I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 419 - 148: The Development History of Blue Star Games!_2

Chapter 419: Chapter 148: The Development History of Blue Star Games!_2

Cloud Top could be considered a preheat wave for LOL.

After all, unlike in my previous life.

In this world where MOBA gameplay does not exist, this type of game, with the arrival of numerous heroes and the interweaving of countless skills, might confuse players for quite some time.

Whereas Cloud Top, which only requires troop deployment and combination of synergies, is truly a game with real-time calculations.

It can free up players’ hands while also giving them a rough understanding of each hero’s skills, equipment, and role.

By the time LOL really goes live, players will have more energy to study tactics, the jungle, lane division, minion waves, and other various elements, rather than spending half their time staring at skill descriptions when the armies face off.

The pace of the times now is too fast, unlike when LOL was launched on Earth in my previous life.

Anything with a massive amount of text mixed into the game will dampen the players’ enthusiasm.

Lastly, as a game that can be played smoothly on both platforms, Cloud Top can continue to boost the daily active users for "Number One Intel."

Mobile phones and PCs are somewhat incompatible.

But what if my game itself can be played on mobile phones?

At that time, if "Number One Intel" could also check Cloud Top’s performance records, the daily active users would skyrocket in an instant.

At this stage, my path towards mobile platforms is almost fully cleared.

Considering this, there is hardly a game more fitting for the current times than Cloud Top.

If not now, then when?

Ke Jin immediately called Gou Chehua over and handed him the project proposal for Cloud Top.

For the two companies under him, Ke Jin’s division of labor is quite clear.

Oasis will mainly be responsible for the development and operation of 3D games.

While Number One Player will be the main force in developing online games and updating and maintaining them.

Oasis will be used to expand reputation, and Number One Player will secure the stronghold.

Soon, the Number One Player employees who received the new game development proposal, already nearly bored out of their minds, now had work to do and rolled up their sleeves to sprint with all their might.

At the same time, "Number One Intel" also began to regularly update some insider news about Cloud Top during the game development period.

What the players first learned about was Cloud Top as a precursor IP to "League of Legends."

"League of Legends" has not announced the type of game so far, but the high-quality production PVs have been itching the players’ curiosity.

Now, seeing that this game’s IP will be launched earlier than "League of Legends," they were all extremely excited and started to guess the type of game it might be.

It wasn’t until the Number One Player project team dropped the draft map of Cloud Top onto the app that the players were somewhat dumbfounded.

"This... why does it feel like a variant of a board game?"

"This grid, isn’t it just the regular grid of chess and Go that’s been stretched and twisted?"

"A chess game... well, to be honest, even if it had been turn-based, it would’ve been better for me. A chess-type game doesn’t quite suit my taste."

"Also, it feels like there’s not much room for expansion in this type—chess, Go, Gomoku, Ludo, Stratego, checkers, etc. Our ancestors have almost pushed these to the limit."

"But you know what, recently a subsidiary company under Silver Brilliance is also preparing to release a chess game. Their marketing in the board game realm is max level, and it seems more interesting than this one."

"Is it that ’Bursting Cuteness’ one? That game seems to have something substantial both in terms of artwork and gameplay. It’s really something to look forward to."

"Well, then it seems Number One Player is aiming for a head-to-head confrontation with Silver Brilliance?"

"If Number One Player maintains their current speed in releasing games, both games could end up clashing and competing for the market."

"And this game from Number One Player, Cloud Top, wasn’t it mentioned in an earlier insider report that they’re planning on releasing it on both platforms? They’re really going to declare war on Silver Brilliance and snatch up their mobile platform users."

"emmm... Although Number One Player has been very strong on the PC in the past two years, it’s hard to say what will happen when they go up against a dominant company like Silver Brilliance on the mobile platform..."

...

The heated discussions among the players soon reached Ke Jin’s ears.

To be honest, he hadn’t even thought about this aspect and had only learned about the soon-to-be-launched game "Bursting Cuteness" through the players’ conversations.

Since Number One Player’s development had always been focused on the PC side, and they were not competing in the same arena as Silver Brilliance.

Therefore, Ke Jin didn’t pay much attention to this mobile gaming titan.

He only knew that they were probably selling gaming devices and that they were also a company focused on ACG-themed games.

But a closer look out of curiosity revealed.

Silver Brilliance, this company, behind them the biggest shareholder turned out to be a Japanese corporate investment.

Neon’s investors held a 51% stake in the company, making them the largest shareholder.

And the name of the shareholder was familiar to Ke Jin—SQUARE ENIX.

Formally known as Square Enix.

They had almost continued the same style they had on Earth in a previous life.

In this life, SE’s main works were also focused on mobile games.

And Neon was a highly otaku nation, the birthplace of ACG culture.

Therefore, SE had also made considerable achievements in the ACG field, and many animations and serials came from this manufacturer, beyond just games.

Their game style also had a strong otaku flavor.

Of course, having these characteristics didn’t make SE the top company in Neon.

What really made them wealthy.

Was their first combination of gacha elements with games.

They could almost be counted as one of the culprits that changed the direction of Blue Star’s gaming industry.

Ke Jin then learned more about SE’s rise to fortune in this life.

Different from the previous life on Earth.

Square and Enix, as third-party manufacturers for Nintendo, were barely surviving with the help of Nintendo, pulled back from the brink of bankruptcy, and ultimately merged for various reasons to become the SE of later days.

In this life, SE, already under the influence of the capitalistic culture from across the ocean, merged early in the 1980s and betrayed Nintendo in this life with a stab in the back.

At that time, Nintendo had just started to make a fortune from the physical toy industry, seeing that the culture of electronic games in the United States had begun to spread, so they embarked on the transformation into hand-held game consoles.

At this time, popular IPs such as Mario and Star Kirby hadn’t even been discovered yet.

And SE knocked them down with the ancient concept of monetization at the same time.

Without the prevalence of networks during this period, SE employed strategies in partnership with pachinko parlors for their monetization.

They first launched a game called "Digital Pet" and embedded it into hand-held consoles.

In the early 1980s, hand-held console elements had just started to emerge, and at that time, electronic games were merely a few black and white patterns made of numbers, having simple interactions with the player in front of the screen.

SE’s Digital Pet was no exception, capable of only a few brief interactions, like ’indicating hunger’ to the player, or needing ’head pats’ or ’toys’ and so on.

But for the players of that era, it was already a marvel.

Before this, these electronic products were just cold synonyms for things that were a tad more convenient than before, nothing more than slightly handy machines.

Who had seen such a gadget that ’expressed its own needs’?

Even though they knew it was made up of strings of code.

But it could respond based on your commands, which was terrifying enough for that era.

This little gadget was really too appealing!

Therefore, this "Digital Pet" exploded in popularity in the early 1980s on Blue Star, capturing the attention of young people in the Showa Era.

And pachinko parlor owners obviously saw the potential of this electronic game, so they took the initiative to collaborate, launching an event where ’just by entering the shop and spending 500 yen, you could exchange for a "Digital Pet" exclusive stamp.’

As a result.

This partnership unexpectedly became popular!

After all, this was considered one of the earliest game peripherals, and Neon’s players who had never seen this concept were naturally eager to participate.

After a successful trial run, SE started to get ideas.

During "Digital Pet 2," they made an additional port for their hand-held console.

And then, with just one operation.

It completely detonated the game market in Neon!

The monetization concept that had distorted the history of Blue Star’s gaming trajectory finally made its entrance at that moment!