Lin Chudong and Teacher Zhao had a good relationship; the old artist was very kind, and he liked him a lot.
Helping to arrange a good program was no problem. Especially for language-based programs, Lin Chudong had too many classics in his head, and he could recall all the details without even needing a memory search card.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Chudong went in-game for a while.
Currently, the company's focus was still on Dance Dance Revolution. They had to capture the traffic during this Spring Festival. It would be best if they could take down Fingertip Piano in the next few days.
Of course, it was just a goal. Chunting was a company with strength, and they wouldn't be unable to persevere in just a few days. It was very likely that this battle would become a protracted war.
There were already many guilds in the game. After some inquiries, that King of Bass was indeed Wang Zhi, and he was still number one in the entire server. This guy was really hardcore when it came to gaming.
As for grinding levels so crazily, what a waste. With such a high level, and yet he still couldn't beat others in the rooms, wouldn't that be embarrassing?
Wang Zhi's gaming skills were indeed quite impressive, but wanting to dominate the entire server was still a pipe dream. There was always someone better, and the real masters were still out there, hidden among the players.
Besides Wang Zhi, Cheng Huanhuan was also an internet addict, with over eight hours online every day.
She must be spending the whole day in the internet cafe, right? Even to support him, she didn't have to be this dedicated.
Sister Deng wasn't even online for that long; it seemed this game had really struck a chord with Cheng Huanhuan.
Chunting Game Company.
Fu Xiaochun looked at the data in front of him, a look of disbelief on his face.
"Are these numbers a joke? Such a big difference?"
"The number of registered users is about the same, so why is there such a big difference in active users?"
The active users of Fingertip Piano were less than a third of Dance Dance Revolution's.
Many users didn't play for more than half an hour, and they never logged in again after playing.
Fu Xiaochun couldn't accept this data.
Putting Dance Dance Revolution aside, the data for his own company was abnormal.
This game was something they'd deliberated over, discussed in countless meetings. It might not become a massive hit, but it definitely shouldn't be this bad.
Firstly, the music game market hadn't been tapped yet. They were stepping in proactively. Even if the game wasn't that fun, they should still be able to get a piece of the pie.
Secondly, the piano pieces all had open copyrights, so they didn't have to spend that money. They could invest more in game modeling and art, and the game's graphics would be outstanding.
Finally, the piano was the king of instruments. Many families couldn't afford a piano, or couldn't afford piano lessons, or didn't have time to learn. Experiencing the joy of piano in a different way should be a pretty good idea.
The beta test results were pretty good, so how did things get so bad when the game officially launched?
They understood the market, and their game development technology was mature. The only variable was their competitors.
In other words, all of this was caused by the appearance of Dance Dance Revolution.
Fu Xiaochun gritted his teeth and stood up, saying, "Let's go, come with me to check out an internet cafe!"
They were in the office, and relying solely on the forum to understand these game players was a bit unrealistic. It would be better to go to an internet cafe and see it firsthand.
Across the street, in an internet cafe, the two of them sat down at a machine.
As soon as they entered, the sound of the space bar, pap pap pap, came, with a strong penetrating power.
"So many people playing?"
Fu Xiaochun and his assistant immediately played Dance Dance Revolution. Speaking just of the game, their skill levels were actually about the same.
You could tell a lot of money had been spent on this game. Just the music copyright alone would have cost several million, but Da Fei had a natural advantage, as he had quite a few songs of his own, which saved him some money.
But how could the effect be so different between a pop song and a piano piece?
Everyone was wearing headphones, playing the game while chatting.
"Honey, you're playing great. Play with me for a while longer, and I'll give you a naval skin."
"You dare to challenge the three-star difficulty? Are you trying to get to number one in the whole server?"
"Damn it, I just got married, and my wife ran off. In this day and age, you can't keep a wife unless you buy skins?"
"You're too trash. I've already added my in-game wife on WeChat. Maybe we'll meet up in a while."
"…"
Hearing these people discuss the game, Fu Xiaochun frowned.
There were indeed a few girls in the internet cafe playing, but they weren't into it as hardcore as the others. They chose songs that sounded good and then had to buy a skin to change their virtual character's clothes. The prices weren't expensive, only twenty or thirty for a nice outfit. They'd be happy for half a day after buying them. What girl would ever complain about having too many clothes in her closet?
It was the same in the game.
The prices were low enough, the desire to spend was strong enough, and it felt like a good deal. Wouldn't the recharge rate go up then?
After being here for half a day, not a single person had played Fingertip Piano, which made Fu Xiaochun feel frustrated.
Was the difference that big?
Suddenly, a young man in a hoodie walked in, sat down, turned on the computer, and with practiced movements, entered the game list interface. Then, he chose Fingertip Piano and entered.
Finally, someone was playing their game. Fu Xiaochun and his assistant's expressions improved slightly.
The hoodie-wearing young man entered Fingertip Piano, logged into his account, and started matching opponents. After casually entering a room, he just went AFK.
Then, he muted the game and minimized it, opening Rage Slash Three Kingdoms.
Fu Xiaochun frowned slightly, "Dude, why aren't you playing Fingertip Piano?"
The hooded teenager said, "It's a garbage game, not interesting. I'll just let it level up and collect rewards."
"I'm not interested in music games. If you want to play, I suggest you play Dance Dance Revolution. Several of my friends play it, and they don't even log into Rage Slash Three Kingdoms anymore. They say they've picked up girls in Dance Dance Revolution."
Fu Xiaochun's mouth twitched, his expression somewhat unpleasant.
You could pick up girls in Dance Dance Revolution? And from this player's meaning, it seemed like there were a lot of girls in it? Fu Xiaochun frowned and logged into Dance Dance Revolution again. He played for a while and saw the public channel's megaphones, all recruiting guild members and looking for people to marry. It was thriving. Then he looked at his game, which was practically a ghost town, and it had only just been officially released! Fu Xiaochun played for a while, feeling extremely frustrated. He immediately called all the planners to a video conference when he got back to the company.
"What solutions do you have for the competition from Dance Dance Revolution?"
"President Fu, if all else fails, we can spend some money on advertising."
"Tell me about your plan."
"We can do a cybercafe charter, just like before."
Before, when they were promoting their company's Rage Slash Three Kingdoms, they'd spent a lot of money. Several small companies had been competing with them at the time, but they'd crushed them all with this tactic.
Fu Xiaochun thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let's do it. Start the event in ten first-tier cities, two hours every day at noon."
Fu Xiaochun had made up his mind. Cybercafe charters were definitely a money-losing venture, but he was willing to spend some money to take down Dance Dance Revolution.
Once he eliminated this competitor, he'd have many ways to recoup his losses.
"Youth Cybercafe's latest event: Free internet access on twenty machines every day from 12 pm to 2 pm, only for playing Fingertip Piano."
Seeing this advertisement, Cheng Huanhuan was stunned. She didn't come to cybercafes often, but she'd never heard of being able to play games for free there.
"Hey, can I get a manager?"
Cheng Huanhuan raised her hand, and the manager hurried over immediately.
This goddess had been spending money at the internet cafe for days, and she ordered food and drinks every day, so he was naturally very attentive.
"What can I do for you, miss?"
Cheng Huanhuan said, "What's the deal with this promotion? Free internet? Is the boss crazy?"
The manager said, "These computers are sponsored by Chunting Game Company. They pay for two hours of free internet every day, but you can only play Fingertip Piano. Their company is footing the bill."
Cheng Huanhuan was stunned, "It's like this all over the country?"
"No way, that would cost a fortune. I heard it's in ten cities this time."
Cheng Huanhuan nodded, so that's how it is. Game companies can do this kind of thing?
It's basically a loss leader, right?
The effect of this activity is indeed very good. As soon as it started, the twenty computers specifically booked in the internet cafe were immediately full.
Free stuff still attracts a lot of players. As long as they play for a while and then top up a little money, the game company won't lose too much.
Seeing the bustling scene of Fingertip Piano in the internet cafe, Cheng Huanhuan immediately called Lin Chudong to report the situation.
After hearing about it, Lin Chudong quickly went to Yao Qiang's office.
"Old Yao, do you know about this?"
Yao Qiang frowned, "To be honest, Chunting killed my game last time by doing the internet cafe booking."
"At that time, Rage Slash Three Kingdoms and the game we made had the same style, and we were originally in a fair competition. But they did an internet cafe booking, and directly took all the players away."
"That time it lasted about three days, and we couldn't hold on. We stopped the promotion, and I didn't expect him to come again this time."
Lin Chudong said, "You're still rivals, huh?"
Yao Qiang gave a wry smile. "I'm not even in the same league. Before, Chunting was dealing with two other small companies, and I was just unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. Now that they have money, it looks like they're going to play hardball this time."
The effects were already obvious after just two hours at noon.
The new user growth for Dance Dance Revolution had become very slow. Although the new user curve was bound to approach saturation eventually, it had only been online for a few days, so there was no reason for it to happen so quickly.
Meanwhile, the data for Fingertip Piano was growing rapidly.
This kind of activity was still quite effective. Two hours wasn't enough time for gamers to play, and once they got into it, they wouldn't want to switch games.
They wouldn't want to give up the levels they had worked so hard to gain, or the items they had worked so hard to get. The sign-in rewards or various other events in online games were all designed to keep you playing.
As long as you played, there would always be opportunities to recharge, and that's how game companies made money.
Seeing the data, Yao Qiang said.
"Chudong, they're coming on strong. It looks like they're willing to do whatever it takes to take us down. Should we throw some money at it too?"
Lin Chudong nodded. "Yes, we should. They charter planes, we charter planes. How much does it cost per day?"
"If we're holding events in first-tier cities, it'll be a few hundred thousand, for two hours."
Lin Chudong nodded. "Money isn't a problem. Li Zhilin's compensation should arrive this week. If it doesn't, there will be late fees. Li Zhilin probably won't want to sue me again."
"But since we're going to fight back, we need to be even more ruthless."
"We can invest a bit more."
Lin Chudong was flush with cash now. If he took out this competitor, he would likely monopolize the market.
And according to Yao Qiang's analysis, activities like renting out the entire internet cafe aren't necessarily a complete loss. If a ten-machine rental at an internet cafe has two people who recharge, it won't be too bad.
After all, once they recharge once, they'll recharge again.
Yao Qiang frowned, "If it goes over two hours, the cost gets a bit too high. Renting for two hours is already quite extravagant."
Lin Chudong said, "It doesn't necessarily have to be extending the time. Wait a moment, I'll make a call."
Lin Chudong called Wu Siping.
"Manager Wu, are you busy?"
Wu Siping: Not busy, what's up? The game's been pretty hot lately, right? Our advertising department is seeing good data, with a high conversion rate.
Lin Chudong: It's alright, but I have a competitor, and I want to compete with him recently. I'm planning to do an internet cafe rental activity and wanted to ask for your sponsorship.
Wu Siping: You want me to invest in supporting you to compete with him?
Lin Chudong: Not at all. You just need to sponsor mineral water. If we offer two free hours of Dance Dance Revolution at the internet cafes, along with a free bottle of mineral water, it should attract more players.
Wu Siping: No problem. Let's be generous. Forget the mineral water, we'll give away drinks. Any drink from the Hongyun brand.
Lin Chudong: Boss Wu is amazing!
Yao Qiang also heard Lin Chudong's phone call and was overjoyed.
"Boss Wu is really generous. This will boost our competitiveness a lot."
Lin Chudong said, "How do we contact the internet cafes in these ten cities? We won't have to go to each one individually, will we?"
"Of course not. Find the Horizon Forum. They can handle this for us. They'll take a cut, but the price is reasonable."
"Alright, you take care of it!"
The next day at eight in the evening, Cheng Huanhuan had dinner and then went to the internet cafe to continue her bar-hopping.
Without a job, she had already transformed into an internet-addicted girl.
As soon as she entered, the internet cafe manager immediately said,
"Sister Cheng, you can use this computer. If you play Dance Dance Revolution, it's free for two hours. I see you play this game every day anyway."
Cheng Huanhuan was taken aback, "Why?"
"It's an event. Two game companies are competing, which is a benefit for the netizens. Not only is the internet free, but you can also choose a drink, Hongyun brand, any one you like."
Cheng Huanhuan walked to the refrigerator and picked a drink, then sat in front of the internet cafe and logged into her account.
Afterwards, she sent a message to Sister Deng on WeChat.
"See that? Internet's free here, and so are the drinks. All thanks to Da Fei's promotion. He's really going all out, seems like he's got some serious money, eh?"
-----------------------
Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Guys, I've uploaded some High Quality english translated fanfic on my Patreon shop! Feel free to check it out-if you're interested, you can grab a copy and support me there.
Here are a few titles of recently uploaded fanfics:
New Addition:
" Many Children, Many Blessings—Starting with the Willow Deity (18+) "
" My Filial Piety Could Never Possibly Go Wrong (18+) "
" I'm Clearly the Villain—Why Are All the Heroines Throwing Themselves at Me? (18+) "
" Trapped in Enemy Territory, the Female General Tells Me to Open My Mouth (18+) "
" Douluo: Flame Lance Chongli and Fallen Heart Flame Cheat (18+) "
" Adult Urban: Starting with Qiao Yingzi's Flaw (18+) "
" The Heavenly Demon Begins with Attribute (18+) "
" The Empress Granted Me a Marriage—The Yandere's Favorability (18+) "
" Oh No—The Monster Girl I Picked Up Can Only Recover Mana Through Me (18+) "
" It's Really Hard to Date a Senior (18+) "
Your support means a lot-thanks in advance, legends!
many more are available 55+
patreon.com/RoyalStories
(End of Chapter)