Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Although Lin Wan could not accurately describe the difference between web-based games and client-side games, she could roughly understand the risks associated with doing something like that.

Client-side games and web-based games were completely different.

That meant that their traditional gameplay, core, and target audience were very different.

Only complete idiots would think that the transition from playing web-based games to client-side games was easy.

Transitions from a higher level to a lower level might be easier such as the transitions from client-side games to web-based games or web-based games to mobile games.

However, even so, special support from the game was required.

If one tried to do it in reverse such as the transition from web-based games to client-side games, they would have to change too many things. It would be as difficult as learning everything from scratch.

Yet, Shang Yang Games had already confirmed the research and development of Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. Even the design manuscript was complete. What's more, this was Boss Pei's decision—nobody could change it at will.

This meant that in order for them to spend that much money, making the game a mini-client would be the only way.

Just like Wang Xiaobin said, there were huge risks associated with making the game a mini-client.

Players would have to download fewer resources for mini-client games compared to client-side games. However, the graphics would look better than web-based games. On the surface, this looked like a perfect solution that could satisfy both sides.

However, from another angle, it could be seen as a way to fail both sides.

For client-side gamers, the graphics for the new game would look worse than ordinary client-side games.

For web-based gamers, it might be troublesome to ask them to download content. The fact that they could not access the game as and when they liked might be a turn-off.

There was a chance that both types of players would not like the game. Then, it would completely fail.

Everyone turned to look at Lin Wan. As the director, she had to make the call.

Lin Wan began to panic inside.

When she was at Tengda, she was put in charge of certain tasks. However, she never had to make such important decisions.

One had to understand that a decision like that could affect everyone's work for the next few months. It also concerned millions of yuan.

If they succeeded, of course, there would be nothing more to say.

However, if they failed, everyone would have worked in vain. What's more, they would have made ducks and drakes of the money.

Lin Wan felt immense pressure bearing a burden like that. Instinctively, she thought about walking away and consulting Boss Pei on this.

However, on second thought, she decided not to. Boss Pei had made her in charge of Shang Yang Games because he had high hopes for her! If she consulted Boss Pei on every little thing, wouldn't she be akin to a telephone? She would be letting Boss Pei down.

Lin Wan fell into deep thought.

If I were Boss Pei, what would I do now?

Phew… calm down. Boss Pei is always making unexpected decisions. However, on closer inspection, his decisions were reasonable.

Would Boss Pei reduce the budget estimate? He would not. Would Boss Pei care about whether players liked the mini-client or not? I don't think he would.

Boss Pei would probably make the decision for the players. He wouldn't care whether they accepted it in the beginning or not.

Thus… it's quite clear what Boss Pei would do.

After pondering for a while, Lin Wan decisively said, "We'll make a mini-client. We will not make any changes to the design. We will just improve all the art resources and turn them from 2D to 3D."

Lin Wan looked quite confident.

The source of this confidence was not from inside herself but from her accurate prediction of what Boss Pei would do.

This was the self-cultivation of an employee of Tengda!

…

…

After the meeting…

Ye Zhizhou went back to his own work desk and started editing his budget estimate and requirement form. It was a good thing that their budget estimate was more than double of the original. However, to Ye Zhizhou, editing the various requirement forms was a pain.

Fortunately, this was a good kind of pain.

While he was busy, his cell phone's screen suddenly lit up. He glanced at it and saw that it was a message from Boss Pei.

"How's the progress?"

Ye Zhizhou perked up at once. Great! Boss Pei is taking the initiative to ask me!

Ye Zhizhou still felt worried about Lin Wan's decision.

Doubling the budget estimate and turning the game from a web-based one to a mini-client were quite risky moves. Without Boss Pei's confirmation, Ye Zhizhou could not relax. Yet, he could not possibly have reported the matter to Boss Pei. That would have made him a snitch.

Of course, it was great that Boss Pei had now taken the initiative to check in on him.

Ye Zhizhou quickly explained to him the outcome of the meeting. He mainly talked about the budget estimate and converting the game to a mini-client. His intention was to clarify any doubts Boss Pei might have had about this arrangement.

Two minutes later, he received Boss Pei's response.

"Very good, go with this. If there is any problem you cannot solve in the future, just listen to Director Lin."

Boss Pei had no issue with it. In fact, he completely agreed with Director Lin's decisions!

Ye Zhizhou could not help but feel emotional. After all, Lin Wan was a director parachuted in from Tengda. Of course, she would live up to her reputation.

Initially, during the meeting, Ye Zhizhou was suspicious of Lin Wan. This was because Lin Wan had suggested such a huge change to the game without asking a single question about the design manuscript. This made Ye Zhizhou feel like she was being rash.

Now that Boss Pei had validated her move, his suspicions dissipated like smoke.

Could Boss Pei possibly make a wrong decision?

What's more, just as Director Lin had said, Boss Pei approved the budget estimate of five million yuan without any hesitation. He did not even have a single doubt about doing something as risky as changing the game into a mini-client.

It looked like Director Lin understood Boss Pei many times more than any of them did!

Would this mean that the burden of carrying Shang Yang Games could finally be lifted off the ever-busy Boss Pei's shoulders?

…

…

Pei Qian put down his phone, feeling quite good.

Lin Wan was doing even better than he had expected!

Pei Qian had mainly been worried that Lin Wan would fold her arms at Shang Yang Games and not dare to do anything. That would have made her a commander with a polished rod.

If that had been the case, Lin Wan would not experience strong disappointment in the face of setbacks. She might blame others for it instead of willingly going back to carry on her family business.

However, from the looks of the current situation, Lin Wan was playing her role well!

She was fully cooperating with Pei Qian without even having to discuss things with him!

Not only had she spent so much money, but she also suggested changing a stable web-based game into a mini-client.

Pei Qian knew about mini-clients, but he also knew that this model would never become the main model for web-based games.

It was not so now, and it would not be so in the future as well.

Indeed, some web-based games created mini-clients. However, these were just meant to be the icing on the cake. What's more, most mini-clients were limited to 50 MB. They did not get bigger than that.

At the rate Shang Yang Games was going, not only would they raise the hardware requirements of the game, but they would also increase the size of the downloadable client. It would add up to at least 200 to 300 MB.

Many players who used their office computers or old computers to play the game would be scared off!

To put it bluntly, the game would not be able to please client-side gamers or web-based gamers. Not only that, but it would also cost much more to produce it. It was perfect!

A web-based game like that would cost about five million yuan to produce. Subsequently, based on the way things developed, he could probably pour another two or three million yuan into marketing. Its research and development would probably be completed much sooner than Repent and be Saved.

Then, he could publish it a month in advance and ensure losses sooner. Pei Qian loved the sound of that!