Chapter 201 April

April 2nd, Monday.

Meng Chang didn't pay much attention to the April Fool's Day jokes and pranks from the meme-makers yesterday. On the first working day of April, he threw all his enthusiasm into his work.

"Brother Meng, the proposal you asked me to do is ready. Take a look."

An employee said.

Meng Chang responded, received the file he sent, and carefully reviewed it.

Meng Chang had personally drafted the framework for this promotion plan, then had his subordinates refine it. The content of the plan was basically centered around the theme of "how to promote the 'Collection of Classic Domestic Games'".

According to Meng Chang's plan, this promotion would be rolled out comprehensively, both online and offline.

Online, the official platform would give this collection a relatively valuable recommendation slot. On video websites, live streaming platforms, game media, and other websites, the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games" would also receive a large amount of advertising resources.

The recommendation slot wasn't the best, not because Tenda Games didn't have enough clout, but because the best recommendation slots required some data support, and this collection didn't meet the official platform's regulations.

The official platform could only give the best recommendation slot within the limits allowed by the rules.

Offline, Meng Chang would spare no expense to place advertisements in crowded places such as bus stops, subway stations, billboards, commercial buildings, and squares, to promote the Collection of Classic Domestic Games.

Online and offline, both hands grabbing, definitely a way to spend money like water!

In addition, in order to be even more deceptive and delay the exposure of his tricks, Meng Chang had hidden another little trick.

He had already communicated with the official platform that the current "Collection of Domestic Games" contained only old games from more than a decade ago. He hoped that the official platform could continuously add some excellent domestic games to this collection.

This way, the number of games in the "Collection of Domestic Games" would keep increasing, and some newly released games would also be updated. After *Mission and Choice* was secretly swapped in, it would be even harder for players to notice.

Because game updates required players to actively click on the game to download, but if no one was playing *Mission and Choice* at all, who would bother to check what was updated in the game?

Adding some new games would increase the number of games in the entire collection, hiding it as deeply as possible.

In short, that was roughly the scheme: hide it deep, advertise a lot, hide it for as long as possible, and complete the mission by getting the commission for April.

As for the commission for May, Meng Chang felt it was just two words: "leave it to fate." It was unrealistic to hope that *Mission and Choice* wouldn't be discovered until the end of May.

But what if the game didn't sell well?

Even if he couldn't get the full commission, getting twenty or thirty thousand would be good too!

The more Meng Chang thought about it, the more satisfied he became, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

After reading the entire proposal, Meng Chang nodded in satisfaction: "Okay, let's proceed according to this plan."

"Oh right, only spend one-third of the promotion budget first."

Meng Chang still had a trick up his sleeve.

This time, Meng Chang took the initiative to apply for a promotion budget of 30 million from Boss Pei.

Boss Pei gave it without saying a word, and even proactively asked if it was enough, and if he wanted more.

For a moment, Meng Chang felt a surge of greed in his heart, but in the end, he restrained his inner demons and only took 30 million.

In fact, compared to the promotion budget of a AAA game, a promotion budget of 30 million was on the low side.

The promotion budgets of most European and American AAA games were roughly equal to their development costs, often amounting to tens of millions of dollars. The 30 million promotion budget for *Mission and Choice* translated to only four or five million dollars, which was far from the standard for AAA games abroad.

The main reason Meng Chang didn't ask for more was that he had calculated the return on investment and felt it wasn't necessary.

Because the actual promotional effect of *Mission and Choice* would determine his commission, according to Meng Chang's scheme, as long as it wasn't discovered, 30 million would be enough for him to get the full commission, and spending more money wouldn't get him a higher commission. On the other hand, if it was discovered, there was a high probability that the more money he burned, the lower his commission would be, and it would only backfire.

As for whether 30 million was enough, whether it would have a promotional effect, and whether it would cause *Mission and Choice* to be ignored...

That had nothing to do with Meng Chang. He was too lazy to consider it. He would be happy if that happened.

So, Meng Chang's plan was to burn ten million first to see how it went. If it went smoothly, he would burn the remaining twenty million. If there was a problem, he would think of another way.

The employee in charge of the promotion plan nodded: "Okay, Brother Meng, I'll arrange it right away."

"Oh right, Brother Meng, the promotion for *Fantasy War Remastered* has also been rolled out. It's said that the release date is set for the 14th of this month."

Meng Chang nodded: "Got it."

He wasn't very concerned about *Fantasy War Remastered*. He only knew that the game's release would have a very serious negative impact on *Mission and Choice*.

The only regret was that the timing was off. It would have been a perfect kill if *Fantasy War Remastered* was also released on May 1st, but unfortunately, that couldn't be changed.

Meng Chang didn't take *Fantasy War Remastered* too seriously. He continued to supervise the employees of the advertising and marketing department to work on the promotion plan.

…

…

April 3rd, Tuesday.

Meng Chang still came to work early in the morning, eager to check the netizens' reactions online.

Today, various online promotions had been rolled out. Video websites, live streaming platforms, game websites, etc., had all updated the ads for the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games".

Offline promotion work was also in full swing. Soon, promotional materials for the "Collection of Classic Games" would appear in subway stations, bus stops, and various billboards in major first-tier cities.

The advertising for *Fantasy War Remastered* had also been launched overwhelmingly. Because the promotion budget was equally explosive, there were even more ads online than for the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games".

Opening video websites such as Acfun, basically all the game-related ads were for *Fantasy War Remastered* and the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games", bombarding viewers in turn.

On various forums, players had also begun to discuss.

To Meng Chang's surprise, although he hadn't intended to use the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games" to compete with *Fantasy War Remastered* when he was making the promotion plan, players naturally put them together for discussion.

"*Fantasy War Remastered* has already started advertising? So excited, I can't wait!"

"It's being released on the 14th, of course it has to start advertising."

"Actually, I don't think it needs any promotion at all. Does *Fantasy War*'s popularity still need to be advertised? Many old players couldn't afford it back then, but now that they can, they have to buy a copy to collect it, right?"

"I can understand *Fantasy War Remastered* advertising, but what's up with this 'Collection of Classic Domestic Games' also advertising?"

"Yeah, these two ads have almost taken over the game section of the video website."

"Is the official platform paying for this promotion?"

"No way, why would the official platform pay to promote games themselves?"

"But it makes even less sense for other companies to spend money on advertising. These are all games from more than a decade ago, they don't make any money anymore."

"It's said that new domestic games will be added later, maybe it's being shared by many companies."

"Sigh, it's so sad to talk about this. Foreign game companies made *Fantasy War* a decade ago, and a *Fantasy War Remastered* more than a decade later. They're all top-notch good games. On the other hand, domestic game companies made trash like *Mission and Choice* more than a decade ago, and more than a decade later, they still have nothing to show for it. They can only reminisce about those old antiques from a decade ago... Sigh... so sad."

"Yeah, now many domestic games are all money-grabbing games that force you to grind and spend. In terms of gameplay, they're really not as good as the classic domestic games from more than a decade ago. It's like they're getting worse and worse!"

"Players abroad are so lucky, they can make a fortune just by reheating old rice; we're so unlucky, we don't even have old rice to reheat!"

"Strange, why doesn't this collection have any of Tenda's games? Speaking of domestic games, I think it would be fine to add games like *Turn Back*, and *Struggle*."

"Maybe it's because these are old game collections?"

"Maybe it's because Tenda has too much influence and has become its own faction, so there's no need to promote with other games."

"Speaking of which, Tenda hasn't released a new game in a long time. Didn't they release one every few months before? It's been so long this time, it's hard to wait."

"Old Man Qiao has been using 'Tenda isn't releasing new games' as an excuse to delay his videos for a long time..."

"Indeed, there's no news at all, it's weird. They're doing too good a job keeping it a secret."

"Maybe Boss Pei is preparing a big move, but he's encountered some difficulties? Let's wait patiently, Boss Pei definitely knows what he's doing, there's no use in being anxious."

"Sigh, forget it, I don't want to talk about it, it's boring. Let's just wait for *Fantasy War Remastered* to be released."

The players were discussing all sorts of things, but overall, they were immersed in a rather melancholy mood.

Although the release of *Fantasy War Remastered* was a good thing for domestic players, looking at the crooked melons and cracked dates of domestic games would still cause a sense of inexplicable sadness.

In particular, many players who knew the history of domestic game development began to talk about the catastrophes that domestic games had encountered and the "congenitally deficient and acquired deformity" status quo.

After reading the netizens' discussions, Meng Chang felt relieved for the time being.

Although the promotional materials for the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games" had caused a little confusion and suspicion among the players, the overall problem wasn't big.

*Fantasy War Remastered* perfectly distracted the players, preventing them from paying attention to the suspicious points of the "Collection of Classic Domestic Games". This was a major benefit to Meng Chang's plan!

Meng Chang felt relieved for the time being and eagerly looked forward to this month passing quickly so that he could get his commission and secure his profits.

…

…

April 4th, Wednesday.

Shanghai, Independent Game Incubation Base, also known as the "End of the Road Project Eastern Studio".

Qiu Hong was on a video call with Xi Hao, who was in Beijing.

"President Qiu, everything is fine at the Beijing incubation base. The development of each game project is progressing smoothly."

"The daily fitness training and game activities of the independent game designers are also arranged as usual. The designers are getting healthier and healthier, and some have even developed some small muscles."

"*Ink Landscape* has now completed all of its content and has contacted the official platform. It can be officially released in the next few days."

Qiu Hong nodded: "Well, the official platform seems to value *Ink Landscape* quite a bit. Not only have they arranged a recommendation slot, but they're also doing an exclusive interview."

"But...it's fine to interview the developer, Wu Zhicheng, but why are they interviewing me?"

Qiu Hong only found out about the interview the day before yesterday and still felt very surprised.

Xi Hao said: "President Qiu, you are, after all, the investor and initiator of the End of the Road Project. Isn't it normal for the official to interview you?"

Qiu Hong thought about it: "That's right. Okay, let's do that for now. You continue to prepare the promotional materials for *Ink Landscape*, and I have to prepare for this afternoon's interview."

After ending the video call, Qiu Hong reviewed his work over the past few months while preparing for the afternoon's interview.

After the Beijing incubation base had stabilized, Qiu Hong rushed to Shanghai to continue gathering independent game developers and establish an independent game incubation base in Shanghai.

Now, the Shanghai incubation base had finally started to get on track.

At the same time, several games from the Beijing side had also been completed. In particular, *Ink Landscape*, which had previously released a demo and had pre-sales, had been completed, which greatly increased the confidence of the entire Beijing incubation base.

Now that there were two incubation bases, the incubation base in Beijing also felt the pressure, and they were all working with full enthusiasm.

Because the pre-sales had performed well, the official had also prepared a good recommendation slot for *Ink Landscape* and arranged an exclusive interview for the developer, Wu Zhicheng, and Qiu Hong, the nominal initiator of the "End of the Road Project".

Qiu Hong was originally quite conflicted about this interview.

Because he knew that he was just a tool, and in reality, the entire "End of the Road Project," from the proposal of the concept to the provision of funds, was all Boss Pei's doing. Qiu Hong was just an executor.

Qiu Hong felt very sorry for taking credit for Boss Pei's work.

But the official interview was, after all, a very good opportunity. This interview could increase a lot of exposure for the incubation base and *Ink Landscape*. Rejecting it would be equivalent to rejecting the official's face and giving up all this exposure, which would be a big loss.

So Qiu Hong finally agreed to the interview.

On the one hand, he had to keep Boss Pei's secret, and on the other hand, he couldn't be greedy and take all the credit for himself. This interview could be said to be a very serious challenge for Qiu Hong.

However, Qiu Hong felt that he could complete this challenge. Anyway, he just had to insist that the "End of the Road Project" was supported by a mysterious person.