Chapter 233: There's an Outlaw Among Us! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chapter 233: There's an Outlaw Among Us! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Pass)

Chen Xu's post on the official Weibo account instantly reignited the entire gaming industry.

Countless players and designers were stunned.

Although it was merely Chen Xu's personal announcement and not an official statement from Nebula Games, everyone knew that whatever Chen Xu posted on his personal account was essentially the same as Nebula Games' official announcement.

Without any surprise, within less than a minute of Chen Xu's post going live, Nebula Games' official Weibo account directly reposted it.

At that moment, countless players and designers could no longer stay calm.

Meanwhile, the chaotic rumors circulating online suddenly vanished by half.

On one hand, Nebula Games' legal department had already begun taking action—gathering evidence, filing police reports, and initiating lawsuits. Cease-and-desist letters? None of that. Either no notice was sent, or if one was received, it would be a court summons.

While it was impossible to target everyone, making examples of a few prominent offenders was enough to serve as a deterrent.

Moreover, compared to smaller organizations, these outspoken individuals were actually easier to gather evidence against.

On the other hand, there was simply no way to argue anymore. Chen Xu had directly declared this stance to the entire gaming industry, including players.

Legally speaking, even if Nebula Games or Chen Xu backed down, it wouldn’t be illegal.

But within the gaming community, Nebula Games’ reputation would immediately be ruined.

If this were merely about seizing market share, Nebula Games wouldn’t need to go this far.

Clearly, they were going all-in.

No—actually, it wasn’t “going all-in.”

Because Nebula Games itself was thriving; the distribution channel was just a new business venture.

The ones truly facing extinction were the traditional channel providers lacking development capabilities.

Countless channel providers were left dumbfounded. Originally, many had assumed Nebula Games was merely using a temporary price war strategy to enter this arena.

But who could have predicted that Nebula Games had instead smashed the entire arena to pieces!

For countless ordinary game designers, it felt as lively as a festival.

Clearly, the emergence of the Nebula Games Platform had given them a brand-new option and acted as a butcher of channel pricing.

As for the major channel providers, they could only watch helplessly.

Because there was simply nothing they could do.

How could they restrict Nebula Games?

With their heads?

Could they actually go to players’ homes, tie up their hands and feet, and stop them from spending money on the Nebula Games Platform?

Now, all they could do was pray that the games launching on Nebula Games Platform would all sell poorly—ideally, flop catastrophically— and drag down the platform’s reputation along with them.

However, this was completely impossible.

Because the sales regulations on the Nebula Games Platform had clear stipulations.

First, any game launching on the Nebula Games Platform must pass the Game Department’s censorship and obtain proper certification.

Second, all games must follow a strict refund policy:

Unconditional refunds within two weeks if playtime is under two hours—ensuring players could still get refunds even if they purchased a terrible game.

The day after Chen Xu’s Weibo post, Nebula Games officially announced new developments.

First, several independent game designers and studios would be releasing their new works exclusively on the Nebula Games Platform.

This had been discussed previously between Chen Xu and Zhang Yida.

They had been preparing for the promotion of the Nebula Games Platform for a while.

Even more bewildering news for the major channel providers was that several small domestic channel providers had actually joined Nebula Games’阵营 and entered into cooperation agreements, transferring some of their high-quality games to Nebula Games as inventory.

They also declared a strategic partnership, jointly sharing distribution networks.

With this news, the already bewildered major channel providers became even more stunned.

We haven’t even started fighting yet, and you’re already digging at our roots?

Rural encirclement of the city!?

Nebula Games is smashing our livelihoods, and you’re joining them!?

There's an Outlaw Among Us!

However, the channel providers cooperating with Nebula Games were mostly focused on independent games and niche categories, such as visual novels, simulation games, etc.

These games didn’t hold a large market share but had a very stable player base.

Major channels looked down on them, but for smaller channel providers, this segment still allowed them to make a living.

Why were these small channel providers willing to join Nebula Games’阵营?

Because clinging to a powerful ally meant earning more!

For small channel providers, industry unwritten rules?

They never got to eat the meat or even taste the soup.

In fact, many small channel providers had revenue splits as low as 3:7, or even worse.

Why?

Because they were small. Without offering better terms or specializing in a particular niche, why would developers choose to release their games on their platforms?

Just like the classic strategy of encircling the city from the countryside, these small channel providers were also worth recruiting.

Moreover, cooperating with Nebula Games was truly a win-win for them.

Nebula Games needed quality games to fill its library.

At the same time, for these small channel providers, even if just one percent of Nebula Games’ massive user base purchased the games they brought onto the platform, it would be a huge profit.

As for whether they could retain their own designers later?

These small channel providers weren’t worried.

Because as an open large-scale platform, Nebula Games would inevitably face a situation:

It couldn’t possibly cover every aspect and cater to every designer’s work—that was certain.

Especially as the number of games increased, the number of effective recommendation slots was limited.

Having survived as small channel providers, they naturally had some foresight.

Don’t be greedy, don’t rush in—just focus on cultivating your own small plot of land.

And if they truly couldn’t resist? Then they’d have no choice.

After all, their biggest advantage over major channels used to be lower commission and specialization.

But now Nebula Games had entered the market with such low commission rates— all they could offer these niche-category designers was more targeted promotion, right?

So, if they couldn’t think of a way to resist, they might as well enjoy the situation.

If necessary, they could even sit down and negotiate with Nebula Games.

Name your honest price, buy me out, and then we’re family—no need to be distant.

…………………

A series of strategic plans had been in preparation since before the development of Minecraft.

The first batch of games launching on the Nebula Games Platform totaled 116 titles.

Among them, 16 were new releases, while the rest were older games from channel providers who had joined Nebula Games’阵营.

As the first batch, these games were clearly hitting the jackpot.

After all, the user base of the Nebula Games Platform was already established.

This was the early-mover advantage for those first embracing Nebula Games.

Currently, only independent games were holding things up.

Second- and third-tier game developers were still largely观望, unlike ordinary independent game designers.

They had certain bargaining power with channels, and given Nebula Games’ aggressive entry, major channels would clearly make significant concessions.

For these game developers, it was only natural to compare offers and see which terms they could secure.

As these games launched, many players closely followed.

"The number of games is pretty good!"

"But they’re all old games!?"

"Well, the platform just launched. And honestly, do other platforms get new games every day?"

"That’s true."

"Old games aside, the discounts are pretty high!"

"Huh, there are so many ACG games here? I’ve never seen these before!"

"Some of these games actually look pretty interesting!"

"These games seem a bit different from what I’ve played before—achievements, trophies, and card collecting? That’s kinda cool!"

"The game communities are pretty rich too—plenty of guides and reviews. Some even support Workshop!"

Many players on the Nebula Games Platform initially visited out of curiosity.

But after browsing through the games, they found that quite a few actually seemed intriguing.

Moreover, these games weren’t simply ported to the Nebula Games Platform—they had all undergone platform adaptation.

For example, achievement and trophy systems, as well as comprehensive game communities, were in place.

Some even supported Workshop. Upon learning their old games would launch on Nebula Games Platform, some designers even went back to update and polish them.

Some, determined to make their games sell better, went all-in and completely remade the graphics to deliver the best possible experience.

After all, their original old games on minor channels, even if remade, only mattered to fans.

But now was different—this was an opportunity!

And an extremely rare one at that.

Forget other reasons—even just the massive success of Minecraft alone proved the Nebula Games Platform’s potential beyond doubt.

At this point, it didn’t matter whether the games were old or not—just strive to deliver the best possible version.

(End of Chapter) <>