Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 139: Earn Less, Please!

Here cos the crucial point!

Now!

Shen Miaomiao finally felt assured about the gaplay and the prospects of the ga.

In these two aspects, not just the project departnt but even Gu Sheng himself had no confidence!

She had almost never seen Gu Sheng lack confidence before!

So, the APEX project was more likely to face a grim future.

But!

That was still not enough!

To completely eliminate its potential to make money, more work was needed on the profit model.

Here, the loss rebate system’s judgnt mode had to be ntioned.

Because theoretically, APEX was a free ga.

After all, Gu Sheng had personally sent invitation codes to many players during the Titanfall ga process, providing serial numbers to unlock the ga.

And now, Titanfall’s purchase ratio on Yiyou X2 exceeded one hundred percent.

So theoretically, this ga was a free ga.

But the problem was!

A ga without any profit points could not create a record in the system!

This bug was too obvious; the system wasn’t stupid and naturally would not allow it.

Therefore!

Shen Miaomiao needed a profit model.

One that was theoretically profitable but practically difficult to achieve.

That was a bit tricky.

Shen Miaomiao wanted to brainstorm.

After so thought, Gu Sheng spoke first:

“For the profit model, I suggest splitting it up,”

“After all, APEX, while a derivative of TTF, is a relatively independent project,”

“Although now, our purchase ratio on Yiyou X2 exceeds one hundred percent, and all players who bought Titanfall can play free of charge,”

“But over ti, our ratio will eventually return to a normal threshold,”

“At that ti, there might be so players who want to play APEX but don’t want to buy TTF,”

“So I suggest setting a separate ga price specifically for those players, giving them a separate purchase path, pricing it at 98 or 108.”

After saying this, Gu Sheng looked at everyone in the conference room.

Jiang Shan raised her hand:

“Sheng, I don’t quite understand. Since we are going free anyway, why not make it completely free?”

“Let all players play for free. Wouldn’t that attract more players and grow the player base even more?”

Upon hearing this,

Gu Sheng first smiled, then shook his head:

“That sounds right, but it can’t be done that way.”

Jiang Shan was from the art team and had been in the ga industry less than two years, so her thinking was relatively simple.

Her suggestion for complete free access seed beautiful and appeared to effectively lower the entry barrier for playing, promoting the idea that ‘everyone can play.’

But Gu Sheng knew!

If that was done, more than half of the players who bought Titanfall would explode with anger!

Because one of the things players hated most was being stabbed in the back in a short ti!

I spent two hundred yuan buying the ga, experienced an amazing story, crossed countless adventures, and at the end of the ga, the NPC played by the designer personally gave an invitation, seriously praising as aweso and awarding this invitation, welcoming to co play.

Such a great idea! Such a heavy sense of ceremony! Such a clever design that breaks the dinsional wall!

I was excited, I cheered, I applauded this scene, and I was touched by the ga company’s dedication and conscience!

Then you turn around and tell that invitation is just a formality, the invitation in my hand is a joke, and the so-called big competition is actually open to everyone, completely free?

Who wouldn’t explode?

So, this ga absolutely cannot be entirely free.

Otherwise, get ready for backlash.

Gu Sheng was very thorough in his thinking.

Besides being a designer, he was also a player.

As a player, he himself didn’t want to see such a situation, so he certainly wouldn’t do that.

On this, Jiang Yun, a veteran in the ga circle, also strongly agreed:

“General Manager Gu’s point is very reasonable. Recklessly making everything free would indeed hurt the feelings of the core players to a great extent,”

“The key is that now, our core player user base is huge,”

“If we hurt this group of players, the negative impact on us would be significant.”

Hmm—

Upon hearing this, Shen Miaomiao frowned slightly and pondered silently.

Actually, she quite liked Jiang Shan’s suggestion.

Making everything free could minimize the ga’s profitability.

But Gu Sheng was absolutely opposed to it.

So, she couldn’t forcibly interfere and make Gu Sheng execute complete free access.

However!

If following Gu Sheng’s idea, core players would play for free, and non-core players would pay.

This would bring certain risks to her loss-making plan.

What to do?

Shen Miaomiao pondered deeply, then steeled her heart:

“In that case, let’s make the ga’s storyline more resolute,”

“APEX is a free ga,”

“And it’s only open to players who have purchased the core ga and received the invitation.”

I’m directly filtering out the non-core custors!

Want to play APEX? You must buy Titanfall!

Set the threshold, tighten the player count to the maximum!

This ti!

Shen Miaomiao really put her mind to it.

Because according to the system’s judgnt standard, even if players buy Titanfall to play APEX, the profit won’t be counted under APEX!

In other words, if executed according to her idea,

APEX would return to the original point, becoming a purely free ga!

I’m amazing!

Shen Miaomiao applauded her own agile thinking.

But this obviously did not align well with Gu Sheng’s expectation to “expand the player base.”

He pondered for a mont: “This…”

“Old Gu,”

Seeing this, Shen Miaomiao quickly cut him off:

“I desire both fish and bear’s paw, but can’t have both,”

“We can’t stand on the artistic side wanting to keep the work’s high quality,”

“While also standing on the comrcial side trying to attract more custors,”

“These two are contradictory, just like the dilemma you ntioned with Gods’ Calamity,”

“In my opinion, reputation is far more important than short-term profit,”

“Let’s earn less.”

Consider it Shen Miaomiao begging you!!!

The last sentence was said inside her mind.

Gu Sheng opened his mouth, then looked at everyone else.

Everyone wore a conflicted expression, but after so thought, they all nodded.

Shen Miaomiao’s persuasion was indeed brilliant.

There was almost no room for objection.

Without a doubt, if following Little Nezha’s suggestion, the combination of Titanfall APEX would be maximized in prestige!

Players’ sense of imrsion and belonging would be stronger!

The only downside was filtering out casual players.

After weighing the pros and cons,

Gu Sheng finally compromised. Given Titanfall’s current sales, even if so casual players were filtered out, the number wouldn’t be too large.

He nodded:

“Alright, Shen’s pursuit of artistry is admirable. Then we will fully commit to the ga’s imrsion and prestige, only opening ga access free of charge to players who have received invitations.”

Yeeeeeeeeees!!!

Seeing Gu Sheng approve her proposal, Shen Miaomiao was nearly ready to jump out of her seat with excitent!

But on the surface, she still kept a calm and relieved expression!

“Good, it’s settled then,”

Quietly exhaling, Shen Miaomiao continued:

“Now, the problem circles back,”

“This ga costs fifty million; it’s not a charity,”

“So, where is our profit point?”

Shen Miaomiao spoke grandly, as if considering the investnt return.

But in reality, if not forced by the system, she would rather have APEX be completely free, with no profit thods at all!

Just a system task.

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, and Jiang Yun spoke:

“If it’s completely free, then we can only focus on in-app purchases.”

“Indeed, but what kind of in-app purchase?”

Lu Bian bit his pen, thinking:

“Currently, dostically, the best in-app purchase revenue is by our old rival XunTeng,”

“Fireline Shuttle is a free ga relying entirely on in-app purchases, with annual sales around nine billion last year.”

Hiss—

A tiny shock like a small fire qilin ran through Shen Miaomiao’s body!

That in-app purchase was terrifying!

Nine billion a year! That’s 750 million a month!

And that!

Was only an average!

If calculated monthly, during event and lottery months, sales would easily exceed one billion!

Terrifying.

Shen Miaomiao shivered and firmly rejected on the spot:

“No, that profit model doesn’t suit Golden Wind,”

“We have always focused on quality ga content, friendly pricing, and a conscientious profit model,”

“XunTeng’s lottery wheel and pay-to-win mode does make money,”

“But that money is at the expense of the ga and even the company’s reputation,”

“That’s a loss for us,”

“I believe it doesn’t align with Director Gu’s ga philosophy, right?”

Shen Miaomiao looked at Gu Sheng.

Seeing Little Nezha’s serious expression, Gu Sheng smiled with satisfaction.

This was why he liked Little Nezha as the boss and Golden Wind as a company.

Indeed, as a business, gas must ultimately aim for profit.

But Gu Sheng didn’t want to focus only on “profit.”

He didn’t want to beco XunTeng, the rotten Blizzard after decline, or the infamous Vivendi.

Otherwise, the system wouldn’t have co down on him.

He was like a bard from a past life.

Bringing a splendid ga world and receiving players’ laughter and cheers in this parallel world.

And now, the bard found his Valkyrie protector and a group of partners who were equally passionate about gaming.

The bard liked the Valkyrie and enjoyed the joyful journey.

“I agree with Director Shen’s opinion,”

Gu Sheng cast a approving glance at Little Nezha:

“I believe everyone agrees.”

Looking around, the conference attendees nodded without hesitation.

Maybe this sounds sentintal, but everyone felt that adding a XunTeng-style pay-to-win system to their ga would be a stain on it.

But if not doing XunTeng-style pay-to-win, how to design in-app purchases?

Everyone furrowed their brows, deep in thought.

At this mont, Wang Xiaoming, newly joined this project eting, raised his hand:

“Director Gu, I have a sowhat immature idea.”

Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow and nodded: “Just say it. Our eting today is about turning immature ideas into mature ones. Be bold.”

“Hehe, thank you, Director Gu. I’m a bit nervous attending for the first ti.”

Wang Xiaoming smiled broadly.

No denying, Director Gu’s charisma was powerful.

He could make the atmosphere light with just a sentence or two and draw people he favored close.

Wang Xiaoming gathered his thoughts and said:

“I think the reason players have always criticized the XunTeng-style pay-to-win is mainly about item attributes,”

“Shortening flash duration, increasing smoke visibility, boosting gun ammo penetration, even directly adjusting weapon damage,”

“Rather than selling gun items, they’re selling attributes,”

“This is item inflation, a forced pay-to-win threat.”

Wang Xiaoming was spot on.

In just a few words, he summarized the pay-to-win core of most in-app purchase gas on the market now—

Forced pay, deceptive pay.

“Players don’t resist in-app purchases themselves, but resist attribute selling,”

Wang Xiaoming said:

“If that’s the case…”

At this point,

Wang Xiaoming paused and nervously looked at Gu Sheng.

Seeing Gu Sheng smiling warmly at him, he felt more at ease, took a deep breath, and steadied himself:

“If so, we don’t sell attributes, only prettier gun skins and sets.”

This was Wang Xiaoming’s old specialty!

Rember!

Wang Xiaoming got Golden Wind’s attention and Gu Sheng’s favor because he was the creator of the best mod for Left 4 Dead!

And now!

Wang Xiaoming was returning to his old trade!

At these words!

Hiss—

Except for Gu Sheng, everyone else sucked in a breath!

Only selling skins, no attribute boosts!!!

Such an avant-garde in-app purchase design concept made everyone present worried!

Certainly!

Wang Xiaoming was famous in the Left 4 Dead mod circle, with countless fans, long topping the mod subscription charts.

But don’t forget!

Mods were free!

And now his in-app purchase idea involved charging money!

Asking players to pay for skins that only made guns look better, without any attribute bonuses?

Who the hell would pay for that!

Everyone knew!

Although players complained about XunTeng’s forced pay-to-win,

But precisely because of that, to ensure their play experience, players of Fireline Shuttle all paid to so extent.

At the very least, they had a smoke head goggle and a hero-level main gun!

Otherwise, they couldn’t play at all.

It was a case of complaining while paying.

But now!

Wang Xiaoming’s in-app purchase idea completely overturned this tradition!

Whether you pay or not, Golden Wind guarantees absolutely fair gaplay for all players.

Everyone competes by skill!

Paying can’t make you stronger, only turn you from a plain noob into a flashy noob!

This…

For a mont, hesitant voices rose in the conference room.

Without a doubt, this move would win players’ praise.

The words “conscientious developer” would firmly hang over Golden Wind’s na!

But the problem was!

If paying was optional and didn’t give any advantage, why would anyone pay?

Amid all these doubts,

Only two people showed happy expressions, eyes shining brightly!

One was Gu Sheng.

He really hadn’t misjudged Wang Xiaoming, this ‘ordinary’ genius!

This guy, through his experience and market analysis, had carved out a new, green, win-win free-to-play pay mode!

Although!

This was nothing unusual in Gu Sheng’s previous life.

But for this world, it was a creative feat that could change the free-to-play in-app purchase model!

Its greatness was on par with how “second-generation FPS” revolutionized the shooting ga market!

No wonder he had chosen this man!

The reason he was so determined to bring him into Golden Wind was to wait for this day!

Gu Sheng’s eyes sparkled with admiration, unhidden.

And the other person with shining eyes and a wildly smiling mouth was—

Shen Miaomiao!