Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 17

The Next Day! Golden Wind Game Technology Co., Ltd. Game Director’s Office. Lu Bian and Da Jiang sat across from Gu Sheng on the sofa, looking rather gloomy. The office was filled with a haze of smoke and heavy tension. “…What do we do, Sheng-ge?” Da Jiang set down his thermos, glancing at Gu Sheng with concern. “It’s already five thirty. Less than three hours left, and our first-day results are about to be locked in.” “Yeah,” “We’ve only sold two thousand copies so far—less than half of what Cat Mario did. What are we gonna say if the boss asks?” That’s right. The reason Gu Sheng’s office felt so bleak was because their second game, Who’s Your Daddy, wasn’t performing well. Actually, calling it “not well” might be unfair. After all, two thousand first-day sales was already a strong showing for a casual game on the YiYou Platform. But! Let’s not forget they had Cat Mario as a tough act to follow. That game sold over 4,800 copies on its debut, completely crushing every other casual game released at the same time. In fact, it was one of the top debut performances in YiYou’s history. As the saying goes, people always aim higher. This was Golden Wind’s second release, and more importantly, it was the trio’s first collaborative title. Lu Bian and Da Jiang had entered this hoping to break records. Now, with less than three hours to go, their numbers weren’t exactly terrible—but they weren’t great either. Not even half of Cat Mario’s. Naturally, this was frustrating. “Maybe we messed up, Sheng-ge. Sorry for dragging you down…” Da Jiang looked at the disappointing sales data, lips pressed into a pout. Hearing that, Gu Sheng frowned and tossed an orange at him. “Then why don’t you g*ddamn kneel and apologize?” Thud. Da Jiang caught the orange, startled. Then Lu Bian couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Come on, Da Jiang,” Lu Bian patted him on the shoulder with a grin. “Don’t say stuff like that, it sounds too formal. Lao Gu hates that kind of talk.” “Oh…” Da Jiang shrank back like a sulking bear. “I just feel like it’s my fault.” Gu Sheng knew Da Jiang was a straight shooter, so he sighed and said: “Da Jiang, this is our project. All three of us. No one’s dragging anyone down.” “I brought you two here to make games with me, not to throw blame around.” “The three of us are the backbone of this company—take one of us out, and the whole thing collapses.” “So stop with that talk, alright? You big softie.” Gu Sheng’s words were gentle and playful, like a spring breeze easing their worries. Lu Bian nodded to himself. When it came to emotional intelligence, their boss really was next level. Sure enough, after that round of comforting pep talk, Da Jiang finally snapped out of his guilt spiral. “So… what do we do now, Sheng-ge?” What now? That was the million-dollar question—and even Gu Sheng didn’t have an answer. Normally, having tasted the benefits of a streamer promotion before, they should’ve jumped on the opportunity and ramped up marketing. Don’t underestimate marketing. In his past life, many hit games spent half—or more—of their total budget on promotion alone! But… “For some reason, Little Nezha seems kind of resistant to marketing,” Gu Sheng frowned, puzzled. “Before the game launched, I even suggested to her that we ride the Cat Mario hype and see if YiYou would feature us.” “And?” Lu Bian asked, “She turned you down?” “Yeah,” Gu Sheng nodded. “She said, ‘Good wine needs no bush.’ If the quality’s solid, YiYou will come to us eventually.” “Hmm… that’s not entirely wrong,” Lu Bian nodded thoughtfully. “Little Nezha really lives up to her title of President. She may look all cute and silly, but she’s pretty sharp.” “Looks like she wants to keep the initiative on our side. If YiYou comes knocking, that does put us in a better position…” He couldn’t help but reassess their little boss. Turns out, she had some game. Her strategic thinking was solid. “But—at our current numbers, why would YiYou come to us?” After a moment, Da Jiang voiced the obvious concern. “Our first-day sales got cut in half. The strategy’s falling apart.” “Exactly, so for now, all we can do is wait,” Gu Sheng shrugged. “Let the bullet fly a bit.” He still had confidence in Who’s Your Daddy. The issue was just exposure. So now, all they could do was wait—for the hype to build. Knock knock knock— Suddenly, there was a knock at the office door. Outside, the voice of their Executive Assistant, Chu Qingzhou, called out: “Director Gu, President Shen has called a meeting. Please head to the conference room…” Ten Minutes Later! The Golden Wind executive team had gathered in the meeting room. Shen Miaomiao beamed from ear to ear. What a difference a day makes! She still remembered the last sales meeting—it nearly gave her a heart attack! But now? The tables had turned! Finally! This great-aunt could start losing money again! As Gu Sheng and the others took their seats, Shen Miaomiao jumped straight into the opening speech: “Today’s meeting is focused on the sales performance of our latest game.” “I’m sure Director Gu and both department heads are already aware, so let’s cut to the chase—Secretary Chu?” With a wave of her hand, she signaled Chu Qingzhou to begin the report. Chu Qingzhou nodded. “As of now, our company’s second game, Who’s Your Daddy, has been on sale for nearly 22 hours.” “While it hasn’t quite reached 24 hours, there likely won’t be much change in the data.” “So, at President Shen’s request, we’ve compiled the 22-hour sales figures.” “The current total—” “2,215 copies sold, total revenue 11,075 yuan.” Wahoo! Fireworks!! To Shen Miaomiao, Chu Qingzhou’s voice was pure music. She was actually surprised by the 2,000+ sales. Honestly, she hadn’t expected this dumb game to sell that many copies without any streamer promo. Who knew where all those suckers came from? But! For her, this was a massive win! That was less than half of Cat Mario’s debut! And without any marketing, Who’s Your Daddy was sure to burn out fast! At this rate, a total of 6,000 in the first week would already be pushing it! Shen Miaomiao’s brain kicked into overdrive— Total sales: 30,000! Net loss: 70,000! Rebate payout: 700,000+! Wahoo! We’re taking off!! She marveled again at the power of her system. She didn’t lift a finger—just hired three dummies to make a game—and boom! 700,000 profit in a week! Even the title of world’s richest woman was within reach! However— Ding-dong— Suddenly, her phone buzzed. Shen Miaomiao absentmindedly pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the lock screen. A notification popped up in bold letters: [Shark Live: The streamer you follow, A-Yin, just went live with “Room Title: — Streaming Father-Son Mode with Tree-ge today!”]