Crazy Devs

The autumn breeze had arrived– at Evan's dismay. The sun was a luxury and was hanging lower by each day in the Eloria continent.

Evan cursed at the traffic lights preventing him from crossing the streets. He desperately hoped to arrive early enough to purchase the Amber label of Soulbound Online.

As advertised by the company behind Soulbound Online, Bell Incorporated, the game was set to be released with seven different labels.

At the lowest price tier, players could choose between the Sunstone, Turquoise, Aquamarine, and Kyanite labels. These low-tier labels were coincidentally also the only ones that could be pre-purchased at 12.000 Crowns.

At present, on the day of the mid and high-tier label release, only 24 hours before the official game release, Bell Inc had already sold over 250 million copies worldwide. And these were only the first four labels!

Analysts and VR experts had estimated that the game company would sell at least another 15-25 million copies during the exclusive label release of the mid and high-tier labels.

What blew everyone's mind was the fact that these analysts were referring to the first day of the opening sales alone!

At the mid-tier, prices went up exponentially. The Amber label, which Evan had been eyeing for months, was set at 40.000 Crowns. This would basically cut three months off of his annual salary!

Fortunately, Evan was still a minor, lived with his parents, and didn't have to pay rent or buy food. However, because of his family's precarious situation, he had decided to drop out of school in order to work and earn money instead.

It's not like he had a damn choice in the matter. It somehow ended up this way. And Evan was never distraught because of it. At least he never let it show.

Two of Evan's siblings were still too young to work, while his eldest sibling, his family's pride, had entered a prestigious college through a scholarship. Evan also took pride in his older brother. There was no such thing as jealousy when surrounded by family.

Since he had opted for a mid-tier label, Evan had to work his ass off daily, often working two shifts at a time, so that his family wouldn't come off worse. Today was special, so he had Cassandra come in early to fill his second shift.

In an interview with the devs of Soulbound Online, players learned that the Amber label cost more than its sibling labels due to two facts.

Firstly, players with the Amber label or higher would have the opportunity to tweak their starting classes, builds, and skills. Within game limits and reason, of course, to not make it unjustly unfair for the rest of the player base.

Secondly, and most importantly, while low-tier label holders had a 0.25% chance of finding a low-grade Soulstone within the first week of game entry, mid-tier label holders would have a 0.5% chance.

A final hidden reason why many players awaited the mid-tier label purchase was due to a considerable +5 bump in the Luck stat for new characters.

Speculations among VR-veterans suggested that a bump in the Luck stat was the cause of an increase in a player's success rate for finding Soulstones, among other hidden benefits yet to be disclosed.

Up a notch in the mid-tier was the Onyx label, sold at 50.000 Crowns. The Onyx label was presented with the same benefits as the Amber label but came with what players viewed as 'cooler' cosmetic options such as the dark starter's clothing and dark weapon choices. Hence, purely cosmetic, with no other advantages.

Lastly, at the highest premium, Bell Inc was bold enough to introduce the Jade label at a whooping price of 120.000 Crowns, which was enough to buy a decent car! It was basically ten times the price of its low-tier label siblings and thrice the price of what Evan was opting for!

The not-so-joyous part was that any information regarding this label had been kept in the dark. Consumers, players, and non-players alike were outraged by the blatant disregard for the gaming market.

12.000 Crowns for the low-tier labels was already twice the price of the currently most active VRMMORPG to date, which totaled 30 million active players on a good day.

"I'm finally here." Bellamy sighed. "I better line up".

Ahead of him was one of Bell Inc's branch stores, currently exclusively selling the premium tiered Amber, Onyx, and Jade game Vizors.