Chapter 15 Who Can Have the Last Laugh_1

After the meeting, Mr. Shen declined the transportation and accommodation allowance for this occasion.

The allowance is a customary practice for participating in such small-scale press conferences; each game developer and journalist receives an amount based on their level of influence—it's also considered a promotional expense.

Given Mr. Shen's standing, it was normal for him to receive just over twenty thousand, but declining it meant he had other thoughts in mind.

Learning that Mr. Shen had turned down the money, Tianyi's CEO Zhang Ping specifically sought him out and, before he left, asked with concern, "Mr. Shen, is there something wrong with this game?"

"No, the pay-to-win mechanics are done well, and various settings are fairly mature. There are no issues."

"Then the allowance... was it too little?"

"It wasn't less, but I'm not in need of money. Accepting it would somewhat damage my reputation."

Mr. Shen's words left the CEO confused.

First, he said there were no problems with the game, then he said accepting the money would harm his reputation. Are you having a split personality?

Seeing the CEO's confused face, Mr. Shen did not play coy and simply said, "I have a student who recently developed a game very similar to yours in terms of gameplay."

CEO Zhang nodded, feeling he understood Mr. Shen's point, "So, you're avoiding any conflict of interest? It's fine, we can even help promote it."

In CEO Zhang's view, what threat could a game developed by a student pose?

Mr. Shen must think the student's game is too shoddy. Once it launches, it will be completely overshadowed by his own game, and people will say "can't even copy properly."

With extensive experience in reading people, Mr. Shen instantly saw through CEO Zhang's thoughts and smiled as he shook his head.

He had thought that Fang Cheng not joining Tianyi was a loss, but now he realized that joining would have been the real loss.

Tianyi was getting arrogant.

The domestic game industry was currently weak, and Tianyi was already standing tall among the short. Instead of staying humble, they now arrogantly acted as if they were the best in the world.

It was one thing for KongKong, but even the CEO had adopted this attitude; there really was no hope for this company.

In contrast, little Fang was much better.

With strong technical skill in gaming and a modest disposition, always insisting he knew nothing about games, this attitude of continuous learning alone was commendable.

Taking a taxi, Mr. Shen called Fang Cheng and firmly stated, "Your game should be priced at 68, right?"

"Isn't that a bit high?" Fang Cheng asked, puzzled.

"No, quality products should be priced as such."

The next day, almost simultaneously, Fang Cheng's game and Tianyi's game launched.

Under intense instruction from Fang Cheng, his game was named "Princess Dungeon" and was tagged with "romance" in its listing, priced at 68.

Tianyi's game, on the other hand, was named "King's Dungeon" – the name alone revealed just how ambitious Tianyi had become.

Moreover, this game was available on all platforms, with promotional channels in place, and with PC, Apple, and Android versions all sharing data—a testament to Tianyi's vast ambition.

Because of Tianyi's reputation, major platforms even rolled out large advertisements, with full advertising expenses ensuring every player felt bombarded by this game.

In contrast, "Princess Dungeon" was in a sorry state.

Despite being a pigeon-type dungeon game, it curiously featured a romance tag and was given a name that only veteran drivers would notice, instantly killing the download interest of the potential audience.

Moreover, Fang Cheng Studio hadn't been around for long, the game's outright purchase price was still 68, and the game size was only 10MB – all of which raised suspicions of a scam.

And with the potential accusation of copying "King's Dungeon," the Steam platform gave it a cold shoulder, resulting in many people not even realizing Fang Cheng had released another game.

On the launch day of the game, Xu Qingling stared at her own game's backend, deep in thought.

After days of intense learning, she was no longer a newbie in the game industry.

Especially with her connections, she could access the standard data from Steam's backend through some financial companies and understand the current situation of her own game's data.

You couldn't say it was disastrously bad, but it was more a case of having thrown money down the drain.

Double-digit sales, and one person who refunded just fifteen seconds after purchase, solely to leave a review: "Not as good as 'King's Dungeon'."

If she could punch someone through the internet cable, Xu Qingling would at least have contributed a vegetable to this world.

Heavy-hearted, she handed the report over to Fang Cheng, ready to share her worries with him, but unexpectedly, she heard him merely respond with a casual "good."

Startled, Xu Qingling looked up to see Fang Cheng smiling, nodding at the spreadsheet as if quite content with what he saw.

"Boss, what's with you…"

"It's nothing."

"After all, the game didn't cost much to make, so it's not a big deal. We'll just make another one."

"Don't worry, I'm really fine."

At that moment, Fang Cheng was brimming with joy.

The market's reaction was honest, and both his own feeling that the game was off and the players' feeling mirrored that.

This just showed that his understanding of "not fun" was similar to that of most people.

Though he still hadn't figured out why games were fun, by eliminating each "unfun" element one by one, what remained must surely be the reason why games were enjoyable.

Seeing Fang Cheng's cheerful demeanor only worried Xu Qingling more.

Based on her experience, it was better if he had flown into a rage at such times; a lack of response almost meant he was on the verge of madness, ready to crash at any moment.

So, she sought out Xiao Douzi, who was busy planning future character stats, and whispered, "Xiao Douzi, the boss seems off."

Xiao Douzi quickly looked up: "What happened, did the boss hurt his hand? Should we go to the hospital? Even a single injured finger of his is a loss for the gaming world; his hair is more important than half the people in the gaming industry."

"No, it's not that. You almost come off as a zealot!"

"The boss is the faith of my life. Being his lackey is like winning five hundred million in the lottery."

"Hopeless... Anyway, the game's sales are not doing well, just twenty-three sold, and there's been a refund. I looked into it, wondering if we just had bad luck, running into 'King's Dungeon' by accident."

Xiao Douzi looked at Xu Qingling with a bizarre expression: "It's Tianyi's bad luck, really."

"Why are you so confident!"

"Because it's a game made by the boss. Don't worry, the boss will definitely have the last laugh. Look at the boss now, he's quite happy too."

"...Forget it."

Xu Qingling sighed and returned to her desk, to idly start browsing Bilibili videos one after another.

Tianyi also placed a lot of ads on Bilibili, where various streamers enthusiastically played 'King's Dungeon', occasionally praising the game's integrity, with nearly thirteen different dungeon styles.

Though the game had numerous microtransactions, requiring ten purchases of 648 yuan to even scratch the surface, the quality of the game swayed many to give it a try.

However, amidst all the videos extolling 'King's Dungeon', there was one live broadcast about to wreak havoc.

Another of Fang Cheng's die-hard followers, Wang Say Games, was starting to flex his muscles.