I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

As he spoke, he opened his mobile payment app, called out each account one by one, and recharged all the first-time double recharge bonuses.

Teacher Gou isn't actually that rich, nor is he stupid. On the contrary, he's quite shrewd.

Game streamers, in order to make their game content more engaging, definitely need to spend more money than the average player.

If he plays the same way as most players, then why don't the players play it themselves?

So as soon as he was able to top up his account, he did so immediately.

Sure enough, his action triggered another round of "6" comments in the chat, making the live stream even more popular.

After topping up, Teacher Gou casually bought a monthly card and something similar to a battle pass, and then bought all the gift packs in the store.

After making the purchase, he carefully examined the contents of the gift package.

"Wait a minute, this... we overpaid!"

Teacher Gou was shocked to discover that he had been tricked.

The resources provided by these in-game gift packs, when converted into stamina, are less valuable than simply buying stamina directly.

He applied this strategy based on experience from other games. In other games, the contents of gift packs are generally more cost-effective; buying the gift pack first and then purchasing stamina is more economical.

But this game is the complete opposite! The contents of the gift pack are less valuable than just buying stamina directly!

After Teacher Gou explained these calculations to the audience, he increasingly felt that he was a complete innocent victim, and the barrage of comments was filled with laughter.

"Since buying stamina is worse than buying gift packs, then we have no choice but to buy stamina now," said Teacher Gou.

The chat, which was just filled with laughter and chatter, was suddenly flooded with a bunch of question marks.

The more Teacher Gou played, the more he felt that the monetization logic of this game was truly different from other games.

Most games lure players into spending a small amount of money by offering a minimum first-time recharge bonus, such as 1 yuan or 6 yuan.

People are susceptible to the broken window effect. At first, they always think they won't spend money, but once they do, their guilty little hands just can't stop.

Game developers will also take advantage of this, first luring you in with small amounts of money, then gradually increasing the amount you need to spend, thus drawing players into a quagmire of spending money.

First-time recharge bonuses usually include a significant amount of resources, making it a very worthwhile purchase.

Next up are the gift packs, discounted every day. They're so cheap, buying one will make you stronger than other players. Are you going to buy one?

After buying the gift pack, there's a cumulative recharge event. Since you've already recharged 80, why not spend another 20 to reach the 100 yuan cumulative recharge mark?

Since I've already spent all the money I've spent, why not add another 30 and get a VIP membership? It'll look so prestigious!

On the surface, game developers have been offering discounts and giving away profits, and they're losing a lot of money.

But in reality, the shrewd planner had already calculated everything.

First-time recharge bonus? No, those resources are game resources that players should obtain during normal gameplay.

To play comfortably, you need those resources, and those resources should be built into the dungeons.

Otherwise, players will feel that the character is not strong enough and will not be comfortable to play.

However, the manufacturers packaged these resources together, repackaged them as "first-time recharge bonuses," and then sold them to players.

More conscientious manufacturers might even include a skin or something similar.

A more drastic approach is to directly control player progress through stamina and resources, making it impossible to play without making an initial purchase.

Therefore, free games are often just games that appear to be free, but are actually more expensive than paid games.

However, in Beichen's "Original Demon," all of these games are reversed.

A closer look at the game's monetization system reveals that, apart from the monthly pass and the battle pass-like system, the other monetization options are essentially useless.

The double money from your first recharge is enough for a year's worth of monthly cards and battle passes. Only a fool would buy gift packs. As for other in-game purchases, it's better to recharge more than less, and better not to recharge at all than to recharge more.

There's no first-time recharge bonus, so why bother recharging 6 yuan?

The more you top up, the more rebates you get. Why not just top up 648 directly?

Why spend 648 yuan if you have nowhere to spend it? You might as well play for free.

Thinking about this, Teacher Gou really started to worry about the future of this game.

This pay-to-win system, while it triggered his rebellious streak, is not the case for all players to be professional game streamers like him!

Can this company really survive?

Of course, Teacher Gou hasn't yet experienced the power of the limited-time gacha pool.

……

Like Teacher Gou, at this moment, in Cai Zhenyi's studio, there was also a group of people watching their employees play "Original Magic".

But unlike the cheerful atmosphere on Teacher Gou's side, everyone here was very serious.

And it's becoming increasingly serious.

The quality that this game has shown so far has shocked them.

If there is a technological ceiling in the current mobile game market, then Genshin Impact has broken through that ceiling.

And it extends out a long way, the extended part is so high that the top is nowhere to be seen.

Cai Zhenyi's expression grew increasingly grim.

The game he's currently working on already has a demo and has undergone a test.

The players who participated in the first test gave it a very good reputation.

But that was before Genshin Impact came out.

He had already gone the boldest in planning his own game, but the quality of Genshin Impact was even better than he had envisioned.

With this level of quality, even if the game were released before it was even released, it would be utterly crushed in terms of quality.

It's not easy to do things in an open world.

They can do open world too; they can make a field full of apples, kill wild boars, and gather herbs.

The challenge lies in achieving smoothness.

The employees playing the game have been trying their best to push the game to its limits, but so far, the game has not experienced any lag or crashes.

There wasn't even any clipping.

Moreover, this game was only in development for a total of six months. The speed is unmatched by any other developer.

Thinking of this, Cai Zhenyi suddenly felt something sticky on his back; it turned out that cold sweat had stuck his clothes to his body.

He didn't show it outwardly in front of his employees, but he was trembling inside.

He had been very confident, thinking that with his abilities, crushing Chen Ya, who had appeared out of nowhere, would be a piece of cake.

But the game was like a resounding slap in the face, landing hard on his cheek.

The game's technology is beyond what his studio can match.

Even if we brought over the entire team of the Seven Stars of Donghuang, it wouldn't be enough to defeat them.

"President Cai, President Cai...President Cai?"

It took several calls from his secretary to finally rouse Cai Zhenyi from his reverie.

"What's wrong?" He looked up at his secretary, his eyes cold, making her feel very nervous.

"Mr. Cai, we were just discussing how this game's pay-to-win aspect is really unfair. We were wondering if we should have online trolls exploit this issue?"

Cai Zhenyi looked at him: "Be more specific?"

The secretary quickly said, "That means his pay-to-win system only has regular tiers and no rebates. We can say that it's a rip-off and not worth it."

Cai Zhenyi thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Okay, we need to carefully craft the script. During this period, we need to find a few more flaws and suppress them in the early stages of the game's launch to buy time for our game."

The secretary nodded repeatedly.

Cai Zhenyi's game is not yet ready to be presented; it will take at least another six months.

During this period, if "Original Magic" grows big and takes away the market, they will only be able to eat what others leave behind.

Therefore, we must completely kill off "GenDemon" before it takes off.

An employee next to him laughed and said, "President Cai, their company has absolutely no experience in marketing and promotion. They don't even have any online marketing teams to maintain their reputation. I think this game is going to be a flop."

Another employee said, "It's not necessarily because they lack experience; it's more likely that they've run out of funds."

Looking at their optimism, Cai Zhenyi felt inexplicably irritated.

However, what the employee said earlier did give him a wake-up call.

"Yes, they're out of funds now, so we need to crush them during the launch phase and create a vicious cycle for their team."

For mobile games, the revenue generated at launch is the ceiling for their lifecycle revenue.

For games that have been operating for a long time, things are better. But for those games with shorter lifespans, the revenue from the launch can account for more than half of their total revenue over their entire lifespan.

If you shut down a game as soon as it launches, it's generally considered to have reached the end of its life.

To achieve this, Tsai Chen-yi felt that he could add another sum to the budget for the online army.

After saying that, Cai Zhenyi's expression improved slightly: "If we're lucky, it's not impossible for their game to die out within six months."

The surrounding employees were immediately excited upon hearing this.

Only the employee who was testing the game remained silent, but his hands never stopped moving.

He kept trying to climb trees, jump, and hit slimes.

……

At 11 o'clock, if we calculate from the server opening time of 10 o'clock, it has been an hour since the server of "GenDemon" opened, and the actual opening time is even longer.

Gu Yuqing sat in Chen Ya's office, nervously fidgeting with her fingers.

"How much has been generated?" Gu Yuqing asked.

Chen Ya sat in the chair, his expression calm. He stared at the screen for a long time before slowly saying, "50."

Gu Yuqing was slightly disappointed.

50 was a very small number to her.

I don't know if 50 in turnover per hour is a lot or a little.

"Is the flow of water large?" Gu Yuqing asked.

“70,” Chen Ya said again.

Gu Yuqing's eyes lit up, and she quickly said, "Ah? It's increased by 20 so quickly?"

"Dollar," Chen Ya said again.

"?"

Chen Ya smiled and explained, "The one at the back is overseas revenue."

"Huh?" Gu Yuqing said, not expecting that the overseas revenue was actually higher than the domestic revenue.

"This revenue stream, in other games, would be considered a complete disaster," Chen Ya said.

After saying that, he added, "However, our game will only really take off with the first version update."

Chapter 381 Stealing the Young Master?

After hearing this, Gu Yuqing asked incredulously, "So you don't have any funds in your account right now. Do you have to wait until next month to get the funds back?"

Chen Ya remained as composed as ever, staring at the screen as he said:

"Not urgent."

"Please, please hurry!"

Gu Yuqing really didn't know why Chen Ya wasn't in a hurry, but she was already getting anxious.

On the surface, Gu Yuqing can still chat and laugh here, but in reality, she already has one foot on the edge of a cliff.

The other foot is completely dangling in the air.

She poured all her life's struggles into Chen Ya, and it's fair to say she's deeply entangled in the relationship.

The very survival of this game has now become her predicament, making it impossible for her to remain focused.