mynovelweb Chapter 329 of "Warring States Warriors" is now available.
Chapter 329 of "Warring States Warriors" is now available.
Sakura Games' "Samurai Warriors" is scheduled to launch at 10:00 AM.
It was released at the same time as League of Legends.
Lu Ran felt that this was no coincidence.
That person, Yitiao Xinquan, is meticulous in his actions. He even chooses to go online at the same time as his opponent, as if to show an attitude—I am no worse than you, and I am not afraid to compete with you.
Lu Ran arrived at the company at nine o'clock in the morning.
He didn't go to the office first, but went directly to the technical department.
Old Wang was already sitting at his workstation, with three monitors on simultaneously in front of him: one displaying TUTU's backend data, one displaying the server status of "League of Legends", and one displaying Sakura Games' official website.
"How is it?" Lu Ran pushed the wheelchair over and stopped next to Lao Wang's workstation.
"It's not online yet." Old Wang pointed to the monitor displaying the Sakura Games official website. "There's one hour left in the countdown. The pre-registration page shows that the number of pre-registrations has already exceeded 20 million."
Twenty million.
This number is significantly higher than the number of pre-registrations before the launch of League of Legends.
Lu Ran nodded without saying anything.
Sakura Games has been operating in the Chinese market for a long time, investing in more than a dozen small and medium-sized game companies and integrating channel resources. These accumulated efforts are reflected in the number of pre-registrations.
With the help of Tencent's investment department, the 20 million pre-registrations, while high, were not surprising.
"What about League of Legends?" Lu Ran asked again.
Old Wang switched to another monitor and brought up the data panel: "The peak number of concurrent online users is 1.8 million, which is about 10 percentage points lower than the same period yesterday. User activity has also decreased slightly, but the drop is not significant and is within the normal fluctuation range."
Lu Ran stared at the screen for a while without saying anything.
Ten percentage points is not a lot, but it's not a small amount either.
Sakura Games hasn't even been released yet, but it's still in the pre-launch phase, and it has already had a certain impact on League of Legends.
The impact will likely be even greater once the game is officially released.
"Keep an eye on it," Lu Ran said. "Let me know immediately if anything seems amiss."
"Understood." Old Wang nodded.
Lu Ran pushed his wheelchair out of the technical department and headed towards his office.
The corridor was quiet. Most employees had not yet arrived at their posts. Only a few young women from the operations department who had arrived early were eating breakfast at their workstations. When they saw him coming, they quickly stood up to greet him.
Good morning, Mr. Lu.
"Good morning." Lu Ran nodded to them and continued forward.
Shen Yuege was already in the office. She hadn't gone to the studio today, saying she was coming to the company to keep him company.
"How is it?" She saw Lu Ran come in, put down the cup in her hand and walked over.
"Twenty million reservations." Lu Ran sat down behind his desk. "That's a significant increase compared to when we had them."
Shen Yuege frowned slightly: "Will this affect League of Legends?"
"A little. The percentage of concurrent online users dropped by ten percentage points, and user activity also decreased somewhat. But it's still within the normal range and not too serious."
Shen Yuege sat down opposite him, looked at him, and hesitated to speak.
"What do you want to say?" Lu Ran asked.
"It's nothing," Shen Yuege shook her head, "I just think you're too calm."
Lu Ran leaned back in his chair, his right leg resting on a footstool: "What can I do if I don't calm down? They want to go online, and I can't stop them. Instead of panicking, I should see how they actually do it."
10 o'clock sharp.
Sakura Games' official website has uploaded a download link for "Samurai Warriors". Lu Ran refreshed the page, saw the download button lit up, hesitated for a moment, and didn't click it.
Instead of downloading "Dynasty Warriors," he opened the game section on TUTU to see user reactions.
The homepage is flooded with topics related to "Samurai Warriors".
"The download speed is so fast! Sakura Games' servers are great!"
"The graphics are stunning! The quality is unmatched by any domestic game."
"The smoothness is also good; it runs perfectly smoothly on my three-year-old computer."
"The plot is also very interesting, set in the Warring States period, and the characters are very well-developed."
"I've been playing for two hours and I can't stop. This game is really addictive."
Lu Ran flipped through the entries one by one, her expression growing calmer with each one.
These comments were within his expectations.
Sakura Games has been operating in the Japanese market for so many years, and its technological expertise and artistic skills are indeed unmatched by domestic companies.
The graphics of "Samurai Warriors" are top-notch even in the entire Chinese game market.
It has good smoothness, an interesting storyline, and high replayability.
It has everything a good game should have.
Lu Ran turned off TUTU and opened his data backend.
The peak concurrent online users of League of Legends has dropped to 1.6 million, a decrease of 200,000 from this morning.
The user activity curve is also trending downwards, although the decline is not significant, the trend is very clear.
He stared at the downward curve for a while, then closed the page.
Shen Yuege sat opposite him, remaining silent. Only after Lu Ran closed the page did she ask, "How much did it drop?"
"The number of concurrent users has dropped by about 300,000," Lu Ran said. "User activity is also declining."
Shen Yuege paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you think it will keep going down?"
Lu Ran thought for a moment and shook his head: "No. The price will drop for a while, but it won't drop forever. When 'Dynasty Warriors' is released, some users will definitely try it out. Once the novelty wears off, most people will come back."
He spoke calmly, but Shen Yuege could tell that he wasn't entirely sure.
At 3 p.m., Zhou Mingzhe knocked on Lu Ran's office door.
"The data for the first day is in." He held a printed report in his hand, his expression not very pleasant.
Lu Ran took the report and glanced at it.
Within five hours of its release, "Dynasty Warriors" had been downloaded over 15 million times, with peak concurrent users exceeding one million.
This speed is more than twice as fast as the first day of League of Legends' launch.
Lu Ran placed the report on the table, leaned back in his chair, and remained silent.
Zhou Mingzhe sat down opposite him, took off his glasses to wipe them, and then put them back on: "These figures are better than I expected. Sakura Games has invested heavily in distribution channels, and with the help of Tencent's investment department, this result on the first day is not surprising."
"I know," Lu Ran said. "What surprised me was that the user retention rate was also so high."
Zhou Mingzhe was taken aback: "You looked at the retention rate data?"
"No. Just guessing," Lu Ran said. "Look at the comments section, it's all positive reviews. Not the kind of reviews boosted by paid trolls, but genuine positive reviews from players. Great graphics, smooth gameplay, interesting storyline—these things can't be built up through advertising; the product itself is genuinely well-made."
Zhou Mingzhe was silent for a moment, then said, "So what do we do next?"
Lu Ran did not answer immediately.
He picked up his phone from the table, opened TUTU, and glanced at the comments section of "Samurai Warriors".
Comments are still pouring in like crazy, with dozens more appearing every time the page is refreshed.
The positive review rate remains very high, and even the occasional negative review is easily drowned out by the sea of positive reviews.
He turned off TUTU and then opened his own data backend.
The peak concurrent online users of League of Legends has dropped to 1.5 million, and user activity is still declining, but the rate of decline has slowed.
"Brother Zhou," Lu Ran put down his phone, "what do you think of the game 'Samurai Warriors'?"
Zhou Mingzhe thought for a moment and said, "From a product perspective, it's indeed very well done. The graphics are exquisite, the smoothness is high, and the storyline is interesting. Sakura Games has been making games for so many years, and its technological accumulation is indeed unmatched by domestic companies."
"How long do you think it will remain popular?"
Zhou Mingzhe was taken aback: "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is," Lu Ran looked at him, "whether a game can go far depends on more than just the data from the first day. No matter how good the data is on the first day, if players get bored after a week, it's useless. League of Legends has been online for almost two weeks, and although user activity has fluctuated slightly, the overall trend is upward. What does this mean? It means that players find it fun and are willing to keep playing."
He paused, then continued, "Whether 'Samurai Warriors' can achieve this is still uncertain. Beautiful graphics, smooth gameplay, and an interesting storyline—these things can certainly attract players. But what keeps players engaged isn't the graphics, the smoothness, or the storyline, but rather the game's inherent playability."
After listening, Zhou Mingzhe nodded thoughtfully.
"You mean, let's take a look first?"
"Yes," Lu Ran said. "Let's see. Let's see what the retention rate of 'Samurai Warriors' is after one week, two weeks, and one month. If the data is still this good then, we need to take it seriously. If the data drops sharply, then it means it's just a game that looks good on the surface."
Zhou Mingzhe stood up and patted him on the shoulder: "Okay, I'll listen to you."
After Zhou Mingzhe left the office, Lu Ran sat alone behind his desk, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while.
What he just said to Zhou Mingzhe was all from the bottom of his heart.
He truly believes that a game's longevity depends on more than just the data from the first day.
But he also knew in his heart that the data for "Samurai Warriors" was indeed good, so good that even he was somewhat surprised.
He recalled those years in his previous life, when countless games claimed to "surpass League of Legends" and "end League of Legends," only to disappear without a trace in the end.
It's not that those games are bad, it's that League of Legends is too strong.
It's so strong that it can't be defeated by graphics, smoothness, or plot.
Although this version of League of Legends in this world has only been online for less than two weeks, Lu Ran has confidence in it.
His past life experience told him that this game's longevity far exceeded everyone's imagination.
...