"This points system is way harder to earn now than before!" In the experience store, leaning back on the sofa, Lucas looked at the system interface in front of him and couldn't help but sigh.
After the system upgrade, getting points had become much tougher. The easy days after developing Minecraft only lasted a moment.
But the items and skill books from the lottery draws had more good stuff now.
With the idea of a fresh start for the new year, Lucas went ahead and spent all his saved-up points on draws.
As for the keys he got before the system upgrade, Lucas decided to hold onto them for now.
After all, the things in the store were really too expensive.
[Professional Knowledge: Modern Warfare (Intermediate)]
[Professional Knowledge: Director's Shots (Intermediate)]
[Art Knowledge: Battlefield Atmosphere Creation (Beginner)]
...
A whole bunch of stuff, all mixed together.
"What is this trying to hint at?" Looking at the skill books he got, after using them all up, Lucas smacked his lips.
Right now, the commercial success of Rainbow Six: Siege had the NetDragon team super excited and thrilled.
But in Lucas's view, it was just okay, nothing special.
Because Rainbow Six: Siege was clearly a game with more hype than actual players.
Simply put, it was like Dark Souls—lots of people had heard of it.
But not that many actually played it.
Just like in his previous life with Rainbow Six: Siege, for example, "Today I'm Fuze and I'm here to save the hostages! Iron wall baby room, I'll live and die with the mansion!"
Memes like that spread around, so many players knew there was a game called Rainbow Six: Siege.
But the players drawn in by those memes rarely stuck around.
In the end, it was because Rainbow Six: Siege, as a tactical game, had too high a barrier to entry.
Of course, compared to the old single-player series that got super brainy with tactics, Siege was only at the level of just finishing elementary school.
But for most regular players, it was still too hardcore.
Whether a game can become mainstream comes down to how easy it is to get into.
Take Warcraft, for example. Even though its RTS style scared off a lot of people.
The rich single-player story and fun RPG custom maps were enough to make it a mainstream hit.
For the company's plans next year, Lucas planned to focus on VR.
After all, on PC, Nebula Games was already solid. But on VR so far, only Minecraft had any real pull, and that game was a bit special anyway.
As for Rainbow Six: Siege, that was a product of the partnership between Nebula Games and NetDragon.
For Lucas, the next game would be Nebula Games' entry point into VR.
And for the team, after developing Rainbow Six: Siege, they already had some tech know-how built up.
If worst came to worst, he could talk to NetDragon and see if they'd lend a dev team as a favor—treat it like outsourcing to them for Nebula Games.
While Lucas was thinking it over, Ethan reported the New Year's event details to him.
After confirming everything was fine, they locked it in.
Soon, these event details went live online.
This round of Nebula Games platform events got a lot of players excited.
For online games, nothing much to say.
The main one was the ongoing Legends of the Three Kingdoms, which inevitably had some overpowered generals during operations. But the ops team followed player feedback closely and kept the negative impact to a minimum.
At the same time, during operations, the team added some fresh gameplay modes.
Like the PVE style in Legends of the Three Kingdoms, plus the Year Beast event and such.
Some got good reviews, some not so much.
The events for Legends of the Three Kingdoms were pretty straightforward.
New Year-themed general skins, and a free permanent skin as a New Year's gift for players.
For Rainbow Six: Siege, it was direct too.
Roll out a new version update with ranked mode, new entry modes, and so on. Plus update the home page spectator system so players could watch high-level matches.
On top of that, add two brand new operators each for defenders and attackers.
For games without in-app purchases, like Dark Souls and It Takes Two, they made some changes for the New Year events too.
Among the multiplayer-focused ones, Warcraft added two brand new ranked competitive maps: one for two players and one for four players.
Both maps had a special twist—the big monster in the middle turned into a unique one: the Year Beast.
Of course, after the Spring Festival, it'd go back to normal.
For Minecraft, there'd be an official New Year celebration event, adding lots of holiday-related content.
Like dumplings, rice cakes, cheongsams, fireworks, and so on.
It Takes Two, Overcooked, and Fall Guys would get New Year elements in their levels too.
Monster Hunter: World would do the same, adding a new hunt target: the Year Beast.
And the first hunt was guaranteed to drop a gem you wanted.
It was like a little comfort for players who'd been grinding for almost a year without getting many.
For Dark Souls, they added a new monster to Death Mode: the Year Beast.
Of course, to keep the pure Dark Souls experience for players, this Year Beast might be a tad strong.
But it wasn't a big deal—after all this time, anyone still playing Dark Souls was a battle-hardened masochist, right?
Maybe they'd even get more pumped up.
These were just for specific players of each game.
But for all Nebula Games platform players, there was a big event.
Ninety percent of the games on Nebula Games would join the discount sale.
Of course, the newly released Rainbow Six: Siege wasn't included—one because it just launched, and two because the PC version from NetDragon wasn't out yet.
For the game makers joining the New Year sale, the discount level was up to them.
Nine percent off, or ninety percent off—it depended on what they wanted.
If you thought it was a hassle or had trouble deciding, no problem—just let Nebula Games handle it. They'd set it based on backend data and player reviews.
On top of that, there was a brand new discount buying event.
Matryoshka coupons.
Every Nebula Games platform player would get one $2 and one $5 coupon to use on limited-time game buys.
The $2 one worked on games over $10, the $5 on games over $25, and the two coupons could stack.
After using them to buy, you'd get one back right away.
Of course, the game makers had been notified about this event, and most were happy to join.
Why? Because Nebula Games would promote it specially for participants.
Plus, everyone else is discounting—if you skip it, aren't you the one losing out big?
Countless players instantly lost their cool over this.
Spring Festival hadn't even arrived yet.
Players online were already buzzing.
"Whoa, all these games on discount? But wait, why are the biggest discounts on Outlast and Dark Souls???"
"This coupon isn't a glitch, right? Buy and get one back?"
"Nah, it's just Nebula Games' event!"
"Holy crap, this is gonna bankrupt them!!"
"It's not just Nebula Games titles—tons of third-party games are in, including some NetDragon classics on sale too!?"
"I've played them all already, but at this price! I can't resist!"
Players have this weird mindset.
I can buy a game and never play it.
With discounts this good, it gave countless players a reason to add to cart.
And as they bought, they sighed in awe.
This round is a total blowout loss!
(End of The Chapter)
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