April 2nd, Monday.
Meng Chang didn’t pay much attention to the various jokes and pranks from yesterday’s April Fool’s Day. Instead, on the first working day of April, he threw all his enthusiasm into his work.
“Brother Meng, I’ve finished the plan you asked me to prepare. Please take a look,” an employee said.
Meng Chang acknowledged him and received the file he sent, then carefully reviewed it.
This promotional plan was personally sketched out by Meng Chang, who created the overall framework and then had his subordinates refine it. The content of the plan basically revolved around the theme of “how to promote the ‘Collection of Classic Domestic Games’.”
According to Meng Chang’s planning, this promotion would be fully implemented both online and offline.
Online, the official platform would arrange a rather valuable featured spot for this collection. On video websites, streaming platforms, gaming media, and various other websites, the “Collection of Classic Domestic Games” would also receive substantial advertising resources.
The featured spot wasn’t the best, not because Tenda Games lacked sufficient connections, but mainly because the best featured spots required some data support, and this collection didn’t meet the official platform’s relevant regulations.
The official platform could only provide the best possible featured spot within the boundaries of the rules.
Offline, Meng Chang would spare no expense to place advertisements in high-traffic areas such as bus stops, subway stations, billboards, shopping malls, and plazas to promote the Classic Domestic Games collection.
By working on both online and offline fronts, he could definitely spend money like water!
Additionally, to create a better misdirection and keep his strategy concealed longer, Meng Chang had another trick up his sleeve.
He had already communicated with the official platform that the current “Collection of Domestic Games” contained only older games from over a decade ago, and he hoped the official platform would continuously add some excellent domestic games to this collection.
This way, the number of games in the “Collection of Domestic Games” would continue to increase, with some newly released games being added, and after “Mission and Choice” was secretly substituted in, players would find it even harder to notice.
Because game update content required players to actively open the game to download, if no one was playing “Mission and Choice,” who would bother checking what content the game had updated?
Adding some new games would make the total number of games in the collection grow larger, hiding it deeper and deeper.
In short, the strategy was basically this: hide it deep, advertise extensively, keep it concealed for as long as possible, and secure the April commission to complete the mission.
As for May’s commission, Meng Chang thought it could be summed up in two words: “leave it to fate.” It wasn’t realistic to hope that “Mission and Choice” wouldn’t be discovered until the end of May.
But what if the game’s sales were poor?
Not getting the full commission but earning twenty or thirty thousand wasn’t bad either!
The more Meng Chang thought about it, the more pleased he felt, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curling upward.
After reviewing the entire plan, Meng Chang nodded with satisfaction: “Good, proceed according to this plan.”
“By the way, only use one-third of the promotional budget for now.”
Meng Chang was still keeping one hand close to his chest.
This time, Meng Chang had proactively requested thirty million yuan in promotional funds from Mr. Pei.
Mr. Pei gave it without hesitation, even actively asking if it was enough and whether he wanted more.
For a moment, greed appeared in Meng Chang’s heart, but he ultimately controlled this demon and only took thirty million.
Actually, according to AAA game promotional standards, thirty million yuan in promotional funds was relatively small.
Most European and American AAA games had promotional budgets roughly equal to their development costs, easily reaching ten to twenty million dollars. Converting “Mission and Choice’s” thirty million yuan promotional budget would only be about four to five million dollars, still far from the standard of foreign AAA games.
The reason Meng Chang didn’t ask for more was mainly because he calculated the return on investment and felt it unnecessary.
Because the actual promotional effect of “Mission and Choice” would determine his commission, according to Meng Chang’s strategy, as long as it wasn’t discovered, 30 million was already enough for him to earn the full commission; spending more money wouldn’t result in a higher commission. And if it was discovered, the more money spent, the lower the commission would likely be, which would only be counterproductive.
As for whether these thirty million were enough, whether they could achieve a promotional effect, and whether they would result in no one caring about the game “Mission and Choice”…
Those were not Meng Chang’s concerns. He couldn’t be bothered to consider them, and if such a situation actually occurred, he would be overjoyed.
Therefore, Meng Chang’s plan was to first burn through ten million to see how things went. If all went smoothly, he would burn through the remaining twenty million; if problems arose, he would think of other methods.
The employee responsible for the promotional plan nodded: “Okay, Brother Meng, I’ll arrange it right away.”
“By the way, Brother Meng, the promotional campaign for ‘Fantasy Warfare Remake’ has also been launched. They say the release date is set for the 14th of this month.”
Meng Chang nodded: “Got it.”
He wasn’t very concerned about “Fantasy Warfare Remake,” only knowing that its release would definitely have a very serious negative impact on “Mission and Choice.”
The only regret was that the timing didn’t overlap. If “Fantasy Warfare Remake” had also been released on May 1st, it would have been a deathblow, but unfortunately, that couldn’t be changed.
Meng Chang didn’t put “Fantasy Warfare Remake” in his mind too much and continued to focus on his employees working on the promotional plan.
……
……
April 3rd, Tuesday.
Meng Chang arrived at work early again, eager to check online for netizens’ reactions.
Today, various online promotions had already been deployed. Video websites, streaming platforms, gaming websites, and more had all updated advertisements for the “Collection of Classic Domestic Games.”
Offline promotional work was also being prepared at a rapid pace. Soon, advertisements for the “Classic Games Collection” would appear at subway stations, bus stops, and various billboards in major first-tier cities.
Advertisements for “Fantasy Warfare Remake” had also been launched on a massive scale. Because the promotional budget was equally massive, there were even more ads online than for the “Collection of Classic Domestic Games.”
Opening video websites like Banana Potato Network, basically all game-related advertisements were either for “Fantasy Warfare Remake” or the “Collection of Classic Domestic Games,” the two advertisements bombarding viewers in rotation.
On various forums, players had also begun discussions.
What slightly surprised Meng Chang was that although he hadn’t intended to pit the “Collection of Classic Domestic Games” against “Fantasy Warfare Remake” when creating the promotional plan, players naturally brought them up together for discussion.
“‘Fantasy Warfare Remake’ has already started advertising? So excited, I can hardly wait!”
“It’s releasing on the 14th, of course they’ve started promoting.”
“Actually, I don’t think it needs promotion at all. Does ‘Fantasy Warfare’ even need more advertising with its fame? Many old players didn’t have the means back then, but now they can afford it—won’t they want to buy it and add it to their collection?”
“I understand ‘Fantasy Warfare Remake’ advertising, but why is this ‘Collection of Classic Domestic Games’ also advertising? What’s that about?”
“Yeah, these two advertisements have almost monopolized the gaming section ads on video websites.”
“Is this promotion funded by the official platform?”
“That doesn’t make sense, why would the official platform spend its own money to promote games?”
“But other companies have even less reason to spend money on advertising, right? These are all games from over a decade ago, they’re not making money anymore.”
“I heard that more new domestic games will be added later, maybe the costs are being shared by many companies.”
“Talking about this makes me feel sad. Foreign game companies made games like ‘Fantasy Warfare’ over a decade ago, and now they’re releasing ‘Fantasy Warfare Remake’—all top-tier games. Looking at domestic game companies, they produced garbage like ‘Mission and Choice’ over a decade ago, and after more than ten years, they still don’t have any presentable games. They can only reminisce about those old relics from over a decade ago… it’s heartbreaking.”
“Yeah, many domestic games nowadays are just cash grabs forcing players to grind and pay. In terms of gameplay, they’re actually worse than classic domestic games from over a decade ago. They’re really moving backward!”
“Foreign players are so fortunate, even reheated leftovers are delicious; we’re so unlucky, we don’t even have leftovers to reheat!”
“Strange, why aren’t there any Tenda games in this collection? If we’re talking about domestic games, I think games like ‘Turn Back to Shore’ and ‘Struggle’ should be included without any issues, right?”
“Maybe because these are all old game collections?”
“It might be because Tenda’s influence is too great, they’ve already formed their own style, so there’s no need to mix with other games for promotion.”
“Speaking of which, Tenda hasn’t released a new game for a long time, didn’t they used to release one every few months? This time we’ve waited so long, it’s been hard.”
“Qiao Laoshi has been using ‘Tenda not releasing new games’ as an excuse to delay for a long time…”
“Indeed, there hasn’t been any news at all, it’s strange. Their confidentiality work is being done too well.”
“It’s also possible that Mr. Pei is brewing a big move but has encountered some difficulties? Let’s be patient. Mr. Pei definitely knows what he’s doing, getting anxious won’t help.”
“Oh well, let’s stop chatting, it’s not interesting. Let’s just wait for ‘Fantasy Warfare Remake’ to release.”
Players discussed various topics, but overall they were immersed in a rather melancholic mood.
Although the release of “Fantasy Warfare Remake” was good news for domestic players, looking at the hodgepodge of domestic games still brought a sense of inexplicable sadness.
Especially for many players familiar with the development history of domestic games, who once again began the old discussion about the catastrophe that domestic games had encountered, as well as the current state of “congenital defects and acquired deformities.”
After reading the discussions from netizens, Meng Chang temporarily put his mind at ease.
Although these promotional materials for the “Collection of Classic Domestic Games” had caused some confusion and suspicion among players, the overall situation wasn’t serious.
“Fantasy Warfare Remake” perfectly diverted players’ attention, making everyone less focused on the suspicious aspects of this “Collection of Classic Domestic Games,” which was a major benefit for Meng Chang’s plan!
Meng Chang temporarily relaxed, feeling very anxious for the month to pass quickly so he could receive his commission and secure it.
……
……
April 4th, Wednesday.
In Magic City, at the independent game incubator base, also known as the “Poverty Road Project Eastern Studio.”
Qiu Hong was having a video call with Xi Hao, who was in the Imperial Capital.
“Mr. Qiu, currently the incubator base in the Imperial Capital is doing well. The development work for various game projects is progressing smoothly.”
“The independent game designers’ regular fitness training and gaming activities are also proceeding normally. Now the designers are all getting healthier, and a few have even developed some small muscles.”
“The content of ‘Ink and Smoke’ has been fully developed now. We’ve already contacted the official platform, and it can be officially released in the next couple of days.”
Qiu Hong nodded: “Yes, the official platform seems to value ‘Ink and Smoke’ quite highly, not only arranging a featured spot but also organizing an interview.”
“However… interviewing the developer Wu Zhicheng makes sense, but why do they want to interview me?”
Qiu Hong had only learned about the interview two days ago and still felt surprised.
Xi Hao said: “Mr. Qiu, you are the investor and initiator of the Poverty Road Project, isn’t it normal for the official platform to interview you?”
Qiu Hong thought for a moment: “That’s true. Alright, let’s leave it at that then. You continue preparing the promotional materials for ‘Ink and Smoke,’ and I’ll also prepare for the interview this afternoon.”
After ending the video call, Qiu Hong reviewed the work of recent months while preparing for the afternoon interview.
After the incubator base in the Imperial Capital had stabilized, Qiu Hong had rushed to Magic City without delay, continuing to gather independent game developers to establish an independent game incubator base in Magic City.
Now, the incubator base in Magic City had also preliminarily gotten on track.
At the same time, several games from the Imperial Capital had been completed, especially “Ink and Smoke,” which had previously released a demo and had pre-sales. Its completion greatly boosted the confidence of the entire Imperial Capital incubator base.
Now with two incubator bases, even the incubator base in the Imperial Capital felt pressure, and everyone was full of motivation.
Because the pre-sales performance was good, the official platform had prepared a nice featured spot for “Ink and Smoke” and arranged interviews for both the developer Wu Zhicheng and Qiu Hong, the nominal initiator of the “Poverty Road Project.”
Regarding this interview, Qiu Hong was actually quite conflicted.
Because he knew he was just a tool, and in reality, the entire “Poverty Road Project,” from the proposal of the concept to the provision of funds, was all Mr. Pei’s doing. Qiu Hong was just an executor.
Taking credit for Mr. Pei’s achievements made Qiu Hong feel very uncomfortable.
But the official interview was indeed a very good opportunity. This interview could bring a lot of exposure to the incubator base and to “Ink and Smoke.” Refusing would both disappoint the official platform and give up this exposure, which would be a loss.
So in the end, Qiu Hong agreed to this interview.
On one hand, he needed to keep secrets for Mr. Pei; on the other hand, he couldn’t be greedy and take all the credit for himself. This interview was a very severe challenge for Qiu Hong.
However, Qiu Hong felt he could meet this challenge—after all, he just needed to insist that the “Poverty Road Project” was supported by a mysterious person.