Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

September 17th…

At Shang Yang Games…

The mobile version of the Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version had been developed. The data in the client-side desktop version were interconnected with the mobile version. Players could log in with their accounts directly.

The changes to the controls of the game were much lesser than expected. After all, the original controls simply included clicking on the screen repetitively.

After changing the user interface in the web-based version to suit the mobile version, Wang Xiaobin and Ye Zhizhou tested it out and found that the hand sensitivity of the game was quite good.

Comparing the gameplay and functions of the mobile and desktop versions, there was not much difference. The mobile version might even be more convenient than the desktop version.

Comparing the gaming experience, the mobile version was very successful in adapting the desktop version. Of course, the true success of the mobile version could only be determined from the players' reviews when the game was published.

While others were busy with the final alterations, Lin Wan had contacted the application store in-charge for the apps in Shenhua's cell phones. She had arranged for the best recommendation channels for Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version.

Currently, Shenhua Corporation's main focus was on their cell phones. They did not emphasize as much on mobile applications. The changes to the old application store were merely a step to explore and test the waters.

After all, the development of mobile games was at its peak. Every company that had its own customer base was considering developing app distribution platforms to monetize their user volume.

Shenhua's decision to create an application store and a games market was expected by everyone.

Because Shenhua was merely exploring and testing the waters, its application store was not perfect. Even if that was the case, Shenhua's customer base had many high-net-worth individuals. That resulted in every recommendation spot in their application store to become highly valuable.

All their recommendation spots had price tags attached to them. Some of the best recommendation spots could not even be bought with money. The games had to prove that they could attract users.

After all—the more money the games earned, the higher the commission the platform could earn. If the game developers and publishers offered the same amount of money, obviously the game that had better user numbers would win the recommendation spot.

Because of Lin Wan's connections, Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version cleared most of the vetting processes smoothly.

Lin Yu did not even have to settle the matter personally. She just had to notify the people in charge of the application store, and the matter would be settled by them.

In Lin Yu's perspective, the recommendation spot this time was merely a way to express her gratitude to Boss Pei and a method to slightly mend her relationship with Lin Wan.

She offered her the recommendation spot to 'coax' her and not because she fully supported Lin Wan in pursuing her aspirations in the game industry.

Lin Wan knew that clearly.

Therefore, she placed even more anticipation in Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version, hoping that it could achieve great results.

Firstly, completing this task would allow her to live up to Boss Pei's expectations and trust.

Secondly, by being responsible for and publishing a successful project, she would have taken her first step towards achieving her aspirations in the game industry.

Lastly, Lin Wan hoped to prove to Old Master Lin and Lin Yu that her choice to enter the game industry was not a rash decision. She wanted to show that she had the capabilities to make a name for herself in this area.

The decision to create a mobile version for Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version was Lin Wan's. If the mobile version failed terribly, it would be a heavy blow to her.

Maybe she would consider resigning then.

The recommendation spot had been confirmed. The success or failure of the game depended on its release tomorrow.

…

Ye Zhizhou ran the game once more and was now scrolling through the group chat for the game.

The guild chat group for Bloody Battle Song was never deleted. Players were still monitoring the recent developments of the game in the chat group.

Initially, those players did not harbor much expectation for the game.

The web-based version of Bloody Battle Song was almost dead after what Old Liu did previously. Even if the game was to cease operating one day, the players would not be shocked by that at all.

However, the game that seemed like it was going to stop operating was slowly gaining vitality!

Firstly, there were drastic changes to the game's content. The 'Chosen One' system had an update. All of a sudden, it changed from a traditional web-based game that created hate and cheated players of their money into a fair game that even players that did not spend money in it could enjoy.

After that, the game producers invested a lot of resources in producing Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version. The art resources were completely renewed, and the producers found many celebrities to advertise the game.

Those signs showed that Shang Yang Games, the producer of the game, was suddenly not short of money!

Although everyone was unclear where Shang Yang Games's money came from, it was ultimately still good news.

Having money meant that the producers could temporarily accept the loss. They could make huge changes to the game and spend money on publicity.

Anyways, those signs all showed that the game was heading towards a bright future!

Meanwhile, there had been rumors claiming that the producers were about to release a mobile version in which data was interconnected with the desktop version. That made the players in the group chat excited.

In that case, they could be online in the game at any time and anywhere.

They could play it on the way to work or when they came home from work and were lying on their beds. If they wanted better quality graphics, they could also choose to open their computers to play the desktop version.

Anyways—in the past, not having a computer around when they were fighting the nation wars was a frustrating issue for them. However, that problem was now resolved!

At the same time, the advertisements for Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version went viral. That gave those former players an illusion.

It appeared as though the entire world heard of that game.

Zhang Zuting and his four brothers created a trend on the internet. Their commercial compilation alone had two million views on Aili Island.

The 'Zha Zhuti' meme was even more popular on the internet. There were also many diss videos about the commercial and the game itself.

If this was not viral, what was considered viral?

Therefore, players were happily waiting for the release of the mobile version.

However, Ye Zhizhou had been lurking in the players' group chat, and he knew clearly that all of that were merely illusions.

On the surface, the game was gaining popularity. However, in reality, Shang Yang Games had been burning Boss Pei's money. Currently, the development and publicity of the game had cost him around ten million yuan.

Ten million yuan. That was not a small sum.

If they were to save some of that money, they could even create a mini client-side game or a good-quality unique game.

If the mobile version had been published and this fake popularity continued, it would be a huge blow to everyone.

…

September 18th…

On this day, the employees of Shang Yang Games arrived at the company very early and were all waiting anxiously.

They had all downloaded Shenhua's application store on their phones and were checking it out every now and then.

At 10 in the morning…

Ye Zhizhou refreshed the application store habitually once again and exclaimed, "It's there! It's there!"

Those around him surrounded him.

The Shenhua application store could be downloaded on all phone brands other than Pineapple phone. Meanwhile, it was in-built in all Shenhua cell phones.

Everyone started playing the 'find it' game. They started searching for the recommendation spot for the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song.

After looking through the app, everyone took in a deep breath.

That was definitely the treatment that a biological daughter would get!

It was totally beyond everyone's expectations!

On the homepage of the application store, there were four cover-page recommendations. One of them was Bloody Battle Song.

Zhang Zuting raised a huge sword and was about to slash it down.

Below it were five horizontal category bookmarks. Even further below were five popular and recommended apps that included an online purchase app, a video app, and more.

Bloody Battle Song was once again amongst those five apps.

The promotion picture was a head portrait of Zhang Zuting cosplaying a game character, and the caption was Bloody Battle Song (Available from 18th September, 10 a.m.)'.

Below it were some details of the game. The installation package was about 370M. The game had a four stars review. There was also an advertisement slogan: Endorsed by Zhang Zuting. Definitely a fair and green nation wars game!

After clicking on it, users would be directed to the game details page for Bloody Battle Song.

Every recommendation spot on the homepage of the application store was priceless.

Yet, Bloody Battle Song occupied two of those crucial spots!

Not only that, but on the 'Games Store' bookmark, the first in the 'Editors' Choice' list was still Bloody Battle Song!

When they clicked on the web-based games category, the top of the 'New Recommended Games of the Month' was still Bloody Battle Song!

The third bookmark was a ranking. It ranked all the apps and games in the market according to their recent and long-term download numbers, ratings, popularity, and profitability.

Bloody Battle Song was the seventh on the list!

There was a caption below: 350,000 installed, 4.7 ratings. The most absurd part was the striking red 'Recommended!' icon after the caption.

This recommendation was produced by Shenhua. The company would reward this icon to good quality and popular games periodically.

To Shenhua app store users, that icon symbolized that the game had been specially selected by Shenhua.

The various recommendation spots made everyone gasp in awe.

What kind of connections did they need to receive such a treatment!

Some recommendation spots could be bought with money, such as the little recommendation spot on the bookmark page.

However, for homepage recommendations, not only did they have to compete with other popular games; but they also had to beat other popular apps. There was no way they could win it without forking out enough money!

Of course, the homepage recommendation spot was not the most mind-blowing.

The most unbelievable part was that Bloody Battle Song had discreetly reached the seventh place in the rankings!

The seventh position was right at the bottom of the cell phone screen once the users clicked into the rankings. They could see the game without having to scroll down.

The rankings mostly followed Shenhua's calculation and were mostly fair.

After all, if the entire rankings were forged, that would be too obvious. The users could easily realize that the rankings were not completely reliable.

Therefore, what most app stores did was to squeeze a few publicity projects into the rankings discreetly. They would also tweak some statistics of those apps that they were publicizing to fit their rankings. Anyways, most users did not know the criteria and rules of the rankings.

It was similar to the hot searches on Weibo.