Deng Siqing: Such a huge promotion? Won't they lose money?
Cheng Huanhuan: Definitely. They're trying to compete with "Chunting," throwing money at each other. Who knew Da Fei was actually a hidden rich guy?
Deng Siqing: What, are you tempted? How about Da Fei sponsors you?
Cheng Huanhuan: Oh, I'm afraid you'll be jealous. If your Da Fei really arranges a hit program for me, I'll admit it. Then, when you marry him, I'll be your personal maid.
Deng Siqing: Get lost. I told you I'm his fan. Go play your game.
Cheng Huanhuan: When do you go back to work?
Deng Siqing: The sixth day of the New Year. Several programs need to be recorded, and the Lantern Festival Gala is coming up. I'll be swamped.
Cheng Huanhuan: ... Some are dying of thirst, while others are drowning.
Three days later, it was already the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and some companies had started to go back to work.
Wang Zhi and the others had also returned early, and the company had resumed normal operations.
"Da Fei, what's going on? I heard that the internet cafe is letting people play our game for free, and they're even giving away drinks?"
Lin Chudong said, "Yeah, we're running an event."
"Awesome! I'm going to work at the internet cafe downstairs, and I can get a free drink."
"...Don't be such a cheapskate. There's plenty of drinks for you at the company."
Near afternoon, Yao Qiang came out with the reports.
"Director Lin, yesterday's data is out. The number of new active users has increased significantly, and the recharge rate is also quite good. Yesterday, we spent over 600,000, and the recharge amount was nearly 100,000."
At the same time, Qian Duoduo also walked out of the office, "Da Fei, Li Zhilin's compensation has arrived."
Lin Chudong nodded, "Good. Now that we have the money, we'll step up our efforts. Charter a plane for three hours, covering all first-tier cities."
Yao Qiang nodded.
The current recharge rate is quite high. As long as they defeat Fingertip Piano, the market will be theirs.
Chunting Games Company.
Fu Xiaochun frowned, sitting in the meeting room, his expression somewhat unpleasant.
The several employees under him all lowered their heads, afraid of angering the boss.
Fu Xiaochun tapped his fingers on the table. "Liangyin Media is going all out? Isn't gaming a side business for them? Are they really going to dump all their money into games? They're awfully confident."
"Even if they take us down, they'll make a huge profit? No one's done a music game before. Who knows if the market will saturate quickly? Their approach is too aggressive."
A few employees said, "President Fu, I investigated. Liangyin Media isn't a very big company. They only became popular recently because of Da Fei. The whole company relies on Da Fei to make money. Besides those variety shows, they made some money from The Beginning, and they got compensation from Li Zhilin."
"Their assets are estimated to be around 100 million."
Fu Xiaochun's expression became serious. "They do have some money, but they can't spend it all on games, right? Aren't they making dramas anymore? Not planning any concerts? I don't believe it!"
"Since they're going all out, we'll go all out too. Charter a plane for three hours! Cover all first-tier cities."
"Finance, see how long we can hold out with a three-hour charter?"
The finance department calculated and said, "President Fu, we can hold out for half a month."
Playing Fingertip Piano in the afternoon, and Audition in the evening, plus free drinks. Six hours a day without spending a penny, this is just too awesome.
In the Youth Internet Cafe.
Cheng Huanhuan sat in front of the free computer and played Fingertip Piano for a while, but found it a bit boring.
She quit the game directly and opened Audition to start playing.
A girl next to her said, "Sister, can this machine even play Audition?"
During the previous promotional activities, the computers were all locked to specific games. In other words, this machine couldn't open any games other than Fingertip Piano, to prevent many players from slacking off.
Although it wouldn't cause any loss to the internet cafe, it wouldn't be good if the game developers found out.
But the situation is different now, as both game companies are running this event.
They can't very well set a game lock in the morning and then set another one in the afternoon.
These twenty machines can currently play both games.
Cheng Huanhuan said, "It's fine, we're going to play this in the afternoon anyway. I know the internet cafe manager, he won't say anything about me."
The people around saw that Cheng Huanhuan was playing Audition, so they played too.
The internet cafe manager glanced over, also feeling helpless, as it wasn't his business, he wouldn't be so concerned.
"Sisters, if you're playing Audition, don't exit Fingertip Piano, just mute it and minimize it, otherwise the background can see the online time!"
"Got it, got it." Cheng Huanhuan said impatiently, and then she started playing.
It's just an internet cafe. This kind of thing is happening everywhere; there are hundreds of places doing this kind of promotion in every city.
They are using the name of playing Fingertip Piano to get free internet access, but in reality, they minimize the game as soon as they get in and play Audition.
Even though they can't do it openly, once this starts happening, their promotion is already starting to collapse.
Three days later.
Another batch of new data came out.
Chunting Games Company.
Fu Xiaochun's face immediately turned grim when he received the data.
"What's the joke? The data for three hours of chartered computers isn't as good as the previous two hours?"
Three hours cost a lot more than two hours, and covered more cities, but the data not only didn't increase, it actually decreased!
Online time was long, and the number of active players was also good, but the recharge rate dropped too much.
Most people were just idling, not even playing the game.
Now, many of the rooms in the server were full of robots. If they hadn't used robots, they wouldn't have been able to create a sense of hype.
Although robots could also play, it definitely affected the experience.
Just imagine, when playing the game, you find a girl who plays pretty well, and you want to add her as a friend to get to know her and play another round together.
But it turns out she's a robot. Players will think everyone in the game is a robot, that it's just a single-player game, and who would still pay? They'll just quit the game.
Fingertip Piano was already starting to go downhill.
The operations department said, "General Manager Fu, if this doesn't work, let's just stop. Cut our losses in time, otherwise, if we keep going like this, the investment will get bigger and bigger."
Fu Xiaochun was extremely unwilling at this moment; he didn't want to give up now that he had come this far.
"Hold on for a few more days. Give each account ten thousand points, and increase the advertising. I'll throw in another five million. We have to fight him."
"Mr. Fu, if we give away points, the recharge rate will be even uglier."
Fu Xiaochun shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Now is not the time to look at the recharge rate; we need to grab users."
"Come with me to the internet cafe tonight!"
Entering the internet cafe, everyone was playing Audition, with the sound of the space bar echoing everywhere.
"You two, want to get on a computer? The Audition package is gone. You can only use the normal machines."
The activity had been going on for several days, and the internet cafe staff were already used to it.
Playing Fingertip Piano at noon, the machines barely filled up for half an hour. But at night, when Audition was available, many customers would come an hour early to wait, or even pay for an hour first so they could play freely during the free time slot.
Fu Xiaochun nodded, "Just open two machines."
He sat in front of the computer with his assistant and opened Fingertip Piano.
The person next to them glanced over and immediately showed a look of surprise.
"Dude, do people actually play this game? I thought it was all bots."
Fu Xiaochun frowned slightly, "What do you mean, there aren't any bots in Audition?"
"Of course not. Our guild has thousands of members. I'm from the main guild. We've established Chengdu, Shanghai, and Beijing branches. Our guild leader trusts me a lot and wants to transfer me to be the Shanghai branch leader."
The young man shook his long bangs, a look of pride on his face.
Fu Xiaochun was so angry he laughed.
"Shanghai branch? National guild?"
"Are your organizations already this huge?"
"You're starting to build careers in the game, aren't you?"
Of course, Fu Xiaochun wouldn't stoop to the level of these teenagers, but this situation was enough to show how popular Audition was.
The gaming circle had formed so quickly, and more and more players would naturally be attracted in the future.
Fu Xiaochun looked at these young men and women playing so happily, his face gloomy, and he didn't feel good.
In the evening, Focus on the People was live again.
Deng Siqing sat in the studio, meticulously broadcasting interesting stories about people's lives.
"During the Spring Festival, internet cafes became a popular destination for many young people."
"In internet cafes in several first-tier cities, something interesting happened: people could play games without paying? Is this a trick by the internet cafe, or is it a generous sponsorship from the game company?"
"According to reports, the game Audition is sweeping the nation. The CEO of the game company is actually the well-known singer Da Fei. This game allows people to experience dance, pop songs, and the drums, and to train their brain's thinking ability through finger presses."
"Compared to violent and bloody slash games, this game is still a rare example of an educational game."
"The central TV station has praised Audition by name, so this game really seems to be hot!"
"Where are they having the free internet access event? I don't have it here."
"Only in big cities; don't even think about it in small cities."
"Even in big cities, it's hard to get a spot. Each internet cafe only has ten or twenty machines, and they're always in demand."
"Is this game really that popular? I'm hearing about it for the first time, I'll have to give it a try!"
With Deng Siqing's latest livestream, the popularity of Audition soared once more.
At Liangyin Media, everyone sat in front of the television, beaming with joy.
"Sister Deng is really something! This shout-out from the state-run media is more effective than any internet cafe promotional campaign!"
Lin Chudong nodded. "Absolutely. We owe Director Qiu another favor this time."
They certainly owed Deng Siqing a favor too, but their relationship was different.
The show airing was mainly thanks to Qiu Chengdong's approval, so they still owed Director Qiu a debt of gratitude.
Yao Qiang was a little amazed, "Advertising in the entertainment industry is really powerful."
"In less than three days, Fingertip Piano will be finished."
Grape Peripherals Factory.
Factory Manager's Office.
"Factory Manager Sun, our keyboard sales have increased a lot this month, and orders from several internet cafes have increased significantly."
Factory Manager Sun Zhao was a little surprised, "What's going on? Has anyone reported after-sales issues?"
"Not at all. It's not a quality problem with our products. A game called Audition has become popular, and this game relies on the spacebar a lot, so the keyboard failure rate is very high."
Sun Zhao checked, "This is a game from Liangyin Media?"
Grape Peripherals had been sponsored by Deng Yong, who had helped introduce them. They had invested two million in The Beginning, and the advertising effect was very good.
He didn't expect Da Fei to make another game that would benefit them.
Sun Zhao said, "Immediately contact Mr. Liang from Liangyin Music. Buy the game's authorization. We'll launch an Audition co-branded keyboard as a high-end product and mass-produce a batch of Audition-specific keyboards to recommend to those online internet cafes."
"The Audition-specific keyboard will use a full membrane keyboard, but the space bar will use a mechanical keyboard structure to extend its lifespan, and the cost increase won't be too high."
"Let's get a head start before others grab this heat!"
Two days later, January 11th.
Liangyin Media had equipped everyone with the Audition branded keyboards; they were cool and practical.
The employees in the gaming department were very satisfied. The company's benefits were really good. The game had just been developed, and they already had branded keyboards. They couldn't have imagined such treatment before.
Although a keyboard didn't cost much, Audition was their work. Seeing that the game had already released derivative merchandise, their sense of accomplishment exploded.
Wang Zhi said, "Director Sun is really good at catching the heat. Boss, didn't Director Sun say he would give us a set of top-spec computers per person?"
Liang Yin rolled her eyes, "Are you dreaming? Giving you a top-spec computer to play games? Have you practiced the bass? You're not going to perform at the Lantern Festival Gala, are you?"
Wang Zhi's expression changed slightly, "I will, I will. This time I must stand in a good position and absolutely cannot be blocked by the logo!"
Lin Chudong laughed, "Don't worry, there aren't the words 'live broadcast' and 'replay' this time; you won't be blocked."
Chunting Games Company.
Fu Xiaochun clenched his fists tightly, a look of confusion on his face.
"How is this show being broadcast? We were clearly the first to offer free gaming, so why isn't our game even mentioned?"
"Is Da Fei's influence that big? Does CCTV listen to him?"
The assistant said, "President Fu, I heard Da Fei and Deng Siqing have a special relationship..."
"Even a special relationship shouldn't warrant getting an ad on TV, goddamn it!"
-----------------------
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)