Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch - Chapter 319:
Chapter 319: Chapter 317: My Husband Wasn’t This Fast on Our Wedding Night
Translator: 549690339
On Saturday, Lincoln woke up early and, along with Mavis, began paying close attention to the sale of Mirage consoles, waiting for the milestone moment to arrive.
And that moment came quickly.
Last week, a large number of families bought new consoles for their children due to the release of “Paradise.”
As expected, over the past week, the power of the “children’s social circle” was unleashed.
The newly stocked 15 million Mirage consoles saw their inventory rapidly decrease.
In just half an hour, more than 6 million units were sold.
After that, the speed began to slow down.
However, neither Lincoln nor the many media outlets were concerned about the remaining stock.
When the sales reached 5 million units, everyone began to take action.
The fastest was Mavis, who immediately posted a celebratory poster on Cloud Dream’s official account.
On the poster, the Cloak character from “Traveler of the Wind,” the tiny figures from “Light Encounter,” Firefox and Cross from “Assassins’ Alliance,” and the initial Capsule Figure from “Paradise” all gathered around a player wearing a silver headband.
At the bottom of the picture, there was a large line of text:
“Mirage console sales officially break the 100 million mark!”
Various game media outlets also followed suit, releasing their congratulatory images and words:
“One person, one console, one hundred million! Cloud Dream’s leap forward.”
“One hundred million players! An unbelievable feat to expand the player base by five times in just three months!”
“One hundred million is just the beginning! We have reason to believe: 100 million sales are far from the limit for Mirage. There is still potential in the domestic market, and the overseas market is even more promising! The journey of Mirage is just beginning!”
“Prior to this, the industry generally believed that the total number of players would grow at a rate of three to five million per year, eventually reaching a peak of 50 million. But this ‘invisible ceiling’ never appeared in front of Cloud Dream. Perhaps everyone underestimated the vast potential of the gaming industry, or as Lincoln said, the development of the gaming industry had gone astray, leading to a slowdown in growth.”
Some game media even made a point to mention NetDragon:
“Seeing the miracle Lincoln created at this moment and recalling the targeted attacks by NetDragon at that time, one cannot help but sigh at the vast difference caused by a single wrong thought.
If NetDragon’s boss had been more humble after being publicly ridiculed by Lincoln at the press conference, and if he had taken the initiative to admit his shortcomings and even invited Lincoln to join NetDragon’s R&D Department, would the outcome have been different?”
All the news was released almost simultaneously, creating a screen-sweeping effect in players’ information feeds.
As a result, many players even missed Mavis’ second post following the celebratory poster – “Mirage 2.0 is coming soon!”
– Yes, it was the same phrase that had mistakenly made it to the Hot Searches the day before yesterday.
Many players, upon simply scrolling through their feeds, didn’t notice it at first glance.
It wasn’t until they felt something was off that they went back and took a second look, realizing they almost missed a major piece of news:
“#Mirage 2.0 is coming soon#
To celebrate the sales of over 100 million Mirage consoles, we are hereby announcing: The second-generation Mirage 2.0 will soon meet everyone.
Completely free from the constraints of wires, for your true freedom!”
“At the same time, massive benefits are coming for both new and old users!
Huge discounts on new consoles, trade-ins for old consoles, and collective gift coin benefits!”
More detailed promotional measures were made into an image by Mavis, pinned at the top of the comment section.
This announcement truly stirred up a hornet’s nest.
Media outlets scrambled to repost the announcement and promotional measures on their own pages before they even had time to write new articles about the news.
Once they had reposted, they began to consider the significance of the announcement, how to comment on it, and how to get in on the hot topic.
“Researching the new console’s configuration, see what’s upgraded, and assess its value?”
“Represent the excitement of players?”
“Represent the players’ protests?”
“Or represent players urging Cloud Dream to develop a third-generation console?”
Or even, “Express the astonishment of peers in the gaming industry?”
“Expressing dissatisfaction?”
“Or ask how many people they have in their R&D team?”
…
Unlike the media’s entanglement and urgency, the players exploded on the spot.
“Friends, I think I just experienced time travel? Why do I see the same thing as the day before yesterday?”
“The prophet is here! I can tell you the hot searches tomorrow!”
“I don’t need you to tell me! I already know it’s ‘#No Mirage 2.0!#'”
“Be serious, guys! This time it’s different, it’s officially announced!”
“Unbelievable! I just bought my kid a Mirage, and it’s outdated in 5 seconds? I didn’t even get this fast on my wedding night!”
“Sister, calm down… Just return it!”
“To which return are you referring?”
“Get serious, folks!!! We’re discussing important matters here!”
When countless players gather together, it’s easy for this problem to arise: everyone talks differently, derails the conversation easily, and it’s basically impossible to have a serious discussion about any topic.
After ten or twenty minutes, the players’ real opinions and concerns will finally make their way to the top of the comment section, buoyed by popular agreement.
Of course, it isn’t always like this.
Sometimes, what makes it to the top is some brilliant work from the players…
For example, Lincoln once saw a comment in his comment section that said, “one like, one push-up.”
As a result, this comment was embraced by netizens with the mentality of “helping every reckless dreamer,” and garnered tens of thousands of likes.
That guy is pretty tough too, still uploading videos every day to pay off his debt. If he goes along with his progress, he can pay it off by the time his child is an adult.
Of course, provided he can still find a wife.
And ten minutes later, the top of the comment section was indeed filled with the players’ most pressing questions:
“With the arrival of the second-generation console, will it affect the use of the first-generation console? Will the system upgrade and maintenance be synchronized?”
“With this latest generation console, apart from the [Wireless] selling point, there seems to be little change in hardware. Are there any other upgrades? If not, is [Wireless] alone really worth 2000 dollars?”
“Does the release of the second-generation console mean that the first-generation will be discontinued? If there’s a problem with my console in the future, will after-sales and repair work encounter any problems?”
“These 500 gift coins, will they turn into 200 ‘2.5 off 100′ coupons when I use them?”
…
Without any hesitation, Lincoln went down the list based on the players’ like order and responded:
“No impact, no matter which generation it is, the system will always be updated synchronously, and the performance of the first generation is more than enough.”
“There isn’t much change in hardware, just a few small parts upgraded in quality and storage capacity. Indeed, it’s not really worth 2000 dollars. But, if you can buy it at the original price, I lose!”
“The first generation will be discontinued, but the warranty promise won’t be affected. There will always be a production line reserved.”
“It won’t turn into coupons, gift coins are equal to cash recharge. You can spend it all at once or bit by bit, however you like.”
Lincoln’s straightforward and honest answers immediately caused a sensation in the comment section.
Lincoln has always believed in one thing: if you want to appear sincere, the easiest and most effective way is… to be truly sincere.
And sincerity, at many times, is the most powerful weapon.
His performance at this moment, coupled with the reputation he had accumulated from his past actions, quickly calmed the players down and inclined them to trust him again.
There are voices of doubt, but they’re obviously isolated and powerless and can’t affect the(players’) mainstream opinion.
In this way, the public opinion storm that Jerome had worried about and anticipated might brew, didn’t even get started before it quickly subsided.
Lincoln even feels a bit unfinished.
He hasn’t even started giving out the gifts he prepared for the players in the game yet!
