"Wow, such a grand background story? And with illustrations..."
"So many words, never mind, I'm not reading this."
"Huh, it seems like a well-developed Western fantasy world."
The audience's reactions were mixed; many impatient viewers just skimmed through the content and closed it. However, there were also those particularly interested who delved into the settings and background stories.
In this parallel world, fans of Western fantasy were as rare as in Alex Parker's previous life, but even a few was still something. Moreover, even if many were not particularly fond of Western fantasy, they wouldn't outright dislike the genre.
The "Azeroth Universe" website featured content that Alex organized based on the Warcraft lore from his previous world, accompanied by some illustrations. These images mainly depicted various races, scenes, and items. Although relatively simple, they were far more impactful than plain text.
Ultimately, the 24-hour view count for "I Am MT" was revealed, with the first episode achieving 1.3 million views across the internet!
Alex barely slept that night. Anime was a completely unfamiliar territory for him, and he had no idea how well it would be received.
However, seeing these numbers, Alex felt slightly relieved.
The first-day view count wasn't extraordinarily high but not too low either. Compared to typical domestic anime, this was decent. Of course, it was nowhere near the super popular hits.
It's worth noting that "Plants vs. Zombies" had already sold over a million copies by then, and all those players were eagerly watching for Alex's new game.
Adding to that, the reputation of Frank Grant's studio, the prime placement on video sites, the buzz generated by the bet, and the coverage from significant gaming media, "I Am MT," had a large number of viewers from the start. The following week, another spike in views was expected.
More than the view count, Alex cared about the audience's comments.
Overall, there were few negative comments, mainly about the "short duration" and "inadequate background introduction." Positive comments focused on "novelty," "appealing settings," and "humour."
The view counts for the next two episodes dropped slightly, which was expected.
As "I Am MT" continued to gain views, its popularity on various video sites increased. According to Frank, it was likely to appear in crucial recommended positions on many home pages within a week!
This would attract even more viewers.
...
Ben Quinn was also following this closely.
He had finished watching the third episode of "I Am MT," frowning.
Ben was puzzled. What was this about? Alex's game hadn't made any noise yet, and he'd created an anime?
Although the "I Am MT" anime was doing well, Ben considered it a misguided effort. Even if a game related to the anime were released, how many viewers would convert to players?
It was common knowledge that many anime fans didn't play games, and gamers wouldn't pay for a game just because of an anime. It all boiled down to the quality of the game itself.
In this world, popular IPs are sold for a lot, primarily for film adaptations. A few IPs sold to game companies were generally for large VR games.
How long had Alex been in the industry? As a C-level designer, he thought he could turn an anime into a game? Too naive!
Ben thought this path was a dead end for Alex. Initially, he was slightly worried, but now he felt more confident.
...
Time passed and as the popularity of the "I Am MT" anime grew, the development of the "I Am MT" mobile game also progressed smoothly.
After the release, the anime's view counts steadily increased. By the third day, it had reached the homepages and trending lists of many video sites and even appeared in Weibo's hot search topics.
The first episode's weekly view count was 3.29 million, and after two months, the total view count for the first season's ten episodes exceeded 50 million!
Alex initially hesitated about continuing with the second season, but Frank was very insistent. Under Frank's firm persuasion, Alex used the Super Accelerator again, working tirelessly to complete the scripts and storyboards for the second season.
The anime had gained some traction, not to the extent of his previous world's success, but enough for Alex.
Surprisingly, many viewers showed an unusual enthusiasm for the "Azeroth Universe." In the video comments and on the "Azeroth Universe" website, many viewers discussed the background stories, and some fan works even emerged.
Given this, Alex hurriedly added a forum section to the "Azeroth Universe" website, named "Azeroth National Geographic Forum" (NGA), like in his previous world. Players could log in with their Thunderbolt game accounts and freely post original content, including fan fiction and artwork.
With just one month left before the game's release, the "I Am MT" mobile game was completed, with all art assets in place. Alex focused on testing the game and installing it on the devices in the experience store.
"Phew, finally done."
Alex breathed a sigh of relief.
He believed the game was now complete and ready for launch. The remaining work involved fine-tuning based on player feedback.
These adjustments focused on three areas: game duration, level difficulty, and pricing. While Alex had enough experience from his previous life, he wasn't entirely sure if players in this world would adapt.
Alex went downstairs to see the second episode of "I Am MT" season two playing on the projector.
In the second season, the episodes were extended to 24 minutes, offering richer content and doubling the production cost.
To produce the second season, Alex had invested nearly two months' worth of profits from "Plants vs. Zombies."
After all, "Plants vs. Zombies" was a single-player game, and its profitability would decline over time. Alex was eager to create a mobile card game to improve his financial situation quickly. With more money and resources, he could produce the critically acclaimed masterpieces from his previous life.
As the second episode ended, everyone discussed it.
"Wow, it looks like we're getting into the big scenes now."
"Initially, the human faction seemed like the antagonists. I thought this was an anti-human animation… but it turns out the human side has a good storyline, too."
"The longer duration makes it much more enjoyable."
"Now we have to wait for next week."
"Not bad. We're getting it faster than other sites. We're the premiere, after all."
Alex turned off the projector and told everyone, "I have good news. The 'I Am MT' mobile game is completed and ready to play."
"Really? Congratulations, manager! I'll play it right away," Paul Wilder said.
Lily Emerson handed her phone to Paul. "Install it for me too."
Amy Johnson also quietly installed "I Am MT" on her phone.