After searching online for a long time, Pei Qian still couldn’t figure out how Sea Fortress had become so popular!

Looking through the comment section, players’ attitudes were basically divided into two camps: one praising it, one criticizing it, with the two groups arguing non-stop.

As for Sea Fortress’s rating, it showed a strange C-shaped distribution, with many five-star and one-star ratings, ultimately fixing the game’s overall score at 7.3.

Although the length of one-star ratings was short, it was still longer than the two-star ratings.

The reputation couldn’t be called good, but it wasn’t bad either…

As for the players’ evaluations, opinions varied.

Pei Qian went through comments about Sea Fortress on gaming platforms, major websites, and forums, and saw several hot threads discussing Sea Fortress, Counter-Strike, and Bullet Mark.

The more he read, the more confused he became…

“I never expected a domestic game could make such a good story mode? Five-star rating!”

“Four-star rating! Deducting one star for the name. This is a good game that was almost ruined by its name!”

“I was moved to tears in the final scene where you escape with the little girl as the sea fortress explodes! I completely identified with the protagonist—this feeling is rarely evoked by domestic games!”

“The battle mode in this game is innovative. Both Biohazard Mode and Ghost Mode are ingenious, and the entertainment value is perfect! Even someone like me, who gets destroyed in battle modes, can have a great time in Biohazard Mode!”

“Are those praising this game paid commenters hired by the game company? How dare you praise such terrible controls??”

“Terrible controls? That’s laughable. You call controls you’re not used to terrible? I think this game feels even better than Counter-Strike—the feeling of getting headshots constantly is amazing!”

“This ridiculous game sells one weapon for 888 yuan, and weapons have different levels. How dare they call this a competitive game? It’s an insult to the very concept of competition!”

“I don’t recall anyone calling it a competitive game… And in this game, only a very small number of wealthy players would buy the Fire Qilin, right? In all other aspects, it’s completely free, even the base game doesn’t cost anything! Moreover, the attributes added by Fire Qilin are minimal. I think this game is incredibly generous!”

“I also think it’s super generous. In contrast, looking at Bullet Mark next door…”

“Hmph, please stop discussing Bullet Mark. We’re currently discussing Sea Fortress and Counter-Strike. Anyone who brings up Bullet Mark must be a paid commenter hired by Tianhua!”

“Damn, what about when Sea Fortress was riding on Bullet Mark’s popularity? Have you no shame?”

“Riding on your popularity? Don’t be ridiculous. Your game is just too terrible. Sea Fortress players just went to comment on their initiative. As if we’d ride on your popularity—why not also say Counter-Strike is riding on your popularity?”

…

Pei Qian read until his head hurt.

He didn’t understand, really didn’t understand!

He searched high and low for half the day but still couldn’t figure out how Sea Fortress had become so popular!

When Lonely Desert Highway became popular, Pei Qian found Qiao Laoshi’s original video.

When Ghost General became popular, Pei Qian found Ruan Guangjian’s Weibo.

But when Sea Fortress became popular, Pei Qian couldn’t find any “culprit.”

This was very strange.

Logically, for a game to become popular, there needed to be an initial group of people actively promoting it and creating buzz, which would then help the game get better recommendation spots on official platforms and gradually spread…

The key question now was: where did this initial group of people come from???

Pei Qian couldn’t understand.

But he had to understand.

He had to figure out exactly where Sea Fortress had failed!

As the saying goes, learn from your mistakes. By analyzing exactly where Sea Fortress had failed, he could avoid making the same mistake next time!

Otherwise, if he made another game that inexplicably became popular, who could bear that?

A person should never stumble twice in the same place.

Pei Qian pondered for a long time.

Got it!

I really can’t analyze why this game failed, but I’m the boss—why should I personally do this kind of thing?

Let Huang Sibo analyze it and present the analysis report to me!

Thinking of Huang Sibo, Pei Qian felt his teeth itch with hatred.

Although he still wasn’t clear about what had happened, given how popular Sea Fortress had become, this guy, whose initials were HSB, definitely couldn’t escape responsibility!

The story mode was great?

The battle gameplay was very innovative?

These were the doing of Huang Sibo and Bao Xu!

Having Huang Sibo produce an analysis report would let him see exactly who was responsible, and then he could settle accounts later!

With this in mind, Pei Qian sent a private message to Huang Sibo.

…

Huang Sibo was still excited about Sea Fortress’s success.

Suddenly, he noticed that Mr. Pei had sent him a message: “Produce an analysis report on the success factors of Sea Fortress, with a comprehensive analysis from design, promotion, and other perspectives. Send it directly to me.”

Huang Sibo was startled for a moment, then immediately replied: “Yes, Mr. Pei!”

Although work had come in, Huang Sibo wasn’t upset at all—in fact, he was happy!

His current mood was like that of a top student being assigned homework by a teacher.

Why did Mr. Pei want this analysis report?

Was it because he didn’t understand why Sea Fortress was successful?

Don’t be ridiculous, of course not!

The general direction of this game was set by Mr. Pei.

The laissez-faire promotion strategy was also decided by Mr. Pei.

Mr. Pei’s understanding of this game must be above everyone else’s!

So why did he want this analysis report?

Simple—he was helping us consolidate knowledge!

Just like how a teacher might have students submit a final summary after completing a test, Mr. Pei hoped to use this method to help his employees continuously learn from experience and improve!

This showed that Mr. Pei valued me highly!

Otherwise, why would he assign this task to me specifically and not someone else?

Huang Sibo was very excited and immediately opened a document to get started, writing down every successful aspect of Sea Fortress that he knew!

…

…

Several hours later, Pei Qian received the report.

He quickly browsed through it.

The first part analyzed the gameplay success of Sea Fortress.

For example, it lowered the difficulty, catering to a large number of ordinary players.

The story mode was excellent, and combined with players’ love for domestic games, it won good word-of-mouth.

The battle modes were rich and diverse.

The game had no entry barriers, allowing players to download and experience it without pressure.

The 888-yuan pricing strategy for Fire Qilin satisfied wealthy players’ desire to show off.

The Fire Qilin’s attributes were within controllable range, and it provided an experience bonus effect for other players in the room, so ordinary players not only didn’t reject wealthy players using Fire Qilin but welcomed them very much…

Reading these analyses, Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly.

What was happening…

This wasn’t what he had expected…

Had he been given the wrong script?

Weren’t these supposed to be the reasons why Sea Fortress failed? How had they instead become reasons for its success???

Pei Qian forcibly suppressed his urge to die and continued reading.

Below was an analysis of the promotional effects that led to Sea Fortress’s rapid spread.

He needed to find out who the mole was!