January 29th, Friday.
Since the 18th, profits from Sea Fortress had been continuously flowing in, with weekly revenue around 400,000-500,000 yuan!
The next settlement would be on January 31st, just two days away.
During this period, Pei Qian was still trying hard to spend money.
The servers and bandwidth for both Ghost General and Sea Fortress had been expanded, and all rented cloud servers were upgraded to the highest specifications.
He outsourced to the most expensive customer service team with the best service attitude and the most high-end tai chi skills. Although it still wouldn’t cost much each month, it was at least an expense.
But even so, Pei Qian still felt desperate!
[Wealth Conversion System]
[Host: Pei Qian]
[Profit conversion ratio 100:1, Loss conversion ratio 1:1]
[Next settlement time: 2 days later]
[System funds: 1,124,355.3 (↑624,355.3)]
[Personal assets: 708.3]
Pei Qian felt somewhat hopeless.
Originally, there had been seventy to eighty thousand yuan left in the system funds that he hadn’t been able to spend.
And in these two weeks, even though Pei Qian had been trying hard to spend, the system funds had still exceeded one million!
The good news was that as new players continued to decrease, Ghost General’s income had finally begun to drop sharply after three months, with only a little over 200,000 yuan coming in this week.
The bad news was that Sea Fortress had started making money, netting over 400,000 yuan this week!
The worst news was that this was likely just the beginning.
Sea Fortress was very different from Ghost General—these two games were too different!
Ghost General could at most make some noise in the mobile game circle, and because its pricing was too generous, players would at most buy a 30-yuan lifetime card, so its momentum would inevitably fade.
But Sea Fortress was different.
As a successful FPS game, it targeted the largest group of PC players currently available!
Moreover, it was free, with extremely strong diffusion properties.
Its spending ceiling was high. Although not many players bought the Fire Qilin, each one who did was equivalent to 88 regular Ghost General players…
Sea Fortress’s future income would likely be even higher.
He had considered updating versions for both Ghost General and Sea Fortress, spending a large sum to purchase a batch of art resources, which would use up more money.
But releasing new versions required new monetization points—that was the system’s rule.
And there couldn’t be any unreleased products in the week before the settlement, otherwise the settlement would be delayed.
So, similar ideas about creating new versions would have to wait until the next cycle.
As for other expenses, whether celebrations or bonuses, although the system allowed them, they weren’t unlimited and could only be maintained within a reasonable range!
In other words, trying to achieve a loss within two days?
Very challenging!
But Pei Qian hadn’t lost hope!
Pei Qian had considered that he now essentially had two choices:
Option one: Stop spending system funds and wait for the settlement.
The benefit was that he could convert about 6,000 yuan into personal assets.
The drawback was that the system would likely aim to replenish funds to around one million yuan, and since the system funds had already reached this figure, it probably wouldn’t replenish anymore, just like the last settlement.
Option two: Continue spending system funds, spending as much as possible without affecting the settlement.
The benefit was that regardless of how much he spent, the system would replenish the funds, which would be very comfortable.
The drawback was that the convertible personal assets would decrease, potentially shrinking from 5,000 to 3,000 or 2,000 yuan.
But if he could lose below 494,000 yuan, it would be more profitable than the current surplus!
After thinking briefly, Pei Qian understood.
He still had to keep spending!
As for how to spend…
He needed new ideas!
…
During this period, Pei Qian had gained a deeper understanding of the system.
According to the system’s rules, system funds could only be used for matters related to company operations, while personal assets could be used without any restrictions.
But exactly how to use system funds wasn’t so rigid; there was some room for flexibility within certain limits!
Take the simplest example of meals.
Pei Qian couldn’t use system funds to eat meals himself or treat friends to meals.
But treating employees to meals was fine.
However, such gatherings couldn’t be too frequent—not every meal could be a gathering, and they couldn’t exceed a certain budget.
For instance, if they had just had a gathering yesterday, another one today wouldn’t be allowed unless there was a reasonable excuse.
The excuses Pei Qian had found before, such as exchange and learning, celebrating successful game development, and so on, were all acceptable.
In this regard, the system appeared quite intelligent. Its judgment of violations and restrictions on system fund usage were in a state of dynamic change.
Many things weren’t forbidden; sometimes, changing the way something was described could achieve the same goal indirectly.
Similarly, Pei Qian’s previous renting of apartments, renting cars, buying high-end suits, buying high-spec gaming laptops, etc., were all accomplished by “creatively naming” things, transferring personal needs to company expenses.
Of course, this “creative naming” wasn’t omnipotent.
For example, if Pei Qian wanted to buy a pair of sneakers costing tens of thousands? Buy a concert ticket for a favorite singer? Buy a set of high-end cosmetics? Buy a luxury supercar? Donate to a female streamer?
Anything that couldn’t be done in the company’s name was not allowed.
Now, Pei Qian has 1.1 million yuan in system funds. After some consideration, he decided to continue his spending blitz!
During the last settlement, Pei Qian had been helpless because he was alone.
But this time was different—Pei Qian had his lovely employees!
Pei Qian had already formulated a detailed plan.
After finalizing it, Pei Qian called Assistant Xin to his office.
“Have the salary standards been modified?” Pei Qian asked.
Xin Hailu nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei, everything has been done exactly as you instructed earlier.”
“First, there’s a company-wide salary adjustment. According to job levels, managers get a 60% raise, and everyone else gets a 30% raise.”
“Second, we’re implementing a project bonus system, with 15% of a game’s net profit being distributed as project bonuses to all employees involved in development.”
“And then there’s the employee welfare program, with each employee receiving a 1,000-yuan shopping card every month.”
Pei Qian nodded: “Very good.”
These expenses, whether the salary increase or the project bonus percentage, were all at the maximum level currently allowed by the system.
Pei Qian would have liked to give more, but the system wouldn’t allow higher amounts, so he had to give up.
Before Sea Fortress launched, Pei Qian had also considered project bonuses and shopping cards, but they didn’t make logical sense at the time.
Because Ghost General was completely made by Pei Qian himself, using Ghost General’s money to give bonuses to Huang Sibo and the others didn’t make sense.
But this time was different. Sea Fortress was the result of Huang Sibo, Bao Xu, and the design team working themselves to the bone, so giving them some bonuses was reasonable!
Moreover, now that the company’s profitability had improved, giving each employee some shopping cards as benefits was also reasonable.
Assistant Xin held her small notebook: “Salaries should be credited today. Any other instructions?”
Pei Qian felt slightly reassured. Once the salaries were paid out, system funds would be reduced by over 300,000 yuan.
With the project bonuses included, almost everyone would be earning over 10,000 yuan monthly!
Were there any other expenses?