Chapter 159 The Decline of AR
Because of this promotional campaign, many people who don't usually play games suddenly started paying attention to the game, and they all went to the Blue Star forum.
The hospitable Ming Cult, of course, immediately launched its promotional campaign.
"Friend, have you heard of League of Legends? You definitely have!"
"Then you must have heard of the Way of the Assassin, right, right, the one that's been trending lately..."
"Come, come, look at our doctrine, repeat after me: 'Made by Blue Star, guaranteed to be top quality!'"
"Have you heard of the Heroic Card Game Tournament? That's right, it's card games! Our bankroll is already over 800,000..."
Strictly speaking, there is basically no one in this world who has never played games.
The definition of a game can be very broad. It can include the virtual bubbles on electronic devices, but it can also include competition on a football field, and it can also include the glass marbles you played as a child.
The game is a paradise-like version of life, where all efforts are rewarded, all waiting takes only a few seconds, everything revolves around the protagonist, and all regrets can be easily rectified...
Nobody dislikes games.
Of course, in the industry, anyone who has never played traditional video games can be called a "casual gamer".
Did you hear that?! It's still a player's account!
The only difference is that he hasn't open his digital wallet yet.
"Casual gamers" don't dislike games; they just lack the opportunity to learn about them.
Often, the first game that leads them into the world of video games will become a cherished "nostalgic masterpiece" in their hearts.
For example, the first game from the Dragon Slayer Studio, "Against the Heavens," was a clichéd money-grabbing game. However, six or seven years later, the first batch of players had grown old, and they began to spontaneously reminisce about the sweat and money they had poured into it back then.
Anything can be gilded by memories; that's what we call sentimentality.
Now, if these players were to recall it, they themselves wouldn't know how they fell into this trap, or how they suddenly became so infatuated and unable to wake up.
It's definitely because the game is just too fun!
The games on Earth are all masterpieces, scoring full marks or close to full marks, and their inherent appeal far surpasses that of other forms of entertainment.
"Casual gamers" only need a little understanding, watch the trailer, and experience just one minute of the game to become completely addicted.
After the advertising campaign for "Dragon Hunter" went live, sales of Blue Star Studio's previous titles suddenly saw a slight increase within a few days.
Everyone understands perfectly: since the new game hasn't been released yet, eager players will choose to play other games to satisfy their cravings, which is completely normal.
Moreover, several AR games next door have also suddenly seen a significant increase in registered users.
AR is an established technology, and the government has been supporting such projects for many years.
Several classic AR products already exist in this market.
Because of government support in previous years, these works, although not popular, have a high tax exemption threshold, which is equivalent to decent business performance.
In the race for tax-free slots, several large companies even competed with each other for shares.
The situation has now largely stabilized, and the biggest winner in the AR game market is Cruise Capital.
Cruise Capital is an old acquaintance of Mingyan. Back when Blue Star was just beginning to emerge, their keen and greedy business eyes had already fallen on Blue Star.
This behemoth has always operated in this way, so it's not surprising that it made such a bold statement. Cruise lines have practically acquired AR products and even swallowed up the development teams behind these games.
The current AR game market is stagnant. Even the top-ranked game, AR Bee, has fewer online players than a fraction of the number in the game "Xia Ke Xing".
During the market background research, Mingyan personally played "AR Bee" and found that it was just a shooting game with AR technology forcibly added.
Its content basically involves players holding guns and shooting at various randomly appearing monster targets around them, and then calculating scores.
The advantages are unremarkable. Although the 3D projection can provide a good sense of immersion, it is basically outclassed by otherworld games in this aspect.
The drawbacks are numerous, as it has almost no gameplay to speak of; it's just a shooting simulator where all players can do is adjust the muzzle and press the trigger.
Of course, many games in the interstellar era are simulators like this.
The release of the Dragon Hunter promotional video has suddenly ignited the enthusiasm of many players for AR technology.
Cruise Capital reacted quickly, immediately taking advantage of the momentum to relaunch "AR Bees," which successfully attracted many players to download and play the game in a short period of time.
A huge amount of traffic may bring seemingly good results to the publicity department, but in reality, these players will not stay in the game for long at all.
After the initial novelty of shooting in real life wore off, they quickly grew tired of it.
"This is just a projection ad on a treadmill, like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey. Trying to trick me into exercising? No way!"
"This is boring, I'm going back to playing League of Legends."
"My hands are sore from typing, all for that extra 10,000 points at the end? I feel no sense of accomplishment at all, I feel like I've been insulted!"
"What the hell? This isn't exciting at all compared to VR games. I've been fooled."
Some people uninstalled the game and then went back to their original forms of entertainment, much to their disappointment.
Another group of bored players returned to the Blue Star Forum, but their expectations for Dragon Hunter were greatly diminished.
AR games are utterly boring; they're tiring and uninspiring. I'd rather go back to playing VR shooting games.
There are reasons for the decline of AR technology!