Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

Spark can't compete with Steam.

But once you include mobile games...

That spark was absolutely real.

In this timeline, Spark not only soared in the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) market.

Consequently, the integrated ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) market is also booming.

Of course, this $10 billion figure is actually a clever trick. He said it refers to the entire platform, which includes data from Spark's own mobile games.

Of course, the female reporter certainly wouldn't know these things.

That's why she was so shocked by the data Lin Li presented.

Lin Li, however, remained calm.

What is 10 billion US dollars?

Wait two more years, until 22, and Valve will be able to earn $22 billion a year just from platform commissions.

Some mobile games can even earn billions of dollars a year.

Right now, we're still in the market development phase.

The big one hasn't come yet.

After Lin Li finished recounting these figures, he didn't forget why he had come there.

After he finished speaking, he withdrew his imposing manner and took the initiative to change the subject.

After all, there's really nothing to argue about with a reporter.

However, this reporter is also dedicated.

After a brief pause, he raised another pointed question.

"Steam released data yesterday to celebrate selling 2000 million games across all platforms during the Lunar New Year sale. We noticed that Spark did not release this data."

"Will Xinghuo release these figures after the Spring Festival sales event tomorrow?"

this problem.

Actually, it's exactly the same as the previous question.

They're all trying to exploit information asymmetry.

Lin Li knew, of course, that the Xinghuo platform had sold 1600 million copies during the Spring Festival special sale, but that didn't mean Xinghuo was selling poorly.

Because the price of games on the Spark platform is higher than that on Steam.

The average price of a game on Steam is around $8, while on Spark it's around $15. This is mainly because Spark's games are relatively new.

can only say.

These media outlets always manage to come up with some interesting tricks.

Lin Li thought for a moment.

I was just about to give a simple and easy-to-understand example for players.

After all, he wasn't trying to convince the reporter in front of him, but rather the players watching the video.

Lin Li was about to speak, but before he could, he had already opened his mouth.

His assistant came in, quickly whispered a couple of words in Lin Li's ear, and then left before anyone could react.

After listening to his assistant's words, Lin Li first smiled and made an apologetic gesture.

"Excuse me, my assistant just had something important to tell me."

Lin Li then repeated the host's question.

"You're asking if we'll release sales figures, right?"

The host was still a little confused at this point.

He nodded in agreement with Lin Li's words.

"We will announce it."

Lin Li replied with a smile, and then added a sentence to the camera.

"By the way, our Spark Spring Festival special sale is still ongoing and will not be stopped early, nor will we take back the coupons that players have already used. You can rest assured."

The host felt something was off after the inexplicable remark, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

~~~

The time has been moved slightly forward.

9 a.m. North American time.

Rockstar Games released an announcement.

This indicates that Rockstar Games' games sold on Steam will need to revert to their original prices and will no longer participate in the Lunar New Year sale.

This matter initially went unnoticed by anyone.

But soon.

Players have noticed that many publishers on Steam who participated in the Spring Sale have shut down their Lunar New Year sales.

Said it before.

The discounts for the Spring Festival special sale are divided into two parts.

One is the manufacturer's discount, and the other is the platform's subsidy discount.

For a long time before that.

This discount is fixed, whether it's Spark or Steam.

When price wars break out, platforms rely on subsidies to win.

But now, Steam's publishers have suddenly turned against them, ending their publisher discounts before the Lunar New Year sale even ended.

This immediately disrupted the balance.

The Spark platform's vendor discounts are still available, but Steam's vendor discounts are no longer available.

As more and more manufacturers cancel their discounts on Steam, it has naturally attracted a lot of attention.

However, Steam has not made any statement.

They didn't say why.

Then, many players discovered that the coupons they had already claimed had suddenly become invalid.

This failure is concentrated on the $5 no-minimum-spend coupon for attracting new users.

Other coupons were unaffected.

However, with manufacturers canceling their discounts, no one was going to use the 7% off coupon anyway.

Stimulated by this.

Some players started asking about it on Steam forums and other communities.

Half an hour passed in this way.

As Steam continues to fail to provide an explanation, players' frustration is growing.

Chapter 205 A deafening roar

at this time.

A gaming influencer on Twitter suddenly posted a tweet.

"Steam is experiencing a very serious problem."

"Steam is not mature enough when it comes to marketing campaigns."

"They are too short-sighted. Canceling the event at this point is the most foolish thing to do."

This tweet actually said nothing.

However, it attracted even more attention.

Some media outlets have also started to put Steam's sudden cancellation of the Lunar New Year sale on their front page.

However, at this time.

No one knows what happened yet.

However, even though Steam doesn't issue any announcements, a whole bunch of publishers are still involved.

Soon, media outlets contacted Rockstar via telephone for an interview.

Then, they revealed some shocking information.

"Steam refused to settle the event payment according to the agreed amount."

The shorter the statement, the more serious the matter.

According to Rockstar Games, they made it clear to Steam during the Spring Sale that Steam would refund the portion of the sale that used the $5 coupon during the event.

The subsidy will be 80% given to the manufacturers.

In other words, when a player uses a $5 voucher, the manufacturer actually receives $4.

But now, Steam has issued an internal announcement.

This indicates a system problem. Steam can only reimburse the manufacturer $2 for this voucher, and Steam will not provide any further subsidies if the user uses this voucher again.

Naturally, the manufacturers were not happy about this.

According to Rockstar Games, they received approximately 10 no-minimum-purchase coupons throughout the event, which would have earned them $40.

Now he can only get $20.

Admittedly, 20 is not a lot of money for Rockstar Games.

But this was done dishonestly.

That's why Rockstar Games shut down Steam's Lunar New Year sale.

This news has sparked further speculation and questions about Steam.

Over time.

More information came in.

"A $200 million loss! 60 million Steam vouchers with no minimum purchase requirement have been used up? Has Steam been completely exploited? Is it a bug? Or is it just that people can't afford to play?"

According to this media report.

During its user acquisition campaign, Steam distributed a total of 60 million $5 coupons with no minimum spend.

The reporter had doubts.

Steam's sudden suspension of activities may be related to the large number of coupons issued.

However, many players consider this news somewhat absurd.

After all, Steam is such a big company.

What's this little money?

However, those who held this view were quickly proven wrong, as the official Steam announcement finally arrived several hours later.

This is an apology letter.

The general idea is that there was a misunderstanding!

There's a problem with Steam's financial system.

The Spring Festival special sale is currently under maintenance and has not ended early.

The manufacturers' money isn't being withheld; the system is currently verifying the payments, and they will definitely be settled according to the agreement.

If you only look at this announcement...

They might have actually been fooled by Steam.

However, the announcement did not mention the 5 yuan no-threshold coupon at all. After the announcement, players found that not only was the 5 yuan no-threshold coupon invalid, but the previous 7% off coupon was also invalid.