39: Chapter 39 Dota 2 Trailer

Riot Games.

IceFrog connected his laptop to the large screen in the conference room. A paused video frame was frozen on the screen—it was the dota 2 trailer that Penguin had just released this morning.

Zhao Lei stood to the side holding his phone, his brows furrowed into a tight knot.

Lin Xiao sat in a corner with another laptop spread across his knees, several data monitoring pages open on the screen.

Others in the studio gradually gathered around, some still holding unfinished cups of coffee.

"Play it."

Qin Mo leaned back against his chair.

IceFrog clicked play.

The moment the screen lit up, everyone present fell silent.

The trailer opened with a pure CG sequence. The visuals were so exquisite that the texture of every single leaf was clearly visible.

The camera slowly rose from a scorched earth ravaged by war. In the distance stood a destroyed defense tower, its structure riddled with arrows and broken spears.

The background music set the stage with low-pitched strings, with drumbeats gradually joining in.

The scene switched to the heroes. The first to appear was Shadow Fiend, with black flames burning behind him into a massive phantom. Every step he took left a charred footprint on the ground.

The camera panned.

Crystal Maiden stood on a snowy plain, her hands slowly rising. The falling snowflakes around her suddenly transformed into sharp ice crystals.

Then came Axe, Anti-Mage, and Windranger.

Every hero had an independent close-up shot, and every skill effect had been newly rendered.

The scene transitions became faster and the rhythm more dense. By the second half, it was almost a seamless sequence of combat clips.

The transition from CG to actual gameplay was quite natural.

Shadow Fiend's Requiem of Souls exploded in the center of the screen, Crystal Maiden's Frostbite froze the entire display into white, and Axe's Culling Blade cleaved down from above, the blade still trailing blood mist that hadn't dissipated from the previous frame.

The final scene.

dota's classic logo emerged from the darkness, with the silhouettes of five heroes surrounding it.

A line of text appeared below the logo.

"dota 2, launching soon. Pre-registration is now open."

IceFrog pressed pause, the image freezing on the final frame.

"As we estimated before, dota 2 has undergone a comprehensive graphics upgrade. The visuals are already top-tier, not much different from our league of legends."

"However."

"dota 2's design philosophy is definitely still that same old hardcore set."

Watching the dota 2 trailer, many employees felt a bit of pressure in their hearts.

After all.

This game was currently the most popular game in the world, bar none, and already had a massive base of loyal players.

No one could be certain if the new MOBA game they were developing could truly go toe-to-toe with dota 2.

After all, they didn't have Qin Mo's memories from another world.

"It's already on the trending searches."

Meanwhile.

Zhao Lei spoke slowly, turning his phone screen toward the crowd.

On the Weibo hot search list, the dota 2 trailer was ranked seventh, followed by a red 'Hot' tag.

"The sixth hot search is dota 2 Pre-registration, and the eleventh is dota 2 CG Visuals."

He scrolled down the screen a few times.

"The comment section is unanimously praising it, saying these graphics are the ceiling for domestic games, and that while Penguin might be lacking in other areas, they really have a way when it comes to making games."

"The official website pre-registrations have already surpassed one million."

Qin Mo took Zhao Lei's phone and flipped through a few pages of comments.

"I've waited three years and it's finally here. I can brag about this CG quality for a year."

"Shadow Fiend, my Shadow Fiend! This Requiem of Souls is just too cool."

"Penguin really threw money at it this time. The cost of this trailer alone is estimated to be over ten million."

"Registered, registered! I'm jumping in on day one of the launch."

"dota is finally getting a sequel. Old players are in tears."

"These graphics are top-tier even on a global scale. Penguin is awesome."

Qin Mo returned the phone to Zhao Lei, his expression unchanged.

"What are dota's current Daily Active Users?"

Lin Xiao looked up from the corner, his fingers tapping a few times on the keyboard.

"dota's current DAU is stable at around 1.5 million."

"The peak concurrent users are also at one million."

He paused and added a sentence.

"dota is the most popular game in the world right now; this record hasn't been broken for several years."

The conference room fell silent again for a beat.

1.5 million DAU—this number truly had no rival in the current global gaming market.

Before.

CS and dota could still trade blows in popularity, but now CS was lagging far behind.

"Besides dota 2, Penguin has recently been in talks with several game companies in the South Korea about imports. It seems they want to license some new shooter game called alliance of valiant arms."

Frowning, Lin Xiao seemed to think of something else as his voice continued.

During this time.

He had also been paying attention to Penguin's movements in the gaming sector.

Originally, Qin Mo had asked him to watch for any intentions Penguin had regarding esports, but he hadn't expected to gather other information instead.

"alliance of valiant arms."

Hearing these words, Qin Mo murmured. He probably knew which games Penguin was about to license this time.

Besides alliance of valiant arms, there was likely another shooter game.

In his past life.

alliance of valiant arms was Penguin's main licensing target, while the other shooter was just an add-on because the developer in the South Korea had bundled the two games together.

But in the end.

It was this 'buy-one-get-one-free' game that truly ignited the shooter category among tens of millions of gamers.

The name of that game was crossfire.

"You can pay more attention to this news."

Qin Mo looked at Lin Xiao.

"At the same time, send someone to the South Korea to talk with the game companies there as well."

Lin Xiao was stunned.

"Boss, do you want to compete with Penguin for the licensing of alliance of valiant arms?"

Qin Mo shook his head.

"With our size, we definitely can't outbid Penguin."

"Those developers in the South Korea won't give their flagship projects to us either."

"But some projects that Penguin looks down on might be ones we can pick up."

Qin Mo paused.

"But just keep an eye on things over there; don't force it. Our main effort in terms of game direction is still on league of legends."

Having said that.

Qin Mo turned his head and looked at IceFrog.

"What do you think of this trailer?"

IceFrog leaned against the edge of his workstation, arms crossed over his chest, staring at the frozen logo on the screen for several seconds.

Then he pushed up his glasses.

"Average."

His tone was flat.

"Anyone can burn money on CG. Penguin has plenty of money; it's not hard to pack three minutes with special effects."

He straightened up, walked to another monitor, swiped his finger across the touchpad a few times, and brought up the development version of league of legends.

"But what they're making is still that same dota system."

"More complex item recipes, a more hardcore mechanical threshold, and a higher barrier to entry for newbies."

"Back then, it was precisely because I didn't agree with dota 2 continuing the hardcore path that I was kicked out."

"dota 2 might be able to break dota 1's DAU record, but it still won't be able to truly break into the mainstream."

He turned the screen so everyone could see.

On it was the current development version of league of legends. Although the graphics hadn't undergone final rendering, the interface layout was already clearly visible.

The map size was a bit smaller than dota's, jungle paths were marked with different colors for difficulty levels, and the item shop interface displayed three recommended items—newbies wouldn't even need to click on the recipe tree to buy them with one click.

This version of league of legends was not the earliest version from Qin Mo's past life.

It was already a later version that had undergone graphical evolution and refinement.

Except for not having as many heroes at the start, everything else was more modern.

"What we're doing is subtraction."

IceFrog looked at Qin Mo, his voice not loud, but every word was extremely certain.

"It's not about making the game simpler; it's about lowering the threshold so that people who have never played a MOBA can figure out how to play within five minutes."

He paused.

"dota 2's graphics are indeed good-looking, but there are plenty of games with good graphics; very few can actually get people to play them."

"And."

He turned his head and looked at everyone in the conference room.

"We are already prepared."

"The closed beta version has been built and can start at any time."

After speaking, IceFrog stood up and turned to walk toward the other side of the studio.

Qin Mo followed behind him, and Zhao Lei and Lin Xiao also stood up.

The innermost area of the studio had been temporarily partitioned off, with ten high-end computers lined up against the wall.

A person sat in front of each computer, some looking down at their screens, others adjusting their keybindings.

The visuals on the ten monitors were completely synchronized.

It was a Summoner's Rift that was completely different from dota's.

The map's color scheme was brighter, the jungle paths were clearer, the attack range of the defense towers was marked on the ground with a faint circle, and the movement of the minions slowly pushed along the three lanes.

Although.

The hero models hadn't undergone final skin rendering yet, the framework for skill effects was already fully functional.

Qin Mo stood in front of the ten computers, looking at the game visuals on the row of screens without saying a word.

The completion of the league of legends closed beta version was actually something that had just happened in the last couple of days.

IceFrog had already invited him to be among the first group of people to test this version.

"Start testing now?"

Zhao Lei rubbed his hands, the tension on his face from watching the trailer earlier now gone.

"No rush."

Qin Mo pulled out his phone.

A new QQ message popped up on the screen.

Jiang Youyou: "Being so mysterious, what exactly did you call me to your company for?"

"I'm almost there."

Qin Mo lowered his head to type a reply.

"Don't you really like playing games? But you find dota too difficult and often get flamed, so you only play against AI."

Jiang Youyou replied instantly.

"You just have to poke at my scars, don't you? What's wrong with playing against AI? Playing against AI is still playing games!"

Qin Mo continued typing.

"I'm introducing a new game to you this time."

"We made it."

After the message was sent, the other side was silent for a good while.

Then the phone began to vibrate frantically.

"You developed a game?!"

"Senior, aren't you doing Short Videos?!"

"What genre?!"

"MOBA genre."

"league of legends."

Jiang Youyou didn't reply again, only sending a location share.

Qin Mo tucked his phone into his pocket and leaned against a nearby empty desk.

Zhao Lei leaned in and whispered a question.

"The campus belle Jiang?"

Qin Mo nodded.

Zhao Lei immediately turned and clapped his hands at the others in the studio.

"Everyone, look sharp. Pay a little attention to your image."

Lin Xiao pushed up his glasses and swept the takeout box in front of him into a drawer.

More than ten minutes later.

The elevator doors opened, and Jiang Youyou walked in quickly wearing canvas shoes.

Today, she was wearing a simple white hoodie and jeans, her jet-black long hair casually tied back. She wasn't wearing much makeup, but as she stood in the studio, she still caused several young male planners to awkwardly avert their gazes.

"Riot Games?"

"So you rented this whole floor just to make games."

Just after stepping out of the elevator, Jiang Youyou saw the large words 'Riot Games' at the entrance.

"Follow me."

Qin Mo led Jiang Youyou to the row of computers and pulled out the middle chair.

Jiang Youyou sat down without the slightest hesitation. She looked up at the game visuals on the screen, her eyes lighting up.

"This is league of legends?"

"Yes."

Qin Mo sat down beside her and signaled for her to operate it herself.

"Go through the newbie tutorial first. I want to see how long it takes for you to get the hang of it."