In the Nebula Games office, Lucas leaned back on the sofa and chatted with Marcus via video call.
"Boss Lucas, the Game Division gave Rainbow Six: Siege a really high rating!" Marcus said with a big smile.
The media scores weren't too high or too low.
But besides players, the Game Division also praised Rainbow Six: Siege a lot.
It's mainly because the features of Rainbow Six: Siege are so clear and strong.
From a training point of view, the military version of Rainbow Six: Siege is more about training the mindset.
Like team coordination, quick reports and feedback on information.
When it comes to real combat, you can't rely mainly on VR content.
Even so, compared to other games, even the military versions from past years, Rainbow Six: Siege performs really well.
"For the follow-up versions, how's NetDragon preparing?" Lucas smiled and skipped that topic, asking instead.
"The ranking system is already done. Right now, casual players and top players have a big gap between them. It should go live around the New Year," Marcus replied.
These days, he's feeling pretty pleased with himself.
He joined the Rainbow Six: Siege project and it was a huge success, and Lucas doesn't know about it yet.
As a NetDragon employee, Marcus has access to a lot of inside info.
As for SkyNova and the channel alliance, their new game that they'd been promoting before has gone quiet now.
Regular players don't know yet, but based on some internal info from NetDragon, it's very likely they've cut the project in half.
After all, Rainbow Six: Siege has done way too well.
In this case, it's hard for the market or Game Division to beat Rainbow Six: Siege.
Canceling the project to cut losses is a smart move.
This has also excited people inside NetDragon a lot.
Including Marcus, who supported the partnership between NetDragon and Nebula Games, he got a promotion and raise too.
Now he's stepped into NetDragon's management level and has some say in things.
After chatting with Marcus a bit more, Lucas hung up the call.
The PC version of Rainbow Six: Siege after this will be ported and developed by NetDragon.
Based on the VR version, it might cut some small actions and visual effects.
But the main content is still pretty much the same as the VR version.
The game will also add cross-platform matching.
After all, the VR version and PC version have slightly different controls.
To be honest, in the parallel world, the VR version is actually easier to control than the PC one.
Because it gives a stronger sense of realism and immersion, and real-life shooting is actually really hard.
But VR is still just a game, so compared to PC, which uses mouse for aiming.
Most VR games use eye tracking plus aim assist.
So they need to turn on cross-platform matching to let players choose freely.
For the project, that's pretty much it next.
Because the Spring Festival is coming up.
The main thing is to run some events for the platform and the games that are live.
Events basically cover three things: boosting game popularity on one hand, increasing revenue on another, and soothing players on the third.
Sometimes even if you don't want to use holiday events to pull in popularity or revenue, you still have to run them.
Because if you don't, the players will revolt.
If you release a swimsuit skin for IQ, watch us buy it out!
Hmm... that's not right, because the art style clashes too much with the game's setting.
For many players, a game that's been running long-term, especially one with in-app purchases.
If there's no event during holidays, players feel really uncomfortable!
For Lucas, though, there's no real way around it.
Because Nebula Games has a bunch of games running under it right now.
Even last year's Overcooked is still in steady operation.
Though the daily peak online players are only about 10,000 now.
But it's still running steadily, just without any official updates.
It relies more on the community from the workshop players, and the official reviewing and approving player ideas.
The ones that can really be worked on now are Legends of the Three Kingdoms, Fall Guys, and the newly launched Rainbow Six.
Even though there's not a lot to work with in terms of game content.
"Just go with this plan. Have the game companies join the event on a voluntary basis, and explain the pros and cons to them clearly," Lucas said, nodding to Ethan.
This year, it's Nebula Games' first big sale event.
Last year, when the Nebula Games platform just started, because there weren't many games, Lucas didn't do any big sales.
It was more about the platform keeping to release new games.
Now things are different. NetDragon and Nebula Games reached a strategic partnership.
The game library got a lot richer all at once. As for the sales part, Lucas already talked to NetDragon ahead of time.
NetDragon had no issues and is very supportive.
Lucas figures it's because Rainbow Six: Siege did so well that it filled NetDragon up.
Plus, Rainbow Six: Siege isn't a one-time deal.
Follow-up stuff like gun skins and such are big revenue sources too.
The rest is just coordinating with the various companies.
"But Boss Lucas, isn't the discount too big? A lot of companies are worried about that," Ethan asked.
"What's there to worry about? It's all digital, not physical goods. Players buy right away when it hits the max they can sell, and the sale games are mostly ones that launched over a year ago. Monster Hunter: World and Warcraft aren't in it, right?" Lucas said.
Ethan nodded, then discussed the platform event with Lucas some more.
Some classic games, and some well-liked but niche ones, will all join this New Year's special deal.
No one can resist a -50% or higher green bar temptation. That's the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
It's the evil hand reaching for the player's wallet.
When they see that percentage green bar, a man's smile pops into the player's mind without them trying.
Like they're under some spell, players hand over their wallets on their own.
Besides the fun-to-see green bars.
The rest is arranging company events.
After all, Nebula Games has quite a few employees.
They're booking a five-star hotel and hiring a pro performance team.
As for year-end bonuses, each department already handed them out.
By then, every employee at the annual meeting, no matter their position, gets a uniform 5888 red envelope. The prizes are mostly tied to games.
Like custom-themed computers, phones, VR pods, and so on.
For the employees, no matter the department, they're all happy and soaked in the joyful vibe.
But for Lucas, he's happy too, sure, but this is mostly just a formality. The real focus is next year's development plans.
(End of The Chapter)
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