Lucas also announced the mobile and VR versions of "Minecraft" on the official blog in advance.
They would launch on March 31st. This was mainly because April 1st was a special day. That's why they set it for March 31st; otherwise, it would have been meaningful to celebrate the two-month anniversary of "Minecraft's" release on April 1st.
As for the pricing, it also surprised many players. The VR version was priced at $29.99.
The mobile version would be automatically activated for anyone who purchased the PC or VR version. Of course, if players didn't want to buy the PC or VR versions and only wanted to play the mobile version, they could buy it separately for $4. However, players who purchased the mobile version could buy the PC or VR version later by paying the remaining balance.
This pricing strategy made countless players exclaim that it was a great deal. After announcing the VR and mobile versions, Lucas didn't pay too much attention.
After all, the PC version had been selling so well, and the VR version's sales were unlikely to be bad. Moreover, compared to other VR games, "Minecraft" at $29.99 was very cheap. However, unlike Lucas's indifference, other designers and media in the game industry were closely monitoring the data.
The next day, Nebula Games didn't release the VR and mobile sales numbers of "Minecraft" like they did for the PC version. But third-party statistics companies quickly compiled the data. The VR version of "Minecraft" sold 2.41 million copies . The mobile version of "Minecraft" sold 1.52 million copies.
April Fool's Day!?
Many designers and media who were paying attention were a little confused. The numbers were a bit too unexpected. The VR version wasn't too surprising. According to Game Division statistics, there were about 30 million VR devices in China. But the actual number was likely higher. The reason was that the data only counted activated VR game pods.
That meant VR game pods that were activated and used. But the problem was that not every player bought a game pod. VR experience shops and similar places accounted for a large proportion. These shops had a fixed number of game pods, but different players would play on them. So the actual number of potential players was much higher than the data suggested. The PC version of "Minecraft" had been selling like crazy, and it was still very popular. The VR version, which offered a better experience and wasn't expensive, selling so many copies wasn't surprising. But the mobile version was the real surprise.
This was the sales number, not the player count! This meant that over a million players had never bought the PC version before, and they were all new players.
...
Compared to the industry's self-doubt, Lucas at Nebula Games was thinking about more important things. On the screen in front of Lucas were the games under Nebula Games: "Mirror" (crossed out), "Undertale," "To the Moon," "Overcooked," "Legends of the Three Kingdoms," "Fall Guys," "Outlast," "Dark Souls," "Valiant Hearts: The Great War," "It Takes Two," "Dark Souls: Age of Fire," and "Don't Starve" and "Minecraft"... well, that hammer-swinging game was temporarily excluded by Lucas.
As of now, the Nebula Games platform had twelve games that they could show off.
At the same time, these games were very well-known among players. For a game store, Nebula Games was already very successful, like Blizzard's Battle.net in his past life. But Lucas didn't want to stop there. Simply being a platform that only sold its own games was never Lucas's goal. He had always aimed for comprehensive digital platforms like Steam and GOG from his previous life.
102 million registered users, 23 million daily active users, 77 million monthly active users, and a peak of 8.17 million concurrent users. Mainly because "Minecraft" had been popular recently, it boosted Nebula Games' active user data. But in any case, this data showed that Nebula Games had become a very influential game store.
Now that it had grown up, and the launch of "Minecraft" was originally for this plan. Lucas had also discussed this with Ethan from the Marketing Department. Now, thanks to the influence of "Minecraft," Nebula Games could finally take this step.
...
April 15th.
Although it was a Sunday, all the employees of Nebula Games were at their posts. On major gaming media websites and in gaming communities, the trending topic was still "Minecraft."
But soon, the top spot was taken by the term "Nebula Games". Many players who opened the Nebula Games platform to play "Minecraft" were stunned by the pop-up message:
"Effective immediately, the Nebula Games store will transform into a comprehensive digital game platform, allowing all game designers to publish games in the store and providing corresponding promotion and services for the games.
This includes cloud saves, user feedback, a workshop for user-created content, connection with store friends, etc., and giving game designers on the platform sufficient autonomy, subject to the rules."
Of course, these games must first undergo corresponding review and obtain publishing qualifications before they can be released.
In short, Nebula Games was going to switch from an independent platform running its own games to a comprehensive channel platform.
What excited game industry designers even more was the Nebula Games platform's sales terms.
In this parallel world, like most game stores in his past life, official game stores took 30%. But this was for official stores. For larger channels like SkyNova and NetDragon, it was a completely different story. Top game designers and some powerful companies could naturally get 30% of the revenue.
What about the treatment of ordinary game designers and companies? Many people in his previous life complained that Steam, Google, and others taking 30% was too high. But some domestic mobile app store channels basically started at a 50/50 split.
Want a 30% revenue share? No problem, list your game on my platform, but I won't promote it. That's 30%. But if I promote it and use my servers, that's 60%. Don't complain it's too high, because some even split it 70/30.
Developer gets 70%, channel gets 30%? What are you thinking? It's developer gets 30%, channel gets 70%! Some even let the channel decide how to operate your game. What? You say that's begging for food on your knees?
That's right! That's exactly what it is! And even like that, many people want to beg but don't have the chance! Compared to the major application channels in his previous life, the major channels in this parallel world were the same.
So why were there still so many designers willing to go along? Because setting up their own platform and selling on their official website couldn't afford the cost of promotion. As for official game stores, although they had a large user base, the algorithm for recommendation slots and rotations was quite outdated.
After all, since it involved the official side, they couldn't promote too much within the market. So unless it was a really popular game, it was rare for games to become very popular on official platforms. Most games didn't have the quality to become very popular. Instead, they were able to satisfy part of the player base.
So even if the channel's commission was high, it still ensured exposure. The situation was stronger than people, so they had to gnaw on bones themselves and let the channels eat meat and drink soup. After all, to make money, kneeling wasn't shameful.
But now, what shocked game industry designers was that the revenue sharing that Lucas offered in the Nebula Games store was 25%. Whether it was a large game company or an individual game designer, all took a flat 25% cut for the platform's daily operations.
This news instantly caused a huge earthquake in the game industry.
(End of The Chapter)
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