Chapter 52: My Son Mo Has the Bearing of a Great Emperor!

On Children’s Day, the Tianba Community quietly updated a pinned post.

[Pinned] Announcement on the Early Access of "Star Emperor" on the Steam Platform...

The community has a lot of players.

After all, the two games under Tianba Studio have sold over a million copies each, and this community has at least 100,000 registered users.

Even though today is a workday and it’s midday, the community isn’t very active. But there are still plenty of Cowherding Sect followers and GuMua Sect disciples who linger around for preaching and constant battles.

As soon as the pinned post was published, everyone saw it.

It’s too conspicuous!

GameBugs, that permission hog, made it a pinned post as soon as he published it. Anyone who’s not blind can see the content.

"Front row! Ba is alive?"

"When can Tianba Manor hand over the houses?"

"Ba, when will you fix the bug where we can’t lead Old Huang the cow into the school?"

"Early access? Can any real estate expert analyze if there’s room for property prices to soar on Dubhe in the future?"

"Real estate expert here, inside sources say there are plans for several Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin high-speed rail lines on Dubhe, promising great property appreciation potential!"

"Yay! I heard there’s a Cow Demon in the new game? Now we can herd cows!"

Isn’t it possible that you might lose to the Cow Demon? And instead be kept as a pet?

And by the way, are you out of your mind playing the real estate market on Dubhe, a fantasy cultivation world? Aren’t you afraid that a Great Emperor might just flatten your foundation with a slap?

The community players’ discussion made Chen Ba’s blood pressure rise, he felt like giving each of them a good flick on the head.

Forget it, he doesn’t expect much from them.

Releasing this pinned announcement is just a routine notification; Chen Ba doesn’t really think they’ll play "Star Emperor".

After all, it’s a different game type.

This time, "Star Emperor" isn’t a simulation game. No herding cows, no real estate speculation, just adrenaline-pumping fighting competitions!

The overlap between fighting game players and simulation game players isn’t very high.

Fans who enjoyed Tianba Studio’s first two games may not necessarily like the fighting genre of "Star Emperor"...

And there’s another important point.

The first two games were in 2D, whereas the new game is 3D, which introduces many hidden hurdles in the experience, like those who get motion sickness in 3D and can’t play.

Therefore, Chen Ba has other plans.

After announcing the early access plan for "Star Emperor", he secured a pretty decent national homepage recommendation spot on the Steam platform.

This isn’t underhanded.

The huge success of the first two games gave Steam Platform a good share of profits, so it’s only fair for them to reciprocate when Tianba Studio releases a new game.

It’s just like how renowned web novel authors get great recommendation spots when they release new books; it’s a privilege that comes after becoming famous.

Tianba Studio isn’t exactly a renowned author.

But on the Steam Platform, they’re already a well-known game studio. Giving a nod and recommending their new game on the homepage benefits everyone!

"Star Emperor" was launched on three PC gaming platforms; besides the Steam Platform, Tencent’s WeGame and E-Shop also gave recommendations.

Yes, simultaneous release on three platforms!

Despite the different platforms, in online mode, players can still play together, without separate servers.

Tencent once suggested setting up a separate server, but Chen Ba declined.

He knows exactly what their plan was.

Absolutely not! Having a separate server for each platform is too cumbersome, and it’s not friendly to players. Chen Ba won’t do such a thing.

Besides, can E-Shop really sustain the active player base needed for a server? It’s not that Chen Ba wants to criticize E-Shop, it’s just that E-Shop can’t do it!

Except when E-Shop gives away free games, people flock to claim them; otherwise, who buys or plays games on E-Shop?

...

Guo Mo didn’t wake up until the afternoon.

As an Apex streamer, he worked himself to the bone last night to grab a master rank before the end of the season.

What?

His teammates went on a killing spree while he just looted? You call that working to the bone?

Well, did he get to the master rank or not?

"This season’s just brutal, everyone’s just stalling for points. Nine teams still left in the final circle, I’m just dumbfounded..."

After lunch, Guo Mo politely rejected a friend’s invite to play.

He doesn’t want to play anymore, he’s exhausted!

The season’s special point system made his path to the master rank incredibly tough. Now that he’s achieved master rank, he really doesn’t want to touch Apex anymore; he’s afraid he’ll get depressed if he keeps playing.

Tonight he’ll play something else on stream, just to relax.

Rumor has it, his favorite Tianba Studio has released a new game, supposedly some kind of fantasy fighting game?

"Sounds alright, might as well give it a go."

Having set his target, Guo Mo changed his stream title to "My Son Mo Has the Demeanor of a Great Emperor" and started today’s stream.

A new game, especially a multiplayer one, attracts a lot of people eager to try it out.

And game streamers love trying out new games, especially multiplayer ones.

So there are many streamers like Guo Mo who start streaming to try out "Star Emperor". After all, it’s a multiplayer game promoted by the Steam Platform, trying it out doesn’t cost anything.

Who knows, it might make for great content?

Guo Mo isn’t aware of this; he’s just a small streamer with unsatisfactory contract standards, barely making a base salary.

His last burst of popularity was unexpected.

Unable to retain viewers, naturally, his stream doesn’t have many watchers; trying out "Star Emperor" is just because he doesn’t want to play Apex anymore.

"Come on, let’s see how awesome this so-called Dream Building 5 Engine really is!"

Taking a deep breath, Guo Mo clicked on a game icon that resembled the Milky Way Galaxy, entering the game.

Unlike the demo version, this early access phase enabled online mode. Players can choose single-player story mode or online mode on the game’s homepage.

No need to think about it.

Players coming for multiplayer won’t even glance at single-player mode, they’ll dive straight into the online option.

[Loading: 1%...]

The progress bar moved slowly; it’s unclear whether it was a server issue or Guo Mo’s network problem.

It took a full five minutes for the game to load fully, finally bringing up the Tianba Game account registration page.

After logging in with the Steam Platform account with one click, Guo Mo stuck with his old nickname [Buried Love Xiaomo].

"Great Emperor, welcome to Dubhe!"

"This is your proving ground and the burial place of countless Great Emperor Venerables, containing opportunities for immortality."

"The Path to Immortality will open, and the slumbering Alien Race Venerables and ancient Great Emperors will awaken, bringing cosmic chaos..."

After the guide spirit named [Tianxin] finished explaining, it turned into a streak of light merging into the brow of the protagonist Star Emperor, indicating that if needed, you can press the Y key to activate the Celestial Heart Seal and it’ll appear.

What good does waking you up do?

Guo Mo snorted, not thinking much of the newbie spirit named [Tianxin].