At Tingxi Studio, Zhu Wenshu answered the call, greeted him warmly, but hadn't had a chance to ask what was going on.
The person in charge said, "Bluestar plans to release 'Soul of Mortals' on April 10th, which clashes with the release date of your 'Beastmasters.' We've received a notice from above to adjust the recommendations, and you'll probably have to give up your first spot."
Zhu Wenshu's mind went completely blank for a moment.
After a long silence, Zhu Wenshu said, "What did you say?! Didn't we already agree that we could first get to the top of the list, and I have many follow-up plans—"
The person in charge said speechlessly, "Mr. Zhu, there's no point in telling me this. Tingxi can't compete with Lanxing. In my personal experience, you still have time to adjust your schedule; avoiding this money-making machine is the best course of action—"
Zhu Wenshu roared, "You're telling me this now? I've already bought the sales figures for next month! Do you know how much that costs?!"
Person in charge: "..."
The person in charge was surprised.
Many people buy into the rankings, but few would lose their composure and shout it out like Zhu Wenshu.
What's more, it's number one on the sales charts!
Even if you hire online trolls, you can recover some of the losses later through returns and other means, but the amount each day is not a small number!
If the game itself is good, that's fine. With such a good ranking and traffic, the players who are actually attracted later may be able to generate more profits for them, enough to recoup these costs.
But if the game's sales can't make up for the losses, then it's a huge financial disaster...
However, considering that Zhu Wenshu's backer is that unscrupulous cruise capital, such despicable behavior suddenly makes sense.
It's a pity for this young designer. He could have made good games, so why did he follow these scoundrels and do such crooked things?
The person in charge immediately lost much of their goodwill towards Zhu Wenshu.
Buying rankings isn't entirely illegal, since those who engage in such practices are honestly buying, downloading, and playing games; they're just players with rather unusual motives.
It's like some movies that, when they're released, will make people deliberately buy tickets for a midnight showing, but they won't actually go see the movie, just to make the box office figures look good.
However, this behavior will ultimately affect other conscientious game developers, squeezing out the positions that should belong to them.
For the platform itself, it did indeed earn more, which left the person in charge of Atlas with no grounds to dissuade him.
But his inner annoyance with Zhu Wenshu led him to say, "I've done all I can. You either run into that monster from Blue Star, or you'd better reschedule."
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
Unbeknownst to him, Zhu Wenshu was so angry that he plopped down in a chair, almost ready to take some nitroglycerin pills.
Good fortune never comes in pairs, but misfortunes never come singly.
Shortly after Atlas's communication, the contact person from Cruise Capital also inquired about Zhu Wenshu's matter.
He started by saying, "Blue Star's 'The Mortal Soul' has been rescheduled to April 10th, you should know that, right?"
It's Earth again! And mortal souls again!
Zhu Wenshu was burning with resentment, but in front of him was Tingxi Studio's biggest financial backer, his current support and bargaining chip.
So he could only suppress his discomfort and force a smile, saying, "Yes, I've heard. But I'm confident—"
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted on the other end: "You're confident? Then why is the player anticipation for Mortal Soul already higher than yours?"
Zhu Wenshu was unable to refute it for a moment, so he turned on the projection screen next to him and pulled up today's data.
—Because Tingxi Studio's new work "Beast Horde Vanguard" is about to be released, these important data rankings are placed in the most prominent position and can be projected at any time.
Just last night, "Beast Horde Vanguard" was still ranked number one in the "Most Anticipated New Game in April".
But now, it has been relegated to second place.
Without a doubt, Blue Star's "The Soul of Mortals" is still number one!
Because of its rescheduling, it has been directly placed on the April new game list!
The news of the rescheduling had only been out for less than a day, but the players' enthusiasm had already brought it a huge amount of attention.
Even if others add a lot of traffic they buy, they still can't compete with it.
The head of Cruise Capital immediately berated him, saying, "What makes you so confident? When the funding was approved last month, didn't you guarantee that as long as the channel traffic was in place, you would definitely be able to beat Blue Star?"
Suppressing his humiliation, Zhu Wenshu explained in a humble voice, "That's because our game was released and promoted first. Game promotion on Blue Star is generally later, so logically—"
"'Logically speaking'?! Logically speaking my ass! The chief architect of Blue Star is an unreasonable person!" The other end interrupted him again, "Zhu Wenshu, we gave you the best channel resources and approved 200 million yuan in publicity funds, which is a rare big investment in recent years, and you lost to Blue Star's mere few trailers, right?"
Zhu Wenshu finally couldn't hold back any longer and raised his voice, saying, "A trailer is just a trailer! A game still needs to prove itself through its own strength! I guarantee that 'Beast Horde Vanguard' is the best game of the year, and 'Mortal Soul' isn't even worthy of shining my shoes!"
After listening, the cruise ship's manager chuckled and said, "Very good, it would be best if that were the case. Cruise ships never do business at a loss. Mr. Zhu, it's not that I'm forcing you, but you should also demonstrate your value."
The call ended quickly.
Sweat beaded on Zhu Wenshu's forehead and back. He slumped back and sat wearily in a chair.
...
During this time, Blue Star Studio ignored the news from the outside world.
They have completed the main content of "The Soul of Mortals" and have just finished internal testing in the studio, and are about to start the final closed beta test.
However, unlike in the past, Mingyan did not participate in this closed beta test in the studio this time.
He will be back in the evening to check the player feedback.