“Congratulations! Your game ‘Ghost General’ has been selected for the mobile game section’s ‘Hottest New Game of the Month’ recommendation. During this period, please try not to update the version to avoid unknown bugs affecting the gaming experience…”
Seeing this message, Pei Qian felt utterly devastated.
Here we go again, here we go again!
A chain reaction, misfortunes never come singly!
Whether it was “Lonely Desert Highway” or “Ghost General,” they both became popular because of low-probability events.
“Lonely Desert Highway” was because Qiao Laoshi made a critical video, while “Ghost General” was because Ruan Guangjian’s original artwork went viral in the artist circles on Weibo.
If it were just these events alone, the consequences wouldn’t be so serious.
Because these two low-probability events only affected a small group of people.
Without subsequent popularity, the games would eventually cool down.
But the key problem lay in the automatic recommendation mechanism of the ESRO official platform!
The ESRO official platform would compare the data of games launched during the same period, and games with better data would naturally receive better recommendation positions.
Whether it was “Lonely Desert Highway” or “Ghost General,” after the data surge from the low-probability events, the official platform determined them as genuine data, and they naturally moved to better recommendation positions.
And the inherent qualities of these two games made their data rise again after obtaining those recommendation positions…
With this, the situation completely spiraled out of control!
Now, “Ghost General” had even made it to a major recommendation in the mobile game section, the “Hottest New Game of the Month.” With this recommendation, the number of users pouring in every minute was extremely considerable!
Add to that the high ratings of “Ghost General” and the unanimous praise in the comment section…
The consequences were unimaginable!
Pei Qian didn’t even dare to look at the backend data anymore, because the more he looked, the more desperate he felt!
He wanted to tell the officials, “Could you please stop giving me game recommendation spots? Please!”
But he couldn’t do that.
Because the official platform’s recommendations were automatically based on data, and such behavior would be considered a violation that would trigger a system warning.
Pei Qian now deeply felt the truth in that saying:
When you’re in the game, you’re not in control of your fate!
…
Standing alone on the rooftop of the dormitory building, Pei Qian was filled with mixed emotions.
He didn’t want to stay in the dorm because it was almost settlement time, and he was afraid he might cry out loud and let Ma Yang hear him.
The system light screen automatically appeared in Pei Qian’s vision; it was time for the wealth conversion system settlement again.
【Wealth Conversion System】
【Host: Pei Qian】
【Profit conversion ratio 100:1, Loss conversion ratio 1:1】
【About to settle…】
【System funds: 514723.5 (↑214723.5)】
【Personal assets: 224.6】
【Settling…】
【Performing wealth conversion…】
【System funds: 514723.5】
【Personal assets: 2371.8 (↑2147.2)】
Looking at these figures, Pei Qian felt somewhat desperate.
He had never dreamed that a card game could be so profitable!
Of these five hundred thousand, a part came from the subsequent income of “Lonely Desert Highway.” After all, that game was still operating, and the accumulation of one yuan income was quite substantial.
But that was only a small portion.
Most of this income came from “Ghost General”!
Pei Qian roughly calculated with his very limited mathematical knowledge.
In one week, the net income of “Ghost General” was about 500,000, which meant the total revenue was 1 million.
Next week, as the popularity continued to ferment and more players poured in, the income would only be higher!
Even if this game had few payment points and weak subsequent income, given the large market, it would take at least two or three months to show signs of fatigue!
And according to these calculations, the monthly revenue of this game could very possibly reach 5 million or more!
A mobile game with a monthly revenue of 5 million was just an average level. For a small company of twenty or thirty people, it would probably just be considered moderately prosperous.
But it was different for Pei Qian—this game was made by him alone from start to finish!
Ma Yang was only paid a salary of 3,000 per month to help fill out a requirements form, while other program templates, art resources, etc., were all purchased, totaling just 300,000.
The game recouped its costs in the first week of launch and even made a net profit of 200,000!
The data wasn’t particularly exaggerated, but Pei Qian felt somewhat desperate!
What made Pei Qian even more desperate was that “Ghost General” would continue to provide him with income!
“Q-Meng Three Kingdoms” had been operating for a year and was still thriving…
What did this mean?
It meant that even if Pei Qian tried his hardest to lose money in the future, he might not be able to lose enough!
Every month in the future, there would be a stable income of funds on the system funds side, and the system would judge losses based on the basic system funds.
Just take this settlement as an example: the system’s method of judging profit and loss was very simple—it compared the current system’s funds value with the original 300,000. If it was higher than 300,000, it was considered profit; if it was lower than 300,000, it was considered a loss.
If there was additional income every month in the future, and the system funds were always higher than the initial amount provided by the system, then the system would always determine that Pei Qian was making a profit!
Terrible news, catastrophic news!
Pei Qian wanted to die.
“It can’t be this bad, right?”
“I made 200,000, but it only converted to 2,000 yuan?”
“And in the future, I’ll be making money even while lying down, unable to lose money?”
“No, something must be wrong. Calm down, calm down!”
“Let me think about it carefully again, things shouldn’t be that bad…”
Just as Pei Qian calmed down, new entries appeared on the system’s light screen.
【Next settlement time: 90 days later】
【About to replenish system funds, target amount: 500,000】
【Detected system funds higher than 500,000, no further replenishment.】
【System funds: 515792.5】
【Personal assets: 2371.8 (↑2147.2)】
“As expected…”
“My mental state has collapsed!”
Pei Qian confirmed that his previous speculation was correct!
Each settlement, the system would replenish its funds.
The settlement time and replenishment amount of system funds were different each time.
This time’s replenishment amount was 500,000, and since Pei Qian’s system funds were already higher than 500,000, no additional funds were coming in.
And if Pei Qian had previously lost all 300,000, he would have received 500,000 this time…
Pei Qian felt utterly hopeless.
The original 300,000 had turned into just 2,000 yuan.
Who could endure this?!
And in just these few minutes, the system funds had grown by more than a thousand.
This was because “Ghost General” was continuously generating profits.
Pei Qian felt very melancholic and even began to doubt himself.
“Could it be that I should change my approach? Should I consider how to make money in the future?”
“No, it’s too late…”
“Besides, I probably won’t have such good luck in the future.”
In that moment, Pei Qian even had the thought, “Should I focus on making money in the future?” But he quickly dismissed it.
The reason was simple: the cost-effectiveness was too low, and there wasn’t much operability!
Whether it was “Lonely Desert Highway” or “Ghost General,” success had a large element of luck!
Would Pei Qian have such good luck in the future? It wasn’t certain!
What he feared was genuinely trying to make money, but not making much, nor losing much—wouldn’t that be too awkward?
The key was that the model had already been chosen and couldn’t be changed!
The profit conversion ratio was only 100:1, meaning earning 1 million would only convert to 10,000—the cost-effectiveness was too low!