Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Punishing: Gray Raven has truly maximized its strengths.

The combat is exhilarating and the action is very smooth; to be honest, it feels really natural and easy to use.

It's top-tier, at least in the realm of anime-style games.

Furthermore, the Spark Engine has boosted the overall quality.

Lin Li is also looking forward to seeing if Punishing: Gray Raven can force miHoYo to make some changes.

~~~

Magic City.

The backyard of a villa.

David was sitting in the courtyard admiring the moon. It was January 15th, and the moon was full.

There is a fireplace in the courtyard.

The warmth of the stove dispelled the chill.

The teapot on top was bubbling away.

"Confirmed?"

"Confirmed."

"This Lin Li is really aggressive."

David sighed.

He rubbed his forehead.

As the launch date approaches, Kuro has released more details about the game, including launch benefits.

as predicted.

Although the entire announcement did not mention miHoYo at all.

You can get a guaranteed pity after 80 draws, the monthly card provides 90 draws per month, the large monthly card gives you a skin, the first monthly card gives you a free selection, and the first annual card gives you a free weapon selection.

20 free draws will be given upon server launch, and another 10 draws will be given if the number of pre-registrations exceeds 10 million. An additional 10 draws will be given because of the 20% equity investment from Spark, plus various resources such as missions.

You'll get 100 free draws after completing the newbie tasks at the start of the game, and you can get another 60 draws after completing various resource tasks.

"Punishing: Gray Raven is offering a monthly pass, and you can get an SSS rank in the first month!"

This is the most discussed topic in many Honkai Impact 3 communities after Kuro released the announcement.

Get an SSS character for 30 yuan?

This is indeed a very tempting thing for Honkai Impact 3 players.

You should know that SSS in Honkai Impact 3 is truly a privilege reserved for heavy spenders.

Now, it has actually entered ordinary people's homes?

Moreover, you can watch GIFs and videos.

"Holy crap! That white hair, those twin tails! They're totally my type!!"

"The SSS status looks incredibly powerful!"

"So handsome!"

These arguments are almost ubiquitous in the Honkai Impact 3rd community.

If it weren't for the efforts of the community administrators to delete posts.

The community is probably completely filled with Punishing: Gray Raven.

Dawei's current feelings are the same as when he was promoting "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Strategy" back then.

The other party is offering low prices.

The strategic intent is already quite clear.

However, David really couldn't figure it out.

"They've driven the price down way too low, are they really going to completely match Spark's price?"

However, no matter what David thinks.

The competitor has already made its move, aiming to lower prices.

Now, how should miHoYo respond?

Dawei stretched out his hands, felt the warmth of the fireplace, and sighed.

How is the promotion and distribution of our new version going?

Qin Yi sat next to Dawei, and his expression was much more serious.

"The promotional efforts have been quite effective, and there has been a noticeable return of players during this period."

"However, players who have been away for more than three months do not have high retention rates upon returning..."

Contrary to what many players imagined, this is not a major version re-release.

In fact, as long as the game launches a new version and the marketing is done well, old players will actually return in advance.

Honkai Impact 3's marketing campaign this time is a perfect example.

With the appearance of Yae Village and Yae Sakura, scenes and characters that were already popular in last year's version.

In addition, miHoYo has been hyping up the new open-world gameplay as if it were the real thing.

What Genshin Impact technology verification?

A world even more innovative than Genshin Impact.

It references many of the mechanics of Galaxy Park.

Regardless of whether it's fun or not, or whether it's just a rehash of the same old formula, at least it looks appealing.

Moreover, this time, miHoYo has concentrated the production capacity of both versions.

New characters, new scenes, new events.

It looks quite intimidating.

In addition, a sales-oriented content creator hyped it up relentlessly.

The return of players is a natural consequence, and the return is quite significant.

Many Honkai Impact 3rd player communities have felt this influx of returning veteran players.

This has also created positive public opinion.

"It's back, it's all back."

Many people hope that miHoYo can take this opportunity to properly reorganize Honkai Impact 3.

However, Qin Yi reported this.

The focus then shifted to another issue: many people returned, but they couldn't retain them after returning.

It's like scooping water with a sieve.

David also took this matter very seriously, and his first reaction was...

"Could it be because the new version hasn't been updated yet, so they're just logging in to check? After the update, it should be rolled back, right?"

Qin Yi nodded, then shook his head.

"That's a possibility, but I'm worried that when the server actually launches, they'll try out the competitors first."

"Especially in the current community, everyone's talking about Punishing: Gray Raven..."

“Our community management cannot maintain such a high level of intensity indefinitely.”

After listening, David remained silent for a while.

The teapot made a gurgling sound.

When Honkai Impact 3rd has no competitors, you can do whatever you want without any problems.

But now..

"What do you think is the root cause?"

Qin Yi glanced at Dawei, took a deep breath, and then spoke.

"Brother Dawei, we need to make players feel the changes we've made, especially the changes to the pay-to-win system."

Qin Yi's meaning is actually quite clear.

The reality is that the enemy is waging a price war.

You either compete with your competitors on price, or you compete with them on quality.

Before today, David had always leaned towards the latter.

Just like he said.

"Mixue Ice Cream became a hit, but other milk tea shops are also profitable. This shows that if a game has high quality, it can have pricing power."

This strategy has been pursued by miHoYo for the past two years.

However, Qin Yi also knew this.

But he still said it.

That means, at least for Qin Yi, and at least for the Honkai Impact 3 project.

He felt that competing on quality was no longer viable, or at least it was no longer possible to counter miHoYo's current strategy of forcing players to spend money in Honkai Impact 3.

"Game development is like rowing against the current; if you don't improve, others will."

David sighed.

At this moment, he also felt a little regretful.

Perhaps we should dedicate more time and energy to managing the Honkai Impact 3 project.

but now.

Aside from the subtle hints that the Honkai Impact 3rd development team wasn't up to par,

Aside from shifting the blame to someone who is actually insignificant.

He also has to face reality.

He lifted the teapot from the stove, poured out two steaming cups of tea, handed one to Qin Yi, and placed the other in front of himself.

"Tell me what you think."

Qin Yi took the teacup.

Feel the warmth that travels from your hand along the teacup.

Calm down your mind.

"Brother Dawei, do you still remember the clash between Honkai Impact 2.5 and Arknights back then?"

David nodded, signaling to continue.

"Our current idea is to promote the new version at launch, give away 170 draws in various events, give the opponent an edge, and give away another free S-rank character."

Chapter 158 Bayonet Fight [Happy Mid-Autumn Festival]

Qin Yi's suggestion boils down to that one sentence: make players feel the change.

Therefore, he suggested taking advantage of a major version update.

Here's a giveaway!

170 pulls may seem like a lot, but for Honkai Impact 3, that's only two pity pulls, leaving you 30 pulls short.

The complimentary S-rank item is even more self-explanatory.

"The advantage of this approach is that if they dare to give us the same amount of cash back, we can bankrupt them with our single cash back."

Qin Yi then elaborated on the ingenuity of his plan.

The so-called value of a single draw does not refer to how much money a player has to spend on a single draw.