After fully understanding the gameplay, viewers in the livestream showed tremendous interest in Bullet Hole 2.

Many people even downloaded it right away.

But at the same time, many others expressed deep concerns because of Heavenly Fire Studio and Longyu Group’s previous track records.

To put it bluntly, these two companies were the type that “a dog can’t change its habit of eating feces”!

Heavenly Fire Studio’s reputation spoke for itself—99% of their games were heavy pay-to-win titles, representing the typical “don’t play if your family doesn’t own a mine” philosophy in the domestic market. Longyu Group, as a game operation company, could also be described as having a “notorious record.” Among the games they operated, apart from IOI which had to be somewhat conscientious due to competitive pressure, their other games had received plenty of criticism.

With these two game companies joining forces, what could possibly go wrong?

Just thinking about it was terrifying!

Exploiting players’ time and money was essentially their nature, or perhaps an addiction. For game companies, once they picked up this habit, it was nearly impossible to kick.

Because grinding and paying could directly increase retention rates, boost online statistics and revenue figures, and the improvements were very obvious.

But the cost was a significant reduction in the game’s potential ceiling.

However, for most game companies, they never considered the ceiling anyway.

As long as retention data and revenue figures went up, the company would make a fortune, give employees some bonuses, and that was enough.

Once they chose the path of exploitative monetization, they could never turn back.

Because making real changes would inevitably cause all metrics to plummet, company income would drop sharply, employee bonuses would disappear, and players might not even appreciate the effort… The entire company, from top to bottom, would absolutely not allow such a situation to occur.

So exploitative monetization naturally became a habit that continued indefinitely.

It was like a person who had tried making quick money—they would never again have the ability to make slow, steady money with long-term planning. The person’s potential ceiling would be wasted.

Of course, Bullet Hole 2 currently showed no signs of exploitative mechanics.

But… most players didn’t believe these two companies had changed their ways.

Many players instead felt that this was a trap! They were luring the dogs in to slaughter them!

First, they would cultivate the leeks well, then suddenly swing the sickle, cutting them down with overwhelming force, catching them completely off guard.

Because everyone believed that the exploitative nature couldn’t be changed, the initial conscientiousness at launch must have been part of a larger scheme.

Although this game was jointly developed with Tengda, it only used Mr. Pei’s ideas and one of Tengda’s designers!

Tengda definitely hadn’t invested much effort, otherwise they would have developed it themselves. Why would they hand such a good project to Heavenly Fire Studio and Longyu Group?

Since Tengda wasn’t heavily involved, they probably didn’t have much say. Heavenly Fire Studio and Longyu Group would find it hard to resist temptation. As the game gradually became popular, they would surely increase skin prices, constantly testing players’ limits to increase revenue…

Players couldn’t help but think this way, and it wasn’t because of their dark minds. The key was that they had seen similar situations too many times.

Game companies’ promises couldn’t be relied upon, after all, their primary goal was to make money.

But then again, did players have a choice?

They had no choice!

Because Bullet Hole 2’s game mechanics were currently unique in the FPS market. Neither domestically nor internationally was there a similar game. Even if players wanted to find an alternative, they couldn’t.

So, despite their concerns about Heavenly Fire Studio and Longyu Group, players could only take things one step at a time.

…

Meanwhile, at Longyu Group headquarters.

Jin Yong was on duty, monitoring various game metrics for Bullet Hole 2.

These figures couldn’t simply be described as “good”—they were explosive!

The influx of players caught him somewhat off guard. Even the server expansion plan, which had been formulated with ample imagination, now seemed conservative. He made an immediate decision to urgently add several more server groups, and even temporarily repurposed some low-load servers from Longyu Group’s less popular games. Only then did they barely manage to handle the influx of enthusiastic players.

On major streaming platforms and websites, Bullet Hole 2 was everywhere, becoming the most discussed hot game during the Spring Festival period at an unimaginable speed!

However, as the head of the operations department, he didn’t have many special tasks to do, at most just watching for any emergencies, making sure there were no malicious bugs or operational accidents.

Working overtime during the Spring Festival holiday was quite miserable, but Longyu Group was being fairly generous this time. Overtime pay was maxed out, and bonuses were promised if the game became a hit. The entire operations department was experiencing pain mixed with joy.

Jin Yong also generously gave Spring Festival red envelopes to the entire department from his own pocket, making the overtime workplace permeated with a harmonious atmosphere.

Just then, Jin Yong’s phone rang.

His expression instantly became serious—wasn’t this President Ding? Why was he calling personally?

Jin Yong didn’t dare to be negligent and quickly answered: “Hello? President Ding?”

“President Ding, rest assured, the data has completely exceeded expectations. This is definitely a super hit and might achieve or even exceed Sea Fortress’s market share and revenue level!”

“The servers are also fine, although there’s a bit of pressure, I’ve already urgently transferred some from other projects. For the rest, we can consider after the Spring Festival holiday ends.”

“Uh… a new operational plan? But President Ding, Tengda’s side…”

“Yes, President Ding, I understand.”

After hanging up, Jin Yong’s expression was no longer as optimistic as before, but rather conflicted!

As Longyu Group’s big boss, President Ding had initially just asked about Bullet Hole 2’s situation, which was obviously a rhetorical question since Jin Yong had already sent him a briefing on all the metrics.

After the pleasantries came the real issue.

President Ding wanted Jin Yong to work overtime to create a new operational plan!

By the old rules, this was not unreasonable. After all, once a game launched with explosive data, striking while the iron was hot with some activities could both promote player retention and increase revenue—this was standard practice.

But Jin Yong could hear the implied meaning in his boss’s words. Clearly, this new operational plan wouldn’t pass muster without some new tricks.

Jin Yong immediately mentioned Tengda’s requirements, but President Ding indicated that they wouldn’t be importing all those activities at once, but would proceed step by step.

They didn’t need to start with heavy grinding and monetization right away. They could slightly increase skin prices in disguised ways, such as adding prerequisites for obtaining skins, or creating activities that appeared to offer high value for money but were essentially still designed to extract money.

Although Tengda had requirements for the operational plan, they couldn’t possibly make every requirement so rigid.

Looking at the operational plan provided by Tengda, it clearly defined the pricing for current appearances, skins, and items, and also clarified the scope of operational activities: only price reductions and discounts were allowed, while other activities such as paid lotteries and top-up rebates were not recommended.

But… this plan only specified the pricing for current appearances, without locking in the pricing for future appearances.

Moreover, it only stated that activities like paid lotteries and top-up rebates were not recommended, not that they were completely forbidden.

If they didn’t run these activities, would it be acceptable to come up with completely different new activities?

Strictly speaking, there were loopholes to exploit in these areas, aspects that could be negotiated. The contract didn’t spell everything out definitively.

As the game’s operator, Longyu Group still had some basic rights that Tengda couldn’t completely take away. They needed the ability to handle some urgent matters.

It wasn’t practical to expect Longyu Group to consult Tengda before making every decision. That simply wasn’t realistic.

So, although the wiggle room was small, it still existed.

Now Longyu Group’s boss wanted Jin Yong to find ways to maneuver within this narrow space, increasing revenue without provoking strong opposition from Tengda.

This was understandable human nature.

Before Bullet Hole 2 launched, no one knew exactly how successful it would be, so a more conscientious operational strategy didn’t cause much concern.

But now that the data was in, looking back at the originally established operational strategy… it immediately felt a bit painful.

For a game of this scale, making each skin just one or two yuan more expensive might not be strongly perceived by players, but for the game company, it could mean millions in additional income!

And if they were going to do this, they had to do it early. The longer they waited, the more criticism they would face.

Jin Yong was well aware of this, which was why he was conflicted.

On one side was his boss’s requirements, on the other was President Zhao’s previous instruction to him, creating an internal struggle.

President Zhao’s words at that time had been very enlightening. He felt that as a game operator, he should indeed take a longer view and choose the best operational plan for this game. If Bullet Hole 2’s popularity had been average, exploitative activities for higher revenue would be understandable, but Bullet Hole 2 was clearly a game with a very high ceiling. At this point, using a conscientious marketing strategy to aim for an even higher ceiling would be the optimal solution.

But he couldn’t disobey his boss’s orders!

If Jin Yong directly refused his boss’s request, he would no longer be able to continue as the head of the operations department. If someone else took over, they would likely continue to argue with Tengda, and the situation wouldn’t change at all.

He knew very well that President Ding would absolutely not easily abandon this idea.

After all, no one could guarantee exactly where Bullet Hole 2’s ceiling was or how long it would take to reach it. But the short-term data growth brought by operational activities was visible and tangible.

Jin Yong leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.

He had to push back against his boss’s dangerous ideas.

Although as an employee he should complete tasks assigned by his boss, this matter could directly affect Bullet Hole 2’s success or failure.

Jin Yong felt that he must have his own thoughts and considerations on this matter and couldn’t do everything according to his boss’s requirements.

If he didn’t follow his boss’s requirements but succeeded in the end, he would still have done the company a service.

But if he did what his boss said and failed, the boss wouldn’t take the blame. In the end, it would still fall on him.

So, who was more correct? The boss, or Tengda’s Mr. Pei?

This was practically a no-brainer.

Therefore, the problem now became: he needed to take responsibility for Bullet Hole 2’s operational plan, firmly pushing forward Tengda’s operational strategy, while not being caught by his boss.