C71: It’s a Little Expensive

Even though it's Valentine's Day, I have to admit that there are still plenty of us spending it with our wives—the virtual ones and the streaming ones.

When I have nothing to do, I sometimes hop onto Shark TV and check out a live stream of Overcooked. The banter is always amusing. Here's a snippet of what I heard during one session:

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"Eh... eh! Sun, the rice is burnt again, move faster!"

"What the heck, Brother Huang! You blame me for this?"

"I'm not blaming you, am I? Who burnt the rice? Just look at the comments, see who they're blaming!"

"Oh, come on! Shut up! I know what I'm doing."

"Alright, alright... wait, don't just stand there! Go wash the dishes instead of chopping stuff! Your skill level is too low, man!"

"Screw that! I think it's you, Brother Huang, slowing me down! Let's stop talking and practice."

"Ha! Am I scared of you? Let's split into two teams and see who's better!"

"No problem, bring it on! Damn it!"

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As the game progressed, the ship that was once full of camaraderie—a big boat like the Titanic, trusted and tested for years—started to sink fast.

Soon, the Neon game platform, the official game site, and some third-party platforms began to see a surge in sales and reviews for Overcooked.

Even though it was the Spring Festival holiday, Yang Xin and Ruan Ningxue—my colleagues—were paying close attention to how Overcooked was performing, similar to how we watch our stocks every day, every hour, and every minute.

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"Chen, how are the sales looking for Overcooked?" Yang asked in the company group chat. She had asked the same thing the last hour!

"Yeah! It must be booming. The streams are super exciting," Ruan added.

"We sold 15,000 copies in the first eight hours," I responded with a smile. "Over 11,000 of those were sold on our platform, and the sales are increasing by the hour."

Fifteen thousand copies in eight hours. It's not a massive number, but it's not small either.

Sales patterns for multiplayer games are different. For example, even though we didn't go overboard with promotions for overcooked, there was still a lot of buzz—promotional videos, media interviews, and a decent amount of advertising.

For most games, even if the quality is top-notch, sales usually follow a roller-coaster trend: peaking at launch and then gradually sliding down, unless positive word-of-mouth picks things back up.

But Overcooked is different. It's a party game with a social element, and it didn't see high sales at first. Instead, it gained traction as people talked about it and played together. Every player has their social circle, and through that network, the game spreads.

When it becomes a hot topic, it drives even more sales. This kind of viral growth pattern applies whether it's in this world or my previous experiences.

"11,000 copies? So many players choose to buy it on our platform?" Yang Xin wasn't surprised.

"After all, it's buy one, get one free," I said.

"But there's one thing in the comment section. A player says it was supposed to bring harmony and love. Then why does it feel so tense right from the start?" Yang Xin sent an emoji of a cute, confused cat.

"Exactly! I played this game with my cousin during this New Year, and it was so easy to break our brotherhood!" someone agreed in the chat.

"Chen, this doesn't feel like a couple's game at all! I even read the reviews, and it seems like some people have broken up over this!" Qin Yi chimed in.

Seeing everyone chat, I couldn't help but smile as I leaned back on the sofa at home.

On the game system UI in front of me, the points were steadily rising, and this was just the beginning.

After glancing at the group's messages, I typed a reply.

"It's okay, no need to panic. And if a couple breaks up because of the game, it's not the game's fault—likely, their relationship was already nearing its end. Their personalities probably just weren't compatible."

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Even though Overcooked from my previous life was famously called the breakup kitchen, it's clear that if some couples did break up after playing, it wasn't solely because of the game.

It's just that their personalities clashed, and the game brought that out.

Of course, Overcooked often causes arguments between good friends, siblings, or even lovers, so such things aren't unusual.

After the game's rating was successfully released, the players who bought it started leaving their reviews.

Most of them gave it a solid 8.5 out of 10.

Of course, some players gave it just 1 point.

And whether they gave it high or low marks, their reviews in the comments section were quite amusing.

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"'Overcooked'? This is a breakup kitchen! My girlfriend left me. Chen, you owe me a girlfriend now!"

"This is the Single Cooking. After playing it, I'm single again!"

"I strongly recommend buying this game and keeping it on hand. When you want to break up with your girlfriend, pull this game out."

"After playing this, I broke up with my girlfriend on the spot, then spent all night gaming with my buddy! I felt so free and happy."

"My friends were all mysterious about it, but I can confirm—yeah, we just fought."

"The game is great, but it does strain friendships."

"I'm into another girl, but wasn't sure how to break up with my girlfriend. Now I know! Played this game, and boom—relationship over!"

"After playing, our family became more harmonious, cooking went smoothly, and I even got admitted to the firefighter's entrance examination. However, the person I played with was not good at it."

"I used to have many friends, but ever since I started playing this game, I'm glad some of them are gone!"

"Before we played, we were just ordinary friends, but after playing, we became friends for life. There were times when I had some friction with my friends because of the game content, but most of the time we were just messing around."

This kind of rumor is exactly what has boosted the popularity of Overcooked.

With the rise of funny videos surrounding it, some had arguments with streamers because of the game.

This viral humor reminds me of how Escape spread before.

The popularity of Overcooked has been skyrocketing. It's no surprise that its sales are going up too.

More and more people, whether they had heard about it before or not, are learning about Overcooked through various channels and are becoming interested in it.

Among players, the game even has two other nicknames—Breakup Kitchen and Friendly Kitchen.