Chapter 95: Virtual Game Experience

"What the heck! How many of these are there now? Another copy of 'I Am MT'? This is getting too blatant!"

"Oh my god, just by looking at the game description, I can already guess the content. Sure enough, it's a card battle game. How is this any different from 'I Am MT'? It's just a reskin!"

"Nothing to say, just leaving a bad review and moving on."

The comment sections for these games quickly exploded, with many players teaming up to leave bad reviews, causing the ratings to plummet from an initial 8 out of 10 down to around 6.5.

"Demon Slayer," because of its superior production quality compared to the others, managed to score slightly higher but still only reached 7.1.

A lot of players even went to Alex Parker's social media to comment: "Look at what you've done! You've led all these other designers astray, and now they're all making these trash games…"

Complaints and bad reviews aside, players soon realized that despite the low ratings, these games still had high download numbers and plenty of people playing them.

Many players were left puzzled, wondering, "Who's even playing these games?"

...

On the official forum of "Demon Slayer."

"I really want the main character card. Damn, I can't resist the urge to spend money!"

"Someone else is here to call us copycats again…"

"Let them complain. Just ignore them, we'll keep playing our game."

"I still trust games from Generation Entertainment. 'I Am MT' is good, but it's made by a small company. I just don't feel as secure spending money on it."

"The quality of 'Demon Slayer' isn't bad either. At least it's on par with 'I Am MT.'"

"And honestly, after switching to the 'Demon Slayer' theme, it doesn't feel out of place at all."

"Add friends to send energy!"

...

Soon, the revenue data for these card games came out, and none of them were low! "Demon Slayer" performed the best, with industry insiders estimating its monthly revenue could approach the 23 million mark "I Am MT" had achieved.

Arguments and counterarguments were inevitable. This time, Generation Entertainment had learned its lesson and remained silent, ignoring all the fan disputes.

Following the success of "Demon Slayer" and this wave of card-based mobile games, many game designers realized that this card game model could be adapted to almost any theme. Just making a similar game could bring in money!

Even if they had to endure criticism, it was worth it for the profit!

The popularity of "Demon Slayer" and this batch of card-based mobile games sparked another surge in card games, with many designers who had been hesitant now rushing to develop "I Am MT"-style card games.

Suddenly, the entire mobile game industry was in upheaval.

Or rather… it was a mess.

...

Meanwhile, Alex Parker remained silent.

After "Thunderbolt Poker" had its month-long feature on the homepage of Generation Entertainment's platform, it was taken down, but Alex continued to give away prizes.

With such a large user base, having a promotional spot was no longer crucial.

After "Lifeline," Alex didn't announce any new game development plans. Most designers were relieved but also curious about Alex's next move.

Now that Alex had the funds and the player base, if he continued to create hit games, his growth rate would be terrifying.

Many designers were secretly praying, "Let this monster take a break for a year or so. We can't handle this!"

...

Alex tried touching the wall in front of him.

His fingertips felt a very real texture.

He walked, jumped, and threw punches, testing a few actions. It all felt no different from reality, and his strength and speed had significantly increased.

Now Alex felt like an athlete. Even after running quickly for a while, he didn't feel out of breath.

"The VR gaming technology in this world has advanced to this level? Incredible."

Alex couldn't help but marvel.

Yes, Alex was currently lying in a gaming pod in his studio, experiencing the foreign VR game "Earth OL."

This game was extremely popular, with over seven million users worldwide, making it the hottest VR game at the moment.

Of course, this user number seemed small compared to the million users on Alex's Thunderbolt Gaming Platform. This was mainly because VR gaming pods were much less common than PCs due to their high cost.

The price of a VR gaming pod ranged from 50,000 to 200,000 yuan.

For the highest-end models... the price had no upper limit, as many VR pod manufacturers offered customization services. As long as you could pay, they could add any special components you wanted.

This price was not unreasonable for the VR gaming experience it provided, but it was not cheap either.

Different VR games had different requirements for the gaming pod. For a game like "Earth OL," you needed a top-end gaming pod to run it smoothly.

Moreover, VR games themselves were very expensive.

The development cost for a VR game was about ten times that of a triple-A PC game. The average development cost for a triple-A PC game was around 40 million dollars, while creating a VR game with the same world-building could easily cost over 100 million dollars.

Only a few major companies like Generation Entertainment and Infinite Entertainment could afford such development costs in the country.

With high development costs came high prices. "Earth OL" was priced at 399 dollars, which in the domestic market ranged from 2,000 to 2,500 yuan.

For most ordinary players, spending tens of thousands of yuan on a gaming pod and then thousands more on a game wasn't practical. Many preferred to buy a car with that money instead.

Because VR gaming pods were so expensive, VR cafes also emerged. These cafes charged around 50 to 200 yuan per hour, allowing players who couldn't afford a gaming pod to experience VR games.

Due to the high development costs and limited user base, VR games did not develop smoothly and were far from replacing PCs.

Alex was currently in the newbie area of "Earth OL," a reception room. It seemed that each player had an independent instance, unaffected by others.

A large screen nearby was looping important in-game notices. Alex quickly understood the core gameplay of this game.

"Earth OL" was a simulation game where players could experience life choices completely different from reality.

A blind person could become a pilot in this game, and someone frail could become an athlete.

In "Earth OL," everyone's initial attributes (mainly health, physique, strength, speed, etc.) were set to the same level. Players started from scratch, taking on low-level tasks, earning money through jobs, and pursuing their life goals through special missions or selections.

The slogan of "Earth OL" was: "Here, you can experience a completely different life."