Chapter 783: Experience Stores Expanded Nationwide
After the news about Thunder Interactive Entertainment’s new headquarters was finalized, players took a moment to think it over and agreed that a change was indeed necessary.
For one thing, just look at the domestic competition: Emperor Dynasty Interactive Entertainment and Zen Interactive Entertainment had both built their headquarters to be more and more impressive. Thunder Interactive Entertainment now surpassed both in revenue, influence, and appeal, so continuing to use that small experience store no longer felt appropriate.
Although many local players felt reluctant to see it go, the truth was that moving wouldn’t put it that far away. The new experience store would still be directly accessible by subway, and all the equipment in the experience zone would be upgraded. The insane queues that used to form would likely become a thing of the past. Add in the highly anticipated themed zones, and the prospect was genuinely exciting.
Moreover, the new headquarters wasn’t just office space plus an experience zone. Like many Fortune 500 corporate headquarters, it would include a variety of comprehensive service facilities.
For example, in the employee office area, beyond the various offices and meeting rooms, there would be dedicated employee cafeterias, fitness centers, living centers, and parking lots. There would even be an indoor sports arena.
In the visitor area, there would be themed restaurants, observation decks, larger holographic projection viewing zones, original game art exhibitions, game character archives, and a wealth of other engaging attractions. Even an ordinary corridor might be filled with the developers’ quirky humor and Easter eggs.
Chen Mo had also reserved a portion of the space for a future esports venue. Perhaps in the near future, competitive games like *League of Legends* and *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds* would have a brand-new competition arena at Thunder Interactive Entertainment’s headquarters, where players could come to watch matches.
These new features were completely absent from the old experience store. So, the mindset of players in the capital had shifted from initial confusion to excitement and anticipation.
They couldn’t wait to see what the new experience store would look like when it was completed next year!
……
While players in the capital were buzzing with anticipation, players in other cities also received news that made them cheer with joy.
Thunder Interactive Entertainment would build experience stores in twenty first-tier cities across the country. By then, players in places like Magic City, Sichuan-Chongqing, and Suzhou-Hangzhou would be able to visit these stores to try out Thunder Interactive Entertainment’s new games.
Of course, covering more cities than that wasn’t feasible. After all, experience stores primarily served a promotional purpose, with profitability essentially negligible. It was impossible to blanket every town and county nationwide.
Still, players were overjoyed at the prospect of Thunder Interactive Entertainment opening experience stores in these first-tier cities. Finally, they wouldn’t have to travel all the way to the capital by high-speed rail just to try out new games.
Each city’s experience store would be staffed by dedicated Thunder Interactive Entertainment employees, all committed to providing players with the best possible trial experience. These stores were expected to be fully operational by next year, and by then, Thunder Interactive Entertainment’s influence would radiate even further across the country.
……
Beyond the new headquarters, more experience stores, and the annual game awards, Chen Mo was also considering other matters.
He wanted to host a game design competition under the official banner of Thunder Interactive Entertainment.
In truth, there were already many game design competitions in the country. For instance, Chen Mo’s very first experience store had been won through a game design competition.
However, these competitions were often unsystematic, varying wildly in scale, scattered across different regions, and lacking a unified selection mechanism.
The root cause was that no powerful game company had stepped up to drive this initiative.
Emperor Dynasty Interactive Entertainment was more focused on its own profits. If they lacked talent, they would simply poach from other game companies or hire independent game designers at high salaries.
Zen Interactive Entertainment was slightly better, but not by much. Although they did host some game design competitions, their main goal was to create buzz and boost the company’s visibility, without generating any lasting impact.
Many of the more reliable design competitions were actually sponsored by the Game Committee. For example, the one Chen Mo had participated in before had a slight connection to the Game Committee.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Such efforts were thankless and labor-intensive, so it was no wonder no game company wanted to take the lead.
Looking at the entire game industry—whether in the previous life or this parallel world, domestically or internationally—there were no particularly clear rules to follow. Nor did it require the kind of deep expertise and accumulated knowledge seen in many high-tech industries.
Take Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of *Dark Souls*. He started out as a low-level planning executive and programmer, climbing his way up to the position of president through sheer talent and hard work.
In the game industry, there were countless such examples. Many top-tier producers began as ordinary programmers, testers, or even just passionate players. Meanwhile, many formally trained designers ended up as cogs in large corporations, gradually fading into obscurity.
At the end of the day, game design itself lacked clear-cut rules. There was no guarantee of “inevitable success.” With the same resources and investment, one team might produce a pile of garbage and lose everything, while another might create a global sensation and rake in massive profits.
Under these circumstances, using a game design competition to select promising designers was possible. But it was impossible to predict their future achievements based on that alone.
Some might shine at the competition, only to burn out quickly and fade into mediocrity.
Others might fail miserably at the competition but later go on to create groundbreaking works.
For companies like Emperor Dynasty Interactive Entertainment and Zen Interactive Entertainment, such competitions might attract a few novices with a glimmer of potential. But in reality, these newcomers could only produce a few passable mobile games, still a world away from generating real profits for the company. If they wanted designers capable of creating truly valuable works, they had to dig within the industry.
Digging within the industry meant looking at resumes directly. Hosting a design competition was an unnecessary extra step.
Thus, past game design competitions were merely special channels initiated by the Game Committee to encourage newcomers to enter the field. After that, it was a hands-off approach—success or failure depended entirely on the designers themselves.
For example, after winning the design competition, Chen Mo did gain the right to use the experience store. But there were still annual targets to meet. If the games he later produced were all failures, the experience store would be taken back, and he would have to find another path. The Game Committee certainly wouldn’t intervene.
The design competition Chen Mo wanted to host, however, was completely different from those of the past.
At this scale and level, only Chen Mo in the entire country was qualified to host such a competition.