Chapter 250 - First Day Sales
Soon, the statistics for Thousand Hells and Minecraft was released.
The two games looked to be on even ground from the initial promotions. Thousand Hells got a lot of help from Emperor Dynasty Entertainment and even got the best promotional spot on Emperor Dynasty Gaming Platform’s front page.
Whereas Minecraft gained most of its popularity from Forbidden City and Old Summer Palace. At the same time, the Game Committee gave Minecraft a promotional spot too.
The twenty-four hour sales for the games: Thousand Hells sold 8739 copies, whereas Minecraft sold seventeen thousand four hundred copies.
Minecraft sold double the amount Thousand Hells didn, but it wasn’t even close in terms of revenue as Thousand Hells was priced at twelve hundred eight eight, ten times the amount of Minecraft.
Thousand Hells made eleven million on the first day, and it seemed more than likely that it would make over two hundred million RMB in the first month, potentially even more than three hundred million.
Minecraft on the other hand made 3.47 million RMB in its first day. Two million or so of that game from selling the actual game, and the rest came from players spending money in game (blueprints).
Many whales were spending repeatedly, up to several thousand RMB as they bought all of the high quality buildings.
From the looks of it, Minecraft would probably make one hundred million in its first month which was quite far away from Thousand Hell’s three hundred million.
Yan Zhenyuan breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this number.
He had been really uneasy since Chen Mo’s videogame conference, and for some reason his eyelids were always twitching.
Maybe it had to do with Chen Mo’s praises?
Yan Zhenyuan didn’t dare look down at Chen Mo either as he knew that the videogame industry is incredibly unpredictable as miracles can often happen.
A smaller game might gain a lot of popularity and spread all across the globe.
Moreover, Chen Mo seemed to have created many of these miracles.
Therefore, the more successful a videogame designer was, the more careful they usually were.
But from the looks of it, Minecraft didn’t seem to be able to move Thousand Hell’s position.
Thousand Hells should be able to reach the top of the VR best sellers and stay there for a week or two, and Yan Zhenyuan was more than satisfied by a result like that.
Although the games were of different genres and didn’t compete with one another directly, they were both VR games that sold at the same time. It would still be fine if they had lower sales, but they would certainly be a bit embarrassed if Minecraft trumped them in terms of monthly revenue as well.
Emperor Dynasty Entertainment were already celebrating as they finally beat Chen Mo!
Although it might’ve been overkill, and the games were of different genres as well, but a win’s a win!
And thinking back on the beef between Chen Mo and Emperor Dynasty Entertainment, it was normal for the designers at Emperor Dynasty Entertainment to be celebrating.
—
Chen Mo’s side on the other hand was quite calm.
Everyone was still quite emotionally stable upon seeing the statistics.
They did sell quite a few copies, but because of how low the game was priced at a tenth of what Thousand Hells cost, it was normal for them to lose in terms of monthly income.
They might not be able to sell the same amount of copies if they raised the price either. All that could be said is that smaller games don’t get the same treatment as larger games on VR.
In the office, assistant Lin Xiao was having a discussion with Su Jinyu.
“Ms Goldfish, I want to ask you something. Minecraft’s sales for the first day is out, should we organise a celebration dinner? I’m not sure if the manager is satisfied with numbers like these. Normally, we should organise a dinner,” asked Lin Xiao.
Su Jinyu replied after a few moments of thought, “You should ask him yourself. I don’t know what he’s thinking either.”
Lin Xiao was a bit hesitant, “It’s because I don’t know what he has in mind that makes it so difficult to approach him with this question.”
“Don’t worry, the manager has a good mentality. You don’t need to worry so much, just go ahead and ask him,” assured Su Jinyu.
“Alright,” Lin Xiao nodded and decided to ask Chen Mo directly.
Lin Xiao got to the second floor of the experience store to find Chen Mo was still looking into various statistics for Minecraft while building.
Lin Xiao knocked on the door gently, “Manager?”
Chen Mo turned around to look at her, “Come in, is something wrong?”
Lin Xiao walked forwards and asked hesitantly, “Manager, Minecraft’s statistics for the first day is out, should we organise a celebratory dinner?”
“Celebratory dinner?” Chen Mo gave it some thought, “Of course!”
Lin Xiao nodded, “Alright, I’ll get that organised right away.”
Chen Mo quickly waved his hands, “No no no, wait. We don’t need to rush this. Wouldn’t it be better if we celebrate after the income of Minecraft surpasses Thousand Hells?”
“Huh?” Lin Xiao was confused, “Have the dinner after we surpass Thousand Hells?”
From the income of the first day, Minecraft was about a third of Thousand Hells, how would it surpass them?
Of course Lin Xiao didn’t dare ask any further. She had already reminded the boss about the dinner, it was completely up to them when to host the dinner or if at all.
“Alright, just let me know when, manager.” said Lin Xiao before leaving.
Chen Mo continued building calmly.
For certain games, the first day’s sales were incredibly important as after a long promotional period, the players who buy the game on the first day are the target audience for the game. The feedback from these players were incredibly important to the videogame designers.
Normally, a game that had done sufficient promotions would have one of the highest if not the highest amount of sales in the first day. Especially when pre orders are taken to account, the number of sales the game would get could safely be extrapolated.
But that wasn’t the case for sandbox games.
When sandbox games are just released, the players would still be exploring the game so the fun of the game wouldn’t be fully realised. That comes with sufficient participation and ingenuity from the players. A second wave would follow, allowing for more growth.
Although Chen Mo had used various methods to show the fun in building in Minecraft, there was still a gap between him and the players.
Chen Mo was the developer of the game after all. Most players would think that there might’ve been some special effects upon looking at his creations.
Players will only realise the fun of the game when they build amazing buildings with their two hands.
As it was only the first day since release so Chen Mo wasn’t worried at all.