Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

After hearing Ye Zhizhou’s words, Wang Xiaobin could forget about receiving his bonus.

If they only allowed players of Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version to write reviews, their reputation might be good. That was because the game was made good-heartedly.

However, games media and ordinary netizens were also allowed to write reviews on TPDb. These netizens did not have to play the game for too long before writing the reviews. They could just rate the game based on the ‘I am Zha Zhuti’ advertisement. It would be strange if they rated the game highly.

The first game produced by Shang Yang Games after being bought over by Boss Pei failed immediately. Of course, everyone felt ashamed of themselves.

Are we really late-stage cancer patients? Every game produced by Boss Pei succeeded; they had high sales volumes and were extremely well-reputed. Would even such a talented creator like him fail to bring Shang Yang Games to glory?

That was hard to accept.

“Everyone, come to the conference room. I want to say a few words.”

Lin Wan looked disappointed as well. It was obvious she had seen the game’s figures. She knew full well that the situation did not look good.

However, she was different from everyone else. Lin Wan was not disappointed to the point of helplessness. Instead, she retained her composure. It was almost like she had already been prepared for this.

In the conference room, everyone took their seats.

Lin Wan scanned the room and said sincerely, “Everyone must have seen the figures for day one of our game’s release. They don’t look

good.”

Everyone remained silent.

In fact, everyone was used to situations like these. When the ex-boss-Du Ruijie—was still around, he would often call for meetings like that after seeing bad figures for games. He would primarily shift the blame and encourage everyone.

If there was a problem with the game, it would show signs of being a flop after being released. That meant that something must have gone very wrong somewhere. Of course, the boss would have to share the blame.

Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version’s problem was that they had chosen the wrong path when they made it a mini-client.

Wang Xiaobin was the first to think of making the game a mini-client, but everyone had agreed to it. What’s more, Director Lin and Boss Pei had agreed to it as well.

How would Director Lin split the responsibility?

Thus, everyone guessed that she would not spend too much time trying to shift the blame. Instead, she would probably skip to the encouraging part as soon as she could.

From the way things were going with the game, everyone guessed that they would have to work overtime in order to turn the situation around.

If the ex-boss, Du Ruijie, and the ex-chief planner, Old Liu, were still around; they would have told everyone to slog tirelessly under the 996 system and make as many changes to the game as possible. Of course, they would do so at no additional pay. After all, the company had already been on the brink of death. It was one thing not to tide through difficult periods with the company but quite another to demand overtime pay.

A few old employees sighed quietly.

After all, ever since Boss Pei bought over the company, he did not make any changes to the structure. The moment something went wrong with company operations, they would be right back where they started.

Everyone’s hearts sank as they prepared themselves to work overtime for the coming weeks.

However, Lin Wan’s tone changed. “This is not your fault. Don’t blame yourselves.”

Everyone immediately felt strange.

Director Lin was not trying to shift the blame?

This was a good thing, but the game had failed after all. Someone had to step out and take the blame for it, right? Someone had to decide how they should move forward.

They all looked up and listened closely.

Lin Wan continued, “Think about it, everyone. Boss Pei has never done a web-based game. He has always specialized in high-quality standalone games. Yet, why did he buy Shang Yang Games even though it was incurring losses? After that, why did he insist on working on Bloody Battle Song, a game with paywalls?

“He has been using Bloody Battle Song to do something very risky. He’s conducting a test that no one has ever thought about conducting!

“Boss Pei wanted gamers to stop being slaves to money. He wanted to alter their tastes, so that even if they do not top up money into games, they would be able to enjoy a gaming experience that used to be exclusive to ballers.

“From production to advertising, Boss Pei has been consistently moving towards this goal.

“We should have been well-prepared for this heaven-defying move to fail. I believe that Boss Pei was prepared for this as well.”

When Lin Wan first arrived at Shang Yang Games, she was confused about this very same problem. However, she understood it later on.

Boss Pei hired Zhang Zuting to film the advertisement so that he would be able to attract more web-based gamers. He opted for a mini-client, created the ‘Chosen One’ system, and took away purchase options, all to nurture healthy spending habits in web-based gamers.

This motivation was noble, but it did go against web-based gamers’ nature. It was natural for the game to fail.

To die a hero was not shameful!

Lin Wan looked determined. “Thus, do not feel defeated by this failure. We were not producing a money-making web-based game to begin with. We were working on a noble project. Whether we succeed or fail in the end, we are all heroes!”

After hearing Lin Wan’s speech, everyone felt much better.

They were not failures! They were heaven-defying heroes!

Director Lin had indeed worked with Boss Pei for a long time. Even the angle from which she viewed this problem was different.

Compared to their ex-boss Du Ruijie, she was so much better.

Ye Zhizhou cheered up as well. The desperation and helplessness he felt were half gone by now.

However, even though his spirits had more or less recovered, he had to do what needed to be done. Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version was not generating profit. He had to solve this problem.

There were only two possible solutions: First, he could get rid of the restrictions and allow ballers to spend as much as they could. Second, he could multiply the number of players in the game several times. If there were enough players and everyone bought strength potions every day, Shang Yang Games would start making money for sure.

The first solution was impossible. They had already spent so much effort getting to where they were. He could not give up their progress in the face of failure.

That meant he had no choice but to try and get more players into the game.

The atmosphere in the conference room had become much livelier. Everyone was beginning to speak freely. Some of them talked about changing the mini-client format, and others talked about changing the structure of the game. All of them were extremely excited.

Lin Wan listened to all their suggestions, but she said nothing.

Finally, she shook her head. “None of them would work. Our current plan is the best one. I think we should persist.”

Everyone instinctively looked at each other, confused.

Was she being a bit too stubborn?

According to Director Lin’s initial analysis, she was not wrong to think this way.

Boss Pei was the one who decided to make the game a mini-client. They had improved the game’s quality, and cutting the mini-client into segments would cause the game to feel choppy. What’s more, they would be treating the symptoms and not the root problem. It might not deal with all their problems completely.

That was all true, but were they really not allowed to change anything?

According to the game’s current situation-if they left it as it was, it would be hopeless. Lin Wan remained resolute. “We won’t change anything. Don’t worry for now, everyone. Rest well. Let’s keep observing the situation over the week. If the game’s figures remain the same after a week, we’ll think about something else.”

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin exchanged a look. They could tell that Director Lin had made up her mind.

Since that was the case, there was nothing else to be said. After the meeting ended, everyone went back to their desks and got back to work. They would wait patiently for a week. If things did not improve after a week, then they could discuss more.

If things didn’t improve… they would probably have to make major changes.

When she got back to her own office, Lin Wan’s head began to hurt.

Although she managed to cheer everyone up during the meeting and put up a strong front, she still felt very uncertain about the future.

“I will make some time one of these days to meet Boss Pei and ask for his advice.”

September 3rd, Friday…

Pei Qian was in the office, reading TPDb’s website. He bought the website template. That was why they managed to release the first version so quickly. Although it was still in the testing stage, the current TPDb website had already done quite well in its fledgling stage. Pei Qian guessed that it was more or less ready to use.

He had professional staff discussing with other websites about partnerships. At the moment, some of them had already agreed.

To get reviews from the media, they had to discuss partnerships with game media. To get reviews from players, they had to get figures from ESRO’s official platform. At the same time, he would include TPDb’s website URL in the game’s details page. This way, players would be able to give ratings once they access the details page of each game.

These improvements in the overall experience had to be done over a long time. He could not possibly accomplish them all in a single day.

At the moment, TPDb still had very few visitors. Most of them were employees of Tengda Games. Apart from that, only some players of several games had visited them.

This was because few people knew about the site, and not many people were discussing it.

Pei Qian was looking at the ratings for Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version at that moment.

This game had an overall rating of 7.2. The two extremes were the paying gamers’ reviews and netizens’ reviews. The former rated the game 9.1, but the latter rated it a pathetic 4.3.

This showed that the players who were really spending money on the game were quite satisfied with it.

Netizens were mostly unsatisfied with Zhang Zuting’s advertisement.

These people had not really tried the game. They might have clicked the game’s official website and seen TPDb’s URL by chance. That was probably why they gave the game bad reviews and a one-star rating.

Although these people did not have the right to review the game, the total number of reviewers was still quite low. Thus, the ratings were still susceptible to change during this period.

According to the stipulations, a game with a rating from 6.0 to 7.0 would get a C. The bonus for this project would amount to 1% of the total investment. If the game had ratings of lower than 6.0, there would be no bonus.

Since the game’s overall rating was 7.2, it got a B. The bonus for this project would thus amount to 5% of the total investment.

If the rating increased to more than 8.0, it would get an A, and the bonus would amount to 10%. With a rating of more than 9.0, it would get an S, and the bonus would amount to 15%.

Tengda had invested about eight million yuan into Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. A 5% bonus would amount to about four hundred thousand yuan. On average, each person would get less than ten thousand yuan.

Pei Qian could not help but feel regret at this amount.

Everyone worked so hard to get rid of eight million yuan for me, and yet I can only give them four hundred thousand yuan worth of bonus. It doesn’t seem right. However, TPDb’s rules had already been set. Even Boss Pei could not manipulate the figures behind the scenes. “If only the game’s rating could go above 8.0. Then, I would be able to get rid of four hundred thousand yuan more.”

Pei Qian knew very well that he could not blame the people at Shang Yang Games for the game’s low rating. The game was good-heartedly made, and it deserved a high rating. However, netizens were disgusted by the advertisement. Even without playing the game, they vengefully gave it bad reviews. That was why the overall rating was lowered.

Yet, there was no need for Pei Qian to get anxious now. There was still plenty of time.

TPDb did not have many users yet. That was why the overall rating was fluctuating so much. For all he knew, more netizens would review Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version during this period.

Lin Wan knocked on Boss Pei’s office door apprehensively.

Although Boss Pei had given the nod to the core concept and design of the game, Lin Wan still felt uncertain about the current situation. She may have appeared extremely confident in front of people in Shang Yang Games, but standing outside Boss Pei’s office, she felt completely lost. “Enter.”

Lin Wan calmed herself down, pushed open the door, and entered the office.

She came to report her decision to Boss Pei, in hopes of obtaining his support. Of course, the game had earned very little revenue since it was released. As the director, Lin Wan was prepared to take the blame and be questioned.

However, once he saw Lin Wan, Boss Pei’s face seemed to light up. A grin spread across his face, and he looked genuinely happy. It was almost as if he was welcoming a trusted minister with great accomplishments!