Chapter 596: The Game's First Experience (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Online, players were discussing various things, and FOW, for its part, continuously promoted its new work, Wasteland 1981.

In reality, Nebula Games wasn't entirely inactive either.

All sorts of advertisements were basically being launched.

However, although the popularity was also high, there was consistently no major breakout point.

Because as game content was continuously deciphered, players gradually discovered something.

That was: the game The Last of Us seemed to have not made significant changes in its gameplay content.

It was still action combined with shooting, and of course, ninety percent of games on the market involving action and firearms were of this type.

Even FOW's actively promoted Wasteland 1981 couldn't escape this commonality.

But the crucial point was that it needed a completely new gimmick and altered gameplay.

And the feeling The Last of Us gave players was that it was very traditional.

Although there were announcements about crafting and upgrade systems, the overall gameplay remained very traditional. This made many players realize that The Last of Us would be a story-driven game.

But the key was that regarding the story, players knew nothing beyond some basic information, such as the names of the main characters and the world's background.

For example, in the world of The Last of Us, the virus that caused the apocalypse was something akin to a fungal infection.

But what about more?

That remained completely unknown.

Precisely because of this, players were initially very excited about The Last of Us, but with the promotion of Wasteland 1981.

The popularity of The Last of Us was gradually overtaken by Wasteland 1981.

It wasn't until The Last of Us publicly announced its launch date: April 25th.

That it finally managed to reclaim some of the popularity from Wasteland 1981.

Inside FOW, Alex looked at the online information, visibly delighted.

He was initially indecisive, but under Grayson's persuasion, he successfully resisted the pressure, and it seemed everything was moving in a good direction.

“Although it's just about promotion, this is still a victory!” Grayson said, chuckling.

“It's a pity, though, that The Last of Us is clearly a thread-based game. Although our Wasteland 1981's development cycle started earlier than Nebula Games', its launch date, even with full acceleration, will still take another month.” Alex expressed some regret.

In his vision, if Wasteland 1981 and The Last of Us launched simultaneously, it would be a decisive victory.

What a shame!

“Although we can't launch at the same time, we can release a limited-time A-round test. The current game progress fully supports this. On one hand, we can observe player feedback, and on the other hand, we can steal some more of The Last of Us's popularity, putting pressure on them.” Grayson smiled as he thought of something.

“A good suggestion.” Alex's eyes lit up, and he smiled happily.

………………

While those two at FOW harbored ill intentions, Nebula Games welcomed a special group of people.

These were media reporters invited from various domestic and international outlets.

Regarding the promotion of The Last of Us, Chen Xu naturally hadn't done nothing.

But apart from regular ad placements, unlike games such as The Witcher 3 and Assassin's Creed.

It didn't have the flashy assassin character design of Assassin's Creed, or the incredibly cool Leap of Faith, nor the vivid portrayal of historical culture.

The most crucial aspect of The Last of Us was the emotional impact the in-game story brought to players, the various interactions and details in the apocalypse that engaged players, allowing players' emotions to become immersed in the game and eventually burst forth.

The story and background settings of The Last of Us were very realistic, which was to allow players to better immerse themselves in the game's plot later on.

At the same time, The Last of Us was not like Uncharted, with its various thrilling and exciting scenes.

Therefore, Chen Xu chose another promotional method that more game developers had used.

That was: early reviews by game media, timed with the launch of The Last of Us.

Of course, this kind of promotional model still carried considerable risks.

For instance, if the game's quality was poor, it could easily backfire.

However, Chen Xu was quite confident in the quality of The Last of Us.

So he secretly invited well-known media websites like GameSpot and the domestic Game Timespace, to conduct early closed beta testing.

………………

In the morning, at Nebula Games' headquarters experience room, media reporters from all over the world were excitedly chatting with each other.

Although they were reporters from all corners of the globe, since they were able to participate in this review, language communication was generally not an issue for them.

Regardless of whether they knew each other, they all chatted away.

Although their profession was journalism, they also held the identity of gamers.

“I wonder what kind of game Nebula Games will bring this time. Judging from the promotional trailer and publicly released information, it doesn't seem to have anything particularly outstanding!” A brown-haired female reporter said with some curiosity.

As her voice fell, a bald young man with dark circles under his eyes interjected: “Although judging from the promotional trailer, this game called The Last of Us doesn't have anything particularly special, this is Nebula Games' first time conducting early media reviews, so they clearly have full confidence in this game.”

“That's right, that's right. This could be Nebula Games' first time, couldn't it?”

“But their confidence actually makes me more curious. What kind of game will this seemingly unremarkable game turn out to be?”

Some reporters around them discussed animatedly.

“Li Yue, do you have any inside information?” At this moment, someone also asked a young man sitting on the sofa.

Some reporters who were talking nearby also turned their gaze.

“What inside information could I possibly have? It's just that I believe Nebula Games has never disappointed anyone, so I'm very much looking forward to The Last of Us.” The young man known as Li Yue spread his hands and said.

As a reporter invited by the domestic Game Starry Sky, Li Yue's relationship with Nebula Games was quite close.

He had even conducted an exclusive interview with Chen Xu in his early years.

Although he was a reporter, he was an out-and-out Nebula fan.

This time, the promotional trailer for The Last of Us, although a little disappointing, because simply watching it didn't reveal anything outstanding, yet before playing the game, he remained full of confidence in this game, believing Nebula Games wouldn't let him down.

Everyone was chatting in the room, but soon, staff members came to remind them that the test could begin.

So, the group quickly stood up, and with excited expressions, successively entered the Huanyu VR gaming pods.

“Experience pods specifically for testing games!”

Li Yue, who also entered a Huanyu VR pod, instantly noticed the difference.

The VR gaming equipment before him clearly had a different system loaded than the home versions.

Moreover, there was only one piece of content: The Last of Us.

The game's icon featured Joel and a little girl with a gun on her back, looking at the camera against a sunset backdrop.

“I wonder what kind of surprises there will be.”

With an incredibly eager mood, Li Yue quickly launched the game.

After all, every minute and every second was precious.

For this closed beta test, the invited media only had three days.

And it wasn't even full days.

From 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM, this was the available testing time.

“Hmm... this character design?”

As Nebula Games' LOGO disappeared, the game screen officially displayed.

Li Yue revealed a surprised expression.

(End of Chapter) <>