Chapter 52: Sharing of Success Stories

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

‘Squeezy?’

‘Are you for real?!’

Zhou Muyan looked at his company’s working area – how was it squeezy? Wasn’t it the same for most companies out there?

Everyone had their own desk to work with like with any other companies! Not just that, because Sun Strike Studios had their own building, it was even more spacious than the other companies!

Calling this squeezy, these guys must be blind…

Huang Sibo understood that the issue didn’t lie with Sun Strike Studios – it was because it was way too spacious back in Tengda!

Which company would behave the same way as Tengda did? Even a real estate company wouldn’t do that!

However, because everyone had been working for so long in Tengda, they were long used to the working environment. As such, they felt dispirited looking at Sun Strike Studios’ working environment in contrast.

That had all of them losing complete interest. It was akin to a group of people who were used to staying in a villa by the sea listening to a salesperson brag about a luxurious three bedroom apartment instead…

Their dreams were all shattered!

All of them were initially excited about Sun Strike Studios but now, it just seemed meh!

The working area was cramped.

The computer specs were average and they did not even have dual monitors.

Just a few packets of snacks and that became a snacks area.

There was only a small television in the entertainment room – were they beggars?

Not just that, 996 was strictly enforced without any overtime pay!

Was this really a top tier domestic gaming company?

It was far inferior to Tengda!

That was the same feeling as someone bumping into their first love after being married for many years only to find out that the other party had gained a lot of weight and turned into an old hag.

They would then realize that their wife was actually much prettier in comparison!

Indeed, Boss Pei was the best boss in the world, no exceptions!

They should stop thinking about nonsense and spend their lives dedicating it to Boss Pei!

…

Zhou Muyan was starting to feel awkward after his bragging. It was mainly because the other side looked as though they were humoring him such that he lost all mood to continue bragging.

“Let’s continue then. I’ve arranged for a sharing session of our success stories. Everyone, this way please.”

Everyone arrived at a large conference room within Sun Strike Studios.

Their schedule for the day was planned between Assistant Xin and Sun Strike Studios employees and that included a sharing session between the companies.

Assistant Xin had planned it based on a normal company’s exchange schedule. After all, it wouldn’t be nice for them to leave after just seeing the company since they came such a far distance.

Since it was an exchange for learning, they would definitely have to share their success stories to make the trip worthwhile.

Because there were a total of 20 odd employees from Tengda’s side, Sun Strike Studios arranged for the same number of people to join in the sharing and both parties had assigned people to go on stage for the sharing.

The first person to speak was Sun Xi who had welcomed them earlier on – he was one of the core designers of a large scale MMORPG made by Sun Strike Studios.

Sun Xi started off by expressing his welcome to Boss Pei and the rest for their long journey visit which was met with much applause, livening the mood.

Thereafter, he introduced his success experience in taking charge of the MMORPG.

Pei Qian took out a small notebook and listened intently while nodding his head and scribbling notes.

Before long, a tortoise was born.

Not long after, there was a rat added, a duck…

He understood nothing!

It was mainly because Pei Qian was seated in the front row and could not afford to fall asleep.

In truth, Sun Xi did not share anything particularly abstract and Huang Sibo and the rest understood it completely. However, there were a lot of technical terms and English abbreviations. Through Sun Xi’s expression and motions, Pei Qian could tell that it was a really impressive game but the deeper details eluded him completely.

Before long, Sun Xi was done and the drowsy Pei Qian was reinvigorated as he led the applause.

Next up was Tengda’s side.

Since the other side had shared their success story, it was only natural that Tengda had to respond in kind.

Huang Sibo was the one who was sent up to explain Ghost General’s success. Ocean Stronghold was not completed yet and no one could be sure if it would be a hit, therefore it was unsuitable to share about it.

Strictly speaking, Pei Qian should have been the one to share it since he was the one who had created Ghost General solely.

However, that suggestion was rejected by Pei Qian decisively. Firstly, he did not want to get on stage. Secondly, he did not even really know why in the world Ghost General had succeeded…

Therefore, when Assistant Xin told Pei Qian about this part of the exchange, he dumped the task to Huang Sibo swiftly for the latter to share and be done with it.

When Huang Sibo went on stage, the place roared with applause.

“First, let me clarify that I did not take part in the production of Ghost General. The game was created entirely by Boss Pei singlehandedly. However, during the time which I’ve joined Tengda, I’ve taken the effort to research Ghost General as well. I believe I do have some understanding of it and have a slight grasp of Boss Pei’s design ideals.”

“Boss Pei, if I make any mistakes during my explanation, please feel free to correct me.”

“In my opinion, there are three factors contributing to Ghost General’s success.”

“First, the perfectionist attitude towards the game’s quality and the daring art style!”

“From what I know, Boss Pei spent more than half of the investment money into the purchase of art resources. Not just that, he took the leap of faith by employing a newbie artist! The moment the epic ink art style of Ghost General was pushed out, it was met with critical acclaim by the gamers. All of that is thanks to Boss Pei’s farsightedness and exceptional taste of beauty.”

“Boss Pei not only made Ghost General a success, he did it for Ruan Guangjian’s unique art style as well. It was a win-win situation…”

“Secondly, the kindly priced in-game purchases.”

“The maximum amount of money one can spend on Ghost General is 40 yuan. Compared to mobile card games like Qute Three Kingdoms which is money grubby, the fair playstyle gained the admiration and respect of gamers out there. At the same time, the strategy of earning through low margins and high quantity allowed the game to be a sellout while gaining reputable word of mouth…”

“Thirdly, the special marketing methods!”

“Because all of the money was invested into the game’s development, Ghost General was faced with a situation where it had no money available for marketing! Boss Pei thought out of the box and marketed it through Weibo, causing the game to turn hot within the artist circle before spreading further into the gaming scene, achieving an exceptional outreach effect…”

“I believe that the marketing strategy can even be repeatedly studied as a classic case study!”

Huang Sibo had prepared for this thoroughly and was confident.

He had never once asked Pei Qian the behind the scenes work of Ghost General. Instead, he researched everything on his own through online reviews and Ruan Guangjian’s Weibo et cetera before trying to combine them with Boss Pei’s character and thought process.

That was how he had managed to roughly make out the entire thing.

While he was explaining, he would look in Pei Qian’s direction from time to time.

‘Boss Pei is smiling while nodding his head!’

‘Indeed, I’ve guessed correctly!’

Huang Sibo felt extremely proud. Even though he did not take part in the development of Ghost General, the fact that he was able to understand Boss Pei’s thought process at the time was something rather impressive. That meant that he was catching up to the pace of Boss Pei!

While Pei Qian was nodding his head, he was lamenting in his heart.

‘What a brilliant speech. He’s talking about things that I didn’t even know existed in my head back then.’

Below the stage, Sun Xi, Zhou Muyan and the other employees of Sun Strike Studios were listening intently while taking notes as well.

Zhou Muyan could not help but lament that this was indeed a young talent!

Even though this Boss Pei was young, he had guts!

To throw all of his investment money into development without saving a single cent for marketing, to have the balls to employ a newbie artist with a brand new art style so that they could reinvent the current state of mobile card games…

This was not something that any mere designer could do!

This was a ballsy man! Wasn’t he afraid of losing all of his investment!

Indeed, there’s a high chance that this man was a rich second-generation heir. There’s no other way he would dare to take on such a risk while being indifferent about it…

Was this what they meant by different mental states? The legendary act of being able to take everything light as the wind…?

Zhou Muyan was filling in the plot by himself and his impression of Pei Qian improved once more.

Before long, Huang Sibo was done with his speech and the audience burst out with applause!

Pei Qian felt a number of sincere, respectful gazes turned at him.

Those were gazes of admiration towards a genius!