Chapter 865: Impoverished, Farewell
On July 18th, the new content for "Assassin's Creed" officially opened for trial play, with the release set for the 25th.
This content was titled "Assassin's Creed: Revelations," and its price set a new record at 3988 soft coins.
Actually, previously, the "Uncharted" trilogy collection had already sold for 3688, but that was essentially three games that could be purchased separately.
The modded "Assassin's Creed: Revelations," in terms of content volume, was actually four games. However, due to Desmond's existence, the stories of "Assassin's Creed 1" and the Ezio trilogy could all be linked together, making this an extra-long theatrical version. Priced at 3988, it had already been squeezed down as much as possible.
Of course, the game content of "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" was different from the "Uncharted" collection; it couldn't be bought separately.
As soon as this price was announced, many players were dumbfounded, rubbing their eyes, wondering if they had misread the first digit.
"What does this mean? 'Assassin's Creed: Revelations' costs 3988? That's soft coins, right? Am I seeing this wrong?"
"Is the official website price broken? This price has directly doubled compared to 'Assassin's Creed: Origins'!"
"Is it a collection like 'Uncharted'?"
"No, it seems like just one game, but they say the playtime is extremely long."
"I am impoverished, farewell!"
It wasn't just the players; even many industry designers were surprised by Chen Mo's pricing strategy this time.
It's a bit too expensive!
In fact, the previous highest record for a single VR game in the country was set by "Assassin's Creed: Origins" at 1980. And now, the sudden appearance of "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" had doubled that price again.
Although there had been the "Uncharted" collection before, it was still seen as three separate games that players could choose to buy individually, averaging just over a thousand per game.
But... "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" couldn't be bought separately!
Even though players had gotten used to the tricks of Double 11 discounts, the price of this game was still 2000 big coins, which was truly a bit extravagant.
This price made many players hesitate, planning to first check out live streams and game reviews before deciding whether to buy. As for scouting the way, they'd leave that to the wealthy players.
...
Actually, everyone in the "Assassin's Creed" project team knew that the price of "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" wasn't high at all—it was actually too low.
With the Double 11 half-price deal, and the content volume of "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" being equivalent to four games combined, each game only cost 500 bucks, which was already half the price of "Assassin's Creed: Origins." Although "Assassin's Creed: Origins" had a larger open world, this was still too much of a loss!
Someone suggested selling "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" in separate parts, but Chen Mo rejected that.
In fact, continuously lowering game prices was something Chen Mo did intentionally.
Starting from the Double 11 event, the games produced by Chen Mo had generally been trending toward being cheaper. As for why...
Simple: to expand sales.
So far, the number of players on the VR platform was still relatively limited, compared to mobile and PC platforms. Before major technological innovations and VR game pods became affordable and entered every household, VR games were destined to be a luxury for the wealthy.
But even for those who owned VR game pods, buying various games wasn't something they did lightly.
Other game companies kept VR game prices in a certain range because they often specialized in a specific area of VR games, had a relatively fixed player base, and had limited capacity to produce games.
For example, they might spend half a year to a year polishing a single masterpiece, and with a relatively fixed player group, lowering the price wouldn't necessarily attract more buyers, so it was better to maintain the original price.
But Chen Mo's situation was different from other game companies because he could maintain an extremely fast development pace, even to the point where his own games competed with each other.
For instance, the previous simultaneous release of the "Uncharted" collection and "The Last of Us" was essentially self-competition. There was no helping it—the games were already made, so they had to be sold directly. They couldn't just wait for a release window and keep them on hold, could they?
Moreover, since almost all the games Chen Mo made were of different types and different IPs, the player base attracted by Thunder Game Platform was very broad. Everyone was a personal fan of Chen Mo, not fans of a specific game. They genuinely wanted to buy Chen Mo's new games, even if the genre was something they hadn't tried before.
Simply put, if Chen Mo had two games, A and B, both selling for 2000, players on a tight budget would only choose one to buy. But if both were sold at half price for 1000, players might buy both.
After all, they'd feel like they got a deal.
For Chen Mo, the cost was the same, and the revenue was the same—both earning 2000. But the actual effect was different.
First, it expanded the player base, getting people who weren't interested in game B to try it, so when similar games came out later, they'd consider buying.
Second, it left players with the impression that "Thunder Game Platform" was very conscientious.
Finally, it squeezed out other game companies and expanded his own market share.
At the same price, players could buy two games from Chen Mo but only one from elsewhere, and Chen Mo's games were better. What would players choose?
At this stage for Chen Mo, earning a bit more or a bit less didn't make much difference. The strong game production capacity of Thunder Interactive already determined that he could adopt a strategy of small profits but quick turnover, while other game companies couldn't.
As for the pricing issue with "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" this time, Chen Mo thought it was fine.
It was expensive, but it offered great value. Once players actually played it, they'd understand that this game was still one of the most worthwhile purchases on Thunder Game Platform.
...
On the day the trial play opened, a large number of players flooded into Thunder Interactive's new headquarters.
But this time, there were no queues.
In fact, the original experience store was still there, but like the experience stores in other first-tier cities, it was now managed by dedicated staff. Thunder Interactive employees no longer worked there.
The original office area of the experience store remained untouched, unchanged, left open for players to freely visit. The game experience area and the holographic projection viewing area were still open to players as usual.
Some players who lived near the original experience store still went there to play, but the vast majority chose to come to the new headquarters.
After all, it was a different league.
Many players, worried about having to queue, got up early, only to find upon entering the new headquarters that they had worried for nothing.
It couldn't even be filled!
Hundreds of players entered the VR game experience area and quickly disappeared. Empty game pods were everywhere, with no crowding at all.
More players were arriving one after another, but even on this special day for new game trials, the atmosphere was no different from usual. So the players stopped rushing and took it very calmly.
A few players even decided to go to the themed restaurant for breakfast first, figuring they could experience the game after eating without any rush.