The promotional video ended there.

Qiao Liang rubbed his eyes, hardly believing what he had just seen.

“That’s it?”

“It’s over already?”

“What the hell was that?!”

Qiao Liang was completely speechless. None of the three points he had imagined earlier appeared in this promotional video!

The video didn’t show any actual images of the Doubt VR headset. The only VR headset that appeared was a high-tech product similar to sunglasses—completely beyond what current technology could produce.

The video didn’t include any introduction to Doubt VR’s specifications, and the “Animal Island” game wasn’t even mentioned.

They didn’t even use a pretty girl as the protagonist, instead choosing an ordinary-looking male actor to play a geek.

It was outrageous!

On the surface, the video seemed decent enough, expressing the concept that “future VR technology will make it difficult for us to distinguish between virtual and reality.” But that was all it expressed—just a concept.

It had style, but it completely failed to serve any promotional effect for the product!

The video itself wasn’t problematic, but the key issue was that not everyone had the right to make such a high-end concept promotional video.

This kind of branding required a very high level of brand recognition.

If Apple or Samsung made a similarly ambiguous promotional video for their high-end flagship products, that would be fine—people would genuinely believe they would deliver something impressive enough to shock the entire market.

But if an unknown small company made a similar promotional video? People would only think they were boasting and scamming investors.

And based on recent online public opinion…

Most people online obviously considered Chi Xing Studio to be the latter.

Qiao Liang quickly checked the comments below the video.

“It’s pretty good, just a bit short.”

“Quite cool! If only there were really such amazing VR products in reality!”

“This was made by Meng Chang, right? He just announced his collaboration with Chi Xing Studio. Meng Chang does have some ability, it’s just a shame he doesn’t do proper work.”

“Sigh, what’s the use of making such a flashy promotional video? Where’s your product? I’m afraid it’s just like many investment-scamming companies—creating a high-end concept promotional video to trick players into crowdfunding or scam investors!”

“Indeed, electric car manufacturers, VR developers, and various internet projects all like to make these mysterious promotional videos. The videos are well-made, but it’s questionable whether the products can even be mass-produced.”

“Considering Meng Chang’s history, I strongly suspect this video is playing the same old marketing tricks—it’s definitely false advertising! Otherwise, why wouldn’t they dare to show the product’s actual appearance?”

“And there’s even a scene in the promotional video riding on the coattails of ‘Mission and Choice’! Even if Tenda invested in them, they shouldn’t do this!”

There were a few positive comments at first, but they were quickly overwhelmed by negative ones.

The promotional video initially seemed decent. Although many of the details and character actions were somewhat inexplicable, one could vaguely sense what it was trying to express.

But the problem was that once it was associated with Meng Chang, everything changed!

This was because when Meng Chang was running Cold Face Girl, he was always full of empty talk, throwing around grand but hollow concepts as if they cost nothing. People had become very averse to his boasting.

And this promotional video seemed exactly like boasting.

Otherwise, why wouldn’t they dare to show the actual product?

The virtual headset in the video that looked like sunglasses did look cool, but everyone knew it was definitely technology that couldn’t be mass-produced at the current stage. It probably wouldn’t be feasible even in three to five years, and even if they managed to make it, the performance wouldn’t be good.

In other words, this promotional video was truly just a pure concept.

And when the words “pure concept” were associated with Meng Chang, people thought of “scam.”

Therefore, this promotional video didn’t generate much buzz. Although some people were discussing it, a pure concept promotional video not tied to a product couldn’t possibly generate widespread influence.

The fleeting space scene in the promotional video particularly displeased many players.

Now everyone knew that Tenda had issued an official announcement clarifying their relationship with Chi Xing Studio.

Yet Chi Xing Studio still used material similar to “Mission and Choice” in their promotional video. Although they didn’t directly use scenes from the game and made some modifications, it looked even more like a knock-off.

Of course, anyone could use elements like space and insect swarms, but using them at this time obviously suggested they were trying to ride on Tenda’s popularity.

This further provoked some players’ discontent.

Qiao Liang watched anxiously.

“What is this Meng Chang doing?!”

“The video is decent, but why did you announce on Weibo that you’re collaborating with Chi Xing Studio?! Aren’t you just dragging Chi Xing Studio down?!”

“This is outrageous!”

Qiao Liang couldn’t help but worry.

Look at this mess—Chi Xing Studio and Tenda Group were clearly one family, so how had they become increasingly opposed to each other?

Seeing how Meng Chang’s statements on Weibo had created a strange chemical reaction, dragging down Chi Xing Studio’s image further and further, along with the promotional video and all previous marketing efforts, everything was sliding in an unpredictable and extremely pessimistic direction.

This made Qiao Liang anxious!

While eating his dinner, he tried hard to think if there was anything he could do to change the current situation.

However, before he could come up with any good ideas, he saw someone tagging him in his group chat.

“Qiao Laoshi! You must have received the VR headset, right? Quickly start a livestream to review it!”

“Yeah, why are you still keeping it secret? You said earlier you were testing a new game—it must have been with this headset, right?”

“What does this headset actually look like? Take a photo and show us.”

Seeing these consecutive tags, Qiao Liang felt confused.

What did they mean?

Why would everyone think he had already received the VR headset?

He immediately replied: “I don’t have the VR headset yet. I did test it before, but that was at the company—I didn’t bring it home.”

His fans didn’t believe him at all.

“How is that possible? You tested it at the company and they didn’t give you one?”

“So many small content creators online have received sample units for review, but they didn’t give one to you?”

“Exactly, I’ve already seen unboxing videos from two or three small content creators with just a few thousand followers!”

Qiao Liang looked at the discussion in his fan group, question marks continuously popping up above his head.

What was going on?!

He immediately opened the AiLiDao website and did a quick search.

Sure enough, after Chi Xing Studio released this “VR Era Concept Promotional Video,” many small content creators, as if they had coordinated beforehand, published unboxing videos of the VR headset!

And some streamers were also livestreaming their unboxing experiences.

At first, Qiao Liang didn’t believe it, so he clicked on one to check.

Indeed, a small streamer with only about seven thousand followers was unboxing the Doubt VR headset and praising it endlessly. The excessive praise made Qiao Liang’s skin crawl.

“Dear viewers, this is absolutely the highest-end, most cost-effective, most comprehensive VR headset customized for domestic players that you can buy right now!”

“This headset will blur the line between virtual and reality, allowing you to enter the virtual era ahead of time! Look at this cool design—when you put it on, it’s like you’ve just stepped out of a science fiction movie!”

“What? Clarity? That’s difficult to describe in detail, but I can guarantee that its clarity is definitely not low—you can absolutely rest assured about that.”

“What are these controllers for? Uh… that’s also hard to explain. For current games, they just provide some extra buttons. But I think for more complex games in the future, having more buttons should be more convenient, right?”

Qiao Liang could barely watch anymore.

Although he also mainly praised Tenda’s products, praise should follow basic principles and have technical merit!

This was just forced praise!

But when Qiao Liang randomly clicked into several streamers’ livestreams and a few content creators’ unboxing videos, they were all awkwardly praising the product in a very stiff manner, not natural at all.

The key problem was that this kind of praise didn’t achieve a good promotional effect.

Many of these streamers and content creators had histories of doing paid promotions. With such awkward praise this time, even their own fans felt they were being paid to promote.

Moreover, these people focused solely on praise while completely avoiding mentioning the headset’s crucial parameters. They even evaded questions about resolution, further reinforcing their fans’ suspicions.