62: Chapter 62: The Daily Activity Period Halved! (Two chapters, 6,000 words)

"If league of legends isn't fun either, then I'm afraid I'm really not suited for this type of game."

In the internet cafe.

Su Xiaomo's voice was ringing out from Liu Yang's phone.

Beside him, A-Shui had just returned from the restroom, carrying two bottles of Coke.

"She's stopped playing too."

Liu Yang pointed at the screen.

A-Shui glanced at Su Xiaomo's action of exiting the game and handed a bottle of Coke to Liu Yang.

The two of them had also just played two matches of heroes of the storm.

Their record wasn't bad; they won both.

A-Shui sat back in his chair and took a sip of Coke after twisting it open, while Liu Yang also exited the stream.

The next moment.

The two of them looked at each other.

"What do you think?"

Liu Yang asked.

Almost simultaneously.

With great rapport, the two of them gripped their mice, swiped twice across their desktops, and closed the heroes of the storm client.

The entire process required no communication.

Then, almost at the same time, they moved their cursors toward the dota 2 icon.

A-Shui clicked open dota 2 again.

"Even though dota 2 is just a substitute, at least it's playable."

Liu Yang also opened dota 2 and entered his account and password.

He followed up on A-Shui's words.

"But heroes of the storm doesn't even count as a substitute."

"Although the differentiation is indeed significant, still..."

"It's just not very interesting..."

...

However.

Regardless of the players' reputation on the first day.

Attracted by Blizzard's name and the influx of fans for the massive number of IP characters.

On the first day of heroes of the storm, a large number of players logged in.

At eleven o'clock that night, NetEase's official Weibo and Blizzard released the first-day data.

"On the first day of the heroes of the storm global open beta, the number of logged-in players exceeded 3.2 million."

"Thank you to every hero who assembled."

This figure was a full 200,000 more than dota 2's 3 million on its first day of open beta.

Blizzard fans overseas were even more ecstatic.

"Blizzard is awesome! They surpassed dota 2 on the first day!"

"The MOBA war has just begun; it's not certain who will have the last laugh."

"Blizzard products must be masterpieces; that saying isn't for nothing."

...

NetEase Headquarters.

CEO Ding sat in the main seat of the conference room, with a video conference with Blizzard executives open on the large screen in front of him.

On the screen was a foreigner with thinning hair, a hint of a smug smile on his face.

Kotick.

The President of Blizzard.

"Mr. Ding, 3.2 million on the first day—that's 200,000 more than dota 2."

Kotick's English came through the translation, his tone carrying an unconcealable pride.

"This result shows that the path we are taking is the right one."

CEO Ding leaned back in his chair, a smile also playing on his face.

"Indeed, the current trend of this game is very similar to the open beta of dota 2 a month ago."

"dota 2 had 3 million on the first day, then rose all the way to 5 million, and finally, its daily active users stabilized at 3 million."

"We have 3.2 million on the first day; our starting point is even higher than theirs."

He paused and turned to look at the other executives in the conference room.

"It seems we have indeed snatched quite a few players from dota 2's hands through differentiation and simplification."

"Moreover, among our players, the overseas proportion is extremely high, which shows that the Blizzard brand is still effective globally."

"Being able to achieve a result that exceeds dota 2's first day is quite extraordinary."

One must know.

NetEase didn't have Tencent's ecosystem. Although they also went all out on promotion, their momentum was still an order of magnitude behind Tencent's.

To be able to gain this kind of momentum globally was enough to show just how exaggerated the influence of the name 'Blizzard' was overseas.

The executives in the conference room all had relaxed smiles on their faces.

Some had already begun discussing where to hold the victory banquet next week.

Kotick nodded on the other end of the screen.

"Continue with this rhythm, and heroes of the storm has a chance to surpass dota 2."

"Our IP advantage is just beginning to play out; fans of world of warcraft, diablo, and starcraft haven't all come in yet."

"This game is the true number one MOBA!"

The video conference ended.

The relaxed atmosphere in the conference room had not yet dissipated.

However.

Just as CEO Ding was about to adjourn the meeting.

In a corner, a young man responsible for data analysis stood up.

He held a freshly printed data report in his hand, his expression completely different from the others.

"Mr. Ding."

The young man pushed up his glasses.

"I've discovered a problem on my end."

"The average playtime of heroes of the storm players on the first day is very short."

"Extremely short."

He opened the report.

"Most players only played one match and then stopped. The next-day retention data is nearly half of what we expected."

CEO Ding waved his hand.

"That's normal. It must have been the same when dota 2 first launched."

"For a new game, the average playtime needs time to increase."

"Once players become familiar with the game mechanics, the playtime will naturally go up."

The young man hesitated, his lips moving.

"But..."

"No buts."

CEO Ding interrupted him, his tone carrying a hint of displeasure.

"3.2 million players on the first day—the data is right here."

"Whatever you're worried about, we'll talk after next week's data comes out."

He stood up and picked up the teacup on the table.

"For now, let's celebrate our good start."

The second day.

The daily active user data for heroes of the storm was released.

3.25 million.

Only 50,000 more than the first day.

CEO Ding glanced at the data, showing no expression.

"Normal fluctuation, no rush."

The third day.

3.28 million.

The fourth day.

3.2 million.

In just three days.

heroes of the storm's daily active users had already begun to decline. Although it only decreased by tens of thousands, it was still a bad signal.

CEO Ding looked at the data report in the conference room, his brow furrowing for a moment before quickly smoothing out.

"Don't panic, wait for next weekend."

"The weekend is when players concentrate their time online. The daily active users will definitely see a significant boost then."

No one in the conference room spoke.

The data analyst in the corner looked down at the table of average online time in front of him.

The numbers on the table were more glaring than the daily active users.

The average playtime on the first day was less than twenty minutes.

And starting from the second day, the proportion of returning users plummeted like a cliff.

But he didn't speak up.

He remembered the result of the last time he spoke up.

...

Tencent Group Headquarters.

In the conference room, the atmosphere was even more solemn than in CEO Ding's office.

Pony sat in the main seat, with the first-day data of heroes of the storm spread out before him.

They didn't yet know heroes of the storm's subsequent performance; they only knew that the first-day data announced by heroes of the storm had surpassed dota 2.

"On the first day, it was 200,000 more than dota 2."

He put down the report and raised his head to scan everyone present.

"heroes of the storm indeed has something."

Vice President Chen Yongnian nodded, his expression serious.

"Blizzard's IP appeal is still very strong. 3.2 million first-day players is solid data."

"And they are different from us. We haven't spent much effort on the overseas market, but among heroes of the storm's first-day players, the overseas proportion exceeds 60%."

Someone nearby added.

"However, some of our people have also been playing this game, and the reviews are average."

"A few people played a few matches and didn't want to play anymore, without being able to say exactly why."

Pony raised his head.

"A game with average reviews can have 3.2 million on the first day? Can it surpass dota 2?"

He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers twice on the table.

"I'm afraid heroes of the storm's daily active users will continue to rise later on. This opponent is indeed much stronger than league of legends."

A silence fell over the conference room.

Everyone realized that this MOBA war had just begun.

dota 2 had Tencent's traffic ecosystem, while heroes of the storm had Blizzard's global IP and NetEase's operations.

Both sides were behemoths.

But time passed quickly.

It was now one week after the open beta of heroes of the storm.

Just as everyone was looking forward to the latest data for heroes of the storm.

An entire day passed.

NetEase did not announce the latest daily active user data.

Blizzard's official Weibo also showed no movement; the last post was still the battle report from the first day of the open beta.

On Twitter overseas, the official heroes of the storm account similarly stopped at the post from the first day of the open beta.

Voices of doubt began to appear in the comments section.

"Why aren't you posting new data?"

"Are the daily active users still rising?"

"Does anyone know how many people log in every day now?"

These questions received no official response.

The outside world began to find it a bit strange.

Some game media tried to contact NetEase and Blizzard to ask for subsequent data, but the responses they received were very vague.

"The open beta data is stable, and subsequent plans will proceed as scheduled."

"Specific figures will be announced at the appropriate time."

And on game forums related to heroes of the storm, some subtle voices began to appear.

"I played for three days and don't want to play anymore. I can't say why, I just don't want to play."

"Me too. The graphics are indeed good, but as I play, it just loses its spark."

"It doesn't feel like playing a game; it feels like going to work."

"Winning doesn't give a sense of achievement, and losing doesn't give a sense of frustration. Team fights are lively, but after they're over, you can't remember anything."

But these voices were still just scattered posts, dotting the corners of major game forums, without attracting too much attention.

The mainstream tone of the outside world was still "heroes of the storm surpasses dota 2 on the first day, MOBA war suspense rises again."

The fifteenth day of the heroes of the storm open beta.

Nine o'clock in the morning.

A Weibo leak post emerged out of nowhere, like a stone thrown into calm water.

The poster claimed to be an internal employee of NetEase. The account was newly registered, but the data screenshots posted in the thread were quite convincing.

The content of the post was only a few lines.

"heroes of the storm's peak daily active users were only 3.28 million, reached on the third day."

"It has now dropped to 1.5 million."

"And the daily active users are still decreasing frantically at a rate of 100,000 per day."

"Now both NetEase and Blizzard are panicking internally, trying to find ways to save it."

"Haven't you noticed that dota 2 has been in open beta for over a month and has had almost no changes except for bug fixes, but heroes of the storm has had a modified version almost every few days?"

After this post was made.

In less than half an hour.

The entire internet instantly exploded.