Chapter 1 Aftermath

After browsing through online discussions about "Shuimo Yunyan" (Ink Wash Clouds and Mist) and the "Distant Journey Project," Pei Qian finally understood why there were so many pre-orders.

Qiu Hong had bundled "Shuimo Yunyan," the "Distant Journey Project," and "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace" together for promotion!

The "Distant Journey Project" promotional video had resonated so strongly with players, both because it touched upon shared memories and because it had a high-quality domestic indie game as an introduction.

Without a game, just the promotional video wouldn't have had such a significant impact.

"Shuimo Yunyan" was just a demo, and the demo alone obviously wouldn't have been enough.

This was why Qiu Hong hadn't developed a promotional plan earlier: without a suitable catalyst, the best promotional effect couldn't be achieved.

But the unexpected popularity of "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace" provided just such a catalyst for promoting the Distant Journey Project!

It was the time before the Spring Festival, when companies of all sizes were holding annual meetings and distributing year-end bonuses.

Most office workers were dissatisfied with their companies' treatment, and many were planning to switch jobs after receiving their bonuses and finishing their vacations.

The release of "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace" resonated with these office workers, creating a positive response. It became popular not only among indie game enthusiasts but also successfully "broke out" of that circle, with many non-gamers becoming aware of the game.

Riding on the success of "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace," Qiu Hong deeply bundled "Shuimo Yunyan," the "Distant Journey Project," and the former together, letting players know that "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace" was made possible by the "Distant Journey Project," which also funded many other excellent indie game projects, such as "Shuimo Yunyan."

As a result, the heat of "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace" breaking through its original circle, the sentiments of domestic indie game enthusiasts, and players' expectations for domestic indie games were all integrated, creating such a good promotional effect!

It could be said that the current effect would have been impossible without "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace," the "Shuimo Yunyan" demo, and the "Distant Journey Project" promotional video!

What a coincidence.

Looking at the constantly increasing number of pre-orders, Pei Qian felt a bit dizzy.

In just one afternoon, the game's pre-sale volume had exceeded 50,000 copies, and judging from the current popularity, it was likely to increase tenfold within the next week!

Although domestic indie game players were a minority compared to mainstream players, even a small minority still consisted of several million active players in terms of sheer numbers.

Moreover, the smaller the circle, the more concentrated the attention on excellent domestic indie games. "Shuimo Yunyan" would probably soon generate heated discussions among indie game players, just like "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace!"

Pei Qian did some quick calculations and sensed danger.

The official price of "Shuimo Yunyan" was 45 yuan, considered medium-high among domestic indie games. This pre-sale wasn't a full payment pre-sale, but rather a one-third payment, which was 15 yuan.

Based on the current trend, if 500,000 copies were sold within the next week, the official platform's share would arrive before the settlement.

The only good news was that the game wasn't being released under Tengda's name, so it wouldn't enjoy Tengda's high revenue share privilege and could only get sixty percent even with the special preferential policies for indie games.

On top of that, Tengda would take thirty percent.

That meant that the pre-sales of "Shuimo Yunyan" alone would generate at least 1.3 million yuan before the settlement!

And besides that, there was also the money earned by "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace."

The money didn't seem like much, but Pei Qian felt like a camel overloaded with straw. When the settlement came, this absurd sum of over a million yuan could very well be the difference between heaven and hell.

What if he made a profit with this extra million? Who could he reason with then?

Pei Qian was extremely annoyed.

This Qiu Hong, why did he have to cause trouble at such a crucial moment!

Couldn't he just honestly go home for the New Year? Did he have to release a promotional video and demo the day before the holiday to earn some pre-sale money?

Too much!

Thinking of this, Pei Qian immediately dialed Qiu Hong's number.

...

At this time, Qiu Hong had just finished treating everyone at the incubation base to a feast and returned to his rented apartment in the capital to pack, preparing to catch an early flight home tomorrow morning.

Receiving a call from Boss Pei, Qiu Hong couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised.

"Did Boss Pei see the high heat of the Distant Journey Project video and is very happy, calling to especially affirm my work results?"

Previously, the entire incubation base had only completed two games, and neither of them sold well. But even so, Boss Pei praised Qiu Hong, saying that the results were significant and the progress was rapid, encouraging him to keep up the good work.

Qiu Hong figured that according to such evaluation standards, now that "A Guide to Surviving the Workplace" and "Shuimo Yunyan" had been released, and the "Distant Journey Project" video was also well-received, Boss Pei must be overjoyed, right?

He hurriedly answered the phone, waiting to receive Boss Pei's praise.

However, Boss Pei's first sentence directly stumped him.

"Who told you to put a half-finished game on the official platform for pre-orders?!"

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

The game clearly wasn't finished yet. Why couldn't he just honestly release it in the next cycle and not affect his settlement for this cycle!

As a result, Qiu Hong's pre-order move caught Pei Qian completely off guard.

Qiu Hong was stunned for a moment, then said somewhat blankly, "Boss Pei, isn't pre-ordering very common in the indie game scene..."

Pei Qian couldn't help but fall silent for a moment: "Uh..."

He thought about it, and what Qiu Hong said was actually true.

The esro official platform actually encouraged indie games to do pre-sales. The reason was simple: it was essentially the same as crowdfunding.

Indie game developers often lacked money and resources. There were bound to be various compromises in the production process, and the conditions weren't quite right to bring the game to a very high level of completion in all aspects.

Pre-sales allowed those good-quality indie games that were popular with players to get some money in advance, which helped maintain development costs on the one hand and boosted the developers' confidence on the other.

Of course, there might be some unscrupulous developers who were suspected of cheating money. For example, they would update a very fun demo, get a large sum of pre-sale money, and then slowly develop the game, turning it into a series that might never be finished.

However, the official platform also had corresponding penalties for such developers. Moreover, such people were a minority after all. The rules that benefited all indie game developers shouldn't be cancelled because of a few bad apples.

Therefore, Qiu Hong's move to put the "Shuimo Yunyan" demo up for pre-sale was indeed in line with the usual practices of indie games and was a behavior advocated by the official platform.

So, Pei Qian's questioning seemed a little unreasonable.

After a moment of silence, Pei Qian said with a clear conscience: "Why do other indie games like to do pre-sales? It's because those developers are short of money and can only get development funds in advance through pre-sales!"

"Are the Distant Journey Project developers short of development funds?"

Qiu Hong was stumped: "Uh, this..."

Pei Qian didn't give him much time to react and continued: "Since you're not short of money, why do a pre-sale?"

"Pre-sales are actually equivalent to using players' sympathy and shifting the risk of subsequent game development failure from the developers to the players."

"The official platform supports this behavior mainly because most indie game developers' conditions are too poor and they need players to contribute and support them."

"Although this behavior is a matter of mutual consent, it ultimately damages the interests of the players somewhat. The best way should be one hand pays, one hand delivers. The game is completed and released, and players buy it if they like it."

"Since the Distant Journey Project indie game developers aren't short of money, then there's no need to do a pre-sale. Isn't it better to release the game directly after it's completed?"

Qiu Hong was speechless for a moment: "This..."

He suddenly felt that what Boss Pei said was indeed very reasonable!

In fact, Qiu Hong had only done a pre-sale according to the conventional practices of indie games and hadn't thought too much. But now that he thought about it carefully, this behavior was indeed a bit inappropriate.

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

Pei Qian thought for a moment and asked: "Can you change the pre-order payment to 0? Then refund the players who have already paid."

Qiu Hong hesitated for a moment: "Uh... Boss Pei, it can't be changed to 0, the minimum can be changed to one-third of the current price, which is five yuan; the refund procedures will be more troublesome, and the authority is not enough, so esro officials may not approve it."

"If Tengda personally comes forward, it's possible, but that would be equivalent to announcing the relationship between Tengda and the Distant Journey Project..."

Pei Qian immediately said: "That's definitely not possible. In that case, change the pre-order price to 5 yuan. We'll compensate those players who have already pre-ordered for 15 yuan."

Qiu Hong added: "Also, Boss Pei, the official has always been very unsupportive of such price changes, because both price increases and decreases actually affect the interests of players."

Pei Qian nodded: "Yes, I understand."

"Our behavior must have affected the interests of the players, so we have to apologize and compensate them!"

"How about this, like I said before, change the pre-order money to 5 yuan. For those who have already paid, give the game an 80% discount, which is 36 yuan, and then issue an apology announcement, saying that we didn't expect the players to be so enthusiastic and that we felt that the previous pre-order price was too high, so we're lowering it a bit, hoping that the players will understand."

For Pei Qian, cutting the pre-order money from 15 yuan to 5 yuan would reduce the money earned by the "Shuimo Yunyan" demo this week by at least several hundred thousand.

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

As for the players who had already pre-ordered for 15 yuan, Pei Qian would take this opportunity to give them a discount and earn less money.

Qiu Hong hurriedly said: "Okay, Boss Pei, I'll communicate with the people on the official platform about this."