Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian finally understood why there were so many pre-orders after flipping through discussions related to Black Ink and Clouds and Destitution Plan online.

That was because Qiu Hong had tied Black Ink and Clouds, the Destitution Plan, and the Survival Guide for Working Adults together for publicity!

The promotional video of the 'Destitution Plan' could cause such a huge reaction. On one hand, it reignited the common memories of many gamers and resonated widely. On the other hand,there were also high-quality domestically-produced independent games as the catalyst.

It would not have caused such a huge reaction if there was no game accompanying this promotional video.

Black Ink and Clouds was just a demo. It was obviously not enough just for this demo.

That was also the reason why Qiu Hong did not come up with a publicity plan in the beginning. He naturally could not achieve the best publicity effect without an opportunity.

However, the Survival Guide for Working Adults had unexpectedly exploded in popularity, providing an opportunity for the promotion of the Destitution Plan!

It was before Chinese New Year. It was the time for various companies to hold annual meetings and distribute year-end bonuses.

Most of the working adults were not satisfied with the treatment given by their own companies. Many of them were planning to change jobs after receiving their year-end bonuses and taking leave.

The release of the Survival Guide for Working Adults resonated well with the office workers. Not only did it become popular among independent gaming enthusiasts, but it also successfully became mainstream. Many office workers who did not play games also knew about this game.

Qiu Hong had used the success of the Survival Guide for Working Adults and tied the Black Ink and Clouds and 'Destitution Plan' to it. He had let gamers know that the reason why the Survival Guide for Working Adults could be successfully produced was because of the sponsorship of the 'Destitution Plan'. The 'Destitution Plan' had also sponsored many outstanding independent game projects, such as Black Ink and Clouds.

Thus, the popularity of the Survival Guide for Working Adults had broken out of their own circle. The sentiments of the local independent game enthusiasts, and gamers' expectations for domestically-produced and independent games had all been integrated together. That was the good publicity effect!

It would not be able to achieve its current effect if any one of the publicity videos of the Survival Guide for Working Adults, Black Ink and Clouds' demo, and the Destitution Plan was lacking!

What a coincidence.

Pei Qian felt a little dizzy as he looked at the increasing number of pre-orders.

In just one afternoon, the pre-sales sales of this game had already broken 50,000 copies. Moreover, judging from the current popularity, it was very likely that it would increase by ten times in the next week!

Even though domestic independent gamers were a minority compared to mainstream gamers, there were still millions of active gamers in terms of size.

What's more, the smaller the circle, the more attention it would have on domestically-produced and outstanding independent games. Black Ink and Clouds would probably become a hot topic among independent gamers like the Survival Guide for Working Adults!

Pei Qian did some calculation and felt that something was amiss.

The official pricing of Black Ink and Clouds was 45 yuan. It was considered above average in domestically-produced independent games. The pre-sales this time was not a full-term pre-sales, but a third of it, which was 15 yuan.

Based on current trends, if 500,000 copies were sold in the next week, the official platform would be able to settle the bill before settlement.

The only good news was that the game was not distributed in the name of Tengda. Therefore, it did not enjoy the privilege of Tengda's high share of the profits. It could only get sixty percent even if it included the special preferential policies of independent games.

On this basis, Tengda would get thirty percent.

In other words, the pre-sales of Ink and Clouds before settlement would be more than 1.3 million yuan!

On top of that, there was also the money earned from the Survival Guide for Working Adults.

It might not seem like a lot of money, but Pei Qian felt like a camel with straw on its back. When it came to settlement, this one million yuan could be the difference between heaven and hell.

What if he earned more than a million yuan? Who could he reason with then?

Pei Qian was furious.

Why was this Qiu Hong finding trouble for me at such a crucial time!

Couldn't he just go home and celebrate the new year? Why did he have to create a publicity video a day before the holidays? He had even posted a DEMO to earn some pre-sales money?

It was too much!

Pei Qian immediately called Qiu Hong at that thought.

…

At that moment, Qiu Hong had just treated everyone in the incubation base to a feast. He returned to the house he rented in Beijing to pack his things and prepare to fly home early the next morning.

Qiu Hong could not help but feel surprised when he received Boss Pei's call.

"Could it be that Boss Pei saw the popularity of the Destitution Plan video and specially called to affirm the results of my work because he was very happy?"

Before this, the entire incubation base had only completed two games. What's more, they were not selling well. Even so, Boss Pei still praised Qiu Hong, saying that the effects were obvious and that he was improving rapidly. He wanted him to work harder.

Qiu Hong pondered for a while. According to such standards, the videos of Survival Guide for Working Adults, Black Ink and Clouds video and the Destitution Plan had been quite well received. Wouldn't Boss Pei be overjoyed?

He quickly picked up the phone and waited for Boss Pei to praise him.

However, Boss Pei's first question stumped him.

"Who asked you to put a semi-finished game on the official platform for pre-order?!"

Pei Qian's tone was stern because he was indeed very angry.

The game had not been completed yet. You should sell it in the next cycle. Don't affect my settlement!

However, Qiu Hong's pre-order caught Pei Qian off guard.

Qiu Hong was stunned for a moment. He looked a little confused as he said, "Boss Pei, isn't pre-sales very common in independent gaming circles…"

Pei Qian could not help but fall silent. "Er…"

He thought about it. Qiu Hong was right.

ESRO's official platform was actually encouraging independent games to be presold. The reason was very simple. It was just like crowdfunding.

Independent game designers often lacked money and resources. There would definitely be all sorts of compromises during the production process. In order to achieve a high completion rate for the game, various conditions were actually not allowed.

On the other hand, the pre-sales would allow those quality and popular independent games to earn some money in advance. On one hand, it would help out with the development fees, and on the other hand, it would increase the producer's confidence.

Of course, there might be some lousy producers who would be suspected of scamming money. For example, they could update a very fun DEMO and slowly develop the game after receiving a huge amount of pre-sales money. They could turn the game into a 'to-be-completed-sometime-in-this-lifetime" series and not be released.

However, the official platform also had corresponding punishments for such producers. What's more, such people were in the minority after all. They could not cancel this rule that was beneficial to all independent game designers just because of some black sheep.

Thus, Qiu Hong taking the DEMO of "Black Ink and Clouds" for pre-sales was indeed in line with the usual routine of independent games. It was an action advocated by the official platform.

Thus, Pei Qian's question seemed unreasonable.

After a moment of silence, Pei Qian said righteously, "Why do the other independent games like pre-sales? It's because the producers lack money. They can only use pre-sales to refund and obtain development funds!"

"Are the producers of the Poor Plan lacking in development funds?"

Qiu Hong was stumped. "Er, this…"

Pei Qian did not give him much time to react. He continued, "If we are not lacking in funds, why do we want to do pre-sales?"

"Pre-sales is actually using the players' sympathy to transfer the risk of failure from the developer to the players."

"The official platform supports this behavior mainly because the conditions of most independent game designers are too poor. They need players to contribute and support them."

"Such action might be a punishment skillfully given by one that is gladly accepted by another, it still hurts the interests of the players. The best way should be to hand over money and goods at the same time. Once the game is done and released, players can buy it if they like it."

"Since the independent game creator of the Destitution Plan does not lack money, shouldn't we not start pre-sales and wait for the game to be developed before selling it?"

Qiu Hong was speechless. "This…"

He suddenly felt that what Boss Pei said made sense!

In fact, Qiu Hong had only set up a pre-sales based on the usual routine of independent games. He had not thought too much about it. However, now that he thought about it carefully, this behavior was indeed inappropriate.

Qiu Hong quickly asked, "Boss Pei, what should we do now?"

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and asked, "Can you change it to 0 yuan? Then, you can refund the players who have already paid."

Qiu Hong hesitated for a moment. "Er… Boss Pei, we can't change it to 0. At the very most, we can change it to one-third of what it is now, which is five yuan. The refund process would be more troublesome. We don't have enough authority, ESRO might not approve it."

"It might be possible if Tengda were to intervene. However, that would be equivalent to announcing the relationship between Tengda and Destitution Plan…"

Pei Qian immediately said, "Of course not. Since that's the case, we'll change the pre-order price to five yuan. We'll compensate the players who have already spent 15 yuan pre-order."

Qiu Hong added, "Also, Boss Pei, the officials have never been very supportive of such price changing behavior. It would affect the players' interests no matter whether it is raising or lowering prices."

Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, that's understandable."

"Our actions must have affected the interests of the players. We have to apologize and compensate them!"

"How about this? As I said before, we'll change the pre-order money to five yuan. For those who have already paid, we'll give the game a twenty percent discount, which is 36 yuan. Then, we'll make an announcement to apologize. We'll say that we didn't expect gamers to be so passionate. We think that the pre-order price was set high. We'll lower it now and hope gamers can understand."

To Pei Qian, cutting the pre-order money from fifteen yuan to five yuan meant that the money earned by DEMO this week would be reduced by hundreds of thousands.

It was good to be able to take a small handful of straw off the camel's back.

As for the players who had already spent 15 yuan on pre-order purchases, Pei Qian could use this opportunity to give them a discount and earn less.

Qiu Hong quickly said, "Alright, Boss Pei. I'll talk to the official platform now."