Chapter 132 – This Game Is Completely “Ruined”

Chen Mo took the report and flipped through it casually. But when he saw the final figure on the report, he froze on the spot.

Over the 9-day holiday, Tianlong had generated over 3.6 million in revenue.

How was that possible?

He remembered that when he left, there were only a few hundred thousand in revenue left.

In other words, in just 9 days, revenue had increased by 3 million.

Chen Mo stared in disbelief at the contents of the report. Gradually, he understood what had caused it.

Because of the holiday—

There were already more people playing games, and during the break, that gaming influencer with tens of millions of followers had been live-streaming Tianlong every day.

With all these factors combined—

Tianlong’s concurrent online users had now reached 800,000.

Of those, 400,000 were new players. More than half of them had purchased the 10 yuan monthly pass. Coupled with weekly and daily pass income, that alone brought in 3 million in revenue.

Chen Mo slumped into his chair in despair.

All morning, he’d been handing out raises and increasing benefits, spending maybe a few hundred thousand.

But Tianlong had just brought in over 3 million in return.

And then Chen Mo thought of an even more terrifying issue.

If 800,000 users meant 80% bought daily passes, that would be over 60,000 in income per day.

And with weekly passes, that’s tens of thousands more per week.

Then there were the monthly passes. According to the data, over half the players had subscribed.

That meant around 4 million in monthly pass revenue alone.

All combined, Tianlong’s monthly revenue would be at least 5 million.

And more importantly—

Tianlong was still gaining new users at a steady pace.

If the userbase grew to 1 million… 2 million…

He couldn’t even imagine how high the monthly income might go.

This game is completely ruined!

Ring ring ring…

Chen Mo’s phone rang. He glanced at it—it was a call from Fang Chang.

“What’s up?”

“President Chen, we’re requesting approval for a marketing budget on our end.”

Fang Chang’s voice came through the phone.

Marketing funds?

Chen Mo’s eyes lit up. Was Fang Chang here to help him spend money? What a considerate guy!

“What kind of budget are we talking about?”

“Well, President Chen, today Wei Yan, Zhao Bowen and I took a close look at Tianlong’s backend data.”

“We discovered that the game has an exceptionally high retention rate, which means it’s fun and engaging enough to keep players around.”

“So, we all agree that we should promote Tianlong more widely and let more gamers know about it. Given its current state, it’s bound to attract even more players.”

Chen Mo’s initially gratified expression gradually darkened.

He was already worried about Tianlong’s income, and now Cangxue wanted to promote it?

If that promotion added another few hundred thousand players, he’d be done for.

“Fang Chang, as a game company, our ultimate goal should be to make a good game, so focus more on development. Don’t bring up marketing again.”

“Good wine needs no bush. If your game is good, you won’t lack players.”

Then he hung up the phone immediately.

At Cangxue Games—

Fang Chang put his phone away, shaking his head at Wei Yan and Zhao Bowen.

“President Chen rejected the marketing proposal. He said that as a game company, our focus should be on making good games, not thinking about other things.”

Wei Yan seemed to realize something.

“I think President Chen is worried that if we put too much effort into promotion, we’ll neglect the actual development.”

“After all, Tianlong has so many players now mostly due to that influencer. There’s definitely an element of luck.”

“What we need to focus on now is how to retain the 400,000+ new players brought in during the holiday.”

“They’ve only been playing for at most 9 days. That’s not enough to build lasting engagement.”

“So we need to continuously optimize the game’s content to fully retain them and turn them into long-term players.”

Fang Chang and Zhao Bowen both nodded in agreement at Wei Yan’s analysis.

At Cangxue Games, when it came to understanding President Chen, Wei Yan was second to none—and probably the main reason Chen had transferred him to this team.

“I actually have an idea. I’ve been playing Tianlong during the break,” Zhao Bowen said.

“What I found most appealing to players is the free trade system—players can grind for gear and materials and then freely trade within the game.”

“If we can maintain this trading environment, I’m sure we’ll attract even more players.”

Wei Yan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“That’s easy to handle. If we want to sustain a strong trading ecosystem, we need to focus on the trade items themselves.”

“First, make sure the traded items are always in short supply.”

“Second, make sure those items don’t last forever—just like clothes wear out or tear, they should need replacing.”

Zhao Bowen’s eyes lit up.

“I get it!”

“Maintaining scarcity is easy. I’ll just set a drop limit on gear. Once the drop count hits the cap, it stops dropping.”

“Then I’ll add a durability system. Once an item’s durability hits zero, it auto-destroys.”

“That way, we’ll create a loop where gear is always in short supply.”

“We can even add a material that repairs durability and drop it from world bosses—this’ll make players more enthusiastic about boss fights.”

“Of course, the repair material should also be limited.”

Zhao Bowen grew more and more excited. A flood of ideas for improving gameplay rushed into his head.

He left Fang Chang’s office on the spot, eager to return to his workstation and start drafting a proposal.

…

At Chenglin Decor—

Wang Yang sat at his desk, hesitating for a long time.

Finally, he walked over to Chen Jun’s workstation.

“Brother Jun, could I tag along with you for site visits these next couple days? I’d like to learn how you communicate with clients.”

“No problem. Just follow me these days. And don’t stress too much—being a rookie without orders is totally normal. It’s just that those first two deals you got were flukes and raised your expectations too high. That drop-off hit you hard.”

Chen Jun patted Wang Yang on the shoulder encouragingly.

“Thanks, Brother Jun,” Wang Yang said sincerely.

“No need to thank me.”

Chen Jun smiled broadly—he’d landed two more deals recently, and his sales figures had practically guaranteed him the quarterly top performer spot.