For twenty-four hours, countless people watched the performance of the Nebula Games platform closely. They wanted to see if games not made by Nebula Games could do well on the platform.
This was something every designer in the industry was interested in, and also something that major distributors were watching.
The next day at noon, Lucas posted the data he had already collected online.
This data did not include games made by Nebula Games.
The best-selling game was called "Demons and Gods," a new game made by a small, well-known independent game studio.
It's a side-scrolling action game where players can get different skills and buffs as they play. The game has two paths to choose from, and the skills and buffs you get, along with the choices you make in the story, decide whether you become a demon or a god.
The game costs $6.7 and sold 112,000 copies on its first day. It also had the highest first-day sales of any game released on the Nebula Games platform.
The second best-selling game was a simulation game called "Homeless." Players have to play as a homeless person and try to survive and improve their life. It has a multiplayer mode and is good for live streaming, which helped boost its sales. Even though it didn't score as high as "Demons and Gods" with players, it still had a good first day, selling 71,000 copies.
There were also some older games that sold well, such as a text adventure game called "Love Dream" that came from a smaller distribution channel that joined Nebula Games.
It sold 31,000 copies on its first day because of its great characters and story.
The release of this data also surprised many companies in the game industry.
Before this, many game designers didn't want to put their games on Nebula Games because they worried that even though it looked good, players would only buy Nebula Games' games.
But now, the data showed that the Nebula Games platform was a good place to be.
Of course, some games didn't do well, but that was because of their quality.
Even if those games were on SkyNova and NetDragon's platforms, they wouldn't do much better unless they were heavily promoted.
The designers who were unsure before were now excited and rushed to release their games on Nebula Games.
They wanted to get good placement because there weren't too many games on the platform yet.
The major distributors were upset and helpless.
Nebula Games had a lot of confidence at this point.
Plus, "Minecraft" was extremely popular, so there was no way to compete with it.
Another important reason was that Game Division even reposted Lucas's official post.
They didn't say anything directly, but the meaning was clear.
A week later, the major game distributors announced their new policies.
They changed their revenue sharing from 50/50, or even 70/30 in favor of the distributor, to 70/30 in favor of the developer.
But even with this change, many game companies still chose to leave.
With the rise of the Nebula Games platform, the time when distributors were king was over.
.........
The internet was still buzzing, with players and designers discussing the Nebula Games platform and the changes happening with distributors.
But Lucas was relaxed during this time.
Nebula Games would be hiring more people, because as the platform became more open, the cost of managing the community for the games would increase.
The customer service for refunds, community management, and checking user-generated content could mostly be outsourced, but Nebula Games would still need to do a final review.
Thinking about these things, Lucas took a soda to the break area.
When Lucas arrived, Rachel and the others weren't building dark rooms in "Minecraft," which was unusual. They were all chatting. When they saw Lucas, Rachel said excitedly, "Lucas! Other designers in the game industry are calling us dragon slayers!"
The other employees agreed.
The huge impact of the Nebula Games platform on the entire game industry made them excited.
"Okay, calm down everyone. Being called dragon slayers is just a saying. We may have changed some things in the game industry, but you have to remember that making fun games is the most important thing for us. The platform is just so we don't have to worry about what distributors think." Lucas looked at everyone and said seriously.
This was only half true.
Lucas didn't like the distributors in China, but he didn't want to completely destroy them.
Distributors are still important because they give designers who can't promote their games a place to release them.
But the old revenue sharing model of 50/50, or even 70/30 in favor of the distributor, was clearly unfair.
Does that mean platforms don't need to make money?
Of course not.
Lucas didn't want to do charity work.
The 25% cut was something Lucas and his team had discussed carefully.
Nebula Games could still make a profit with this revenue sharing.
And as game sales increased, the profits would only grow.
Lucas's goal wasn't to get rid of all the distributors. He just wanted to give game designers a better choice.
He now had the resources, the ability, and the need, so he stepped up.
It was that simple.
"Okay, don't look so serious. Let's have fun making games and enjoy our bonuses. Don't think too much." Lucas smiled at everyone.
"Also, you were all curious about what our next game will be, right?"
"I'll give you a hint: the new game will use our latest AI technology." Lucas smiled at everyone.
Everyone's eyes widened with curiosity when they heard Lucas.
"Using new technology? When will Lucas start developing the new game?!"
"Yeah, yeah! What kind of game will it be?"
Rachel and Anna were very curious.
Even though Lucas had said this, they knew they would be having a meeting about it soon.
Before announcing the change to the Nebula Games platform, Lucas hinted that they would be developing large-scale games for a while.
Saying nothing is one thing, but saying this was like teasing them. They couldn't take it!
"Okay, I'll give you one more hint: the theme of the new game will be hunting." Lucas smiled meaningfully at everyone and turned to leave.
(End of The Chapter)
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