Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 57: “Worth Every Penny” – The Marketing Strategy Mee

The viewers were drenched in cold sweat!

“Holy sh**—that was intense—”

“Breaking a sweat, huh, little bro!”

“Uh-oh, the boss stopped talking.”

“F***… did the boss just die on the spot?”

“Even I’m getting cold sweats watching this.”

“This is way too d*** scary!”

“Wait, who the hell said horror gas aren’t scary once you play them with friends?”

“Who could’ve guessed Bro Sheng would go full dark mode and use the players to make it scarier!”

“Exactly! If it weren’t for that photo Tree-bro found, the boss wouldn’t have known the ghost was riding on his back.”

“The worst part is, when the ghost shows up, the teammates don’t just fail to help—they jack your blood pressure up!”

“Hahahaha Tree-bro’s ‘every debt has its debtor’ line totally broke the boss.”

“This ga’s absolutely insane—not only terrifying, but a total friendship destroyer!”

“Bro Sheng’s always been a master of tornting people…”

“Straight up sent the boss into ltdown mode.”

“...”

After a long while, a trembling voice finally ca from inside the VR pod—

“...D***, did Nana set the alarm threshold on the VR pod too low?”

“I was just starting to feel a little thrill, and the pod already kicked out?”

“I didn’t even get the chance to feel scared yet.”

“That’s weird...”

As he spoke, A-Yin stepped out of the VR pod.

Leaning on the pod door, he pretended to check the equipnt.

The chat was full of heckling—

“Co on, boss, stop pretending. Your legs are jelly, aren’t they?”

“Body’s all soft, only the mouth’s still tough.”

“Talk big all you want, but can you stop your voice from shaking?”

“LOL, won’t even dare reconnect.”

“I an, seriously, this Tianjin bold guy isn’t much better than Bro Piao, only lasted five minutes.”

“Let’s cut him so slack, the old man’s age is catching up, can’t handle big scares.”

“Boss, stop fixing it already—you’ll break the pod even if there’s nothing wrong with it…”

The chat’s mockery ca in wave after wave.

A-Yin didn’t even dare look back.

So d*** embarrassing!

His whole rep, gone in an instant!

He’d thought it through—just a horror ga, and with teammates no less. How scary could it really be?

Who’d have thought!

Gu Sheng was twisted enough to use the multiplayer setup to amplify the fear!

The worst part? The no-weapon rule was absolutely killer!

Especially when you just stood there, watching the ghost flicker closer and closer, completely helpless…

That kind of fear nearly pushed A-Yin past his physical limit!

If jumpscares were like a sharp blade chopping off your head in one go, then Phasmophobia was more like a dull knife slowly torturing you to death!

God knows!

When that little ghost got up in his face just now, he was about to piss himself.

A-Yin squatted opposite the VR pod, trying to calm down.

“Whooo—”

He let out a long breath, feeling his heart rate gradually returning to normal.

Just as he was about to stand up—

Suddenly!

A small hand patted him on the shoulder!

“Little Yin! What are you sneaking around for?”

“Holy s***!!!”

A-Yin flinched hard!

He’d just been scared half to death by a kid ghost in the ga, and now hearing a child’s voice triggered so serious PTSD.

Turning his head, he saw it was his little daughter, Yiyi.

“Oh d***—”

A-Yin clutched his chest, almost passing out. He bent down to pat his daughter’s head, speaking in a shaky voice—

“Daddy… Yiyi’s working now…”

“No, wait… uh…”

“Yiyi, Daddy’s working, go find Mommy to play, okay?”

That sudden scare had scrambled his words.

And as soon as he finished, A-Yin couldn’t help it and burst out laughing.

The chat exploded—

“Couldn’t hold it in, hahahahahaha!”

“Hahahahahahaha I’m dying!”

“So you’ve been letting Yiyi play for you all along, huh?!”

“Of course, this house can’t function without Yiyi!”

“Hahahaha I laughed so hard my neighbors called the cops!”

“Yiyi: I do my thing, you do yours. You call ‘boss,’ I call you ‘Little Yin.’”

“I laughed so hard my mom opened the door to check if I’d lost my mind.”

“Peak stream mont, no doubt!”

“‘Daddy… Yiyi’s working now’—instant classic!”

“I never thought a horror ga stream could be this hilarious!”

“My review—massive recomndation!”

“...”

After sending his daughter out of the stream room, A-Yin looked at the wall of “hahahaha” in the chat and felt it was all a bit ridiculous, letting out a helpless chuckle.

But thanks to that little interlude, his fear had sowhat subsided.

To uphold his title as the “Bold Yin,” to lead the team to mission success, and to exact revenge on Ah Cui,

A-Yin once again bravely stepped into the VR pod!

However, when he reconnected to the ga, he discovered—Tree-bro had disconnected too.

“Huh?” A-Yin was confused. He grabbed the radio and asked, “Where’s Tree-bro?”

After a mont, a trembling voice ca through the radio—Liuliu’s:

“After you got disconnected, Tree-bro thought it was safe. So he was on the second floor, fake-crying at your grave, going, ‘Captain Yin, you died so tragically. Curse that evil spirit, take too…’”

“And then?”

“Then… well, he got his wish…”

There was a two-second pause.

A-Yin let out a triumphant shout—

“Serves him right!!!”

A Night of Terror! A Night of Laughter!

For all the strears, this new Phasmophobia was a test of their physical limits.

Its unprecedented horror style made hearts race, with the VR pod’s alarm sounds practically turning into background music for the streams.

But for the audience?

Yesterday’s stream was peak entertainnt!

After all—

Who doesn’t love seeing strears boast big and then end up wetting themselves in fear?

Everyone said it wasn’t scary.

Everyone ended up scared sh**less.

The Ga’s Launch Day Concludes.

As night fell again, at the Zhongjing headquarters of YiYou Platform, Yan Sheng and his senior executives all gathered.

The eting room was brightly lit.

On the projection screen, a PPT cover blazed in red, with a gold title:

“Phasmophobia Marketing Strategy eting.”

“Everyone’s here, huh?”

Yan Sheng nodded.

“Thanks for staying late tonight. I believe you all understand the situation, so I won’t repeat myself.”

He turned to Secretary Li and gestured:

“Secretary Li, give us the sales report.”

“Understood.”

Secretary Li nodded and clicked the mouse. The screen showed various charts.

“This is a summary from the Marketing and Data teams on Phasmophobia’s 24-hour sales.”

“For this key project’s marketing, we used the Data Team’s latest ‘Big Data Precision Targeting’ algorithm.”

“As you can see, our data includes not just basic sales, but also player demographics, regional distribution, playti, and eight other types of analysis.”

“The goal is to execute precise marketing for this key project, to maximize sales and ensure client satisfaction.”

“Let’s start with the basic sales data...”

Sure enough!

Ever since Shen Miaomiao bought YiYou x1’s login access for 150,000 yuan, Yan Sheng had been working overti to plan the ga’s marketing.

At first, the senior execs didn’t quite get why Phasmophobia was a key project.

But after Yan Sheng’s explanation, they all understood—

Why did Goldenwind pay far above market price for login access?

The execs didn’t get it.

But Yan Sheng, the battle-hardened veteran, did.

He knew Goldenwind was still a small ga company, with only seven people, including a financial staffer sent by Shen Capital.

Which ant—they had no dedicated marketing team.

Yet a ga couldn’t sell well without marketing!

So Young President Shen turned to YiYou, seeking a “deep cooperation” partnership instead of a traditional marketing agency.

They wanted YiYou, with its experience and past collaborations, to help promote Phasmophobia, just like they did with Vampire Survivors.

Sure, this kind of “deep cooperation” resembled the old guard’s backdoor recomndations, which could hurt fairness.

But in reality, they were fundantally different.

The old guard didn’t care about ga quality—pay up and you’d get featured, with them pocketing the difference, which went against company policy.

But “deep cooperation” was based on ga quality, not just paynt, and the funds went into company accounts, as part of its operating policy.

From a business perspective, Goldenwind was eligible for this policy—their gas were consistently high quality, practically gold-standard.

The issue was their small size.

They didn’t yet qualify for YiYou’s usual standards for deep cooperation.

So—

Young President Shen “hinted” at Yan Sheng to give them a green light by paying double the access fee.

Yan Sheng wasn’t the kind of rigid rule-follower.

He always believed that as long as the ga was good and beneficial to the company and the industry, there was no need to stick to rigid policies.

More importantly, Yan Sheng saw this as Young President Shen’s way of encouraging and testing YiYou!

Why 150,000 yuan—exactly matching the top-tier VR pod company, Yunwei?

Why not 100,000? Why not 1 million?

Because it was her way of saying: Co on! I believe in YiYou! I want you to beco the next Yunwei!

This investnt was a test of their service.

And who was Young President Shen?

The heiress of Shen Capital! The daughter of Shen Wanlin!

Her encouragent and test could signal future investnts from Shen Capital into YiYou!

For YiYou, this was a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity!

If they could make Young President Shen feel their service was worth every penny,

Then their relationship would grow stronger and stronger!

This was exactly what Yan Sheng wanted!

After all—besides Shen Capital, Goldenwind had a powerhouse designer—

Gu Sheng!

The hottest up-and-coming superstar ga designer in China!

Practically a walking money-printing machine!

If YiYou could establish a deep partnership with Goldenwind, they’d have a steady stream of hit gas in the future!

“With so many benefits right in front of us, why would we let this golden opportunity slip away?”

Yan Sheng said.

After his in-depth analysis, the senior execs finally understood. They praised President Yan’s vision, and their earlier doubts vanished.

And so—

The marketing strategy eting began!

“...Based on our data, Phasmophobia sold 2,085 copies on day one, for a total of 93,800 yuan.”

Secretary Li reported.

There was a rustling in the eting room.

The execs all turned to the screen, so frowning, so smacking their lips, whispering among themselves.

“This data’s a bit odd...”

“Yeah, selling over 2,000 copies on day one is already impressive for a ga of this scale, but the total sales amount…”

“Isn’t their price set a bit too low?”

“Low indeed. That’s the rock-bottom price for a ga of this scale, but considering the ga’s quality, it really shouldn’t be that low...”

“True. Maybe 100 would be pushing it, but 75 should be fine...”

“Could be they’re new to the VR pod market, lacked confidence, so they matched the lowest price point.”

“Hmm… that makes sense...”

After more analysis, Secretary Li scrolled through eight types of data, breaking down the ga from all angles.

A full half hour later, the data review finally wrapped up.

Seeing the thoughtful looks on the execs’ faces, Yan Sheng spoke:

“Alright, that’s the data analysis. Very thorough.”

“We’ve already done the maximum allowed regular platform promotion.”

“Now, it’s ti for you all to brainstorm—how do we expand the marketing for this ga and boost its sales?”

After a mont’s silence, a bespectacled exec from Marketing raised his hand:

“I suggest we start with ga dia, have professionals review the ga.”

“Hmm, good idea,” Yan Sheng nodded. “Go on.”

The bespectacled exec nodded:

“Normally, ga dia wouldn’t review a small-scale ga like this. But Phasmophobia is different.”

“I watched the stream and tried it for five minutes myself last night.”

“My overall impression? Eye-opening.”

“Unlike typical horror gas, it doesn’t rely on jumpscares, but builds fear in a deeper way.”

“I’m not a professional reviewer, so I can’t describe it perfectly.”

“But I’m certain—this ga deserves a review, and it’ll get great feedback!”

Yan Sheng and the execs nodded in agreent.

Having ga dia review it was definitely a good marketing move.

After all, while news releases were a form of dia exposure, their impact was shallow and short-lived.

Reviews, on the other hand, were deep, authoritative, and respected by players.

A ga scoring high on major review sites was almost guaranteed strong sales.

“Xiao Li, get in touch with the review sites and have them review Phasmophobia, under my na.”

Yan Sheng waved his hand, adopting the suggestion.

Then he asked, “Any other ideas?”

Humans are social creatures—sotis all they need is a leader.

With the bespectacled exec’s suggestion as a springboard, the room ca alive—

“I think we should promote on our official Douyin account…”

“Should we have the tech team create a custom VR pod the for Phasmophobia—interface styles, breathing lights, stuff like that—and give it as a freebie to players who buy the ga?”

“Could we do a ‘playti lottery’ event? We’ll offer a VR pod as a prize…”

“That’s a great idea—helps promote both the ga and our products…”

“Or how about this…”

The room buzzed with ideas.

For regular marketing, 80,000 yuan wasn’t a huge budget.

But for a platform like YiYou, that money was practically unspendable.

After all—

As one of the biggest platforms in China, YiYou had resources and connections everywhere!

There were even so marketing channels where Yan Sheng wouldn’t have to spend a di—just a word, and the favor would be done.

Thus, a “worth every penny” marketing campaign was launched...