Chapter 53: The Soul of Card Games

In the previous world, "Plants vs. Zombies" swept the globe, breaking multiple records by achieving over a million dollars in sales within just nine days.

Calculating at $3 per copy, selling 1.5 million copies of "Plants vs. Zombies" would yield $4.5 million, approximately 27 million dollars.

But what was the monthly revenue of "I Am MT"?

In 2013, when the domestic mobile game market was still developing, "I Am MT" reached 55 million dollars in monthly revenue.

Comparatively, "Plants vs. Zombies" relied on the global market, while "I Am MT" relied solely on the domestic market.

"Plants vs. Zombies" is a single-player game that profits from sales, which will eventually decline. In contrast, "I Am MT," using a free-to-play model, continued to thrive for three to four years, with continuous updates.

The success of "Plants vs. Zombies" is hard to replicate, whereas the "I Am MT" model can be mass-produced.

This comparison clearly shows the strong profitability of domestic card games.

"I Am MT" popularized the "domestic card game" model, offering a lucrative path for domestic game developers. As a benchmark for card games, "I Am MT" was repeatedly copied, with similar games still appearing even three to four years later.

Before "Dota Legends" revolutionized the card game genre, "I Am MT" was undoubtedly the top-grossing card mobile game, holding the number one position on the bestseller list for a long time.

Alex Parker wanted to make money using the domestic game model, and "I Am MT" was the first step. Its features perfectly met Alex's current needs.

First, it was easy to create. Most of "I Am MT's" art resources were concentrated on character cards. The aspects of values, levels, gameplay, and original art were not challenging for Alex.

Its gameplay was not complex, and the rules were relatively straightforward. With the art resources in place, the actual development time wouldn't be long—two to three months would suffice.

Second, it was moderate. Unlike later domestic games that incited hatred and pushed players to spend frantically, "I Am MT" was generous with its in-game currency, frequently giving out stones during holidays, making it relatively friendly to free players.

Moreover, the game lacked intense PVP and GVG content like national wars or city battles, reducing the frustration for free players.

Alex had to consider the acceptance level of parallel world players. If he started too aggressively, they might not handle it well. If he got overwhelmingly negative reviews and ruined his reputation, it could backfire severely.

From this perspective, "I Am MT" was an excellent transitional work.

Third, it was easy to promote.

Alex had carefully considered the core of card games.

The core was not gameplay but IP.

IP, or intellectual property, is a buzzword in the domestic game industry. Many game companies spend vast amounts of money on big IPs, and many game designers frequently discuss IPs.

Why is IP so important and valuable?

Because in card games, IP determines the value of the cards. The same card game with the legendary cards of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln versus one with Batman and Spider-Man would attract different user bases. Players are willing to pay different amounts to get these legendary cards.

The Founding Fathers theme is probably the weakest IP because too many games are based on it, making it overly familiar.

In the previous world, IPs like Naruto, One Piece, Fate, and J.K. Rowling's works were significant. With these IPs, changing the art resources could quickly make money.

Without an IP, a card game is soulless—yes, it's that dramatic.

To make a card game, having an IP is crucial.

After deciding to create a card game, Alex also thought about how to solve the IP issue.

His first thought was to buy some big IPs in the parallel world, but after checking the prices, he gave up.

The copyright protection and awareness of original works are more robust worldwide, making IP prices correspondingly higher.

In the previous world, some hot IPs could sell for seven figures. In the parallel world, the prices would be even higher.

Of course, not all IPs are that expensive. Some less popular novel and anime IPs could be bought for tens of thousands, but their influence is too limited for Alex.

With IP, you get what you pay for. Buying an unknown IP is like purchasing nothing.

For Alex, cheap IPs are unappealing, and expensive IPs are unaffordable. Even if he could afford them, he didn't want to waste money.

So, Alex decided to create his own IP, and "I Am MT" was the best fit.

Sure, Alex had other choices, like...

Recreating "One Piece" or "Naruto"?

Rewriting "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" or "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils"?

... Not very feasible.

Comics and novels take a long time to become famous. Even if Alex could handle the original art for "One Piece" and "Naruto," how long would it take to elevate the work to its previous world's popularity at a rate of one chapter per week?

Novels are relatively quicker, but they aren't suitable for direct game adaptation. Usually, they are adapted into films or anime before being turned into games.

Because novel characters are abstract, while game characters are concrete, this transition from abstract to concrete usually requires validation and refinement through film adaptations to ensure the IP's popularity.

Choosing "I Am MT" was the most straightforward and optimal choice for Alex.

In this world, the domestic anime industry is also well-developed. Alex just needed to provide the character designs, original art, storyline, and storyboards for "I Am MT" and let anime production companies handle the rest. The quality wouldn't be worse than in the previous world.

After all, the original "I Am MT" was created by a few anime and game enthusiasts with relatively low costs.

"I Am MT" became very popular on Viki, with the first episode surpassing 300 million views. This made it a phenomenon in anime and a shared memory for a generation of "World of Warcraft" players and anime fans.

This work could undoubtedly become a super IP, helping Alex's new game to take off.

Of course, there were risks.

The biggest problem was that the previous world's "I Am MT" relied on "World of Warcraft's" story background and massive user base, which didn't exist in the parallel world. Viewers might not understand many settings in "I Am MT."

For example, what does MT mean? What kind of profession is MT? Why must there be an MT? What are the characteristics of this profession? Why is he the protagonist?

These questions were self-explanatory for "World of Warcraft" players, but for the parallel world's audience, would they understand the "World of Warcraft" culture behind "I Am MT"?

If they didn't understand, would it affect the anime's popularity?