Chapter 47 In-App Purchases and Originium

After the Chinese New Year, the employees returned to the studio one after another.

It is worth mentioning that there are now nine people in Tianba Studio, including Chen Ba.

In addition to the mobile game planner and the boy who can eat a lot recruited from the fan group, the studio also recruited two college graduates who were interested in staying in Jiangning to develop their careers after the Spring Festival.

"Nine people are enough."

Chen Ba thought about it and estimated that even those world-famous top game studios probably only had dozens or hundreds of people.

But even so, they were able to develop one 3A masterpiece after another that was worthy of praise and admiration within two to three years.

So it’s not the quantity of people but the quality of them! As the number of people in the studio approaches ten, we can no longer recruit people randomly. Because at this point, quantity is not what Chen Ba should consider, but quality and ability.

Recruiting hundreds of people at once?

This sounds good, and it can greatly ease the studio's pressure on hiring. But if you think about it, you will know that for a development team of several hundred people, the basic salary alone is enough to overwhelm a game company.

Besides, can a team of dozens of elites really be formed out of a few hundred mediocre people?

I’m afraid not!

Although Tianba Studio has only nine people, it can actually be regarded as a team of more than 30 people.

Because Chen Ba himself and the Tiehanhan system are definitely better than 20 ordinary game developers in terms of work efficiency and comprehensive development capabilities.

It’s mainly due to the system.

As for Chen Ba... His role can be described in one sentence: He and the two horses together can shake up the entire Asian economy! "Are you crazy? You actually want to implement in-app purchases in a buyout game?"

"I'm not crazy! If I don't make some extra income, what do you think I'm going to do with the server operation and maintenance costs?"

Lu Jing and Yang Dong at the next workstation started arguing. It seemed like they were arguing about the charging model? Chen Ba became interested and stood up and walked over to join the discussion: "What are you arguing about? In-app purchases in the online model?"

"Brother Dong said that online modes should sell things that have nothing to do with game balance, such as skins. I think that's inappropriate."

As soon as Lu Jing saw Chen Ba, he couldn't help but complain: "It's a one-time purchase game, doesn't this mean it becomes a second-time payment?"

“That makes sense.”

Chen Ba nodded.

For a buyout game, this kind of in-app purchase model is indeed abnormal, which means that players need to pay twice to experience the complete game content.

Generally, it is free + in-app purchase, that is, the game itself is free to play, but the game will have a mall that provides various in-app purchases to unlock content.

This is rarely the case with buyout games.

"If you think the term in-app purchase is not nice, then why not change it to DLC!" Yang Dong explained, shaking his head. "In short, the server has operation and maintenance costs. If we don't develop new sources of income, the server will be shut down soon."

When developing an online mode, especially a multiplayer mode like "Star Emperor", the server side is a hurdle that cannot be avoided.

It doesn’t mean that everything will be fine if you rent or build a server.

The daily operation and maintenance of the server also has costs, and this cost is not supported by income. If the daily active volume is extremely high, who can afford it?

"What you said makes sense."

After listening to Dong Ge's explanation, Chen Ba hesitated for a moment.

Indeed, he overlooked one point, which is the "daily active volume" of players in the online mode.

The daily active users are not high, and the demand for the server is not high, so it is not a problem for the studio to bear this operation and maintenance cost. But what if the daily active players are very high, up to hundreds of thousands of people? "First make an in-app purchase plan, but don't rush to add it. Wait until the game is in the testing stage and make a decision based on the situation."

After thinking carefully, Chen Ba finally came up with a solution.

First develop the in-app purchase plan for the game, but don’t rush to add it to the main game. Wait until the early access and testing stages, and then make a decision based on the estimated daily active players.

If the game receives good response and has a lot of players in the online mode, you can set up an in-app purchase program and sell some skins to make a living.

If the game response is average, players are generally not enthusiastic about playing, and the daily active users of the online mode cannot meet the requirements, then there will be no in-app purchase plan.

"By the way, let's test the players' opinions and ask them what they think about this."

Chen Ba is not the kind of person who is obsessed with money. If players generally dislike or reject this charging model, he will not go against it.

In fact, it is better to make DLC.

Although the result is the same, both are for launching game skins, but the acceptance of DLC is definitely countless times stronger than that of the game store.

"Ask the players?"

Xiao Lu almost laughed out loud and couldn't help but complain: "Is there any need to ask this? I'm afraid no one will agree with this plan, right?"

"You're right, but if they don't let me sell skins, I'll have to sell new characters." Chen Ba laughed.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

In-app purchase skins are not allowed to be sold, right? Then the new characters will most likely be sold as DLC, which can only be unlocked by spending money.

"Either release all kinds of flashy skins, or spend money to unlock new characters. This is a choice, and we will respect the wishes of players."

New characters in the game are considered additional content.

Assuming that "Star Emperor" is priced at 40 yuan, then this 40 yuan only includes the initial six characters. The subsequent new characters are additional content and need to purchase DLC to unlock.

This is actually the best way.

Not only can it solve the problem of server operation and maintenance costs, but no one can accuse Tianba Studio of charging twice.

But Chen Ba didn't want to use the trick of "charging for roles" unless it was absolutely necessary.

Because one of the most important experiences in a fighting game is character selection. If new characters require additional payment and their mechanisms are particularly strong, it will definitely cause great dissatisfaction among players.

"It's settled then."

Yang Dong nodded and concluded: "The main body of the game is a one-time purchase, but we made a few character skins in advance and put them in the deluxe version for sale."

"If the sales of the deluxe version are not low, far exceeding the so-called basic version, then we will go the route of character skins in the future..."

The in-app purchase plan is also simple.

You can get Originium through game matches. When you have collected 100 kilograms of Originium, you can go to the Stone Workshop to cut the Divine Origin. What you cut out of the Divine Origin depends entirely on luck, which is the so-called lottery.

In addition to Originium that can be obtained through game matches, Tianba Studio will also provide "Originium" for purchase, which is equivalent to the Shark Card in the online mode of "Give Him Love V".

Chen Ba will not force you to spend money.

In the online mode of the game "Star Emperor", even if you don't spend money, you can save up 100 kilograms of Source Stone by playing two games a day, and then go to the Stone Workshop to try your luck.

In other words, spending money only allows players to get their desired skin faster.

Even if you don't spend money, you will get it sooner or later by just spending some time.

Moreover, things like lotteries are more dependent on luck. A kryptonian spent tens of thousands of pounds of resources to draw a skin, but a lucky guy might win it in one go.

(End of this chapter)