This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 194 - 143: Studio Formalization

A new day begins with deep-fried dough sticks and soy milk.

Chen Ba opened the developer backend of the Steam Platform early to check the sales changes of various games under Tianba Studio.

Yesterday afternoon, the Steam Platform launched a developer autumn sale event.

What an honor!

Tianba Studio became the main focus of this developer sale event, meaning the entire event page featured only games from Tianba Studio.

Gfat really gave us face.

You know, this kind of developer sale event is usually exclusive to global game giants.

Only they have the strength and influence to support a sale event. If it were some other developer, putting up games that players have never heard of, who would show up?

Tianba Studio originally didn’t qualify for this.

After all, to host a developer sale, you need at least ten games on sale, right? If not ten, at least seven or eight?

All of Tianba Studio’s games on the Steam Platform add up to just five, with "Star Emperor" having even turned into a free game, so it clearly doesn’t meet the criteria.

But Gfat had his plans.

He heard somewhere that Tianba Studio was developing a major racing game, and it seemed that Tianba Studio was also operating their own "official" channel.

Oh no!

The Steam Platform had made a lot of money from Tianba Studio, so upon hearing that Tianba Studio was growing wings and considering setting up their own platform for solo flights, it naturally wanted to retain them.

This developer sale event was the perk they offered.

Besides, they also promised to provide Tianba Studio with the same profit-sharing benefits as top-tier game developers, removing the usual 30% cut.

With Gfat showing such goodwill, Chen Ba was very pleased.

As the PC game distribution platform with the highest market share globally, Tianba Studio couldn’t leave Gfat yet; setting up their own platform was just a small side project.

With the Steam Platform expressing friendliness, Chen Ba went with the flow and accepted the goodwill.

The developer sale really had an impact.

In just one night, the sales curves for "Divine Grace Continent," "Love Advisor Department," and the previous two simulator games all showed a sharp rise.

Among them, "Love Advisor Department" and "Divine Grace Continent," being the latest games, saw the most significant growth in sales, with nearly 300,000 copies sold in just one night.

"Great, great, great!"

Chen Ba took out his online-purchased calculator, tapped away, and reached a conclusion: "Divine Grace Continent" has become the most profitable game in the studio’s history!

This is without including the professional edition and customization services.

If you add those in, the profit from "Divine Grace Continent" becomes even more staggering, possibly surpassing all the other games combined.

After all...

The reason "Divine Grace Continent" is so profitable isn’t because it’s priced highly or has sold an enormous number of units.

It’s because, for every animation produced with "Divine Grace Continent," Tianba Studio charges a "toll fee"!

This is absolute profit!

Many people think that Apple’s major earnings come from their various hardware products like phones, tablets, computers, and watches.

Indeed, these hardware products are profitable.

But what’s even more profitable is their "extremely low-cost" and "effortless" software marketplace commission, commonly known as the "Apple Tax"!

Apple’s software marketplace generates over a trillion US Dollars in revenue annually, and although the majority of it belongs to the developers, Apple also takes a toll fee from it.

Guess how much they take?

"Divine Grace Continent" isn’t as powerful as Apple, and the Divine Grace Animation market isn’t as vast.

According to authoritative statistics released by the Divine Grace Animation Association, the specific market "Divine Grace Animation" has an annual output value of about 4 to 5 billion.

This is the annual output value, not representing specific revenue data, nor is it the target for Tianba Studio’s toll fee collection.

The actual toll fees collected amount to about a billion per year, and after taxes, it’s around eight hundred million.

"Brother, this is outrageous."

Wang Kun nearly fainted upon learning of these astronomical figures.

Doing nothing for a year and still making tens of millions, what kind of divine game is this?

"Is it that outrageous..."

"You know, Kings of Glory alone makes tens of billions in revenue every month! Compared to mobile games, we’re really nothing."

Chen Ba didn’t find it exaggerated.

In recent years, the money-making potential of mobile games has greatly expanded his perception limits.

Compared to the exaggerated achievements of mobile games with monthly revenues of several billion, his yearly earnings seem minimal, to be honest.

"You can’t compare it like that!"

Wang Kun explained, "’Divine Grace Continent’ is a PC single-player game, not in the same league as mobile games."

"And for games like Kings of Glory, they have to release skins, host events, and constantly update and maintain things. What did you do?"

Did nothing, just collected money.

Considering the minimal effort and the income, these tens of millions indeed feel quite nice, mainly because the toll fees come too easily.

"That’s true."

Chen Ba nodded and said, "By your logic, ’Divine Grace Continent’ is indeed the highest return game for Tianba Studio."

"Star Emperor" comes next.

Although it keeps a low profile, Star Emperor has been quietly generating decent revenue.

Xianyu Digital is making a lot of money too.