This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 116 - 104: Mobile Game (2)
If you can make money lying down, why stand up?
In Chen Ba’s opinion, by relying on the game "Divine Grace Continent," just honestly selling software and collecting a 30% toll fee is already quite appealing.
As for diversifying into animation, isn’t that just something for when you’re overfed and bored? Besides, he only knows how to make games, and rashly branching out carries too much risk!
"True..."
Qian Xin thought about it and suddenly felt that Ba’s words made sense.
Animation and games are two completely different fields. Just because Ba is thriving in the gaming industry doesn’t mean he’ll thrive in animation.
It’s a simple truth.
Even if you have a great movie, if no theater is going to screen it, it will still fail, right?
"What about the new game then?"
Upon learning that Ba wasn’t planning to branch out but rather stick to his roots, Qian Xin immediately asked about the next new game from Tianba Studio.
"The new game? We haven’t decided yet."
"But from the initial discussions at our studio, the new game will probably be a mobile game..."
Given that this wasn’t a big secret, Chen Ba straightforwardly said, "It’s too unstable to profit from single-player games, especially PC single-player games."
"To keep our studio running smoothly, we plan to make a money-making mobile game as a cash flow source for the studio."
Using mobile games to continually fund the studio, and then creating new large-scale PC single-player masterpieces, is also a very typical business decision.
"Mobile games indeed make money."
Qian Xin wasn’t surprised to hear this because he used to be a gaming content creator and was well aware of how powerfully mobile games can bring in cash nowadays.
It’s no exaggeration to say that in the domestic market, mobile games have a cash-generating power dozens of times stronger than PC games or console games.
A popular mobile game can easily start with a monthly revenue of several hundred million.
If it’s a game like Honor of Kings or Genshin Impact, it’s even scarier. On the day a new card pool or skin is released, a day’s revenue can equal the development cost of a AAA game.
Although Tianba Studio is making money and life is good, who doesn’t want an even better and more comfortable life?
Is there really anyone who dislikes having more money?
"What kind of mobile game is it, could you give me a hint, Ba?" Qian Xin asked curiously.
"Casual type, I guess!"
Chen Ba said with a somewhat awkward expression, "You know, overly complex and large-scale mobile games don’t really perform well, right?"
"I get it, that’s how it is with mobile games."
Qian Xin nodded.
Compared to PC and console players, mobile gamers are much easier to please despite nitpicking.
The simpler and more straightforward a game is, the more likely it is to blow up.
Like "Goat Simulator"!
On the other hand, those massive, complex games generally don’t perform well on mobile platforms.
This is a unique characteristic of mobile games, where game time is too fragmented, favoring games that can be played anytime, anywhere, and easily put down.
Games like "Candy Crush" and "Doudizhu" are timeless kings of the mobile game world.
But then again...
Although he’s a single-player game developer, Chen Ba still doesn’t want to make overly simple and straightforward games.
He has his own considerations.
There are many types of casual mobile games, and not all are that simple and straightforward; as long as they’re fun and kill time, they’ll do.
By the way...
Tianba Studio’s several games already have mobile versions.
Although sales haven’t been great, it’s not like Tianba Studio has no experience in mobile game development.
"Multiplayer is definitely on the cards."
Since he’s decided to make mobile games, Chen Ba has surely researched the domestic mobile gaming environment and knows that purely single-player games have difficulty surviving; online games have more potential.
Thus, his envisioned casual game will definitely feature multiplayer, much like the online mode in "Star Emperor."
"Speaking of Star Emperor, why not consider making a mobile version of it?" Qian Xin asked curiously.
He genuinely thought "Star Emperor" was fun, and if a so-called "Star Emperor M" was developed, he’d definitely give it a try.
"No way!"
Chen Ba shook his head, "If the PC can’t handle it, do you think a phone could?"
Reducing the graphics quality is doable.
But then the problem arises: without its prestigious graphical quality and stunning effects, what does "Star Emperor" have to attract players?
Surely no one thinks "Star Emperor" has strong playability, right?
That’s pure nonsense!
Without the ultra-high graphics and splendid effects, "Star Emperor" isn’t even as good as a normal fighting mobile game.
A direct port or light reduction doesn’t cut it as mobile or tablet performance is insufficient, and significant graphics and effects reduction would lose its core selling point...
This is why there’s still no plan for a mobile version of "Star Emperor."
Unless one day, mobile GPUs can rival those of a 3070, then maybe, with slight adjustments to graphics and effects, "Star Emperor" could be ported to mobile.
For now, that’s not realistic.
As they chatted, the high-speed train quickly arrived at Zhonghai Station.
Chen Ba and Qian Xin got off the train and wandered around the City God Temple area before having lunch and leisurely heading to the venue for the awards ceremony.
The Animation Association is really poor!
The rented venue was small, and there wasn’t even air conditioning. Chen Ba was sweating profusely, regretting not asking Dong to accept the award on his behalf.
Fortunately, the organizers understood the hardships and conducted the awards ceremony swiftly.
During the awards presentation, Chen Ba stayed busy, chatting with a few animation producers and directors.
They were very interested in the "customization" service of "Divine Grace Continent," especially given the precedent of "This Hero is too Steady," everyone knew the value of this technology.
However, they weren’t here for animation.
To be exact, it wasn’t about TV animation, but about big-screen animated films!
"Make a movie?"
Chen Ba frowned and pondered, thinking the idea was plausible, but "Divine Grace Continent" was best at long-form serial animation deduction.
For a movie with a short duration of just one or two hours, pacing the plot rapidly, "Divine Grace Continent" might struggle to handle it.
"Not just one film!"
The animation producer excitedly said, "With ’Divine Grace Continent,’ we can easily produce trilogies, quintologies, or even decalogy of films!"
Oh boy!
Releasing so many films at once, it’s like saying people don’t have to pay for cinema tickets, right? Who would watch such long films?
"It all depends on the script."
Chen Ba shook his head, "If you have a good script, we can collaborate; otherwise, no need."
He’s not into scamming people for money.
Ordinary Divine Grace animations are free to watch online; if they aren’t enjoyable, at least there’s not much of a loss.
But if Divine Grace animations were brought to the big screen without a good story to support them, purely for scamming people out of money, he wouldn’t want to do that.
These two aren’t good people.
They probably thought, with the powerful capabilities of "Divine Grace Continent," they could mass-produce a batch of low-cost "animated films" and send them to cinemas.
Since they’re low cost and in large quantity, there might be audiences attracted by the title and description who buy tickets to watch.
The cost is so low!
With a few million, they could get a personalized customization service from Tianba Studio and easily churn out ten or twenty movies.
Such movies are essentially scams for money, right?
When the film releases, with some money spent on advertising, crowds of audiences might be deceived.
Then who will the audience blame?
Clearly, when audiences spend money on movie tickets only to be disappointed, they’ll surely blame Tianba Studio for releasing so many mediocre films tainting the theaters.
This really isn’t money worth making!
