Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 415: 399: Public Opinion Crisis

It was truly “tireless” since he was playing in the virtual world.

Outside the virtual world, players, media, and even many onlookers were discussing the information revealed in the program.

“‘Speed Chase’ sales surpass 32 million.”

“‘Assassins’ Alliance’, 17 million online players lost.”

“Cloud Dream Honorary Player Selection Criteria Summary.”

“The relationship change between the two hosts.”

“Finally revealed: the first person to speedrun the main storyline of ‘Speed Chase’.”

“Predictions on the mysterious guest of the Death Racing.”

“Will robbing casinos become more difficult in the future?”

…and so on, the topics were incredibly hot.

Especially those who were awarded the honorary player title for the first time, they were ecstatically showing off their newly obtained titles online.

Not everyone was happy that night.

At least the people at NetDragon were very unhappy.

Jason was frowning at the constantly decreasing player online rate.

It wasn’t until the evening when players officially entered the weekend rhythm, a large number of fresh forces became available and joined the game again, making the player’s online data look less ugly.

At the same time, Jason was delighted to see that the rating of “Blaze 3” on the [Rank – Public Rating List] had started to rise slowly.

The previous rating of “Blaze 3” had plummeted to an outrageous 3.2 points, in stark contrast to its predecessors’ general scores of over 8 points!

But after a day of warming up word of mouth, it had already climbed to 4.4 points.

Jason adjusted the display mode to arrange it in a timeline, and the latest comments that appeared were all high-scoring positive reviews.

The standalone DLC rating, “Blaze 3·Red Flame,” scored even higher at 8.6.

This made him feel extremely gratified.

Regardless of the outcome, this player’s reputation had already proven that his efforts were not in vain.

Next, it depends on whether Gary can seize the opportunity of a reputation counterattack and start marketing as well.

At this moment, Gary was still sighing at the loss of the public opinion position.

He had no idea that in the next few days, there would be even more things for him to sigh about.

When Lincoln got home, he immediately bought several classic VR games from Wild Island and Flying Fox, intending to try them out as well.

Through NetDragon’s DLC, Lincoln found that even if the physical training aspect of the equipment was excluded, VR games alone had their merits.

So he planned to have Jerome talk to Wild Island and Flying Fox about a collaboration to bring their classic games onto the Cloud Dream Gaming Platform.

With its current user base, Cloud Dream could bring massive traffic to these games.

Though playing VR games in the virtual world didn’t offer any physical training benefits…

Moreover, under the direct comparison, the immersion and experience of VR games, which they relied on for their appeal, were undoubtedly overshadowed by virtual reality games, damaging their potential for the future.

However, there are pros and cons to everything; weakening its advantages could be seen as a way to expand the player group. The eventual outcome would definitely be much better than the situation they’re currently facing.

It would at least prolong their life by several months.

Moreover, the cost of such cooperation for Cloud Dream is quite low, or to put it more bluntly – there’s almost no cost.

As long as the games are on the platform and the data interface is connected, all that’s left is to wait and split the profits.

It’s a win-win situation.

If things go smoothly this way, they could take it even further, such as making the platform compatible with PC and console games.

Although it might seem strange to put on a Mirage and log into the virtual world instead of using the computer on the table and play games on the computer in reality…

But, well, players should have this need, right?

Lincoln thought –

At least in the virtual world, no matter how long they play, players won’t suffer from shortsightedness, fatigue, lumbar disc protrusion, wrist pain, or tendinitis.

In this case, isn’t it not just a need but an essential one!

It’s not just a essential need for gamers, but for those who use computers for work as well, okay?

Moreover, the openness of computers itself determines that connecting computers and Mirage is very simple, and there is no need to talk to anyone about cooperation, just directly compatible!

It can be done!

Saturday.

Unswervingly, Cloud Dream restocks a batch of [Mirage 2.0] consoles.

The quantity is consistent with last week: 25 million units.

However, there is a small change: opening cross-border purchasing rights for several Southeast Asian countries.

This choice was made because Cloud Dream’s supercomputing center in Yangcheng is now up and running, providing high-quality network services for players in Southeast Asian countries.

But the efficiency of these Southeast Asian countries cannot catch up with Cloud Dream, and the large-scale spread of consoles will not happen until mid-November at the earliest.

So Lincoln made an opening in advance for impatient players to get on board early.

Of course, buying consoles through this channel is actually not cost-effective.

Waiting for their domestic partners to pick up goods in bulk from Cloud Dream and distribute them for sale, the price will be lower.

Especially for the large number of first-generation Mirage consoles returned by Daxia players as part of the old-for-new exchange, after being upgraded to the second generation, they will basically be discounted and transferred here, making it reasonable to be cheaper.

It’s up to them to make a choice between spending less money or getting the latest console and playing it sooner.

Of course, in addition to the above reasons, there is another reason-

Lincoln has clearly felt that the growth rate of domestic users in Daxia has slowed down significantly.

Last week’s consoles were still sold out smoothly, but 25 million units only brought in 15 million new users, and the rest were all old-console exchanges for new ones.

According to Mavis’s calculations, if nothing unexpected happens, the number of domestic users in Daxia may hit a ceiling with 200 million.

After all, no matter how good or epoch-making Mirage is, it’s just an entertainment product, not a daily necessity like a mobile phone or a productivity tool like a computer.

Not everyone necessarily needs it.

Under such circumstances, there are only two ways to maintain growth.

One is to move from being a purely “entertainment device” towards a “productivity tool” and strive to swallow more of the office computer market.

In this regard, “Cloud Computer” is just the beginning.

The real goal is to build a “virtual computer” that can compete or even replace the effect of computers in reality.

The other method is to explore overseas and expand the overseas player market.

In this regard, Lincoln has always been cautious, even somewhat cautious and prudent.

He plans to wait until Southeast Asia is fully covered before expanding further.

Moreover, this expansion will focus on setting up servers as much as possible, rather than building production factories locally.

Of course, Lincoln also knows that this may not be easy.

It might not be difficult for some less powerful countries.

However, stronger ones, even America and some European powerhouses, won’t let your equipment enter the market unless you build a factory there.

After all, it’s clear to see that, compared to the existing game market, Mirage’s advantage is utterly devastating.

This is also the reason why Lincoln often appears cautious in Daxia.

– He is sure that what he brought is good, but he is not sure whether every aspect of it can bring good effects from beginning to end.

Under such circumstances, being cautious and careful is naturally better than causing big problems and trying to remedy them.

Even so, it is impossible not to make mistakes in every step.

Like now, a large number of hosts who used to broadcast VR games, after playing virtual reality games for several months, experience a significant physical decline.

Such a stark contrast cannot be ignored by netizens.

Nor could it be ignored by the keen media.

During the daytime yesterday, “virtual fatigue” was just a playful sarcastic expression used by audiences to tease hosts.

By the evening, it had already become a social issue that was seriously discussed and followed by the media.

Up to now, the scale of the discussion has expanded to an extent that cannot be ignored.