Chapter 14 Screwed

It's over.

After hearing Ye Zhizhou's words, Wang Xiaobin basically gave up on the bonus.

If only players of *Blood War Song: Power Up Edition* were scoring, the word-of-mouth might be very good because the game is conscientious.

But TPDB's scoring rules also include game media and ordinary netizens. These netizens won't play the game in depth at all. They'll only score based on their first impression of the "I'm Fried Pork Knuckle" ad, so how could the score be high?

After Shang Yang Games was acquired by President Pei, the first game suffered a crushing defeat, making everyone feel ashamed.

Could it be that we really have terminal cancer?

President Pei makes every game a hit, with both word-of-mouth and sales. Can't even such a talented producer save Shang Yang Games?

This is too much.

"Everyone, come to the conference room. I'll say a few words."

Lin Wan's expression was also a little disappointed. Obviously, she had seen the game's data and knew how pessimistic the current situation was.

But unlike the others, Lin Wan wasn't so disappointed that she was discouraged. She remained calm, as if she had been mentally prepared for this.

Arriving at the conference room, everyone took their seats.

Lin Wan looked around at everyone and said sincerely, "Everyone should know the data for the first day of our game's launch, right? It's very pessimistic."

Everyone was silent.

In fact, everyone present was very familiar with this scene, because when the original boss, Du Ruijie, was around, he often held this kind of meeting to assign blame and boost morale when the game data wasn't good.

If something went wrong with the game and it showed signs of dying on launch, then there must be a big problem somewhere, and the blame always had to be assigned.

The problem with *Blood War Song: Power Up Edition* was that the micro-client route was wrong.

Although the idea of a micro-client was first proposed by Wang Xiaobin, everyone at the meeting unanimously passed it, and Director Lin and President Pei both approved it.

So, how to assign the blame?

Therefore, this meeting should gloss over the blame-assignment part in a few words and quickly enter the morale-boosting phase.

Now that the game's situation is worrying, everyone must work overtime to try to reverse the decline as much as possible.

When the original boss, Du Ruijie, and the original chief planner, Old Liu, were around, they would definitely have everyone start a 996 crunch mode, frantically modifying the game.

Of course, there would be no overtime pay. After all, the company had reached a critical moment of survival. It would be fine if you didn't share the company's hardships, but how could you ask for overtime pay?

Several old employees sighed silently.

After all, it's a company acquired by President Pei, and the structure hasn't been changed. Once there's a problem with the company's operation, it goes back to the original flavor.

Everyone's hearts sank, and they prepared for future overtime.

However, Lin Wan changed the subject, "This isn't everyone's fault, so don't blame yourselves."

Everyone was a little surprised.

Director Lin didn't assign blame?

Although they thought this was a good thing, the game had failed, so someone had to stand up and take responsibility, right? Someone had to decide which way to go in the future, right?

Everyone looked up and listened carefully.

Lin Wan continued, "Think about it, President Pei has never made web games. He's best at high-quality single-player games. But why did he acquire Shang Yang Games, which had been losing money? Why has he been fighting with the original P2W game, *Blood War Song*, ever since he took over Shang Yang Games?"

"It's to do a very risky thing with *Blood War Song*, to do an experiment that no one has ever done before!"

"President Pei hopes that players will no longer be slaves to money. He wants to change the players' tastes so that all players, even if they don't spend money, can enjoy the pleasure exclusive to tycoon players..."

"From game production to promotion, President Pei has always been moving towards this goal."

"We should have been fully prepared long ago. It's possible to fail against the natural order."

"I believe President Pei must have been prepared for this as well."

When Lin Wan first came to Shang Yang Games, she was puzzled by this question, but later she figured it out.

Inviting Zhang Zuting to shoot the ad was to attract enough web game players;

Making a micro-client, creating the Chosen One system, and cutting off payment points were to cultivate healthy spending habits for web game players.

Such a motive is certainly noble, but it does violate the nature of web game players. The failure is actually somewhat inevitable.

Failing like a hero isn't shameful!

Lin Wan's expression was firm. "So, everyone must not be defeated by this failure. We're not making a P2W web game, we're doing a very noble cause. Whether we succeed or fail, we're all heroes!"

After listening to Lin Wan's words, everyone felt much better.

Everyone isn't a failure, but a hero who goes against the natural order!

Director Lin deserves to have worked with President Pei for so long. Her perspective is different.

Compared with the original boss, Du Ruijie, there's a clear difference in quality.

Ye Zhizhou was also encouraged. The initial frustration had dissipated for the most part.

But, although morale has been restored to some extent, things that need to be done still need to be done.

The fact that *Blood War Song: Power Up Edition* doesn't make money is a problem that must be solved.

There are only two solutions: one is to relax the restrictions and let the tycoons increase their spending; the other is to multiply the current player base by several times. As long as there are enough players, everyone buying stamina potions every day can make Shang Yang Games profitable.

The former is definitely not feasible. It was hard to change it, so we can't give up halfway when we encounter a little setback.

Then, we can only find ways to expand the player base.

The atmosphere in the conference room heated up, and everyone began to speak freely. Some said to change the micro-client model, and some said to make major changes to the game structure. Everyone was very enthusiastic.

Lin Wan listened carefully and didn't say a word.

In the end, she shook her head. "Neither is good. Our current plan is the most complete plan. I think we should stick to it."

Everyone couldn't help but look at each other.

Isn't that a little stubborn?

According to Director Lin's previous analysis, she's right to think so.

The micro-client approach was decided by President Pei, which did improve the quality of the game, and cutting off the micro-client would lead to discontinuity in the game experience. Moreover, it's still a stopgap measure and may not solve the problem.

That's true, but are we really not changing it?

According to the current state of the game, wouldn't it be even more hopeless if we don't change it?

Lin Wan's attitude was firm. "No change. Everyone doesn't need to worry too much during this period. Take a good rest. We'll observe for a week. If the game data still hasn't improved after a week, I'll think of other ways."

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin exchanged glances. They could feel that Director Lin's attitude was very firm.

Since that's the case, the others didn't have anything to say. After the meeting, they had to return to their workstations to do their own thing and patiently wait for a week.

If things improve after a week, then everything will be easy to say.

If it doesn't improve... then we'll probably have to make big changes.

Back in her office, Lin Wan also felt a headache.

Although she boosted morale at the meeting and showed a firm attitude, she still had no confidence in her heart.

"In the next few days, I'll take the time to go back and see President Pei and ask him for advice in person."

…

…

September 3rd, Friday.

Pei Qian was in the office, checking the TPDB website.

The website template was bought, so the initial version was launched quickly.

Although it's still in the testing phase, the current TPDB website is quite rudimentary and can be used.

There are dedicated staff members who are talking about cooperation with other websites, and some have already been completed.

For example, in terms of media scores, we need to talk to some game media; in terms of player scores, we need to use data from the ESRO official platform; at the same time, the TPDB website address will be updated to the game's details page, so that players can click through the details page of each game to score.

These experience optimization contents are quite long-term work and cannot be accomplished overnight.

Currently, TPDB's traffic is still very low. Most of the visits are from internal employees of Tengda, as well as players from several games.

Because the popularity is too low, it hasn't even caused too much discussion.

Pei Qian was looking at the scoring data for *Blood War Song: Power Up Edition*.

Currently, the game's overall score is 7.2, with consumer scores and netizen scores in a state of polarization. Consumer scores reached 9.1, while netizen scores were a pitiful 4.3.

This means that players who actually spend money on the game are very satisfied with the game.

The netizen scores are mostly because of Zhang Zuting's ad.

These people haven't really played the game. They may have just accidentally clicked on the game's official website, saw the TPDB website from the official website, and then gave a one-star rating.

Although these people's weight isn't high, the base number of votes is too low, so the score is still in a period of drastic change.

According to regulations, 6-7 points is a C rating, and the bonus is 1% of the project investment. Below 6 points, there is no bonus.

The total score of 7.2 can only be considered a B rating, and the bonus is 5% of the project investment.

8 points or more is an A rating, and the bonus is 10%; 9 points or more is an S rating, and the bonus is 15%.

*Blood War Song: Power Up Edition* invested about 8 million. Calculated at 5%, the project team can get about 400,000 in bonuses, which averages to about less than 10,000 per person.

Pei Qian felt a little regretful about this result.

Everyone has tried their best to help me get rid of 8 million, and I only give everyone a bonus of 400,000. It seems a bit unkind.

But the rules of TPDB have been set, and even President Pei can't operate in the dark.

"It would be great if the game's score was 8, and I could spend another 400,000."

Pei Qian knew very well that the low score couldn't be blamed on the people of Shang Yang Games. The game itself is very conscientious and deserves a high score, but many netizens are disgusted with the ad, and they give low scores as revenge without playing the game, which drags down the overall score.

But there's no need to worry, because there's still time.

TPDB doesn't have many users yet, so the score fluctuations will be more drastic. Maybe after a while, the netizen score of *Blood War Song: Power Up Edition* will increase.

…

Lin Wan nervously knocked on the door of President Pei's office.

Although the key designs of the game were approved and nodded by President Pei, the current situation really made Lin Wan feel unsure.

Don't look at her confidence in front of the people of Shang Yang Games, but when she really sees President Pei, she will still feel unsure.

"Come in."

Lin Wan calmed down and pushed the door open.

She came this time to report her decision, hoping to get President Pei's support.

Of course, the revenue data of the game launch is so bad that Lin Wan, as the director, is also prepared to be held accountable.

However, after seeing Lin Wan, President Pei actually had a smile on his face, a heartfelt happy expression, as if he was welcoming a great hero!