Chapter 12: It's You, Card Game!

The popularity of smartphones in the previous world reached its peak around 2010 to 2011, and benefiting from this trend, some popular mobile web games, such as card mobile games, appeared around 2012.

However, smartphones appeared earlier in this world, so similar card game gameplay appeared around 2008.

By now, in 2009, card mobile games have become quite common.

Card mobile games were indeed an innovative game mode when they were first introduced and were popular for quite some time.

But now, due to the emergence of a large number of reskinned card mobile games, this gameplay has triggered a backlash from players, and the easy money-making days of simply reskinning a game no longer exist.

In this world, the creator of card mobile games is called "Q Meng Three Kingdoms," and its success is due to a few reasons: cute Q-version art style, traditional card gameplay, and so on.

Last year, the Three Kingdoms IP wasn't overused yet, and players were generally quite accepting of it.

Riding the wave of smartphone popularity, this game created a miracle in the mobile gaming industry, making huge profits and attracting envy from industry peers.

In this world, game editing tools are advanced, and many independent game developers can quickly join the competition. As a result, various reskinned card mobile games emerged like mushrooms after the rain, causing the card mobile games that could have been popular for three to five years to quickly lose their appeal in just over a year.

Now, many players instinctively reject and resist card mobile games when they see them.

This is exactly what Pei Qian wants!

Moreover, Pei Qian noticed that there is a significant difference between "Q Meng Three Kingdoms" and the card mobile games of his previous life.

It's relatively restrained in terms of in-game purchases.

This game uses a one-time purchase model in the mobile game market, selling for 5 yuan. In addition, the in-game item pricing is quite reasonable, and there's no such thing as recharging 2000 yuan for a rare card.

The in-game spending limit is basically around 1000 yuan, and beyond that line, there's no place to spend money.

Even so, "Q Meng Three Kingdoms" is still criticized by players for being money-hungry from time to time.

This is because the environment in this world is different from Pei Qian's previous life.

Perhaps because of the strong awareness of copyright protection, piracy is not so rampant in this world, and single-player game manufacturers are doing quite well.

As a result, single-player buyout and online game point card systems are the main profit models, and players are accustomed to and accept these models.

When it comes to "Q Meng Three Kingdoms," the creators obviously didn't dare to go too far. They only set a one-time purchase price of 5 yuan and made some in-game purchases.

Even so, they were still scolded by players.

After investigating the market, Pei Qian began to consider how to ruin the game.

The most direct approach is to collide with the barrel!

If there is an extremely successful game on the market that is the pioneer of this type, then completely imitating it will almost certainly result in failure.

Card mobile games are now a saturated market, so let's make card mobile games!

"Q Meng Three Kingdoms" is popular, right? Then I'll also make a game with a Three Kingdoms theme!

Copy the gameplay, buy a similar card mobile game template from the resource site, and spend a dozen or so thousands, no problem.

Of course, the art resources can't be copied, as that would involve copyright issues.

Pei Qian never intended to copy the art style, as he was still relying on art resources to spend money. Otherwise, just buying templates, how could he easily burn through 300,000 yuan?

Another important point is the payment model for this game. If "Q Meng Three Kingdoms" has a restrained payment model, should Pei Qian's game force players to spend money excessively?

Players' mentality is well understood here. Most of these players tend to complain about the game being a money pit, saying they'll never play again.

However, when a new expensive item is released, the wealthy players will still grumble while paying up.

If Pei Qian really sets the in-game spending limit very high, say, to several thousand dollars, what if a bunch of wealthy players show up?

The consumption of a single wealthy player is equivalent to thousands of ordinary players. At that time, a small number of wealthy players could easily turn the game's loss into profit, making Pei Qian spit blood in frustration.

So, it must be the opposite!

To prevent wealthy players from spending too much, the game's spending limit must be low!

Pei Qian thought about it. The spending limit of "Q Meng Three Kingdoms" is about 1,000 yuan, so he decided to lower it to 500 yuan.

No, 100 yuan!

Still not enough, 30 yuan!

Make it impossible for wealthy players to spend money even if they want to!

Of course, as a card game, there must be some common cards and some rare cards.

The usual approach is to have rare cards obtained through in-game spending to increase revenue.

Pei Qian rejected this idea because he didn't want to increase revenue; he wanted to lose money!

The most expensive item in the game is a permanent membership card, selling for only 30 yuan! Once purchased, it gives you a few extra chances to draw cards every day.

Other than that, there's nowhere else to spend money!

Do you want to give money to Tenda? No chance!

For ordinary players who don't spend the 30 yuan, they still have a chance to draw cards, just slightly less.

This way, players don't have a good reason to spend money!

Regarding the game's price, Pei Qian wanted to set it as free but thought it might not be a good idea.

As not many mobile games are free now, most of them have a base price of 1 yuan.

If Pei Qian's game were free, it might attract a large number of players.

What if it becomes popular?

So, Pei Qian did the opposite and set the game's price at 10 yuan!

More expensive than "Q Meng Three Kingdoms"!

This 10 yuan price acts as a high barrier, discouraging 90% of players from trying the game.

Think about it; a completely template-based card game with no innovative gameplay costs 5 yuan more than the most popular card game. Who would be foolish enough to buy it?

Of course, the barrier can't be too high.

Since 10 yuan is already enough to discourage players, setting a higher price would mean Pei Qian would earn more money.

Earning more money means losing more money, which is absolutely unacceptable!

Therefore, Pei Qian set his goal.

First, this game is an imitation that only has the most basic card game gameplay.

If other card games don't have a certain gameplay, mine definitely won't.

If other card games have a certain gameplay, mine might not!

In short, only the most overused systems will be included, ensuring players won't see any innovative gameplay!

Second, this game is a direct competitor to "Q Meng Three Kingdoms"!

Both are Three Kingdoms-themed.

Both are card games.

Their game is the real deal, mine is the imitation.

Give players no reason to choose this game over "Q Meng Three Kingdoms"!

Finally, this game has a foolish pricing strategy.

First, use a 10 yuan high threshold to discourage general mobile game players.

With a 30 yuan ceiling on in-game purchases, even the wealthy would be unable to spend their way to victory.

"I'm a genius!"

"The plan is perfect!"

Even Pei Qian was impressed with himself. Could a game with such restrictions really make money?

Impossible. It's definitely impossible!