Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

April 4th, Monday…

Pei Qian adjusted his targets at work for the next two days when he woke up.

First, he would make arrangements for the profitable Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games gaming departments!

Shang Yang Games would be pushing for the IOI domestic server with all their might.

Pei Qian would also find something for Tengda Games to work on. Otherwise, IOI might really not be able to beat GOG if Hu Xianbin continuously updated GOG, created new heroes, and increased their publicity efforts.

GOG had been working well on the domestic server after all. IOI had to think of a way to snatch all the players from GOG.

As to what kind of jobs should he give to Hu Xianbin…

Pei Qian decided to learn from his experiences to create a standalone game that no one would like!

The success of Tomorrow is Beautiful was a very hard hit on Pei Qian. It made him doubt life. Why wasn't the audience angry even though he seemed to think that it would infuriate them? It wasn't even reasonable!

Pei Qian came to a comprehension after deep thoughts.

It was his way of expression! If the audience were to put themselves in the shoes of the protagonist of Tomorrow is Beautiful, they would definitely feel sad and frustrated that they would rather die.

However, this was a movie.

Zhu Xiaoce used a special method to enable the audiences to maintain God's view. None of them could feel the way the protagonists felt. That led them to be unable to read more into it and be more empathetic.

Therefore, the meaning changed immediately.

That was the greatest failure of Tomorrow is Beautiful to Pei Qian. There was just a thin line between making huge losses and making huge profits.

Therefore, Pei Qian concluded that giving poison to the audience itself was not a wrong view. Otherwise, no one would say 'bow down to reality'. He had to be tactical about how he fed the poison.

He had to make the feeling very strong! As long as he could bring everyone into the tragic character, then it would definitely bring about his desired effect.

Pei Qian felt that he had found the crux of the problem why Tomorrow is Beautiful was profitable. He just needed to test his theory out.

However, how should he test it out…?

The Fei Huang Workspace was taken out by Pei Qian. Moreover, he would not want to touch movies again in the short term. Once bitten, twice shy.

In comparison, games were a form of art to bring into! Some suffering in the movies would not arouse too much resentment. However, it would be different if the protagonist were to be bullied as the player.

Of course, some people might say that Repent and be Saved had not aroused the resentment of players but made the players very happy instead.

That was a complete misunderstanding.

Repent and be Saved was a game of suffering, but what players liked was not the feeling of suffering but the feeling of becoming stronger after suffering. In the end, it was the sense of accomplishment to overcome difficulties.

In other words, such players were not extreme masochists. On the contrary, they were extremely sadistic.

Almost all the games in the world had to give players enough positive feedback to have fun.

Pei Qian had already decided that this game would not give any players positive feedback. He would just pass on completely negative energy!

Wasn't this 'bowing down to reality'?

He had to make an extremely realistic game this time and definitely make it so that he had no friends!

This time, Boss Pei decided to do it personally or to write the story outline of the game himself to prevent Hu Xianbin from misinterpreting his intentions. He had to give the players a clear understanding!

Of course, Pei Qian also knew that it did not necessarily mean that this game would be able to make a loss. The failure of Game Designer was a very deep lesson to him. Pei Qian also thought that the narrative of Game Designer was abusive to the players, but the players were not angry at all. It became a huge plus.

Things spiraled out of control after Teacher Qiao over-interpreted it.

Pei Qian had thought of a countermeasure for these. He would never repeat these mistakes again, let alone fall twice into the same puddle!

In short, Pei Qian learned the experience and lessons of Tomorrow is Beautiful and Game Designer. He had to pin it all on this one!

…

In the guest room of the gaming department…

Hu Xianbin was obviously nervous. Pei Qian called Hu Xianbin to the guest room individually to tell him about the concept of this new game. Pei Qian did not call for the other more senior staff like Li Yada and Bao Xu.

That was because these people had participated in the development of Game Designer and had a deep level of understanding of its success. Pei Qian was afraid that their participation would cause this new project to go wrong.

Pei Qian, therefore, decided to isolate these senior staff.

He would get these seniors who had participated in the development of the Game Designer to maintain the GOG casually. He would then bring the new group of employees like Hu Xianbin who had no experience in standalone game development to be in charge of the new game.

To ensure that the project could reach the level he expected, Pei Qian would explain everything to Hu Xianbin clearly this time to prevent him from using his imagination.

Pei Qian took a few sips of tea and started to talk about his idea.

"The name of this game is called 'Struggle'. It will be an interactive game with realistic themes. All characters have to be made in high-definition motion capture, and the quality of the drawing should be in line with SA masterpieces.

"Of course, due to the short process of the game, it probably would not cost a lot, perhaps… prepare 40 million yuan first. I'll add more if it isn't enough.

"Temporarily set the development period to be five months. Let's try to get it going on 1st September."

Hu Xianbin was at a loss.

What was that? Interactive movie game with a realism theme? What kind of godly combination was this?

The so-called interactive movie game could be regarded as an adventure game with exquisite graphics. Players would be able to choose different routes and play different endings after the story began. They only needed to make decisions among a few options without actually needing to operate anything.

Some interactive movie games used game graphics while others used real scenery and actors for the shot. They were all costly.

However, Boss Pei's request for all characters to be in high-definition motion capture and in line with 3A masterpieces… might cost more than the real set and actor shooting.

Forty million yuan was enough to make a movie…

Hu Xianbin felt huge pressure while being in a daze.

Why did it sound unreliable?!

Hu Xianbin would have thought that someone had passed the wrong information if he did not hear Boss Pei speak himself.

Pei Qian continued. "The name 'Struggle' is to allow players to re-experience their struggles in reality. The game will be sold in two different parts. 'Rich' and 'Poor' versions. They will be sold separately.

" 'Struggle' Rich version is to be sold to the poor. Its original price would be at 29 yuan and 19 yuan after discount; 'Struggle' Poor version would be sold to the rich with its original price at 99 yuan and the discounted price at 79 yuan.

"The player will enjoy the discount if they buy only one version. However, they would have to pay the full price, a total of 128 yuan if they were to buy both versions."

Hu Xianbin blinked. "Erm… is there any deep meaning to this?"

Pei Qian nodded. "Of course. The poor have no money but want to experience the life of the rich. Therefore, the price is lower. The rich have money but want to experience the life of the poor so the price has to be higher. There is no second chance in life so it will cost more to experience it all."

Hu Xianbin was silent and said with emotion, "Even Boss Pei's pricing can be so philosophical…"

Pei Qian continued. "No matter whether it was the rich or poor version, they would be divided into several stages. They would grow up from infancy and go to school before entering society, from work life to live, from entertainment to rest. We have to show as many aspects of the life of the poor and rich through as many scenes as possible.

"In the rich version, the player plays the role of a rich man. He would have no worries from childhood. Everything would be smooth sailing for him. He could easily achieve success in all aspects of life, career, and relationships.

"However, he would die in the hands of a homeless man.

"In the poor version, a player would play as a poor man, having inadequate amounts of food and clothing. His path would be filled with thorns and have no way of making it even after he grew up. He could only continue his cycle of poverty."

Hu Xianbin was stunned. "And then?"

Pei Qian: "And then? Nothing else. That is the entire content of the game."

Hu Xianbin was even more confused now. "Shouldn't there be many endings for an interactive movie game?"

Pei Qian shook his head. "No, this game would only have two endings no matter the combination and permutation of options you choose. The rich would be killed by a homeless man, and the poor continue to get poorer."

I will never make the same mistake of having many endings like the instance with Game Designer again! Pei Qian thought to himself.

Hu Xianbin was shocked. "What would the players play for if everything was doomed from the start?"

"The process will be different. There will be a different branch every time the player chooses a different route, but all the branches will return to the same ending," Pei Qian explained. "The difference in the branches would not be reflected in the ending.

"We must fill in as many details for all aspects of life under the big framework of this game.

"For example, the poor can only attend ordinary schools with low quality of education while the rich attend expensive aristocratic schools. When seeking for jobs, the poor would often run into walls with interviews while the rich work directly for their fathers.

"The girlfriend who had been with the poor for many years would break up with him because they couldn't afford to buy a house while the rich brought different girls home from nightclubs every day.

"When they get married, the poor will only be able to buy a small second-hand house with the help of the whole family while the rich would have mansions prepared. They need to do nothing but watch their estate grow more than the poor can ever earn with their hard work…

"Do you understand?"

Hu Xianbin's lips twitched. "I… understand all too well."

"Oh, right, the backdrop should be in Europe. Find some foreigners for motion capture and dubbing," Pei Qian added.

"Boss Pei, does this game have… any profound meaning?" Hu Xianbin asked.

Pei Qian laughed. "You don't need to know; just do what you are tasked with well enough.

"I'll come up with the framework of the story; you and the production team will be responsible for improving the plot. Show me the plot when you are done to make sure that there is no deviation from my thoughts.

"Alright, you can go prepare now.

"You can work on art resources first. You roughly know what kinds of roles there would be with a little imagination anyway. People like parents, teachers, classmates, bosses, etc."

Pei Qian turned to leave after a few simple sentences.

He left Hu Xianbin pulling his hair out, thinking hard.

Teacher, that question was really out of the syllabus! I really cannot understand!

…

Pei Qian was also fully prepared to lose all his hard-earned money this time. The pricing was meaningful.

The poor version could also be called the ultimate suffering version. One could suffer all the sins one had suffered in reality and be the ultimate masochist.

The rich version could also be called the gold-foil-wrapped version. Everything was smooth sailing at first, which would make the player feel good. However, they would die in the hands of a poor person.

Pei Qian specially set it at a low price of 19 yuan, taking into account that the rich version was wrapped in gold foil, which would only reveal itself at the end. Yet, the poor one was a full ride of masochism so he set it at a high price of 79 yuan.

To prevent players from generating some inexplicable interpretations by playing the two versions together, Pei Qian deliberately increased the price of buying the two versions together.

If the players really wanted to buy, the best choice would be to buy the 19-yuan rich version. It would not cost much, and the risk of Pei Qian making money was very low.

The contents were more excessive. In addition to the masochism throughout the entire process, the key was that both endings were terrible. The players would not be able to change these two endings no matter how hard the player tried in the game!

Who would play such a game? It was absolutely impossible!

Pei Qian really steeled his heart to 'bow down to reality' this time. He would do his best to make ducks and drakes of the 40 million yuan. Please do not let a single penny come back to him!