After browsing online discussions about “Ink Cloud Smoke” and the “Destitution Plan,” Pei Qian finally understood why there were so many pre-orders.

Because Qiu Hong had bundled “Ink Cloud Smoke,” the “Destitution Plan,” and “The Working Class Survival Manual” together for promotion!

The Destitution Plan’s promotional video could evoke such intense reactions for two reasons: first, it touched upon many players’ shared memories, triggering widespread resonance; second, it had high-quality domestic independent games as a catalyst.

Without games, just a promotional video alone couldn’t have sparked such fervent response.

“Ink Cloud Smoke” was only a playable demo. With just this demo alone, it clearly wouldn’t have been enough.

This was also why Qiu Hong hadn’t made a promotional plan initially: without an opportunity, naturally he couldn’t achieve the best promotional effect.

But the unexpectedly viral success of “The Working Class Survival Manual” provided such an opportunity for promoting the Destitution Plan!

It was currently before Spring Festival – the time when companies big and small held annual meetings and distributed year-end bonuses.

Most office workers were unsatisfied with their company’s benefits. Many were planning to change jobs after receiving their year-end bonuses and finishing their annual leave.

The release of “The Working Class Survival Manual” resonated strongly with office workers. It gained good reception not only within independent game enthusiast circles but also successfully “broke out of the circle” – many non-gamers who worked also knew about this game.

Leveraging the success of “The Working Class Survival Manual,” Qiu Hong deeply bundled “Ink Cloud Smoke” and the “Destitution Plan” with it, letting players know: the reason “The Working Class Survival Manual” could be successfully created was because of the Destitution Plan’s funding, and the Destitution Plan was also funding many excellent independent game projects like “Ink Cloud Smoke.”

Thus, “The Working Class Survival Manual’s” cross-over popularity, domestic independent game enthusiasts’ nostalgia, and players’ expectations for domestic independent games were all combined, creating such an effective promotional result!

One could say, missing any one of “The Working Class Survival Manual,” “Ink Cloud Smoke’s” demo, or the Destitution Plan’s promotional video would have made achieving the current effect impossible!

What a coincidence.

Watching the continuously growing pre-order numbers, Pei Qian felt somewhat dizzy.

In just one afternoon, this game’s pre-sale had already broken fifty thousand copies. Given the current momentum, multiplying that by ten within the coming week was very possible!

Although domestic independent game players were a minority compared to mainstream players, in terms of volume, no matter how small, there were still millions of active players.

Moreover, the smaller the circle, the more concentrated the attention on quality domestic independent games becomes. “Ink Cloud Smoke” would probably soon trigger heated discussions within independent game player circles like “The Working Class Survival Manual” did!

Pei Qian calculated on his fingers, sensing trouble ahead.

“Ink Cloud Smoke’s” official price was 45 yuan, considered upper-middle level among domestic independent games. This pre-sale wasn’t full payment but one-third – fifteen yuan.

Based on current trends, if they sold 500,000 copies within the coming week, the official platform’s revenue share would arrive just before settlement.

The only good news was that the game wasn’t released under Tenda’s name, so it didn’t enjoy Tenda’s high revenue share privileges. Even with special policies for independent games, it could only get sixty percent.

Based on this, Tenda took thirty percent.

In other words, before settlement, just “Ink Cloud Smoke’s” pre-sales would bring in at least 1.3 million yuan!

Besides that, there was also money earned from “The Working Class Survival Manual.”

The amount seemed small, but Pei Qian felt like a camel loaded with straw. When settlement time came, this random million-plus could mean the difference between heaven and hell.

What if adding this million made them profitable? Then where would he complain?

Pei Qian was extremely frustrated.

This Qiu Hong, causing trouble at such a critical moment!

Couldn’t he just go home quietly for New Year’s? Must he create a promotional video getting popular the day before vacation? Then release a demo to earn pre-sale money?

Too much!

Thinking this, Pei Qian immediately dialed Qiu Hong’s number.

…

At this time, Qiu Hong had just finished treating everyone at the incubation base to a feast. He returned to his rented apartment in the capital to pack, planning to catch an early flight home tomorrow.

Receiving a call from Mr. Pei, Qiu Hong felt pleasantly surprised.

“Did Mr. Pei see the Destitution Plan video gaining popularity and is very happy, so he called specifically to affirm my work achievements?”

Previously, the entire incubation base had only completed two games, both selling poorly. Even so, Mr. Pei praised Qiu Hong, saying effects were remarkable, progress rapid, encouraging him to keep up the good work.

Qiu Hong figured that by this evaluation standard, now with “The Working Class Survival Manual” and “Ink Cloud Smoke,” plus the Destitution Plan video’s good reception, wouldn’t Mr. Pei be overjoyed?

He quickly answered the phone, waiting to receive Mr. Pei’s praise.

However, Mr. Pei’s first sentence immediately stumped him.

“Who told you to put an unfinished game on the official platform for pre-orders?!”

Pei Qian’s tone was somewhat stern, because he was genuinely angry.

This game clearly wasn’t finished yet. Just honestly release it next cycle – don’t affect this cycle’s settlement!

Yet Qiu Hong’s pre-order move caught Pei Qian completely off guard.

Qiu Hong paused, appearing somewhat confused: “Mr. Pei, isn’t pre-selling quite common in the independent game scene…”

Pei Qian couldn’t help but fall silent: “Uh…”

He thought about it – Qiu Hong’s point was actually valid.

ESRO’s official platform actually encouraged independent games to do pre-sales, for reasons similar to crowdfunding.

Independent game developers often lacked money and resources. During development, they inevitably had to make compromises. To achieve high completion levels, conditions didn’t really allow it.

Pre-sales could help quality independent games loved by players get money early – partly for maintaining development costs, partly for boosting developer confidence.

Of course, some unscrupulous developers might have deceptive intentions – releasing appealing demos, taking large pre-sale funds, then developing leisurely, turning games into lifetime series that never launch.

But the official platform had corresponding punishment measures for such developers. These people were minorities. You couldn’t cancel regulations beneficial to all independent game developers because of a few bad apples.

So Qiu Hong putting “Ink Cloud Smoke’s” demo up for pre-sale did follow standard independent game practices – behavior actually advocated by the official platform.

Thus, Pei Qian’s questioning seemed slightly unreasonable.

After a moment of silence, Pei Qian said righteously: “Why do other independent games like pre-sales? Because those developers lack money and can only get development funds through pre-sale returns!”

“Do Destitution Plan developers lack development funds?”

Qiu Hong was stumped: “Uh, this…”

Without giving him much reaction time, Pei Qian continued: “Since there’s no money shortage, why pre-sell?”

“Pre-selling essentially exploits players’ sympathy, transferring the risk of development failure from developers to players.”

“The official platform supports this behavior mainly because most independent game developers face such difficult conditions – they need player dedication and support.”

“While this behavior involves willing parties, ultimately it somewhat damages player interests. The best approach should be direct transactions – finish the game, release it, let players buy if they like.”

“Since Destitution Plan’s independent game developers don’t lack money, they shouldn’t do pre-sales. Just wait until development is complete then release directly, right?”

Qiu Hong was momentarily speechless: “This…”

He suddenly realized Mr. Pei made quite good sense!

Actually, Qiu Hong had just followed conventional independent game practices with pre-sales without much thought. But now, considering carefully, this behavior was indeed inappropriate.

Qiu Hong quickly asked: “Then Mr. Pei, what should we do now?”

Pei Qian thought for a moment: “Can we change the pre-order payment to zero? Then refund players who already paid.”

Qiu Hong hesitated: “Uh… Mr. Pei, zero won’t work – minimum is one-third of current price, meaning five yuan; refund procedures would be troublesome, insufficient authority, ESRO officials might not approve.”

“If Tenda appeared personally, there might be a chance, but that would announce Tenda’s relationship with the Destitution Plan…”

Pei Qian immediately said: “That definitely won’t work. In that case, let’s make pre-order price five yuan. For players who already paid fifteen yuan, we’ll compensate them.”

Qiu Hong added: “Also Mr. Pei, regarding price changes, officials typically don’t support it much, as whether raising or lowering prices actually affects player interests.”

Pei Qian nodded: “Mm, understandable.”

“Our behavior definitely affects player interests – we must apologize and compensate!”

“How about this – as I mentioned, change pre-order to five yuan. For those who already paid, give them twenty percent off the game – meaning thirty-six yuan. Then post an apology announcement saying we didn’t expect such player enthusiasm, so we feel the pre-order price was too high. We’re lowering it now, hoping players understand.”

For Pei Qian, slashing pre-order price from fifteen to five yuan meant “Ink Cloud Smoke” demo would make at least hundreds of thousands less this week.

Removing even a handful of straw from the camel’s back was good.

As for players who paid fifteen yuan already, Pei Qian could use this opportunity to give them discounts – earning even less profit.

Qiu Hong quickly said: “Yes Mr. Pei, I’ll communicate with official platform staff immediately.”