Chapter 96 - Virtual Gaming Experience

“What’s going on? How many games have there been that shamelessly copied I Am MT!”

“You can tell what the game is about just from looking at the introduction. Card game, who would’ve thought. There’s no difference between this and I Am MT! It’s just a reskin!”

“No much else needs to be said, just leave a bad review and go.”

The comment sections of these games were on fire, there were many communities who banded together to leave bad reviews, driving the ratings down. They might’ve started at eight, and would drop all the way to 6.5.

As Demon Slayers had a higher score than the others because it was more refined, and yet it was sitting at a measly rating of 7.1.

There were many players who commented on Chen Mo’s Weibo, “Look at what you did. You were a bad influence to all the other videogame designers, now all them making all these garbage games.

There were haters and bad reviews, but it didn’t take long for them to realise that although the ratings were terrible, there were very many downloads and just as many players.

The players were speechless, who was playing these games?

—

Demon Slayers discussion forum.

“I want a main character card so bad. I can’t hold back the urge to spend money anymore!”

“Here comes another guy saying that we copied them…”

“So what, just ignore them. We’ll play our game.”

“I think that it’s better to trust our money with a large company like Emperor Dynasty. I Am MT wasn’t bad, but it’s a small company other all, I feel like money isn’t well spent.”

“The quality of Demon Slayers isn’t bad either, it isn’t worse than I Am MT at the very least.”

“Moreover, it didn’t the artstyle for Demon Slayers fit quite well.”

“Remember to add others to help in combat!”

—

Soon, the revenue for the card games were released, and none of them were anything to scoff at. The results for Demon Slayer were the best, and industry professionals estimated that its monthly income could come close to the 23 million I Am MT managed.

It was inevitable that the fans would attack one another, but this time Emperor Dynasty Entertainment chose to keep their mouth shut no matter what their fans were saying after learning from last time.

After this batch of games, many video game designers realised that this format was suitable for many different themes, as long as they made an original one, they could also make money.

Sure they would get a lot of hate, but it made money!

After this wave of card games, another wave of card games followed as the videogame designers who were just spectating also started pushing forward their development of an I Am MT clone.

During this time, the entire mobile game ecosystem was turned upside down.

Or perhaps…hazy and polluted.

—

On the other hand, Chen Mo showed no signs of activity.

Thunderbolt Tabletop had been taken off the promotional spot on Emperor Dynasty Gaming Platform after a month, but Chen Mo continued to give out prizes.

The promotional spot wasn’t important when he had this many players.

After Lifeline was released, Chen Mo had not announced any plans he made. The other videogame designers took this opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief, but couldn’t help but wonder what Chen Mo was planning.

Now that Chen Mo had the money and the players, if he continued the streak of success from his previous games, those games would grow at a frightening speed.

Many designers were wishing: Hopefully that freak takes a break for a year or something, I can’t keep up!

—

Chen Mo touched the wall in front of him.

The feedback he felt on his fingertips felt incredibly realistic.

Walking, jumping, moving his hands… Chen Mo tried out a few actions, all of which felt quite lifelike, other than the significantly boosted speed and strength.

Chen Mo felt that he was an athlete, one who wasn’t out of breath after running for a bit.

“The VR games in this world are at this level? Impressive.”

Chen Mo couldn’t help but be impressed.

Yes, Chen Mo was laying down in the gaming pod in his office, trying out Earth Online, a VR game from overseas.

At its peak, this game was one of the most popular games, with more than seven million users worldwide.

Of course, this number may seem small as Thunderbolt Gaming Platform had tens of millions of users. This was due to the high cost of making VR games, as well as the gap between normal PCs and VR gaming pods.

VR gaming pods would cost around fifty to two hundred thousand RMB.

There wasn’t an upper limit for top-spec gaming pods. Many manufacturers provide customization options for gaming pods, as long as you were willing to pay, you could add anything onto it.

The price you had to pay to experience VR games wasn’t expensive nor cheap.

Different VR games had different hardware requirements. Games such as Earth Online required the most well specced VR gaming pod to run.

Moreover, VR games cost quite a bit themselves.

The cost to develop VR games would be ten times the price of PC triple A titles. Those would usually cost forty million USD, and in order to make a VR game of the same caliber, it would easily take billions of dollars.

In China, only companies like Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and Zen Entertainment could afford to pay the huge sum of money required for development.

When the development cost is high, the price goes up naturally. Earth Online sold for three hundred and ninety-nine USD, corresponding to two thousand to twenty-five hundred in China.

The people who were willing to spend hundreds of thousands to buy a VR gaming pod, then another few thousand to buy games for it were few and far between. Most normal players think that although VR games are great, spending the money on a car would be money better spent.

Because VR gaming pods were so expensive, that created a market for VR internet cafes. These would charge fifty to two hundred RMB per hour. The people who can’t afford VR gaming pods would have to go to a VR internet cafe to experience VR games.

Because of its high development cost as well as small player base, the expansion of VR games hadn’t been entirely successful. VR games were still a