This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 106 - 100: Star Emperor Goes Free

The time has come to August.

Besides designing new characters for "Star Emperor," Tianba Studio recruited two new employees responsible for media promotion and channel operations.

This has always been a weak point for Tianba Studio.

The games lack exposure!

Whether it’s old games or new ones, from production to release, there’s no professional media promotion or channel operations, relying entirely on word of mouth from players.

Undeniably, word of mouth is also quite good.

As long as the game is fun enough, it can gain popularity through players’ word of mouth; the proverb "good wine needs no bush" makes some sense.

But this is full of randomness.

Chen Ba can’t hope that every new game will rely on players to promote it voluntarily. It might work in the short term, but it becomes unreliable over time.

There is more than one fun game!

Good yet overlooked games that are left unnoticed actually aren’t uncommon. Many of them suffer from a lack of budget and exposure.

This also explains why some games originally had less than a thousand downloads per month, but after being recommended by an influencer like Wang Laoju, their monthly sales skyrocketed to ten thousand levels...

Previously, Tianba Studio struggled to make ends meet, constantly facing the risk of a game’s flop and team dissolution, so it’s understandable why they haven’t focused on this area.

But Chen Ba is wealthy now!

Not extravagantly rich, but at least moving the studio to Zhonghai might empty all of Ba’s savings, and it might not be enough to buy a mansion.

But in Jiangning, a second or third-tier city, combined with the current staff size, it’s more than enough to cover daily expenses.

Having initially solved the basic livelihood, the next consideration is how to improve life quality?

"Today we mainly discuss two things."

During an internal meeting at the studio, Chen Ba raised two topics: "Star Emperor" transitioning to a free-to-play model and subsequent updates for "Divine Grace Continent"!

The former was premeditated.

Not long after the official release of "Star Emperor," the wise Ba instructed, it would eventually transition to a free-to-play model.

"In the past six months, ’Star Emperor’ has been heavily discounted, the lowest price even went down to 8 yuan."

"Based on this premise, I think the current game sales have reached saturation. It’s hard to see any significant improvement."

Lightly tapping the table with his index finger, Chen Ba thought briefly and said, "Continuing to sell won’t yield many more copies. Better to transition to a free-to-play model to increase the game’s popularity and online concurrent users."

Currently, the sales of "Star Emperor" are stuck at around 920,000 copies, with no room for significant growth or potential.

Sure, it can still sell if continued.

But Chen Ba doesn’t care about that small monthly sales increase. Instead of slowly working towards a million sales, transitioning to free-to-play and earning through in-game purchases seems better.

"I have no objections..." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Yang Dong was the first to express his opinion, saying, "Indeed, it’s not selling well anymore. Transitioning to free-to-play is a good idea. Besides, Xianyu Digital’s business is stable enough to support this game."

Xianyu Digital is definitely profitable!

Supported robustly by numerous graphics card merchants, and Ba has solemnly promised that Xianyu Digital would never sell mining cards or refurbished cards.

The players trust Ba’s promise, especially since Xianyu Digital’s background is so strong; no one believes they would sell mining or refurbished cards. Customers buy with confidence.

This gamer community, although initially appearing small, is quite substantial in reality.

Moreover, Xianyu Digital doesn’t just sell graphics cards; it has boosted the trade in hard drives, CPUs, and memory sticks taking advantage of "Divine Grace Continent’s" popularity.

Oh right!

Apart from selling digital hardware, Xianyu Digital also sells some gaming merchandise.

For example, figurines and phone cases of "Star Emperor" characters, plush toys of the old ox from "Cold Window Study Simulator," and posters and T-shirts of "Divine Grace Continent."

With Xianyu Digital running the store, the server pressure faced after "Star Emperor" transitions to free-to-play is practically nothing.

What is a heartfelt game?

A truly heartfelt game is like "Star Emperor." If you love spending money on skins, just do it!

After all, there are other revenue channels for the game; there’s no KPI or revenue flow pressure on the planners, nor will there be endless cash-grab events and skins...

Lol!

Ba doesn’t even care about the money from skins. Even releasing one new skin a month is considered merciful, buy it or not.

"Players are quite something..."

Lu added from the side, "They know the game doesn’t depend on skins for revenue, and new skins are released occasionally. Yet, they’re still dissatisfied, criticizing us for being lazy and saying we should release more skins!"

What’s that saying again?

The things you can’t have are always stirring, and those favored are fearless!

In other games, players complain that planners are crazy about money, releasing a few skins last week and launching another batch this week, money-grubbing without limits, ugh!

But on "Star Emperor’s" side, a bunch of Fu’s are complaining, saying Ba is extremely lazy, releasing only one new skin a month, who do you look down on?

Dude, I bought 4090 and RX7900, and you think I care about the cost of skins?

Hurry up and release new ones!

If you don’t release new skins, that’s looking down on me. Others are releasing skins one after another; can’t you learn from them?

Chen Ba: "..."

He noticed this too.

The players of "Star Emperor" are indeed a bit strange; they curse when skins are few and not released frequently. Who would believe that?