I Make Games Inside a Mobile Game?! Chapter 89 89: Allergic to Money

...

Live, Kiana. That's my final lesson for you.

~Hiko

...

Carl had been wondering how Oath's managent had backed down so quickly.

As it turned out, aside from issuing a public apology, they had changed almost nothing.

The official ban on Netherworld Village had not been lifted. If the physical bodies of Netherworld Village players were discovered, they would still be directly restricted.

Their so-called concession only allowed Netherworld Village players to enter the City of Glory. At the sa ti, they officially announced the full release of the pet system.

As for that pet system, nobody said it had to use Carl's Pokémon.

With that in mind, Carl once again attended an official preview eting for Oath Version 1.5.

This ti, Carl still went in secret. There were simply too many insiders within Oath leaking information.

At this point, Carl could even choose whether to attend with Mio or with Anan.

In this situation, Carl naturally chose Mio. After all, he had not forgotten the basic rule of giving players proper emotional value.

Mio also loved the feeling of Carl hopping around in her palm while he was in sparrow form.

Although Carl always felt that the girl seed to have an urge to squeeze and tornt him whenever he was a sparrow, almost as if he were so kind of squeaky toy.

The new character appearing in Version 1.5 was Migard, the Empire's main damage dealer. The second half of the version would feature an overlooked male rchant character from the Free Alliance.

Generally speaking, this was a transitional update. After Version 1.5, the ga would jump straight into the major Version 2.0 storyline.

Originally, according to Oath's official plans, this was supposed to be a fairly dull minor patch. They had intended to skim past it by adding so new Trial of Glory content and calling it a day.

Who could have expected this?

"I never thought there would co a day when I'd sincerely thank Carl Agata. He actually helped discover a brand-new revenue stream."

When the Academy Head said this, his tone genuinely carried a hint of gratitude.

An online ga pet system, huh?

Carl instantly guessed what Oath's managent wanted to do.

After all, in the long history of traditional MMOs, pet systems had always been essential features, as well as bottomless money pits.

Therefore, while Carl could register protections for certain parts of Pokémon's gaplay and visual designs,

The basic structure of a pet system, such as catching, raising, and training pets, had existed in ordinary online gas for ages. Anyone could use those ideas.

"I was originally worried that suddenly adding a pet system would anger the players. But with the current montum, we can launch it openly and confidently!"

The Academy Head had clearly worked in traditional MMORPG operations before. He knew very well just how many ways there were to monetize even a simple pet system.

If Oath really planned to add a large number of paid stat bonuses to the pet system,

Then Carl would have to thank the Academy Head properly. The man truly seed to feel that Oath was not dying fast enough.

However, there were still so rational people on Oath's planning team.

Toyama quickly stood up and spoke to the Academy Head in a tone that was almost a warning.

"Boss, the reason Oath was able to stand out from every other ga on the market and firmly hold the number one spot on the popularity charts is precisely because we are a fair ga that never sells power."

Never sells power?

Look in the eyes and say that again.

At that mont, Carl, still in sparrow form, truly felt the urge to transform into Truck-kun and run over this entire group of developers.

But what left Carl unsure whether to laugh or cry was that, in the minds of these developers, and even in the minds of many loyal Oath players, Oath really was considered a fair ga that did not sell power.

"That's true. We have always made money through reputation and goodwill. I really don't know where all this backlash has been coming from lately."

The Academy Head wore an expression that seed to say, "Why can't these people understand our good intentions?"

"Players can clearly enjoy Oath perfectly well without spending any money, and we even made the paynt nus so hard to find. In the minds of most players, Oath is practically a ga that refuses to make money. So, if we don't sell power through the pet system, where are we supposed to find revenue?"

Carl had not expected the Academy Head to slam the brakes at the last mont.

Compared to those old money-hungry MMOs, Oath was indeed a fair ga.

But only relatively fair.

"The fun of a pet system lies in catching pets. How about we place a limit on daily catches? For example, eighty catches per day? Players who want extra attempts can buy Contract Stones," Toyama imdiately suggested, finding a key monetization route.

"Eighty tis a day is too many. Change it to eighty tis a week, like a weekly dungeon. Besides selling extra catches, we can also add so attempts to the current Battle Pass as a player benefit," the Academy Head added.

The Battle Pass was the usual kind of pass or monthly card found in ordinary gas, where players could unlock various extra rewards by grinding.

Perhaps in the Academy Head's eyes, making the catch limit reset weekly instead of monthly was already extrely generous.

And on top of that, they were even adding extra rewards to the Battle Pass.

"Right. Since we're doing this, let's give the players so extra benefits in Version 1.5. We'll run a cumulative spending event. The threshold doesn't need to be too high. A total spend of $280 will give players a limited-ti skin for the current event, along with so shiny pets," the Academy Head said.

"No problem. Also, regarding Hasumi's rerun..."

At this point, Toyama glanced at the rerun character list.

It was about ti for Hasumi to have a rerun in the second half of Version 1.5, which happened to be paired with an ignored male limited character.

"Rerun? What value does a traitor have in a rerun? I originally planned to give her away for free in Version 2.0 to boost player engagent, but let's just take the hit and move it up to Version 1.5."

The character the Academy Head likely hated most was Hasumi.

Although the Saintess had only recently betrayed them, the Saintess's IP value still belonged to Oath on the surface.

Later, Oath's managent could have the Saintess's younger sister play her role and release an SP version, which would let them squeeze plenty of money out of players who liked the Saintess.

But Hasumi had run off to Netherworld Village together with her entire character value.

Now Hasumi was deeply tied to Netherworld Village. Basically every player had received help from "Mama Hasumi" when they first arrived there.

Because of that, the Academy Head now wished he could simply delete Hasumi as a character.

A rerun?

Let Hasumi earn another wave of revenue to help build up the beautiful Netherworld Village?

Absolutely not.

"Anyway, she's a launch-era character from Version 1.0. Even if we give her away for free, I doubt many players will want to use her now."

The Academy Head made the final decision.

"Just give her away for free when Version 1.5 launches. Only the base unit. Don't even think about including her signature weapon. From now on, don't bring up Hasumi reruns again!"

"Giving away a launch-limited character will also help new players get through the early ga more smoothly," Toyama said, agreeing with the decision from an operations perspective.

"Looking at it this way, the benefits we're giving out in Version 1.5 are actually quite generous. Combined with the brand-new gaplay, this should carry us all the way to Version 2.0 and push our online player count to a new record."

When the Academy Head made this decision, he might have genuinely believed he was being incredibly generous.

They were giving players free catch attempts every week. The Battle Pass rewards were practically free too, costing only $9.52. Very affordable.

The cumulative spending event was also a benefit. Players would get so many valuable rewards for just $280.

A limited character who had been unbeatable during the launch period was now being given away for free.

In Oath's eyes, they were practically allergic to making money.

From this point onward, Hasumi might truly beco the character with the highest ownership rate in all of Oath.

She would be everywhere, as common as a starter unit.

Looking at it this way, Hasumi had truly been abandoned by Oath completely, even more thoroughly than the Saintess had been.

However, Carl had plans to release an SP version of Hasumi.

That SP version was where Carl intended to completely rework Hasumi's combat style, making her kit far more enjoyable to play.

When that ti ca, combined with Oath's current decision to give Hasumi away for free, Hasumi likely would no longer care about her status within Oath at all.

(To be continued.)

◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)