Zhao Xuming was stunned: “Huh?”
Eric continued: “Have you been frightened out of your wits by Mr. Pei? What’s that saying you have? ‘Once bitten by a snake, afraid of ropes for ten years’?”
“It’s true that Mr. Pei is called the ‘God of Gaming,’ but if we have to delay our game by a month every time Mr. Pei releases a game, then what if Mr. Pei releases twelve new games in a year? Our game would never launch!”
Zhao Xuming was momentarily speechless.
“Releasing twelve new games in a month” sounded unlikely, but with Mr. Pei, you really couldn’t be sure.
After all, Pei’s Tenda Group didn’t have just one project team.
Besides Tenda Games and Shangyang Games, Mr. Pei was reportedly planning more game studios through direct establishment or indirect investment control.
Recently, there were rumors that Tenda Group and Shenhua Group had invested heavily to establish a “Chi Xing Studio.” Though the specific details weren’t clear, it was evident that Mr. Pei’s pace of releasing games would likely accelerate in the future.
If Mr. Pei set up six studios, and each studio released two new games per year, wouldn’t that mean a new game every month for twelve months a year?
So Eric’s point was valid—if they were afraid to launch whenever Mr. Pei released a new game, then the IOI mobile game might as well never launch.
Eric continued: “Although ‘Fitness Battle’ was designed by Mr. Pei, it’s still a casual game developed by Shangyang Games, and there wasn’t much promotion beforehand…”
He briefly explained his previous analysis, telling Zhao Xuming that clashing with “Fitness Battle” was entirely within his plan. He had identified it as a soft target that they could easily squeeze.
Otherwise, should they avoid “Fitness Battle” only to clash with the GOG mobile game instead?
“In short, even if ‘Fitness Battle’ was designed by Mr. Pei, it’s ultimately just a casual game. I have confidence in the IOI mobile game. We’re not yet ready to challenge the GOG mobile game, but taking on a casual game is actually a good opportunity.”
“If we succeed, we can make a big deal out of it.”
“‘Fitness Battle’ is currently ahead on the new game revenue charts because it launched a day earlier. Our game has only been online for an hour and has already reached second place. Surpassing it in a few hours won’t be a problem.”
After hearing Eric’s explanation, Zhao Xuming was overjoyed.
Great, I don’t have to take the blame!
Of course, it was still too early to talk about blame, as the IOI mobile game had just launched. Who knew how the data would look later?
If they lost to “Fitness Battle,” then Eric would naturally take the blame; if they won, most of the credit would go to Eric, with Zhao Xuming getting at most a small share.
But even just this was satisfying enough for Zhao Xuming.
In his view, going head-to-head with Mr. Pei was too risky—if something went wrong, he couldn’t bear that responsibility.
Since Eric was volunteering to take any potential blame, that was perfect.
Zhao Xuming immediately gave a thumbs up: “You’re so insightful! So everything was within your calculations! I was being hasty, sorry for the interruption.”
“I’ll go back to monitoring the data.”
Zhao Xuming, now reassured, turned to leave.
Eric smiled and shook his head. He understood Zhao Xuming’s little scheme perfectly, but didn’t bother to point it out. After all, from Eric’s perspective, it was good that Zhao Xuming didn’t have his own ideas, as it meant the two wouldn’t have major conflicts or disagreements.
It was much more convenient when he made all the decisions.
…
An hour later.
There was another somewhat urgent knock at the meeting room door.
Eric looked up to see Zhao Xuming again.
He felt a bit annoyed. What now?
Surely another Tenda game couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere?
Both “Mission and Choice” and “Fitness Battle” had only been released recently—even if Tenda’s game department was as productive as an old sow on a collective farm, they couldn’t possibly produce games that quickly!
“What is it now? Surely you haven’t discovered another new game?” Eric asked.
Zhao Xuming quickly shook his head: “Of course not. There aren’t that many new games.”
“It’s still about ‘Fitness Battle.'”
Eric was surprised: “What about it?”
After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Xuming said: “This game’s reviews and reputation online seem to be trending ahead of the IOI mobile game…”
“WHAT?!” Eric’s expression was one of shock, and he immediately lost his composure.
“What do you mean ‘reviews and reputation trending ahead of IOI’?”
“Isn’t this just a fitness-themed casual game?”
Eric was very confused.
Logically, different types of games couldn’t be directly compared.
For instance, how could you compare an FPS game to a MOBA game when their gameplay was so different?
To compare two games, they should at least be of the same genre, using similar evaluation standards.
The IOI mobile game was a MOBA game, while “Fitness Battle” was a casual game—these two games had nothing to do with each other.
And for the IOI mobile game, there was a natural advantage: MOBA gameplay had more depth, stronger playability, and the overall graphics and details should be better than a casual game.
This was the key reason why Eric was very confident in launching the IOI mobile game around the same time as “Fitness Battle.” He felt that even if forced to compare, the IOI mobile game would come out ahead.
But now, with the IOI mobile game online for just over an hour, its reviews and reputation were already being outpaced by “Fitness Battle”?
How was that possible?
The issue Zhao Xuming was reporting obviously contradicted Eric’s worldview, making it hard for him to believe.
Zhao Xuming also had a pained expression: “It’s hard to explain briefly. You’d better look at the online reviews yourself. The main issue stems from the promises we made at our previous press conference…”
Eric felt his heart sink. He quickly checked his computer to see player reactions on various forums.
It was just as Zhao Xuming had said—players seemed very upset!
“Something’s not right. This IOI mobile game is clearly false advertising! Didn’t they say at the press conference that PC and mobile data would be fully compatible? How come there are additional monetization points in the mobile version that don’t exist in the PC version?”
“Uh… I watched the press conference replay again and found that Finger Games didn’t actually engage in false advertising. What they said at the press conference was ‘all assets from the PC version can be brought to the mobile version,’ but they never said the entire shop system would be identical across versions.”
“What’s wrong with them? If the data is fully compatible, wouldn’t it be more convenient to make everything the same?”
“There’s no free lunch. Do you think programmers work overtime to create features for nothing? Think about it—how many users will IOI mobile have globally? Adding some monetization points to the mobile version that aren’t in the PC version represents how much potential revenue? If you were Finger Games, would you be willing to give up such a money-making opportunity?”
“Fine, so it’s not false advertising, just wordplay. But it’s still disgusting!”
“I think it’s not bad, they’ve given away quite a bit of money.”
“Haha, they have indeed given some away, but that’s just to make you feel good when the mobile game first launches. They’ll definitely release new items to make that money back later. Right now they’re just trying to lure you in.”
“Damn! So many tricks…”
“Speaking of this, I respect Tenda. Whenever they say a game is cross-platform, the data is absolutely identical across versions, with no differences whatsoever. When one platform gets new items or features, the other is updated in real-time. They definitely don’t play these little tricks.”
Eric’s expression darkened, but he felt the situation wasn’t beyond salvaging yet.
If the discussions were limited to this level, it wouldn’t necessarily create too large a gap in how players evaluated the two games.
Seemingly reading Eric’s thoughts, Zhao Xuming passed over his phone with a pained expression: “Take a look at this post…”
Eric took the phone and looked, his expression instantly changing.
Clearly, players’ discussions hadn’t remained superficial—some had dug into the “essence” of the matter!
“Comparing the launch of the IOI mobile game with ‘Fitness Battle’ clearly shows the difference between these two companies.”
“Before the IOI mobile game launched, Finger Games and Long Yu Group were boasting endlessly at their press conference, almost to the heavens. They particularly played word games, saying ‘cross-platform compatibility’ and ‘all PC assets can be brought to mobile,’ making themselves appear very generous.”
“But what happened after the game launched? They cleverly added some monetization points to the mobile version that don’t exist in the PC version, obviously feeling that their hard work developing a mobile game deserved additional profit!”
“To put it bluntly, they’re being two-faced! They want the goodwill from cross-platform compatibility while feeling that’s too much of a loss, so they’re trying to recoup some money on the side.”
“Is that interesting?”
“Now look at how Tenda does things.”
“Actually, everyone now knows that ‘Fitness Battle’ was developed alongside the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack, with both projects being developed simultaneously, though the game’s progress was slightly behind the equipment’s.”
“Logically, CEO Chang could have hyped up ‘Fitness Battle’ at the press conference to drive awareness and sales for the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack. But CEO Chang only mentioned it once, without adding a single extra word. Why?”
“Because CEO Chang said the game hadn’t been fully developed yet, and introducing it prematurely would, firstly, risk subconsciously embellishing it and misleading players; and secondly, risk disappointing players’ expectations if the game underwent changes later.”
“With this comparison, the superiority is obvious! Which company values players’ interests more? Which company is more responsible?”
“Similarly, when it comes to spending money on promotions, which company is sincerely providing benefits to players? Which company claims to care about players while actually thinking about how to make money?”
“With these activities from Finger Games and Long Yu Group, are they really giving back to players? Or are they burning money to grab market share, planning to recoup it multiple times over later?”