Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian was dumbfounded.

Ocean Stronghold's data was so different from his expectations. Something must have gone wrong somewhere. Even if a new group of players joined the game, there was no reason for them to buy Red Kilins at such an insane rate. There must have been some important pull-factor!

Pei Qian looked closely at the data for all the games. Not only had there been more top-ups, but there had been significantly more active players as well! What's more, the average amount of time players spent on the game had increased, too!

One could say that people were grinding even more in Ocean Stronghold.

This was very strange.

Logically, the downloadable content Pei Qian added this time did not contain anything for which players had to grind. People could slowly play in story mode for a few days, and they would complete it. The PvP modes remained the same. Pei Qian did not add events that gave away packages to reward players for staying longer in the game.

Yet, the average time that players were spending in the game increased!

Were players suddenly deciding to play the game for a longer time because they felt like it?

Impossible.

The data behind the games would not lie. Pei Qian faintly felt like this was the reason for the sudden explosion of income!

Pei Qian searched Qiandu once again to find out why players of Ocean Stronghold were becoming so active.

Finally, he found his answer in a post.

"I've heard of trading in stocks and property. This is the first time I'm hearing of trading in accounts. You win!

"When Ocean Stronghold released its update, I was cursing as well. Why were they only selling five hundred of such good-looking Barrett Dooms? Were the officials insane? Why were they turning down the chance to earn more money?

"However, from the looks of the situation now, Tengda's plan was very deep!

"Yesterday, a friend of mine—who never played FPS games—suddenly came up to me to ask if I played Ocean Stronghold. He wanted to add me as a friend so we could play biochemical mode.

"At the time, I was confused. He never played FPS games; why did he suddenly change his mind?

"I asked him and found out the answer. He was trying to earn money!"

"People selling Barrett Dooms on trading platforms were pricing them at two to three thousand yuan, and yet they still went out of stock! After all, there were only five hundred of those for sale each month. Many people wanted to buy them for their own use. Otherwise, they planned to keep them for longer and wait for the price to increase. If whales wanted to obtain them, they would increase the price significantly!

"Many scalpers were overjoyed. They spent a lot of money to buy them and then kept them. After all, there are only going to be five hundred more for sale next month. This thing holds its value!

"In the end, the officials released another patch. After that, people could snatch Barrett Dooms using their credit rating! The higher one's credit rating, the higher their chances of pre-ordering a Barrett Doom.

"What's more, it's not like ordinary people would have no chance. As long as you are a real player and not a scalper who created an account just to obtain a Barrett Doom, you would have a chance to get the weapon!

"The higher one's credit rating was, the more chances they would have to obtain the Barrett Doom!

"Although this sounds unreliable, it's a type of metaphysics!

"Everyone began to think of ways to increase their own credit ratings. They kept grinding in the game; they played story mode and wanted to increase their ranking. People even discovered that topping up their accounts would increase their credit rating. Many rich players started to buy as many Red Kilins as possible!

"This weapon was good anyway, and they could look impressive in the game. It would even increase their chances of obtaining a Barrett Doom…

"People in our gaming circles really managed to obtain a Barrett Doom. The day before, they sold it for more than three thousand yuan. There are even bosses with third-grade credit ratings selling their accounts because they no longer have time to play. Now, whales are buying their accounts for over fifteen thousand yuan!

"Now, accounts with second- and third-grade credit ratings are becoming more valuable than Barrett Doom. After all, there will be more and more epic weapons in the future. These accounts can be seen as money trees!

"I've activated the three other people in my hostel to play the game now. I've asked them to play two games each day to keep the account alive. If we can get a Barrett Doom next month, we will be rich!"

…

After reading the post once through, Pei Qian was completely dazed. He finally understood where the problem was.

"…I'm too naive. I thought that by limiting the number of weapons for sale, the game would not generate too much income…"

Pei Qian finally understood that the problem was with limiting the number of Barrett Dooms for sale to five hundred!

The weapon was too popular. Selling only five hundred of them each month made them very valuable. Players who obtained them would be able to turn around and immediately sell them at a profit of one or two thousand yuan!

Accounts with third-grade credit ratings that owned a Red Kilin and a Barrett Doom would have unimaginable value.

Players would not be able to resist temptation like that.

What's more, Ocean Stronghold was a free game to begin with. It had rich content. Many people were already considering starting the game. This was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Players had not been that passionate at first. This was because scalpers and studios predominantly snatched weapons. However, since Pei Qian could not stand scalpers, he decided to start up a credit system that would allow ordinary gamers to obtain Barrett Dooms as well!

Thus, players became exceedingly passionate. Coupled with the fierce publicity by official gaming platforms and recommendations from people like Li Zhengwei and Teacher Qiao…

The week's income exploded!

What's more, it would not be so for just one week. In the next one or two months, Ocean Stronghold would surely make a lot of money.

Pei Qian thought about Chen Lei coming to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to sing for a couple of days.

He came face-to-face with a painful fact. He would not be able to incur losses this week.

Pei Qian slumped down on his chair, feeling suicidal. On further thought, who could he blame this time? He could not blame anyone…

It was Pei Qian who asked Chen Lei to go to Shanghai, who decided to sell only five hundred Barrett Dooms… and who allowed ordinary players to buy Barrett Dooms based on their credit.

The only problem was that Pei Qian did not make clear to Lin Wan what kind of factors to include in the credit rating system and how the players could increase their credit rating.

Lin Wan told Lu Mingliang and allowed him to come up with these details. Thus, Lu Mingliang included accounts' spending as a consideration.

This was very natural. It would be illogical not to increase the credit rating of whales who spent 888 yuan on Red Kilins.

Therein was the problem.

Many players, who had no intention to buy the Red Kilin, did so in order to increase their chances of obtaining a Barrett Doom. Now, they could spend money to increase their credit rating. When more Barrett Dooms were put up for sale the following month, they would have higher chances of obtaining them.

That was why many people splurged on Red Kilins in this final week. That was why Ocean Stronghold made so much money this week!

That was probably what people meant when they said 'one false step brings everlasting grief'…

What hurt Pei Qian's head the most was that he could not undo this mistake. Could Pei Qian take away the limitation on the number of Barrett Dooms for sale now? Sorry, the players would go even crazier over it.

What's more, he could not get rid of the credit ratings. The players would curse him to death. Pei Qian and the team in Tengda would fall apart.

Thus, nothing could be done about Ocean Stronghold anymore.

No way!

Boss Pei was miserable. He wanted to drink his worries away.

"Forget it. I'll go to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to have a couple of drinks. In any case… I won't be able to incur losses this month."