Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883
Page 37
If Pei Qian had learned from other games with paywalls, he would have created more gift packs and offers. Their income would easily double or triple.
Even after Pei Qian deliberately used a pricing strategy to suppress players and stop them from reaching into their wallets, he still managed to earn more than four hundred thousand yuan a week!
What the hell was happening?!
Pei Qian felt lightheaded.
Chapter 68 - Detailed Analytical Report!
After researching online for a long time…
Pei Qian still could not understand how Ocean Stronghold became so popular!
He went through the comments section and found that the gamers were basically divided into two camps: one was for the game and one was against the game. Both camps were arguing profusely.
A mysterious alphabet C appeared on Ocean Stronghold’s ratings. There were a fair number of people who rated it with five stars but also a fair number rated it with one. In the end, its overall rating was 7.3.
The length of one star was short, but it was still longer than two stars.
The comments were not great, but they were not bad either.
As for the gamers’ reviews, they were mixed.
Pei Qian looked through all the gaming platforms, websites, and forums; just to look for more reviews on Ocean Stronghold. He even found a couple of hot topics that discussed Ocean Stronghold, Counter Strike, and Bullet Hole.
In the end, all of it left Pei Qian even more confused.
“I didn’t think that a domestically-produced game could do so well in terms of its story mode. Five stars for sure!”
“Four stars! I’m taking one away for its name. This is a great game that nearly got hidden away thanks to its name!”
“The final scene where the Ocean Stronghold exploded, and the little girl was taken away moved me to tears! It’s so moving indeed! I was very sucked into the main lead’s character. Few domestically-produced games made me feel this way!”
“This game’s PVP mode is very novel. The biochemical mode and apparition mode are ingenious creations, and they’re very fun as well! I am a handicap that’s always being tortured in PVP mode, and yet I could still have so much fun playing in biochemical mode!”
“Are the people praising this game all fake reviewers bought over by the gaming company? What lousy hand sensitivity. How dare they praise this game?”
“Lousy hand sensitivity? What a joke. Just because you’re not used to the hand sensitivity, you’re saying it’s lousy? I think this game is much more fun than Counter Strike. The feeling of making countless headshots is amazing!”
“This lame game is selling one weapon for 888 dollars, and the various weapons are even split into different types. How do they have the cheek to say that this is a competitive game? It’s insulting to other competitive games!”
“I don’t think anyone here called it a competitive game… and only a few ballers would bother buying that Red Kilin, right? Every other part of the game is free-of-charge. Even the game itself is free! What’s more, the Red Kilin adds very little to the game overall. I think the creators were already being very kind!”
“I think so, too. Bullet Hole, on the other hand…”
“Hehe, please stop talking about Bullet Hole. We’re talking about Ocean Stronghold and Counter Strike now. Whoever talks about Bullet Hole is inviting all the fake reviewers!”
“Holy sh*t, how do you justify your Ocean Stronghold stealing the thunder of our Bullet Hole? Aren’t you ashamed?”
“Stealing your thunder? Stop messing around. Your game is rubbish. Naturally, gamers would run over to Ocean Stronghold. Talk about stealing your thunder… might as well say that Counter Strike is stealing your thunder as well.”
…
Pei Qian’s head was beginning to hurt.
He did not understand; he really did not understand!
He kept scrolling through the forums, searching. Still, he could not understand how Ocean Stronghold got to be so popular!
After ‘The Lonely Desert Road’ got popular, Pei Qian found Teacher Qiao’s video.
After Ghost General became popular, Pei Qian found Ruan Guangjian’s Weibo.
However, after Ocean Stronghold became popular, Pei Qian could find anything responsible for it.
It was very strange indeed.
Logically, for a game to become popular, a wave of people must have marketed it crazily. They must have made the game become a hot topic before official games platforms begin recommending it. Slowly, the game would become more popular.
Now, the main problem was that Pei Qian could not figure out where that first wave of people was!
Pei Qian really could not understand.
Yet, he had to understand.
He had to understand where Ocean Stronghold went wrong!
As the saying went, one learns from one’s own mistakes. Only by analyzing where Ocean Stronghold went wrong could he avoid making the same mistake in the future!
Otherwise, if he tries to create another game and it becomes popular for no reason, how would he be able to handle it?!
People could not allow themselves to fall in the same way twice.
Pei Qian thought about it for a long time.
He had it!
I really cannot figure out where this game went wrong, but I am the boss! Why must I do this myself?
I could get Huang Sibo to do the analysis and then hand the report to me!
Just thinking about Huang Sibo made Pei Qian’s blood boil. Although he could not see clearly what had happened, this HSB[1] had to have something to do with making Ocean Stronghold so popular!
Good story mode?
Novel PVP mode?
This was obviously all thanks to Huang Sibo and Bao Xu!
I have to make Huang Sibo do a detailed analysis. Once I figure out who was responsible for this, I will settle the score with him afterward!
At this point, Pei Qian finally sent a message to Huang Sibo.
…
Huang Sibo was still trying to calm down after finding out that Ocean Stronghold attained so much success.
All of a sudden, he realized that Boss Pei had sent him a message: “Write me a detailed analysis on why Ocean Stronghold became so successful. Cover everything from its design to its marketing, and make sure you leave nothing out. Then, send it to me directly.”
Huang Sibo paused for a couple of seconds, and immediately replied, “Yes, Boss Pei!”
Although a ton of work was being thrown at him, he was not in the least bit angry. Instead, he was overjoyed!
He felt just like a top student being assigned work by his teacher.
Why did Boss Pei want this detailed report?
Was it because he did not know why Ocean Stronghold succeeded?
What a joke, of course not!
Boss Pei was the one who set the direction for the game.
He was also the one who decided that this game would be publicized without any marketing effort on their part.
It was obvious that his understanding of the game far surpassed everyone else’s!
Why was he asking for this detailed report, then?
The reason was simple: he was helping them digest the learning points!
This was akin to a teacher asking his students to hand in an end-of-term review after finishing a test. The teacher’s only hope would be to help his students absorb as much experience as they could from the test, so that they could keep improving!
This shows that Boss Pei values me!
Otherwise, of all people, why did he assign this task to me?
Huang Sibo was extremely excited. He immediately opened the relevant files and began organizing the information. At once, he started to write everything he knew about why Ocean Stronghold succeeded!
…
…
A few hours later, Pei Qian received this report.
He quickly scanned through it.
In front of the report
, Huang Sibo wrote about where Ocean Stronghold succeeded. For example, the lowered difficulty invited a huge group of ordinary gamers. The exemplary story mode and the love gamers had for domestically-produced games earned a good reputation.
The variety of PVP modes…
There was no barrier of entry, which allowed gamers to download the game without any pressure.
The 888-yuan Red Kilin satisfied the ballers’ thirst to show off and act cool. The stats of the Red Kilin were considered quite controllable. What’s more, it had the effect of adding experience to the other players in the room. As a result, ordinary gamers did not despise those with Red Kilins but welcomed them instead.
Reading this analysis made the corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitch.
What is going on…?
It went so differently from the way I expected…
Am I holding the wrong script?
Weren’t these the reasons Ocean Stronghold was supposed to fail? Why had they all become reasons that Ocean Stronghold became popular?
Pei Qian suppressed the urge to kill himself and read on.
What followed was the analysis on how Ocean Stronghold was marketed and publicized.
He had to find out who the mole was!
[1] This is an acronym for Huang Sibo.
Chapter 69 - All In Vain!
Pei Qian’s eyes scanned through every single word in the second half of the report.
Once he finished reading, Pei Qian blinked rather slowly. He looked out of the window and then carefully read the report again from cover to cover.
According to the report, all of this was… Lin Wan’s fault!
It looked like Huang Sibo could not escape liability as well!
However, it was hard to say which one of them should be blamed.
Huang Sibo had no plans to market or publicize Ocean Stronghold. He only thought that since Ocean Stronghold was published, he had to quickly plan the next phase of researching and developing. That was why he got a few lab-rat gamers to test the game out; he wanted to gather their feedback.
In the end, because there were far too few gamers on Ocean Stronghold, Huang Sibo had no choice but to ask a member of the design team to help.
As for Lin Wan, she just happened to be put in charge of a few influential FPS gamers back when she worked for Sun Strike Studios!
Thus, Lin Wan introduced Ocean Stronghold to those people and asked them to give it a try. Due to its excellent gaming quality, Ocean Stronghold became extremely popular among these groups of people. Its story mode, in particular, garnered high praise!
Chen Sha and the others quickly came to appreciate what they found repulsive previously, too. For the 888-yuan Red Kilin, they began to introduce the game to others!
In the beginning, Chen Sha really could not be bothered by the Red Kilin. He thought that it was an unnecessary accessory that would only catch ballers’ eyes. He was an elite gamer who played full-time; he had no need for it at all.
However, once he got it, he realized what he had been missing the entire time! It was a unique weapon; this had nothing to do with stats and everything to do with pride! There were so many people in a single room. The moment he whipped his Red Kilin out, many people surrounded him and worshiped him!
What’s more, the Red Kilin could help the people around him gain experience. That was why people with Red Kilins were especially popular!
Once Chen Sha got hold of the Red Kilin, he basically became the center of attention no matter where he went. This feeling… really seemed to be growing on him!
What’s more, in order to obtain a Red Kilin for themselves, people continued to introduce the game to more people. Without planning for it, they caused a huge inflow of people to Ocean Stronghold. Very quickly, news of Ocean Stronghold spread across various FPS gaming groups, winning over its first batch of veteran gamers!
Later on, Ocean Stronghold’s numbers rose very quickly in a short period. This encouraged official games platforms to recommend it as well.
However, these alone could not have made Ocean Stronghold this popular.
Coincidentally, Bullet Hole was released at the same time!
Once it was released, Bullet Hole spent buckets of money on publicity. It used all kinds of marketing techniques, giving many video creators jobs. As a result, Bullet Hole barged into the lives of many ordinary gamers.
Ordinarily, after a batch tried out Bullet Hole, a portion would leave and a portion would stay. However, a good number of people who had already tried Ocean Stronghold found that Bullet Hole was as good as trash!
Why was the hand sensitivity so rubbish?!
Why was there no variety in PvP mode?!
Why was there no story mode?!
The fees Bullet Hole was charging was so much more than Ocean Stronghold! What’s more, even if they spent money in Bullet Hole, they could not get weapons as cool as the Red Kilin! Bullet Hole was very realistic. A few expensive weapons only served to modify the game very slightly. They were a far cry from the Red Kilin, which was an extremely special weapon.
Thus, many people purposely went to the comments section of Bullet Hole to leave their feedback:
“Rubbish game, absolutely beaten by Ocean Stronghold!”
“The glory of domestically-produced FPS games? I’m sorry, this title seems to belong to Ocean Stronghold!”
“This game has too many paywalls, and it looks so ugly. It should take a page out of Ocean Stronghold’s book.”
Comments like that filled the comments section of Bullet Hole. Some were genuine and from the heart, and others were merely trolls.
After all, this world was missing a lot of things but people who had nothing better to do.
At first, there were not many of such comments.
However, how could the Bullet Hole players take things lying down? Of course, they had to put up a fight! Both sides were diametrically opposed, confronting one another aggressively, quoting and citing sources, and cursing their hearts out…
In summary, the more people praised or insulted the game, the more commotion it created and the more people joined!
Many players had begun by merely observing the argument. However, on seeing that neither side was making a breakthrough, they could not stop themselves from joining in. As a result, everything spiraled out of control.
Many gamers who had been attracted by Bullet Hole’s advertisements also tried Ocean Stronghold out of curiosity. Immediately, they found that they could not turn back.
Both of these games were not even in the same league!
The plot was amazing, the hand sensitivity was amazing, and Ocean Stronghold was free-of-charge! It was so much better than Bullet Hole!
Thus, Bullet Hole became somewhat of a pit stop. Even the gamers whom they attracted through their publicity jumped over to Ocean Stronghold. After this series of events, the data for Ocean Stronghold went through the roof!
Not only were people who loved FPS games coming in waves, but even people who never played FPS games in their lives were trying it out!
Strictly speaking, Counter Strike was still going strong. There were still many veteran players remaining loyal to it. However, just the wave of new gamers alone made Ocean Stronghold a truckload of profit!
This was only the beginning.
Counter Strike was good, but at the end of the day, it was a standalone game. Friends could not play alongside each other.
Ocean Stronghold was an online game, and it was highly entertaining. In the long-term, it was bound to buy over even loyal gamers of Counter Strike!
Apart from the Red Kilin, Ocean Stronghold was practically free-of-charge. As Ocean Stronghold continued to win over gamers from the other games, its future success would be unimaginable!
…
Pei Qian felt paralyzed.
Is this a joke that destiny is playing on me?!
How could such a thing happen?!
He had never thought that Lin Wan—who looked every bit like a
good-for-nothing—would be capable of something like that.
Of course, strictly speaking, this was not all to her credit. She had only become acquainted with a few owners of FPS gaming groups because of her previous job. These few owners just happened to be influential gamers in the FPS gaming community.
What’s more, all of these people only became acquainted because they were working on Bullet Hole together at Sun Strike Studios.
In the end, the spark caused by this same group of people to light the hay—that was Bullet Hole—on fire burned down the entire forest!
Pei Qian, who wanted to analyze the reasons behind this failure, suddenly felt confused.
Who was to blame?
Huang Sibo or Bao Xu?
They created this game just as I instructed them…
Lin Wan?
She was looking for a few lab rats to test out the game, just as Huang Sibo instructed her…
Sun Strike Studios and Bullet Hole, on the other hand, did help considerably. On one hand, they gathered so many leading FPS gamers together. On the other hand, their crazy marketing strategies indirectly publicized Ocean Stronghold, too.
However… it seemed to be my decision to allow Ocean Stronghold to be published at the same time as Bullet Hole…
Could it be… that I am to blame?
Something is wrong…
Pei Qian could not help but become deeply suspicious of himself.
He felt like the trophy had almost reached his hands, but it was snatched away at the last second.
His heart turned cold.
Three months, all in vain!
“Calm down! I have to save myself!”
Chapter 70 - Pay Raise for All Employees!
29th January, Friday…
From the 18th, the profits that Ocean Stronghold generated were entered into the accounts. On average, it made four to five hundred thousand yuan per week!
There were still two more days to go before the accounts were to be closed.
During this period, Pei Qian continued to spend as much money as he could.
He expanded the bandwidths of the servers for Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold. The highest specifications were chosen for each of those games.