Those who managed to buy copies cheered jubilantly, while those who arrived late and missed out hung their heads dejectedly, constantly asking when more stock would arrive.
Upon learning it was sold out...
Some ran around everywhere, entering every magic item shop to ask if they had Plants vs Zombies for sale.
Shop employees who hadn't received distribution rights were utterly bewildered all day.
Alto had anticipated the current situation.
Today was only the first day. Plants vs Zombies had an extremely broad target audience. As word spread, it would only get hotter.
In his previous life, the original Plants vs Zombies had global sales exceeding 40 million copies.
Most people had even played cracked versions.
Back in the day, when there weren't so many games around, whose computer didn't have this game installed?!
Though this world's population base wasn't quite that large...
And due to certain special circumstances, the Dreamscape hadn't spread much to other parts of the empire...
The Moon Nation's 50 million elves alone were enough to ensure Plants vs Zombies becoming a massive hit.
Finally, the first-day sales data was released:
80,000 copies.
The Saint Oros Trading Company head excitedly called!
Plants vs Zombies had exploded in sales!
Over the following days...
Plants vs Zombies' reputation slowly built viral momentum.
Many players who'd tried it praised it endlessly.
Some recommended it to friends, others mentioned it to colleagues or neighbors.
Many fast-progressing players had already cleared Adventure Mode, unlocking lots of subsequent content.
While some mechanically challenged players or late adopters might still be stuck on Night Mode or Roof Mode.
Can't beat it? What to do?
So those with higher progress would have friends come seeking advice.
How to combine plants, which plants counter which zombies.
For people in this world...
Previous dream worlds were more like scripted games.
These scripted games emphasized story, visuals, scenery, many aspects were linear.
As long as you followed the guidance, there usually wasn't much difficulty.
Getting stuck on a level was a concept that had never even existed before.
Potter was currently a player being tormented to death by the Pool levels.
As a Dolphin Rider Zombie broke through his defenses...
The screen once again delivered a horrifying scream.
"NO!"
"The zombies ate your brains!"
He was so angry he wanted to smash his keyboard.
Wait, what's a keyboard? Why would such a strange thought pop into my head?
He was a clumsy and thick fingered party member with no talent for gaming whatsoever.
So he sought out his brother, Rowan.
That's right, it was Rowan who'd recommended this game to him in the first place.
Rowan was currently battling away in the his own dream world.
Potter directly requested to enter.
Dream worlds naturally supported connections, as long as a friend agreed, you could enter their world.
However, Plants vs Zombies didn't support multiplayer mode, so you could only watch from the sidelines.
"Godfather, save me!"
This world didn't have forums or blogs like his previous life, something Alto has found frustrating for a while now.
He'd been contemplating these past few days whether he could leverage the Dreamscape to create something similar to forums from his previous life.
People could communicate, exchange ideas, share perspectives there.
This would greatly help promote future games.
But this required main world Dreamscape permissions, which he currently had no access to, nor the channels to obtain them.
These matters were handled directly by the Temple, like platform administrators.
To create a communication tool connecting everyone required leveraging the entire Dreamscape's power.
So for now, it remained just an idea, something to pursue when opportunities arose later.
These past few days, his dream world had received massive amounts of faith, dream energy.
All generated by players experiencing Plants vs Zombies.
The majority naturally flowed to the Moon Goddess, with a small portion converging through the Dreamscape into Alto's dream world.
He roughly calculated that at this rate, in a few more days he could upgrade his dream world to Tier 1.
This was thanks to Plants vs Zombies' explosive popularity.
Another crucial factor was playtime duration.
Plants vs Zombies' rich gameplay meant that the average online time was extremely high.
Adventure Mode alone could take unfamiliar players two to three days, not to mention the more interesting modes afterward.
Players might not get bored even after a month.
More online time meant more faith provided.
From zero to one was a qualitative transformation.
By then, he'd be a true dream designer.
The resources he could mobilize would increase dramatically.
His game selection options would broaden considerably.
Though he still couldn't make some major titles, there were plenty of excellent small-to-medium games.
Just like that, a week quickly passed by.
Plants vs Zombies' sales, after the first day's explosion, second-day sales dropped somewhat.
Then sustained explosive growth over subsequent days.
Day 2: 30,000 copies Day 3: 50,000 copies Day 4: 100,000 copies Day 5: 110,000 copies Day 6: 130,000 copies Day 7: 150,000 copies
First-week final sales: 650,000 copies.
After the first week, Alto received his share from Saint Oros Trading Company.
A total of 5,850,000 Baileys.
Due to the enormous amount, the money was deposited into a magic crystal card.
His tier had also advanced to Tier 1.
Receiving so much money for the first time, Alto's emotions were extremely stirred.
He knew this was just the beginning. His wealth would snowball from here.
As long as he had sufficient wealth to support him, he could establish his own merchant company and purchase property.
He needed his own distribution channels.
He had many other plans as well.
All requiring massive financial backing, this amount was far from enough.
But with Plants vs Zombies' explosive success, some people couldn't sit still anymore.
Reggie Trading Company
"What an absolute waste! Explain to me, why didn't we secure Plants vs Zombies' rights?!"
Herman angrily slammed the table, interrogating the manager.
"I apologize, boss. It was my oversight. I didn't expect this work to explode like this."
The manager was currently drenched in sweat. He genuinely hadn't been optimistic about Plants vs Zombies at the time, a civilian work, what could possibly stand out? So he hadn't paid it much attention.
Reggie Trading Company and Saint Oros Trading Company were bitter arch-rivals.
What's that saying? Watching your competitor make money hurts worse than losing money yourself.
Herman's current suffering was beyond word.
"And you, you useless waste Damian! I pulled so many strings, and all you brought back was second place?!"
"A bunch of idiots, both of you!"
Damian's head hung low like a kindergardener's.
He actually wanted to say that if Christer hadn't betrayed them at the last moment, he'd have secured first place easily.
"Damn that Alto!"
His face twisted viciously, attributing all problems to Alto.
"Now their company will definitely leverage this opportunity to massively seize market share."
"So we must prepare countermeasures."