Chapter 823: Aftermath
A month after the launch of "Pokémon World," several similar MR games that imitated it were also released online.
However, these games did not shake the status of "Pokémon World" in the slightest, nor did they cause much of a stir.
The reason was simple: they could replicate the gameplay of "Pokémon World," but it was difficult to copy the IP, and they had no way to offset the first-mover advantage of "Pokémon World."
For a knockoff to rival the original, it must at least surpass the original in some aspect, such as gameplay, graphics, IP, player count, and so on.
Looking at "Pokémon World," its gameplay and graphics had already temporarily reached the peak of this genre, with little room for improvement.
As for the IP, not to mention the other major IPs held by Thunderbolt Entertainment, even the Pokémon designs from "Pokémon GO" were classic images that had been tested by both player taste and time, excelling in design aesthetics. For other game companies to try and defeat "Pokémon World" with hastily crafted imitation designs in just over a month was basically a pipe dream.
Moreover, "Pokémon World" had sparked a global craze through its World Boss events, and this activity was precisely something that could not be replicated.
Other game companies also wanted to hold World Boss events, but how? Summon a boss, and only a few dozen people show up? Those few dozen people would just stare at each other, wouldn’t that be incredibly awkward...
Seeing that only a handful of people were playing the game would instead have a discouraging effect.
This type of game had strong social attributes; the more people played, the greater the scale effect. For other game companies, with "Pokémon World" already popular worldwide, how could they promote their own "Pokémon World"-like games? This was an almost unsolvable problem.
What’s more, "Pokémon World" had permeated every aspect of players’ lives. Even at gatherings with friends, people would discuss the pets they had just caught or engage in pet battles. In daily life, players had grown accustomed to having their pets follow them around. When bored, they found it pleasant to watch the little creatures they had worked hard to catch stretch lazily or strike a pose.
At this point, if a player tried playing another "Pokémon World"-like game, would they even feel comfortable joining their friends’ conversations?
And even if they wanted to show off, others simply couldn’t see their pets. Even if they could, they wouldn’t find them particularly valuable.
If they couldn’t enjoy the social benefits the game provided, the gaming experience would feel like a total loss.
Only when the player count reached a certain threshold, and when players truly recognized the value of the creatures in the game, could a game company establish a stable and clearly valued pricing system, forming a large and solid gaming community.
At that stage, all players of "Pokémon World" were firmly in the grasp of Thunderbolt Entertainment. Even if other similar games tried to poach them, they couldn’t lure them away.
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...
At the experience store, Chen Mo had just finished a call with Zhou Jiangping.
Zhou Jiangping excitedly recounted the historic breakthroughs the Matrix Glasses had made in overseas markets, with market share rising another 3 percentage points compared to last week, and so on.
Chen Mo, however, remained quite calm, merely outlining the general promotion plans for the coming period to Zhou Jiangping.
At the same time, as a brand-new smart device, the Matrix Glasses would also develop more practical features to further facilitate various aspects of people’s lives.
For example, linking the glasses to a phone, using thought to control Jarvis to handle tasks on the phone, such as replying to messages or answering calls, effectively achieving mind-controlled phone operation.
It could also be considered for collaboration with the police. After real-name authentication and identity verification, users could temporarily activate the camera function when making emergency calls to record crime scenes for evidence collection, thereby reducing crime rates.
Of course, these features would need continuous development and refinement, close cooperation with various institutions, and a gradual shift in everyone’s concepts and awareness.
But regardless, technology was changing everyone’s lives. Smart glasses would inevitably penetrate deeper into the real world, and one day, they might become as common as smartphones—one per person.
In terms of gaming:
Going forward, "Pokémon World" would continue to hold World Boss capture events at regular intervals, while slowly updating the Pokémon Pokédex and adding new gameplay to maintain players’ enthusiasm for the game.
However, Chen Mo was also well aware that after becoming a global hit, this game would inevitably enter a period of stabilization and plateau.
The reasons were simple.
On one hand, MR technology still had bottlenecks. The visuals that "Pokémon World" could currently display were already at the highest level. To create more complex games with richer gameplay, further improvements in hardware were needed.
On the other hand, players’ passion for "Pokémon World" couldn’t grow indefinitely. Right now, the game was at its peak, with many players spending over 20 hours a week outdoors catching Pokémon. This was clearly inflated and encroached on their time for rest after work or playing other games.
At the start, players found the gameplay of "Pokémon World" very novel, but this enthusiasm would gradually wane. Perhaps in two or three months, many players’ attitudes toward the game would shift from "relentlessly going outdoors to catch Pokémon day and night" to "catching Pokémon on the way out," with weekly playtime dropping to under ten hours or even less.
After all, most players had their own jobs, lives, and various other forms of entertainment. Like any other game, "Pokémon World" would eventually grow stale.
But for Chen Mo, the fact that "Pokémon World" had reached such a level of popularity in a short time had already perfectly fulfilled its mission. On one hand, it had become the hottest MR game of the moment; on the other, it had promoted the Matrix Glasses worldwide, capturing a large market share and laying a solid foundation for future competition in the MR gaming space.
If, at some point in the future, the MR gaming field saw new technological breakthroughs or new trends, Chen Mo would once again establish a first-mover advantage in MR gaming, thanks to the market share held by the Matrix Glasses.
Moreover, entering a stabilization period didn’t mean "Pokémon World" would die out. Veteran players would gradually settle in. For a long time to come, "Pokémon World" would remain the best MR game for players on the go—bar none.
...
MR games were a minor interlude. Chen Mo also needed to consider his next development plans.
Given the current level of technology, MR was a new trend, but VR games still held the dominant position.
This year, Chen Mo would continue to release more high-quality games that could compete for Game of the Year, further strengthening Thunderbolt Entertainment’s dominance in the global gaming industry.