September 3rd, Saturday.

Tenda’s new game “STRUGGLE” officially launched!

Shanghai.

Having just finished company business, He An returned home, planning to get some rest.

Last Friday, he was supposed to go to Jingzhou to continue his lecture for Mr. Ma, but He An’s own Mango Games had some minor issues that needed to be handled, keeping him busy until yesterday.

So, the lecture for Mr. Ma was naturally postponed until next Friday.

Although it was caused by an unexpected event, He An felt this timing might be quite good.

Because today, Tenda’s new game “STRUGGLE” was released!

He An was full of anticipation for this game.

After all, the previous single-player games made by Mr. Pei could all be considered benchmarks for domestic single-player games, especially in terms of thoughtfulness and depth, as they had reached extremely high levels.

And this time, like all other players, He An was full of anticipation for this game called “STRUGGLE,” which was most likely a large-scale action-adventure title.

He An was also wondering what he should teach Mr. Ma in his final lecture.

The content he had taught previously was essentially a highly condensed summary of his decades of game development experience, packed with valuable insights.

From a game’s concept to its production, to marketing and promotion—he had covered all these aspects.

But precisely because the content was highly condensed and full of insights, he felt that if this final lecture didn’t offer even more substantial content, it would feel somewhat lacking.

Conveniently, Tenda had just provided a new case study!

He An figured that with a week before his lecture for Mr. Ma, he should have enough time to complete Tenda’s new game.

Perhaps he could gain some inspiration from this game, or it might trigger some dormant memories, allowing him to squeeze out a bit more valuable insight as teaching material?

With company matters now settled, He An was ready to play the game and relax.

He turned on his computer and opened the official platform.

Sure enough, the most prominent spot on the platform’s homepage featured a large promotional page that read “Tenda’s New Game ‘STRUGGLE’ Released!”

However, this promotional page only had these stylized words, without any promotional poster.

This was a bit strange.

Generally, game promotional pages would have posters displaying beautiful scenes and characters from the game to enhance players’ first impressions and attract them to enter.

“Mr. Pei is indeed willful, but after all, he’s Mr. Pei.”

He An didn’t think much of it and clicked in.

For other game developers, these conventional promotional approaches should be followed, but Mr. Pei didn’t need to. Even if he just wrote “Tenda New Game” in small text on an inconspicuous page, players would surely click frantically to see it.

Arriving at the game’s details page, He An suddenly realized something was off.

Because on this page, there were written descriptions and images of the game!

Game description:

“So-called reality is when no matter how hard you struggle, it’s difficult to escape the cycle of fate.”

Below are many promotional images for the game. These images were exquisite, with an impressive artistic style, but the only problem was… the scenes and characters in the images seemed vastly different from what was expected!

Modern urban backgrounds, many foreigners, wearing clothes like suits, T-shirts, hoodies, and other attire commonly seen in everyday life.

He An was stunned.

What happened to the promised large-scale action-adventure game?

Indeed, some action-adventure games had modern themes, but those typically took place on mysterious islands or lost ruins—the setting couldn’t possibly be a modern urban backdrop!

Looking at the scenes in the promotional images, they didn’t relate to action-adventure games at all!

Even more confusing was the promotional tagline and the Chinese name of the game.

“So-called reality is when no matter how hard you struggle, it’s difficult to escape the cycle of fate.”?

This sentence was excessively depressing!

Yes, in some sense, this sentence was correct—reality is often frustrating and independent of human will.

But that doesn’t mean one should promote such fatalistic thinking!

Life is indeed often disappointing, but we should still strive to live our best lives, because life doesn’t offer “give up” or “exit” options. Struggle isn’t about living better than others but about living better than our past selves.

Moreover, the Chinese name “奋斗” (Struggle), compared to the original English name “STRUGGLE”, instantly changed the meaning!

The word “STRUGGLE” has many meanings. Previously, everyone thought this was an action-adventure game, so they subconsciously interpreted STRUGGLE as grappling, fighting, and similar connotations.

But now with the Chinese name being “奋斗” (Struggle), it directly dissolved all the players’ previous imaginations, definitively pinning the game as having a realistic theme!

Right from the start, before even entering the game, He An was confounded by Mr. Pei’s series of bizarre operations.

At this point, smarter players would already realize they might have been deceived by the advertising.

“Did Mr. Pei make a realistic-themed game, then afraid no one would play it, so he created misleading advertising?”

“That’s not possible.”

“This won’t attract players—it won’t help sales but will instead backfire, only damaging his reputation and causing greater losses.”

He An found it puzzling.

At this moment, he suddenly realized something and pulled up Tenda’s earlier promotional materials for the game.

He looked at the promotional materials, then looked at the game description.

He repeated this three times.

He An was bewildered.

“Mr. Pei… didn’t falsely advertise; everything he said was true.”

“This could at most be considered intentional misdirection.”

“Is this some new tactic?”

He An discovered that the content described in the game materials did indeed completely match the game’s actual content!

The misunderstanding primarily arose from the point about “all actions captured from real people.” Everyone subconsciously assumed that since they spent big money on motion capture, it must be an action-adventure game!

But it turned out to be a realistic theme.

How absurd! Why use motion capture for a realistic theme? Was there too much money to burn?

If it were anyone else, He An would certainly curse angrily, considering it false advertising.

When previously lecturing Mr. Ma, He An had mentioned that game marketing was a crucial element for a game’s success. If a game’s promotional approach didn’t align with the game itself, it would be a devastating blow for a single-player game.

And what happened?

Mr. Pei’s new game’s promotion was misaligned! And quite ridiculously so!

He An was confused and bewildered. Mr. Pei had made what he considered a basic mistake, but this instead made it seem even more unbelievable.

Who was Mr. Pei?

A marketing genius!

For each game, he could find the best promotional approach, knowing best how to create buzz among players.

Hmm, this must also be a special marketing model!

But why it was special would only be clear after playing the game.

He An prepared to purchase the game and discovered a second bewildering aspect.

The dual protagonist mode was actually sold separately?

After clicking the purchase button, a description page popped up, with a rich person version on one side and a poor person version on the other.

The rich person version featured original artwork of a business elite in a suit, swirling a wine glass while overlooking the entire city from a floor-to-ceiling window in a high-rise, seemingly exuding an air of dominance, as if everything was under control.

Text description: Born into a wealthy family, your struggle will be incredibly smooth, but the unpredictability of fate lies in the equality of death. If you are rich, we don’t recommend purchasing this—you’ll find it tasteless.

Price: 19 (Original price 29)

The poor person version’s artwork showed a shabby-clothed commoner, empty-handed, gazing up at towering skyscrapers from a busy street, with a hint of envy in his silhouette.

Text description: Born into a poor family, your struggle will be full of pain, hardship, and helplessness. You believe that struggle can change fate, but fate doesn’t intend to be changed by you. Whether you’re poor or rich, we don’t recommend purchasing this, as you’ll only gain some meaningless negativity.

Price: 79 (Original price 99)

The purchase buttons for both versions were separate, clearly allowing individual purchases of either the poor person or rich person version, and there was no “buy all” option.

He An didn’t think much of it—wasn’t it just clicking the mouse once more?

He first bought the rich person version, then went to buy the poor person version.

However, upon clicking the purchase button for the poor person version, a prompt box appeared on the page.

“Life offers no second chances. If you want to experience both lives, you cannot enjoy the discount. The price for purchasing both is the original price, totaling 29+99=128. Are you sure?”

He An carefully read this long text, his mouth slightly open, his face filled with shock and questions.

What did this mean?

What was going on?

This pricing approach truly made even an experienced veteran producer like He An feel it was unprecedented!

In other dual protagonist modes, both were included in the game, and players could choose which character to play after entering the game.

But here, they were directly split into two separate purchases!

Not only that, but they were priced differently—19 for one and 79 for the other, a price difference of exactly four times!

But would the poor person version really have four times more game content than the rich person version? That seemed impossible!

Most ridiculous was that buying both versions meant not enjoying any discount, costing 128, which was six times more than the rich person version which could be bought for just 20!

In He An’s view, this pricing strategy was quite outrageous. 19 yuan was obviously too cheap, while 128 was too expensive. If they compromised and sold it at around 98 per copy, wouldn’t that be just right?

With the current pricing strategy, weren’t they forcing players to only buy the rich person version?

And this description language was cruel enough.

The rich side seemed to hint at some bad ending and didn’t recommend rich people buy it.

The poor side directly stated that fate couldn’t be changed, also suggesting a bad ending, and didn’t recommend that either poor or rich people buy it?

Wasn’t that basically saying no one should buy it?

Outrageous!

He An resolutely pressed the payment button.

Expensive? So what? Am I someone who would worry about 128 yuan?

I’ll pay full price willingly!

I must see what good stuff you’ve hidden in the poor person version!

He An speculated that since it was a dual protagonist, dual version setup, there must be some connection between these two versions. Perhaps certain easter eggs and hidden endings could only be triggered by buying both versions?

The more He An thought about it, the more he believed his guess was correct.

If these two versions truly had no connection, that would be a serious problem.

Because players who blindly buy a game upon release aren’t the majority; most players are influenced by online reviews.

If the first batch of players bought both versions but discovered no easter eggs or hidden endings, they would certainly curse loudly, and later players wouldn’t make the same mistake.

He An believed Mr. Pei wouldn’t make such a basic error, which strengthened his conjecture that buying both versions would definitely unlock hidden endings.

Up to this point, without even entering the game, He An realized that two of the four theories he had previously taught had already been disproven.

Choosing appropriate marketing methods for the game content? No.

Selecting a game type with high market share? No.

If it were any other game developer, He An would declare the game doomed without even playing it—if the starting point was already off track, how could it reach the finish line?

But for Mr. Pei, He An felt he should play through the game before drawing conclusions.

Perhaps Mr. Pei could overturn all traditional theories and give him a surprise beyond imagination?

He An first entered the rich person version.

…

After a brief black screen, a male voice spoke softly in English.

This didn’t seem like narration but more like the man talking to himself.

“My father liked to seek wisdom from distant Eastern cultures.”

“Shortly after I became aware, he repeatedly taught me two sayings from the distant East: ‘Poverty breeds cunning plans, wealth nurtures good conscience.’ And, ‘When granaries are full, people know propriety; when food and clothing are adequate, people know honor and shame.'”

“Father said that in the original language, these two sayings were very structured, concise, and philosophical.”

“But translated into English, one couldn’t feel it at all.”

“He told me this society is full of jungle rules. We are people at the top, but precisely because of this, countless people are watching us, wanting to see us fall and die without burial.”

“My father said, never trust those poor people. Never.”

“It seemed in my father’s eyes, we and those bottom-tier poor people had become two different species.”

“I don’t agree with such views.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t argue with my father because I know I almost didn’t come into this world due to a madman, almost falling from a skyscraper’s rooftop with my mother.”

“Father said, that was a poor person.”

“But I insist that he was just a madman.”

After the black screen and subtitles, the game screen appeared.

With an over-the-shoulder perspective like conventional AAA titles, one could see this seemed to be a Western police officer in uniform, of no low rank.

He was currently inside a shopping mall, though it was empty, as if everyone had been evacuated.

In the distance, several police officers were anxiously waving to him.

Words appeared on the wall as guidance: “As a hostage specialist, ‘negotiate’ with the criminal holding hostages.”

He An didn’t see any criminals at all. He rotated the view slightly and could only go to the open window where these police officers were located.

The police officers anxiously waved and urged him on.

So He An controlled the police officer to walk over.

These officers began deftly helping the officer secure safety ropes, changing into suction climbing gloves and climbing boots, then clearing the window position.

“That pregnant woman is in danger. The hostage-taker is emotionally unstable. If our snipers shoot, the hostage-taker might fall with the pregnant woman. Captain Henry, please!”

He An controlled Henry to climb out the window, using the suction climbing gloves and boots to ascend along the building’s glass curtain wall.

As he continued climbing upward, new mission instructions appeared on the glass curtain wall at regular intervals.

“Hostage specialist arrives at the scene.”

“Hostage specialist is ready.”

“Hostage specialist prepares to begin ‘negotiation.'”

And the higher he climbed, the clearer the shouting from above became.

“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll jump!”

“Help, help…”

“Please don’t be nervous. We’re here to negotiate. We can meet your conditions…”

The criminal’s frantic shouts, the hostage’s tearful pleas, and the police’s reassuring words through loudspeakers all mixed together, creating an inexplicable anxiety.

Shortly after the prompt “Hostage specialist prepares to begin ‘negotiation'” appeared, Henry reached the top floor, silently arriving beneath the criminal.

The criminal was holding a long dinner knife to a pregnant woman’s throat, standing at the edge of the building.

The criminal seemed to have already realized there were snipers, but he held the knife in his right hand and tightly gripped the pregnant woman’s neck with his left. If shot, he would fall from the rooftop.

Henry silently reached the position right below the criminal, left his right climbing glove on the curtain wall, then drew his gun and aimed at the back of the criminal’s head.

“Bang!”

A gunshot, and the criminal’s head exploded in a spray of blood. Amid the hostage’s screams, the two figures teetered on the edge!

“Hostage specialist ‘negotiation’ complete.”

Henry extended his strong right hand, steadily supporting the pregnant woman, while the criminal’s corpse fell toward the ground below.

In the moment of falling, Henry saw his face.

The desperation, terror, and madness of his final moments still lingered on his face—many emotions mixed together, making his expression ferocious.

Like a slow-motion scene in a movie, after a brief pause, the camera followed the corpse as it fell, fell, fell…

Finally, just before hitting the ground, everything abruptly stopped, and the screen turned black again.

“My mother was startled, so I came into this world two weeks early.”

“Some friends say I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”

“Some friends say I was born at their finish line.”

“On this point, I never deny it. Because for people like us, neither suffering nor struggle can become topics of conversation with others.”

“Very few people would acknowledge the struggle of someone born at the finish line.”