“Game Designer’s new update is worth five stars. The new voice-overs and scenes are so beautiful!”
Another one…
“What the hell is there to update for a game like The Lonely Desert Road? They’re only selling it for one yuan, too? I’m crying! Although I don’t play the game, I’ll just buy the update. While I’m at it, I’ll say Tengda is amazing—!”
The last one…
“Rubbish planning, your mother is dead!”
“F*ck your mom! You added such a great epic weapon and only made five hundred of them available. I purposely took some time off work to go to an internet cafe to buy an epic weapon. Now you’re telling me that you’re sold out for the month???”
“All the accounts who managed to get a Barrett Doom, please appreciate it!”
“For every like, Tengda’s boss will shrink by a centimeter!”
“F*cker! Sell more soon! I can’t wait until next month!”
Pei Qian quietly closed Ocean Stronghold’s comments section. Hehe, the atmosphere there seems to be quite different.
It doesn’t matter. You can continue to curse and scold. As long as you don’t continue to throw money at me before this settlement, I’ll still take you as my brothers!
Chapter 166 - Can Teacher Qiao Be Smothered?!
After Tengda’s games were updated, a commotion spread across the internet.
The players of Ocean Stronghold cursed at Tengda’s boss, hoping that he would release the limit on the number of Barrett Doom up for sale. However, all the other players were thankful and touched, excited beyond compare.
The various media outlets naturally reported the commotion as well. Some self-media outlets also jumped on the bandwagon. Take Teacher Qiao for example. After Products of the Gods became successful, Qiao Liang accepted an olive branch from Aili Island. He hopped over to their platform from Potato Web.
He signed an ordinary creator’s incentive agreement with them, under which he would earn about thirty yuan for every ten thousand views. However, Teacher Qiao’s stable fanbase coupled with the website’s recommendation of him as a celebrity UP Master in the gaming area guaranteed that he had over hundreds of thousands of views for every video.
This way, Teacher Qiao no longer had to live a life of instability. His income was more or less stable.
He only needed to produce two videos each month. One of them needed to be popular, and the other needed to have sponsored partnerships. Altogether, he would have about 1.5 million views or so. The remuneration he got from the incentive plan and the advertising fees could give him a stable five or six thousand yuan each month. Compared to his situation before, this was much better.
However, up until now, the second episode of Products of the Gods—which made Teacher Qiao as popular as he was now—was still not uploaded.
People were chasing him to upload more videos every day, but Teacher Qiao’s reply came quickly as well: “I’m sorry. There are no other games in the country that can compare to Game Designer in terms of content and concept. If there are any, this segment will be updated at once. Otherwise, I cannot forcefully update it and ruin my own reputation.”
Qiao Liang’s words were thirty-percent true and seventy-percent false. Actually, he knew that if he wanted to update this segment, he would just have to look for foreign games and classic games. That would enable him to create videos for sure.
However, he could earn five or six thousand yuan each month from Trash Games Diss, New Recommended Games, and other random videos. He had no time or energy to carefully look for new games in order to update Products of the Gods.
After Tengda completed the wave of ‘the kindest updates of downloadable content in history’, Teacher Qiao could not hold back his excitement. He wrote a new article to update his own special column.
“I have also been keeping an eye on Tengda Games’ most recent kind updates. I guessed that Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold would be updated. However, I did not expect The Lonely Desert Road to be updated as well!
“Speaking of this game, many people might have misunderstandings towards it.
“This was Tengda’s first game. I dissed it before. In terms of various aspects, this game looks roughly produced. This seemingly carelessly-produced game has also been viewed by many as a black spot in Tengda Games’ history.
“I once thought that this was because Tengda Games had just started out. It must have been limited in terms of costs and the like; that was probably why this game looked so carelessly-produced.
“But now, I finally understand: I was wrong. Everyone who thought that this was a rubbish game is wrong! If Tengda really took this game to be a black spot in its history, it would have stopped updating it. It would have allowed the game to fizzle out and be destroyed.
“Yet, they did just the opposite. Tengda knew that this game had already lost its popularity. Not many gamers are still playing it. However, Tengda continued to arrange for it to be updated. Not only did they add five times the number of backgrounds, but they also added the Endless Mode and multiplayer function like I suggested in my video!
“What does this mean?
“This means that Tengda does not view this game as a black spot in its history. Instead, it treats this game as seriously as it does all its other games. With utmost sincerity and passion, Tengda gives back to the loyal players of the game!
“Even though they knew full well that the downloadable content would not recover their capital, they continued to provide it without any hesitation, and at a kind price. Even with five times the content, the game is sold at the same price. It’s so valuable!
“This proves that The Lonely Desert Road is also a game that Tengda put effort into creating. It’s the same as Game Designer; a work of dark humor and satire. It’s also a part of Tengda’s performance art!
“The summary of this game and the final line that appears on the black screen show that there is a deeper meaning to it!
“What’s more, Tengda is indeed a company that pays special attention to its players. Here, I would like to show off a little: they really listened to the suggestions I made in my video. I do have some level of influence; hiahiahia!”
Teacher Qiao’s special column was downloaded all over. People liked it, and more and more gamers were praising it!
“Well said! So The Lonely Desert Road has always had such deep meaning!”
“Holy sh*t, this was also in Tengda’s plan, wasn’t it? What a huge plan!”
“I’m more and more interested in Tengda’s boss!”
“From the looks of the situation, we can download any game that Tengda produces from now on. We can also mindlessly buy their downloadable content. They’re persevering with updating such a rubbish game even if they would incur losses doing so. What’s there to worry about?”
…
Pei Qian read Teacher Qiao’s special column in his office and then fell into deep thought.
“System, can I count it as an expense if I hire a murderer?”
After he got a negative response and a light warning, Pei Qian felt sorrowful.
What do I have to do to shut Teacher Qiao up…?
You’ve been haunting me persistently!
Each time I make a new game, you help me blow it up. Now, every time I think about making a new game, I feel worried and scared. As if that weren’t enough, you’re even helping me blow up my downloadable content?
“Can I smother Teacher Qiao…? No. No, I must get him to shut up.”
Pei Qian’s head began to hurt. This hatred he felt towards Teacher Qiao did not develop in a single day. It all began with one dissing video made by the bastard. That video made The Lonely Desert Road popular and dashed Pei Qian’s hopes of losing all fifty thousand yuan his company had.
Game Designer was one step away from complete success, and Qiao-logy was successfully created. Pei Qian had planned to take revenge, but Teacher Qiao flipped the situation around completely.
This time, publ
icizing the downloadable content would not cause much loss to Pei Qian. At the very most, it would increase their sales volume. However, as the saying went: things could happen once or twice, but they could not be allowed to happen over and over again.
It was too much!
Pei Qian had a feeling that Teacher Qiao would become an obstacle to him in the future. He had to think of a way to deal with the problem as soon as possible. However, how would he do it…?
He could not use the ‘hard’ method so he had to use the ‘soft’ one.
Could he give Teacher Qiao a sum of money and ask him never to talk about anything related to Tengda again?
No, that would be too unreasonable. If news leaked, everyone would praise Boss Pei for not caring about fame and fortune.
Pei Qian could not think of a good solution just yet. He had no choice but to call Assistant Xin in.
“Get two people to look into Teacher Qiao for me. I want a detailed report on him.”
As the saying went: know yourself and your enemies, and you will never be defeated…
Pei Qian planned to research extensively into this enemy of his, who destroyed his plans time and time again. He wanted to find out what his situation was and what his weaknesses were. Then, Pei Qian would hit him where it hurt the most.
If he was greedy and could be easily defeated by material things, then the problem could be easily dealt with.
Chapter 167 - Change in Profit-Splitting!
June 20th…
From mid-July, the summer holidays were going to begin. As it was about time to enter exam week, Pei Qian still had to spend a little time catching up with his school work. Although examinations were not that hard for him, Pei Qian still had to spend a few all-nighters to prepare for the closed-book ones.
Regarding this, Pei Qian was very impressed by Ma Yang.
Ma Yang could actually manage Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Fish-Catching Take-Out and still listen earnestly in school. Although he might not get high marks for the exams, it would be a breeze for him to pass.
Sometimes, being able to handle so many things was a very powerful ability.
To date, Pei Qian’s identity had not been exposed. Although he rarely went back to the dormitory and hadn’t been seen much, many students were like him in the university; and this wasn’t something that strange.
Only Ma Yang knew about him, and he kept it a secret really well while none of his classmates would purposely ask him about this.
Every time Pei Qian went to school, he would return to his rented apartment and change back into his ordinary clothes; no one’s suspicions had been raised.
Ma Yang, on the other hand, wore more and more expensive clothing. The electronic devices he used also became more and more high-tech. Many classmates all thought wrongly, that perhaps Ma Yang’s family had struck gold recently.
With Ma Yang attracting most of the attention, Pei Qian was also happy to just be an ordinary student in school.
Of course, Pei Qian also knew that he couldn’t hide this from his classmates and his parents much longer. However, he also didn’t have a pressing need to expose himself now. He actually thought it was rather nice to hang out with people as a normal person.
However, as the term-end exams were coming, Pei Qian had to revise while keeping an eye on the company; he was rather pressed.
Self-Revision Room…
Pei Qian forced himself to memorize the photocopied notes he had borrowed as he occasionally checked on his cell phone.
Although he couldn’t constantly keep track of what was happening online, he could ask Lu Mingliang to summarize and send over some relevant information as and when.
“Boss Pei, Amusement Times had reported on our downloadable contents and have praised us for being a domestic games company with a conscience; the feedback has been rather positive!”
Pei Qian took a look at his cell phone as he put it down again.
Amusement Times was the games media company that had first reported on Tengda. This kind of news article that wanted to ride Tengda’s recent popularity was within his expectations; it also wouldn’t have that much of an impact.
“Boss Pei, the news that we have launched new downloadable content has created a buzz on Weibo; many players are debating this matter!”
This wasn’t a big problem either. To be one of the top trending searches was something that happened fast and disappeared fast. As it was something that could be bought with money as well, Pei Qian wasn’t that concerned.
“Boss Pei, according to the black market, accounts with Barrett Doom are already selling for at least 2000 yuan…”
What in the world? It was already almost the end of the month; another five hundred were going to be on sale the next month. Why are you guys so anxious…?
Oh, I guess this is understandable. Most people probably wouldn’t be able to buy it next month; if they bought it now, they would be able to enjoy it for ten days more.
Go ahead and buy these accounts! I have said that the limit is 500 a month; I won’t sell a single more.
“Boss Pei, Aili Island has created a special zone for our games!
“Boss Pei, a game producer had gone on Weibo to scold us for spoiling and disrupting the market conditions; he is being scolded bloody by players!
“Boss Pei, ESRO official games platform had done a special item on our few games. It is now on their front page in the recommended section. In the next few days, our games and downloadable content sales would probably experience yet another boost!”
Seeing this message, Pei Qian’s hand shook furiously.
The official games platforms are causing trouble again! The front-page recommendation of Game Designer the last time had already been a little intolerable for Pei Qian. This time, they had actually done a special piece on all the games and placed this on the front page?
Steady, steady…
Pei Qian took a few deep breaths as he forced himself to calm down. From the experience the last time—although this front-page recommendation had an impact, it was still within the acceptable range.
Pei Qian still had the opportunity to go on a spending spree. Furthermore, since the recommendation only went up now, there won’t be a huge increase in income next week. Before sales exploded the week after, the settlement would have been done; and there shouldn’t be much problem.
“Boss Pei, also, official games platforms think that our company is now the model for the entire game industry; they have decided to go all out to help and support us!”
Pei Qian was confused. They wanted to go all out to help and support? To give a front-page recommendation here and there for free; that was already quite significant. How many game companies could have this treatment?
How else could they go all out to help and support?
“Boss Pei, the official games platform has already given us a heads up. To encourage us to have more and sufficient funds to continue with game designs, they have decided to change the original fifty-fifty split to a seventy-thirty split; seventy in our favor!
“This treatment is normally reserved for very big and influential game companies or game companies with a very good reputation. Only those viewed as role models can enjoy this privilege; this is evident of how highly the official games platform views our games!
“I heard that the highest we can go is a ninety-ten split, ninety in our favor. Boss Pei, we will definitely continue to work hard!”
Pei Qian’s hands shook as his cell phone. Pang! It dropped on the table.
Finished!
From fifty-fifty to a seventy-thirty split… didn’t that mean that from now on, he didn’t have to do anything and get another twenty percent in income?
For a game like Ocean Stronghold that earned three million five hundred thousand, having this additional twenty percent was another one million three hundred and forty thousand!
That meant that as there was only one week left until the next settlement, even without considering th
e income from the downloadable content, the games’ incomes would be twenty percent higher than ordinary. That would at least be an additional six hundred to seven hundred thousand!
Adding the downloadable content sales to that…
Pei Qian cursed in his heart.
He had expected that his games would continue to make money and had roughly calculated the sales from all the downloadable contents. Originally, the profits had been within his expectations. However, with the official games platform making trouble now, it had foiled his plans!
If other companies heard this news, they would definitely be celebrating; however, Pei Qian was now very anxious. If he didn’t pay attention to this, he might not be able to spend all his money!
After all, he couldn’t put more money into developing new games one week before settlement. He could only rely on giving more bonuses and such methods to spend more money; he wouldn’t be able to spend much money from this.
If he had one or two million in profits during settlement, he would only be able to convert ten thousand-odd into his Personal Wealth; however, if he had just slight losses, the amount converted would be much more than this. Furthermore, losses that he incurred would be replenished by the system into the System Funds.
This was too stimulating; it was the difference between heaven and hell.
Pei Qian couldn’t sit still anymore as he immediately kept his books and left the Self-Revision Room.
At this crucial time, could he still focus on revising?!
His splurging plan had to be carried forward!
…
…
Entering the company, Pei Qian looked flustered as he called out Assistant Xin and sprinted to his office. Lu Mingliang, Ma Yiqun, and company say that Boss Pei looked so serious as they all sighed with emotion.
Tengda had just received a named commendation from the official games’ site and the profits had been revised in their favor; this was something that all other games companies dreamed of, and everyone would be envious of them if this news spread.
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