going on a shopping spree during Double Eleven, players were not only immersed in their newly purchased games but also closely following the annual game reviews from major gaming media outlets.
Even some domestic players who usually didn’t pay attention were discussing it this year.
The reason was simple: they all hoped Chen Mo would sweep the foreign game review media and bring glory to domestic designers!
In the past, domestic game companies thrived but had little influence abroad. Major companies like Imperial Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Entertainment produced games that catered to domestic tastes and generated impressive annual revenues, but their works were often overlooked in international awards.
Production quality was one factor, player preferences another, and there was also the issue of accumulated experience.
As a result, the domestic gaming circle had long been semi-closed, forming a relatively isolated market environment. Domestic game manufacturers focused on self-production and self-sales, primarily satisfying local tastes. Even overseas versions mostly targeted Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. A few companies achieved decent results in Europe and America, usually in the mobile gaming sector.
In the VR gaming field, domestic players could only buy works from major Western studios, and domestic VR games struggled to enter the European and American markets.
But starting last year, Chen Mo began to break this status quo.
The success of League of Legends and Minecraft could be attributed to the victory of their genres. For example, League of Legends, as a PC game, didn’t align with the main focus of major studios, lacking some persuasiveness at the industry’s top tier.
However, after Chen Mo began releasing large-scale VR games, he started challenging the industry’s peak.
Especially when Dark Souls won Game of the Year amidst a host of major Western titles, it injected a strong dose of confidence into the domestic gaming industry and gave many domestic players hope.
And this year, Chen Mo’s achievements were set to expand even further.
Many players wondered: would this be the year Chen Mo ascended to godhood?
If not, it didn’t matter. Chen Mo was still young, with vast room for future growth. He had already created works on the level of The Last of Us, and he would only get better. Ascending to godhood was only a matter of time.
If so, then Chen Mo could challenge even higher realms, though his opponent might no longer be other companies, but himself.
Regardless, most players felt that witnessing Chen Mo’s genius-like rise was a matter of shared pride.
Before Chen Mo appeared, many players believed it might take twenty, fifty, or even more years for domestic designers to go global and conquer the world. But Chen Mo’s emergence shortened that timeline to within a decade.
So much so that many players still felt dazed—it was really fast!
A few years ago, everyone was playing and discussing the latest works from major Western studios. Now, the topics were:
Chen Mo’s released a new game!
Chen Mo’s new game is competing with a major Western studio’s release!
Chen Mo won again!
I’m buying it all!
Chen Mo lost money again, this time bleeding cash!
Foreign players felt the same. When Warcraft and Minecraft first gained traction abroad, and League of Legends dominated the PC market, many foreign players thought this company couldn’t handle large VR games. But now, all foreign players had to admit that Thunderbolt Interactive was reaching for the sky.
This year, Thunderbolt Interactive had launched three major games.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was on track to become the VR game with the most players worldwide.
Uncharted redefined the visual quality of top-tier VR games.
The Last of Us swept game review media across the globe, earning countless perfect scores and becoming an undisputed masterpiece.
Many players knew it well.
This year would be a year to witness history.