Chapter 267: The Tides Turn
Seeing as the trolls’ ability to retaliate was basically gone, Chen Mo planned to go to sleep.
Chen Mo released one last Weibo.
“You guys are too weak. We’ll leave it here for now. I hope you guys will hone your craft and work on your professionalism so you guys won’t lose so badly when you encounter someone like me next time.
“Alright, I’m in quite a good mood after this chat, so I’ll go over some questions seriously.
“When I announced that Thunderbolt Gaming Platform would be taking a lower cut, many thought that it was completely malicious and even brought out app wars from the past. All you’re saying is that I’m a dragon warrior, and would eventually grow scales and a tail to become the new evil dragon.
“I can tell you right here and now, I don’t have any plans to become the new evil dragon, nor am I interested in all the treasures you guys have gathered for so long. I just want to slay dragons, it is as simple as that.
“As to if I’ll be hated, forgotten or cast aside by the villagers after slaying the dragon, it doesn’t matter.
“I don’t care about these extremely rich distributions, but what is important to me is them without you.
“I’d like everyone here to be my witness: I promise that Thunderbolt Gaming Platform will never influence designers or their design or their marketing strategy, and we’ll never take more than thirty percent.
“The worry you guys have of Thunderbolt Gaming Platform beating other platforms with a lower price then becoming the new tyrant will never happen.
“Thunderbolt Gaming Platform will focus on promoting players more, better games. I’m here to make a platform, not to make money.
“To the distributors out there who are deathly afraid, you guys don’t need to be doubtful anymore. I’m not here to start a price war, nor do I want to monopolise the distribution channels. What I want to do is simple, I want you guys who are used to taking advantage of designers to have a taste of your own medicine.
“I’d like to announce that the days where distribution is king is now over!”
—
The twenty four hour flame war got the topic incredibly popular and even became the top trending search on Weibo, and Chen Mo’s final Weibo drew even more attention to the matter.
The distributors only had one thing in mind after seeing Chen Mo’s Weibo post.
Chen Mo’s crazy!
He’s not here to stir things up, he’s being serious!
Soon, the twenty-four hour flame war and the contents of the final Weibo was all over the internet. Everyone was discussing the matter, no matter the average gamer or industry professionals.
“Have you seen Weibo yesterday? Chen Mo finally showed himself and fought against the trolls for twenty-four hours, and he managed to push them back!”
“Really? You can push trolls back?”
“My goodness you missed it? Chen Mo is vicious. He’d get them completely speechless in one line, with many incredible quotes created in the process! You can still see them on Weibo, just go take a look.”
“Really? I want to see how Chen Mo attacks others to be able to push back trolls. Chen Mo’s incredible!”
“Hahaha, Chen Mo even expressed his disappointment at the professionalism and performance of the trolls and hopes that they learn better techniques in the future, that’s incredible!”
“Chen Mo really is incredible. He stayed silent for a few days, I really thought he was just hoping that he could silently wait it out. But he somehow attacks them back!”
“Flame War?”
“Incredible! The final Weibo is crazy, shutting up all of the doubters with all their thoughts of a price war and decreasing the price before increasing it. Chen Mo straight up told us that it wasn’t going to happen!”
—
This Weibo post destroyed any of the arguments the trolls had.
Chen Mo’s cla.s.sy announcement that Thunderbolt Gaming Platform will always stay true to their principles and will take thirty percent at most managed to shut all the trolls up and cut off a way of making money.
No matter what Thunderbolt Gaming Platform would look like in the future, Chen Mo could never think of increasing the cut the platform takes. If it goes above thirty percent, he’ll surely get attacked by many of the witnesses.
This was what caused the distributors such a huge headache. They finally understood that Chen Mo wasn’t doing this for money.
It seemed like Chen Mo set aside all these desires and decided to turn Thunderbolt Gaming Platform into an ethical distribution platform, giving up a potentially incredible way of making money. No attacks will work on someone like him.
Although there were still attacks against Chen Mo, the war was now on Chen Mo’s side.
—
Although it was incredibly chaotic on the internet, Chen Mo’s experience store looked like nothing of the sorts was happening.
Chen Mo left his break room after cleaning himself, stretching his arms.
He was quite tired after going in a flame war against all the trolls, going to bed to regain some strength.
It was now 11am and time for lunch.
As he was thinking about which restaurant to order takeout from, he received a call.
It was from Lin Mao.
Chen Mo had remained in contact with Lin Mao, but because of everything that had been going on with moving experience stores, the new games, as well as the Thunderbolt Gaming Platform, they hadn’t met in two or three months.
Lin Mao said, Chen Mo, Zhao Zihao came back to China a few days ago, let’s try and grab a meal together. I also want to ask some questions about your gaming platform.
Chen Mo seemed to have the same idea, “Sure, you guys can come to me. I’ll send you the address of the restaurant, and we can head to the experience store afterwards.”
As Chen Mo couldn’t be bothered to go too far, he decided to meet up at a nearby restaurant that cost around five hundred per person.
Zhao Zihao and Lin Mao arrived after half an hour.
“Chen Mo!”
Zhao Zihao was extremely happy to see Chen Mo as they hadn’t seen each other in two to three years.
Chen Mo happily walked towards him, “Not bad to head out of the country two three years at a time. Why didn’t you come back to visit once in a while? What have you been doing?”
Zhao Zihao waved his hand, “Geez, don’t mention it, it’s just running errands for the family. I’ve been back a few times during this time, but I’ve been so busy that I couldn’t make time to meet up with you guys.”
“Alright, stop standing at the door, let’s eat while we chat,” ushered Lin Mao.
The three of them entered the restaurant, got a private room and ordered a few dishes.
Chen Mo asked Zhao Zihao, “How is it, are you still going overseas in the future?”
Zhao Zihao shook his head, “That should be done. But you’ve made quite a ruckus in the past few years. I’ve even heard of you while I was overseas. Incredible of you to sell Warcraft and Diablo overseas.”
Chen Mo laughed, “You’ve been playing while you were overseas too?”
“Of course!” said Zhao Zihao,”Not just me, a few close friends were playing it too, we’d play some RPG maps together as well.”