Wang Xiaobin was startled: “Open a new server?”

Opening a server wasn’t complicated; the only issue was whether any players would come.

“Hot-Blooded Battle Song” had been declining steadily. Without money for publicity or promotion, and with no presence on any ranking charts, there was no influx of new players.

Those still playing were long-time veterans who had persisted through thick and thin, truly loyal and unwavering.

These players already had accounts on the old servers and had invested substantial money and time in their old characters. Even if a new server opened, who would come to play?

Nevertheless, Wang Xiaobin made an OK gesture with his hand: “No problem, I’ll have it ready soon.”

After all, the game was already on the verge of shutting down; whether they opened a new server or not made little difference.

Ye Zhizhou immediately created an alternate account on the new server and quietly waited.

Within minutes, the world channel on the new server suddenly became lively!

“They opened a new server!”

“Aaah, I couldn’t get the first post, so frustrating!”

“Any guilds recruiting? +++++”

“Attention, everyone! Our guild promotes harmonious development, solidarity, and passion! Led by wealthy players, we’re undefeated! We specialize in helping elderly men and women who have fallen. Join us and help grandmas cross the street!”

“Hey above, did you copy and paste that ad? There are no wealthy players now, how can they lead?”

“What do you mean, no wealthy players? The wealthy member of our guild said that if you join, he’ll cover all the energy potions for everyone every day!”

“Holy crap! Add me quickly!”

Messages appeared one after another in the world channel, and Ye Zhizhou could barely keep up.

“Our game… still has so many players?”

Ye Zhizhou was stunned. He had only opened a new server as a test because he noticed many players in the world channel requesting one.

He never expected so many people would come to play on the new server!

What were they after? Were they abandoning their old accounts?

Ye Zhizhou felt something was strange about this. Such enthusiasm hadn’t been seen for a long time!

“Hot-Blooded Battle Song” used to open new servers frequently, as server rotation was one of the common marketing tactics for pay-to-win games.

But none of those launches could compare to the enthusiasm for today’s new server!

While leveling up, Ye Zhizhou considered infiltrating a large guild to gather players’ opinions on the new version firsthand.

As he played, the game suddenly lagged, the screen displaying “Loading Resources” and turning into pixelated blocks.

The lag didn’t last long, and the game soon returned to running smoothly.

Just as Ye Zhizhou was about to ask what happened, he heard Wang Xiaobin shouting, “Damn, the server load is too high because of the sudden influx of players? The new server is full!”

Ye Zhizhou quickly opened the backend to check.

All the old servers that had been operating showed plummeting activity levels with barely any players, while the newly opened server had an instant surge in popularity, filled!

New players couldn’t even get in and had to queue outside.

Ye Zhizhou was shocked because, since joining Shang Yang Games, he had never seen server queues!

Now he understood—the players filling the new server had all come from the old servers!

Previously, players were spread across dozens of servers, making each server appear cold and empty.

But now, the active players were all flocking to the new server, gathering in one place, naturally creating a much more lively atmosphere.

Ye Zhizhou quickly said, “Brother Wang, hurry, open another new server!”

Wang Xiaobin’s mouse moved rapidly: “On it. From now on, when the newest server is full, the next one will open automatically.”

He also muttered quietly: “This is so strange. Players are this enthusiastic about the new server? Could our changes be working? The effect is immediate.”

Everyone in the design team became excited. Many hadn’t played “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” for a long time, and now they all registered alternate accounts for this occasion.

“Everyone goes to different servers to observe the situations across them.”

“It’s best to join a large guild, infiltrate their chat groups, and see how both wealthy players and ordinary players are responding to this version update!”

Ye Zhizhou was exhilarated, quickly assigning tasks to everyone on the design team to infiltrate various new servers and observe player feedback on the new version!

When Old Liu was the lead designer, he never did things like this, seeing no value in it.

He believed in making changes based on data alone—what was the point of embedding within player communities to collect opinions bit by bit?

But Ye Zhizhou didn’t agree with that approach.

He had always felt that as a designer, one must play their own game and immerse themselves among the player base to get the most authentic feedback.

If designers themselves didn’t enjoy their game, how could they expect players to like it?

After playing for just a few minutes, someone invited Ye Zhizhou to join a guild, and then invited him to join a chat group.

As soon as he entered the group, he was flooded with messages.

“Quickly spam recruitment messages in the world channel!”

“We must all reach level 20 today. Our guild needs to prepare for the nation wars as soon as possible!”

“Does anyone have old friends who abandoned the game before? Get them back here urgently!”

“I’ll ask in my previous groups and try to bring ten people—all veteran players!”

Ye Zhizhou barely looked away for a moment, and the chat messages had already exceeded 99+; he couldn’t keep up.

What particularly shocked Ye Zhizhou was that these players were voluntarily bringing back many former players who had quit, encouraging them to play on the new server!

He had never seen such enthusiasm from players before, not even when he first joined Shang Yang Games when “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” was at its peak!

Ye Zhizhou also checked the forum posts.

He remembered when Old Liu released that 888-yuan weapon, the forum nearly exploded with anger. Players chased after the developers with criticism, filling the update announcement thread with hundreds of negative replies, continuing to flog the issue for two or three weeks without stopping.

Later, as players left, forum activity continued to decline, but complaints still dominated.

But now, after updating the version, the entire forum suddenly had a completely different atmosphere!

Previously, daily threads were cursing the “dog designers,” but now none could be seen. Players were discussing guild formation and preparation for nation wars—actual in-game matters.

Ye Zhizhou looked incredulously at the forum posts and player chat groups, pondering how all this had happened.

“Could this be… rising from the ashes after reaching rock bottom?”

Ye Zhizhou began to understand.

The original “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” had become stagnant. Old Liu and Du Ruijie, for the sake of revenue, had squeezed the last drop of blood from it. The game was already terminally ill.

The conflicts between players and designers, between wealthy players and ordinary players, had reached an extremely intense, irreconcilable state.

Due to the heavy pay-to-win elements, ordinary players had left in droves. In-game activities couldn’t be organized, and even wealthy players who spent money had no one to play with, increasingly feeling that their money was wasted.

As a result, ordinary players left, wealthy players left too, and only a small number of veteran players persisted as the game continued its downward spiral.

But now, all payment points had been removed, keeping only the most basic energy potions.

This seemingly inconspicuous change had caused a revolutionary transformation in the game environment!

For ordinary players, the game no longer required heavy spending, making it accessible.

Items that previously required payment were now given away freely;

On the new server, they also had a chance to experience the thrill of defeating ten opponents at once in nation wars, just like wealthy players.

This was the ultimate special offer, so of course they would rush to play on the new server without hesitation!

Indeed, quite a few wealthy players had quit, but as Mr. Pei said, let them go!

Moreover, not all wealthy players had left; some remained.

As a result, although revenue had plummeted by 70-80%, the remaining players had completely forgotten their previous grievances and rekindled their enthusiasm for the game!

Ye Zhizhou finally understood completely.

“Indeed, Mr. Pei had already identified the problems with ‘Hot-Blooded Battle Song,’ knowing that simply introducing new gameplay or changing art resources would be futile, which is why he wanted to remove all payment points!”

“This is… a drastic measure!”

“Sacrificing revenue to salvage reputation—this is the only way to save ‘Hot-Blooded Battle Song’!”

Problems that had seemed impossible to solve were immediately showing signs of improvement with Mr. Pei’s simple operation!

Ye Zhizhou couldn’t help but admire Mr. Pei even more.

Of course, he knew clearly that this was only the first step.

Although this operation had saved the game’s reputation, the cost was also enormous: the game was no longer profitable!

Without the large recharges from wealthy players, revenue would drop by at least 80%.

Originally, “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” had a monthly income of only 300,000-400,000 yuan. With these changes, it was uncertain whether monthly revenue would even reach 80,000 yuan.

Moreover, they couldn’t introduce any new payment points in the future, or player sentiment would immediately backfire. That would mean complete failure, beyond even Mr. Pei’s ability to save!

Ye Zhizhou felt that this was like a clearance sale. While popularity had indeed increased, continuing to burn money without profit wasn’t a sustainable approach.

“Well, I shouldn’t think about these issues anymore.”

“If I can think of these problems, how could Mr. Pei not have thought of them?”

“All of this must be part of Mr. Pei’s plan. I just need to follow Mr. Pei’s requirements obediently.”

Ye Zhizhou suddenly felt unprecedented confidence in himself and Shang Yang Games’ future!