Chapter 80: Accompanying DLC

Lu’s idea was quite bold.

Though this kind of scumbag behavior of forgetting the old love after finding a new one isn’t commendable, Chen Ba didn’t deny it either.

To put it bluntly.

Once a game mechanic is designed, how players choose to play is up to them, even if it goes against the original design intention, it shouldn’t be easily dismissed.

Trying to teach players how to play the game?

Give me a break! Any game designer with such an idea has basically been cursed out by players.

For example, the designers of League of Legends!

Whether the hero is a scumbag or a good guy, these are choices made by players, and as a game developer, Chen Ba won’t comment.

He only cares about the game itself.

Divine Grace Continent this time wasn’t made using the Dream Building 5 Engine, mainly because it wasn’t necessary.

Regarding this news, many players who played Star Emperor expressed disappointment, thinking Tianba Studio would develop a new game with exquisite graphics and stunning special effects.

Who knew the new game’s main focus was not the graphics...

"What are you thinking?"

Seeing a bunch of disappointed Star Emperor players, Chen Ba said helplessly, "Star Emperor’s game graphics won’t be outdated for at least five years, so why make a sequel?"

Digital hardware updates pretty fast, but no matter how fast, it can’t beat Old Huang’s pricing strategy and slow improvements.

Unexpectedly.

The game Star Emperor won’t remove the Path to Immortality risk warning for at least the next three years. Most players’ hardware still struggles to support high-intensity Extreme Sublimation.

Given this, Tianba Studio doesn’t need to make a second-generation sequel with more exquisite graphics and more stunning special effects.

After all, most players are still using graphics cards like the 1060.

Just one Star Emperor already has people saying they can’t handle it, if we make a Star Emperor ProPlus version, how many players would meet the recommended settings?

This is also why after releasing Star Emperor, Chen Ba decisively developed 2D turn-based games like Divine Grace Continent without considering the game graphics.

He wants sales!

Without solid game sales to back them up, a team like Tianba Studio could suddenly announce a dissolution anytime due to a broken financial chain.

This is the helplessness of a small team.

Why does everyone want to go to big companies?

Apart from high salaries and good benefits, the most important thing about big companies is their strong risk resistance and stable jobs—unless you make a huge mistake, you won’t suddenly become unemployed.

Tianba Studio has quite a few people, a total of sixteen counting the Xianyu Digital’s customer service and packaging specialists next door.

Monthly salaries and bonuses alone cost two to three hundred thousand, and this doesn’t include rent, utilities, office supplies, and internet expenses. In total, at least four hundred thousand is needed.

This amount of money could buy a three-bedroom house in Chen Ba’s hometown small county.

"Spending money like running water!"

After sighing, Chen Ba suddenly remembered the renovation DLC for Living Under Someone’s Roof Simulator released earlier and asked, "How many copies of the DLC were sold?"

"Nearly 100,000 copies!"

Yang Dong, who was pondering game values at the computer, lifted his head and said, "It’s selling quite well, with an average of one in every seven players buying the DLC, which is a pretty good ratio."

Indeed, it’s not bad!

Hearing this, Chen Ba couldn’t help but nod.

A 7:1 DLC sales data isn’t low industry-wide. Keep in mind, many games sell millions of base copies, but DLC sales number only in tens of thousands.

Of course, it’s not the best.

The best DLC sales data reportedly approaches 1:1, meaning almost every player who buys the base game also buys a DLC copy.

That’s absurd!

Not mentioning a 1:1 ratio, even 2:1 or 3:1 is incredible. If the base game has a million sales, releasing several DLCs can earn as much as the base game itself.

Rumor has it...

Games like Euro Truck Simulator have cumulative DLC sales that are several times higher than the base game. After all, just playing the base game without DLC isn’t quite satisfying.

The renovation DLC reaching sales close to 100,000 copies and 7:1 sales data made Chen Ba consider something.

Old games aren’t considered for now.

As Tianba Studio’s new game, should we make a "companion DLC" for Divine Grace Continent to release alongside the official version?

"Sure!"

Yang Dong agreed, "Many games launch with one or two companion DLCs, we can also make one."

"The only question is, what content should the companion DLC have?"

Companion DLCs aren’t strange.

Popular games usually have one or two companion DLCs released. Like the well-known Forza Horizon 5, which launched with companion DLC containing special vehicles.

Ba wanting to make a companion DLC for Divine Grace Continent is a very normal idea.

But what content the companion DLC should have stumped the two of them.

Since it’s a companion DLC, the content must have some features and appeal, it can’t be like ordinary DLCs, just adding a few skins to patch things up.

"Why not just make a batch of new NPCs!"

Chen Ba thought about it, and only having elves, dwarves, and beastmen might not satisfy the hero’s appetite, so he might as well add a few special NPCs like giant dragons, slimes, undead races, and goblins in the companion DLC.

This would enrich the hero’s harem and have some appeal, enticing players to purchase the DLC.

"Are you sure?"

Yang Dong twitched the corner of his mouth, "Forget about dragons, but with undead races, slimes, and goblins looking so odd, who would buy them as wives?"

"You’re right, players with such peculiar tastes are indeed few, most players prefer human characters."

Chen Ba didn’t deny this but added, "But as the saying goes, if the strength is high enough, even the ugliest can be a wife."

Undead races, slimes, sure, they’re a bit ugly, but they have a kind of "statistical beauty!"

Moreover, there are more curious players than Yang Dong imagines.

Who can refuse a skeleton soldier wife? Who can refuse to keep a slime and goblin as pets?

Alright, alright!

Even if they’re uninterested in these, what about a dragon? Keeping a handsome and strong dragon, nobody would oppose that, right?

"Alright then..."

With Ba saying so, Yang Dong had no reason to oppose.

Besides, on closer thought, he realized Chen Ba made a good point. Such special NPCs do attract quite a few players.

Mainly due to a curiosity!

The game base’s NPCs are mostly humans, and even special races like beastmen, elves, and dwarves look similar to humans.

Getting bored of normal humans, raising a few oddly shaped NPCs honestly isn’t bad...

The strength stats are secondary.

The main appeal is a sense of freshness, if they can’t be wives, they can still be pets!