Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

How did my loss-incurring mini-client turn into a mobile game?

The corners of Lin Wan’s mouth curled upwards. She could not help but grin. “Boss Pei, didn’t you give me the hint? I asked you when to expect a change in Bloody Battle Song’s situation, and you replied ‘at the right time’. “Mobile games are extremely popular at the moment. Isn’t that the ‘right time’?

“Weren’t you hinting to me to keep up with the times and create a mobile game instead?”

Pei Qian fell silent for a moment. “…I think there must have been a misunderstanding.”

Lin Wan’s smile widened.

Boss Pei was modest and open-minded indeed.

“Boss Pei, I know that you’re trying your best to give us the credit.

“Why did you hint to me to work with Shenhua’s cell phone business then? Don’t tell me that you didn’t know Lin Yu is Shenhua’s vice-president and happens to be in charge of the cell phone business.

“If not for your suggestion, Lin Yu would not have given me recommendation spots, and I would never have thought of advertising Bloody Battle Song on Shenhua’s application store.”

Pei Qian, “???”

I told Lin Yu to look for you just to give you an allowance of a hundred thousand yuan! Who told her to give you recommendation spots?!

If he had known that Lin Wan would offer Lin Wan recommendation spots in her application store, Pei Qian would have taken the hundred thousand yuan without another word!

Pei Qian looked at Ye Zhizhou, confused.

Ye Zhizhou looked elated as well. He raised up his thumb and said, “Boss Pei, I want to say that you have acute foresight indeed!

“Look at the comments on the game.” Pei Qian frowned slightly and entered Bloody Battle Song’s comments section. A whole bunch of good ratings and comments flooded his vision.

“At first, I swore that I would not play the rubbish game that Zha Zhuti advertised. In the end… hehe, I take back my words!”

“This was an extremely surprising game. I thought that the game would resort to cheating like other web-based games. Yet, it seems completely different! Other games fill their screen with payment options, but this game only allows you to purchase strength potions. Its creators are so good-hearted! It reminds me of when I first played Ghost General!”

“Indeed, Ghost General was a game with a heart, but mobile card games are tacky. Bloody Battle Song allows for a lot of interaction. Now, I’m waiting for wars every single day. It’s so interesting!” “I’ve misunderstood this game. I’m giving it full marks for encouragement!”

“This game is more satisfying than any other game I’ve played recently. Its graphics are good, it’s top-quality, and it is kind with payment options. What’s more, the mobile and mini-client versions interoperate. The developer is a genius!”

“Zha Zhuti, I’ve misunderstood you! You said that this war game is fair, but I thought you were lying. I never would have expected that you were telling the truth the whole time!”

“Honest advertisements are hard to come by!”

“As a web-based gamer, I have never seen such a good-hearted game. I must give it full marks!”

“You won’t be tortured by ballers in this game. Everyone is equal. It feels so good; I must buy as much as I can! I’m buying the maximum number of strength potions!” After reading all the good comments, Pei Qian fell into a state of shock. The intelligent Boss Pei suddenly realized what had happened.

Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version was converted from a mini-client to a mobile game. That was why everything changed! The game’s biggest problem was the lack of players. However, after turning it into a mobile game, the problem was completely resolved!

Mobile games were becoming increasingly popular. From Qute Three Kingdoms to Ghost General, mobile games were becoming more and more complicated and serious. Games like Bloody Battle Song, which turned web-based operations into mobile-friendly ones, would become the norm in the future.

Under these circumstances, the first of such projects would surely earn the most praise and support. It might even pioneer changes in the industry!

The mobile version of Bloody Battle Song enjoyed almost guaranteed success. Different factors came together to ensure this.

Zhang Zuting’s brainwashing advertisement had caught the attention of many potential players. Shenhua’s application store’s recommendations directed large numbers of excellent users to the game as well.

Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version was a game with a heart, just like Ghost General. Ordinary players were sure to praise it to no end.

The game was also top-quality. Although it could not compare to client-side games, they had spent five million yuan on art resources alone. This allowed the game to rise above other mobile games, crushing its competitors.

The ‘Chosen One’ system allowed ordinary players to have a pleasant gaming experience that was normally exclusive to ballers. Naturally, these players would enjoy Bloody Battle Song more than other web-based games.

All in all, once the game appeared in the mobile game industry, it immediately became a hit. News of it spread like wildfire!

Pei Qian was completely dumbfounded.

He had gotten rid of most purchase options in Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version, but how much revenue the game generated depended on the number of players! If there were too many players, even if they only sold strength potions, they could still make a profit. In fact, Pei Qian was thinking of an even more terrifying possibility.

Many guilds would want to boost their numbers. That meant players would likely have more than one account!

The ‘Chosen One’ system selected players based on chance. This meant that the more accounts one had, the higher their chances would be of being selected by the system.

Then, rich players could buy strength potions using their alternate accounts. After all, they did not cost much.

With that many players, a game could generate profits no matter how low its paywall was! A realization dawned on Pei Qian. “This game must be making a huge profit, right?”

Lin Wan quickly became modest. “It won’t make too much money. Wang Xiaobin did his calculations. According to the rate at which players are joining the game, we would make four to five million yuan a month at most. It would probably not surpass Ocean Stronghold.”

Pei Qian paused. “Four to five million yuan?!”

How could it earn that much?!

Pei Qian knew very well that this amount would not sound ridiculous for the mobile games industry in the future. However, the mobile games market was just not that big now!

What’s more, Bloody Battle Song had very low paywalls. Even if it had many players and a good reputation, it seemed unlikely to be able to earn that much.

Lin Wan smiled subtly. “Shenhua’s games platform is splitting the profit with us 10-90. We’re taking 90%.” Pei Qian, “…”

He felt a blood clot in his throat and nearly coughed it up.

They were just waiting!

It was no wonder they could earn that much money. The application store was only taking 10% of their revenue. What the h*ll, what difference is there between that and not taking any money at all?!

Is this the result of using one’s network?

Is this how a biological daughter would be treated?

It’s terrifying…

Lin Wan still felt sorry. “Actually, we could have earned much more.

“I can only say that game was too kindly made. The paywall is too low. If we stuck to Bloody Battle Song’s old, scamming top-up system; we might earn more than ten million yuan a month.

“But don’t worry, Boss Pei. We don’t plan to do?that.

“We’re keeping Tengda’s vision in mind. We want to be number one in terms of reputation!

“This way, Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version will live a long life. We will not be phased out in three or four months like ordinary web-based games. Our game should be able to maintain this level of income for the next one or two years. In fact, it might generate even more!”

Pei Qian began to feel unwell.

It was ridiculous enough that the game would earn four or five million yuan a month!

Indeed, it could not compare to web-based games with more paywalls. After all, the ballers in those web-based games would top up tens of thousands of yuan at will. One baller alone was akin to millions of ordinary players.

However, it was terrifying that they would be able to earn that much from ordinary players alone!

Ocean Stronghold had many players; that meant the company spent a lot of money on bandwidth and server fees each month.

However, having that many players also meant that the game was vastly popular and would live a long life!

Bloody Battle Song was a war game. That meant there were high levels of interaction, which would breed loyalty in players.

Other war games had loyal players as well, who would stick with the game for a long time. However, the problem was that ballers would compete by making purchases in the game. If the system failed to control this, the game’s war system could collapse. Thus, most web-based games ended up losing a lot of ordinary players after three or four months. They would have no choice but to struggle for survival by creating new servers.

Bloody Battle Song was a different story. It would be impossible for the war system to break down. The ‘Chosen One’ system would control the amount of power each side had. Also, ordinary players would be given the chance to experience playing like ballers. This would increase their loyalty to the game, thereby increasing the game’s lifespan!

When he heard Lin Wan say the game ‘should be able to maintain this level of income for the next one or two years’, Pei Qian felt like the world’s most evil curse was being put on him. At once, he felt nauseous.

This is not a money tree—it’s a massive burden!

What’s more, it was the kind that Pei Qian would not be able to shake off!

It was like riding a tiger-Boss Pei just could not get off. If he maintained the status quo, the game would continue to earn a stable income for a long time. The game’s lifespan might shorten if he added more purchase options to ruin its reputation. However, in the short-term, ballers would vengefully buy as much as they could. The consequences would be dire.

Pei Qian was speechless; he had no idea what to say. As he watched the people around him stuff their faces, Pei Qian’s heart began to hurt.

You wastrels! Stop eating!

Spit everything back out! I was still thinking about rewarding you earlier, and this is how you’re repaying me?!

Pei Qian finally knew why everyone looked so relaxed, natural, and stress-free.

It was because the game was generating profit! It was doing well in terms of both reputation and income. Why would they be stressed?

Pei Qian quietly handed the cell phone back to Lin Wan. As he looked at her, his expression was complex.

It’s finished.

This woman will not go back to inherit her family business.

Pei Qian could only imagine how much more confident Lin Wan felt now that the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song had achieved such success.

Lin Wan realized that Boss Pei was looking at her with a complicated expression, and she could not help but smile subtly.

Boss Pei looks so pleased. Is he feeling happy for me?

Indeed, I have worked on many projects in Sun Strike Studios and Tengda. Finally, I’ve grown into an outstanding designer, who can take charge of a project and resolve problems on her own!

Pei Qian remained silent for two more seconds, still not knowing what to say. He could only down the glass of red wine in his hand. He had only one thought now: to get plastered!

When he saw this, Ye Zhizhou thought that Boss Pei was drinking to celebrate. He quickly tipped his head back and downed his glass as well.

“Boss Pei, cheers!”

“Come, everyone! Raise your glasses! We will make merry tonight until we’re drunk!”