Chapter 212 Metamorphosis

On June 21st, the documentary *Metamorphosis*, filmed by Fei Huang Studio, was officially released on Ellie Island!

As a documentary, *Metamorphosis* did not have any embedded advertisements, nor did it receive any special revenue-sharing agreements with any website.

If estimated according to Ellie Island's regular incentive plan, even if the number of views exceeded one million, the revenue would only be a few thousand yuan, which could be described as a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, Huang Sibao and Zhu Xiaoce had pretty much given up on this idea, treating it as a labor of love.

Since Fei Huang Studio had previously released the short video series *The Daily Life of President Pei*, it already had a large number of fans, so this documentary immediately attracted widespread attention upon its release!

In the video, Li Zhengwei faced the camera and recounted his life journey over the years.

"After my dad left, I kicked the door open and ran to the Demon City alone, starting my professional career."

"Looking back now, I don't regret this choice. I feel that I was born for esports. If I had gone out to work, get married, and have children in a routine manner, I'm afraid my life would have been spent in regret."

"I'm not like those second-generation heirs born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I was unlucky, born into a poor family. But from another perspective, I'm also lucky. I chose a career that I love and made a name for myself."

"But I don't recommend that children take my path."

"After I became famous as a professional player, many people would ask me about playing professionally."

"My answer is always the same:"

"If you've really made up your mind, then you wouldn't come to ask me this question. You would leave by kicking down the door like I did, and always believe that this is my dream and I will fight for it for the rest of my life."

"If you need my advice to make a decision, then my advice is to first figure out one thing: Are you really afraid of studying and want to escape from it, or do you really understand the price you have to pay to become a professional player?"

…

Soon, a large number of player comments appeared in the video's comments section.

"Sofa!"

"I was wondering why Fei Huang Studio didn't film *The Daily Life of President Pei* anymore. It turns out they were holding back a big move!"

"This documentary looks very high-end, a big production!"

"It's a documentary about my favorite professional player, I must support it!"

"I didn't expect the life of a professional player to be so difficult... kicking down the door to play professionally is too miserable. Fortunately, my parents approved after I achieved results."

"Every word Li Ge says is very sincere."

"This documentary is really meaningful. I have a younger brother who doesn't do well in school, skips class every day to play games online, and keeps shouting that he wants to play professionally. I think Li Ge is right, he doesn't really love it, and he hasn't considered whether he has the talent for it, but is just trying to escape."

"Yeah, this documentary doesn't just promote blood, struggle, and the spirit of esports, which have already been overdone. For young people, this is actually a kind of misleading. The value of this documentary lies in the fact that it also reflects the hardships and bitterness of this industry, especially letting us know that there are so many professional players who haven't made it. It can be said to be very objective."

"I didn't expect Fei Huang Studio to create such realistic content, support!"

The player comments below the video were overwhelmingly positive!

*Metamorphosis* quickly entered the trending list of the game section, and then went on the homepage of Ellie Island, with its popularity remaining high!

…

…

June 23rd.

In Mo Yu Internet Cafe, Pei Qian turned off the documentary video on his mobile phone, took a sip of the coffee in front of him, and temporarily put down the hanging heart.

"Phew... the style has finally returned to normal."

"It really didn't make money, it's too difficult!"

*Metamorphosis* had been released for three days, and Pei Qian had been trembling for these three days.

He was afraid that Huang Sibao would suddenly call him and say, "President Pei, the documentary made money again!"

Fortunately, a similar plot did not happen.

Pei Qian repeatedly confirmed that although *Metamorphosis* had gained nearly 2 million views in three days, ranking among the top three on the entire site, it did not bring any revenue.

If calculated according to the incentive plan, the final revenue from this video would only be a few thousand yuan, a drop in the bucket.

This was completely in line with Pei Qian's previous estimates.

"Not bad, I've gained valuable experience about losing money again."

"Facts have proved that making this kind of documentary that doesn't make money is indeed a good choice."

"I feel like I can continue to invest money in Fei Huang Studio."

Pei Qian suddenly realized that after Mo Yu Internet Cafe, he seemed to have found another good way to lose money.

That is, to make films that are well-received but not profitable!

After so many failures, Pei Qian had realized a problem, that losing money was not as simple as he thought.

The system had many restrictions in order to prevent Pei Qian from maliciously creating losses, such as the system's stipulation that he could not produce shoddy products or use inferior materials, and that the games he made must have profit points, and so on.

In other words, the products launched by Pei Qian must be of high quality and cannot be deliberately ruined.

But now Pei Qian realized one thing: In the system's judgment rules, "high quality" obviously not only refers to making money, but also includes word of mouth!

The possibility of documentaries like *Metamorphosis* recovering costs was very low in the first place, but the system did not prevent it.

Including Pei Qian opening Mo Yu Internet Cafe, the possibility of losing money was very high, and the system did not prevent it.

This shows that in the system's judgment, "word of mouth" is also a very important indicator. As long as it can obtain enough and good enough word of mouth, the system will also recognize this product and will not think that Pei Qian is deliberately losing money.

Pei Qian had vaguely felt this before, but he hadn't explored it in depth, mainly because the profit models of games and film and television were different.

In the field of games, creating a good reputation often means high sales. Under the premise that the system forcibly requires the addition of profit points, the possibility of losing money on a high-reputation game is extremely small.

Although there have been games in history that were well-received but not profitable, the number is much smaller than that of movies.

But videos are different. No matter how good the reputation or how high the number of views, it is likely that they still cannot be monetized, such as this documentary.

"So, as long as I continue to let Fei Huang Studio make these films that are well-received but not profitable, I can steadily create losses!"

Pei Qian instantly found the future development direction of Fei Huang Studio.

Next time he sees Huang Sibao and Zhu Xiaoce, he will find a way to fool them and let them go on the road of documentaries and never return. This will create another stable loss-making outlet, how great!

However, Huang Sibao and the others probably won't be filming esports-themed content next time. What to film specifically will have to be discussed.

There is only one week left until the settlement, and there can be no more unreleased products.

In other words, there is not much Pei Qian can do now. He can only spend money as much as possible and pray that things will not change.

Pei Qian looked at the system funds, which were currently in a loss-making state.

"What needs to be done has been done almost, the problem now is how to maintain this loss-making state."