After reading some discussions on the Internet about "Ink Clouds and Smoke" and "The Endless Project", Pei Qian finally understood why there were so many pre-orders.
Because Qiu Hong bundled "Ink Clouds and Smoke", "The Dead End Project" and "Survival Manual for Office Workers" together for promotion!
The promotional video of "The Endless Project" can trigger such a warm response, on the one hand, because it touches the common memories of many players and arouses widespread resonance, and on the other hand, it is also because it has high-quality domestic independent games as an introduction.
If there was no game and only a promotional video, it would be impossible to trigger such a warm response.
"Ink Clouds and Smoke" is just a trial demo, and this demo alone is obviously not enough.
This is also the reason why Qiu Hong did not formulate a publicity plan at the beginning: without an opportunity, the best publicity effect will naturally not be achieved.
However, the unexpected popularity of "Survival Manual for Office Workers" provided such an opportunity for the promotion of the Endless Plan!
It's before the Spring Festival, and it's the time for companies of all sizes to hold annual meetings and issue year-end bonuses.
The vast majority of office workers are dissatisfied with the treatment provided by their companies. Many people are planning to find a new job after receiving their year-end bonus and annual leave.
The release of "Survival Manual for Office Workers" resonated very well with those office workers and received a good response. It not only became popular in the circle of independent game enthusiasts, but also successfully "out of the circle". Many office workers who do not play games also
I know this game.
Taking advantage of the success of "Survival Handbook for Office Workers", Qiu Hong deeply tied "Ink Clouds and Smoke" and "The Dead End Project" with it to let players know: It turned out that "Survival Handbook for Office Workers" could be successfully produced because
Funding from the "Qiu Tu Project", which has also funded many excellent independent game projects, such as "Ink Clouds and Smoke".
Therefore, the popularity of "Survival Manual for Office Workers" has broken through the circle, the feelings of domestic independent game enthusiasts, and the players' expectations for domestic independent games are all integrated together, and this has achieved such a good publicity effect!
It can be said that without any one of the "Survival Manual for Office Workers", the demo of "Ink Clouds and Smoke" and the promotional video of "The Endless Project", it would be impossible to achieve the current effect!
What a coincidence.
Looking at the growing number of pre-orders, Pei Qian felt a little dizzy.
In just one afternoon, the pre-sale sales of this game have exceeded 50,000 copies, and judging from the current popularity, it is very likely that it will increase tenfold in the next week!
Although domestic independent game players are a minority group compared to mainstream players, in terms of volume, no matter how small they are, there are always millions of active players.
Moreover, the smaller the circle, the more attention will be paid to outstanding domestic independent games. I am afraid that "Ink Clouds and Smoke" will soon trigger heated discussions in the circle of independent gamers like "Survival Manual for Office Workers"!
Pei Qian counted his fingers and felt something was wrong.
The official price of "Ink Clouds and Smoke" is 45 yuan, which is considered to be above the average level among domestic independent games. This pre-sale is not a full pre-sale, but one-third, which is 15 yuan.
According to the current trend, if 500,000 copies are sold in the next week, the official platform's accounts will be available before settlement.
The only good news is that the game is not distributed in the name of Tenda, so if you don’t enjoy Tenda’s high share privileges, you can only get 60% including the special preferential policies for independent games.
On this basis, Tenda gets 30%.
In other words, before settlement, the pre-sale of "Ink Clouds and Smoke" alone will earn at least more than 1.3 million yuan!
And in addition to that, there is also the money earned from "Survival Manual for Office Workers".
The money may not seem like much, but Pei Qian feels like a camel with a back full of straw. When it comes time to settle the account, this nonsensical one million yuan may be the difference between heaven and hell.
What if you make more than one million yuan? Then who can you ask to reason?
Pei Qian was so angry.
Why is this Qiu Hong looking for trouble for me at such a critical moment?
Isn’t it okay to just go home and celebrate the New Year? Do you have to make a promotional video the day before the holiday to make it popular? Then send a demo to earn some pre-sale money?
At this time, Qiu Hongcai had just treated everyone in the incubation base to a feast and returned to the house he rented in the imperial capital to pack up and prepare to catch a flight home early tomorrow morning.
Qiu Hong couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he received a call from Mr. Pei.
"Did Boss Pei see the viral video of the Qiu Tu Project, so he was very happy and called me specifically to confirm my work results?"
Previously, the entire incubation base had completed two games, and neither of them sold well, but even so, Mr. Pei still praised Qiu Hong, saying that the effect was remarkable and the progress was rapid, and asked him to keep up his efforts.
Qiu Hong thought, based on this criterion, two games, "Salaryman's Survival Manual" and "Ink Clouds and Smoke", have been released, and the video response of "The Endless Project" has also been good. Mr. Pei must not be overjoyed?
He quickly picked up the phone and waited to receive Mr. Pei's praise.
However, Mr. Pei's first sentence immediately stopped him.
"Who asked you to put a half-finished game on the official platform for pre-order?!"
Pei Qian's tone was a bit harsh because he was really angry.
This game is obviously not finished yet. You can honestly release it next cycle and don’t affect my settlement this cycle!
As a result, Qiu Hong's pre-order caught Pei Qian off guard.
Qiu Hong was stunned for a moment and said with a slight confusion: "Mr. Pei, isn't this kind of pre-sale very common in the independent game circle..."
Pei Qian couldn't help but be silent for a moment: "Uh..."
He thought about it and realized that what Qiu Hong said was indeed correct.
The official esro platform actually encourages pre-sales for independent games. The reason is very simple. It is similar to crowdfunding.
Independent game producers often need money but not resources, and resources but not resources. There must be various compromises in the production process. If you want to achieve a high degree of completion of the game, various conditions are actually not allowed.
Pre-sales allow those independent games that are of good quality and are loved by players to get some money in advance. On the one hand, they can maintain development costs, and on the other hand, they can also enhance the confidence of producers.
Of course, there may be some bad producers who are suspected of cheating money. For example, they update a very fun demo, get a large amount of pre-sale money, and then start developing slowly, turning the game into a lifetime series.
Not online.
However, the official platform also has corresponding punitive measures for such producers, and such people are in the minority after all. This rule that is beneficial to all independent game producers cannot be canceled just because of a few bad apples.
Therefore, Qiu Hong's use of the demo of "Ink Clouds and Smoke" for pre-sale is indeed in line with the consistent routine of independent games and is a behavior advocated by the official platform.
Therefore, Pei Qian's question seemed a little unreasonable.
After a moment of silence, Pei Qian said confidently: "Why do other independent games like to do pre-sales? It's because those producers are short of money and can only obtain development funds through pre-sales in advance!"
“Are the producers of The Endless Project short of development funds?”
Qiu Hong was asked: "Uh, this..."
Pei Qian didn't give him much time to react and continued: "Since there is no shortage of money, why do we still need to pre-sell?"
"Pre-sales are actually equivalent to taking advantage of the sympathy of players and transferring the risk of subsequent game development failure from developers to players."
"The reason why the official platform supports this kind of behavior is mainly because the conditions of most independent game producers are so poor that they need players to contribute and support."
"Although this kind of behavior is a willing fight, in the final analysis, it still damages the interests of players. The best way is to pay with one hand and deliver the goods with one hand. Once the game is completed and released, players can enjoy it if they like it.
purchase."
“Since the independent game producers of the Qiutu Project are not short of money, then they shouldn’t engage in pre-sales and just wait until the game development is completed and release it directly, right?”
Qiu Hong was speechless for a moment: "This..."
He suddenly felt that what Mr. Pei said did make sense!
In fact, Qiu Hong just followed the normal routine of independent games and held a pre-sale without thinking too much about it. But now that he takes a closer look, this kind of behavior is indeed inappropriate.
Qiu Hong quickly asked: "Mr. Pei, what should we do now?"
Pei Qian thought for a while and asked: "Can you change the pre-order payment to 0? Then refund those players who have already paid."
Qiu Hong hesitated for a moment: "Uh... Mr. Pei, changing it to 0 won't work. The minimum is to change it to one-third of the current price, which is five yuan. The refund procedure will be more troublesome and the authority is not enough. Maybe the esro official will not
pass."
"It would be possible if he showed up in person as Tengda, but this would be tantamount to announcing the relationship between Tengda and the Qitu Project..."
Pei Qian immediately said: "That's definitely not possible. In that case, let's change the pre-order price to 5 yuan. We will compensate those players who have already spent 15 yuan to pre-order."
Qiu Hong added: "Also, Mr. Pei, the government has never been very supportive of this kind of price change, because whether it is a price increase or a price decrease, it will actually affect the interests of players."
Pei Qian nodded: "Yes, that's understandable."
"Our behavior must have affected the interests of players, so we need to apologize and compensate!"
"Let's do this. As I said before, the pre-order price will be changed to 5 yuan. For those who have already paid, the game will be directly discounted by 20%, which is 36 yuan. Then an announcement will be made to apologize, saying that the players did not expect it.
People are so enthusiastic. We feel that the previous pre-order price was set too high. Now we have lowered it a bit. We hope players will understand."
For Pei Qian, if the pre-order money is suddenly reduced from 15 yuan to 5 yuan, then the money earned by the "Ink, Ink, Clouds and Smoke" demo this week will be reduced by at least hundreds of thousands.
It's also good to be able to get a handful of straw from the camel's back.
As for those players who have already spent 15 yuan to pre-order, Pei Qian just took this opportunity to give them a discount and make less money.
Qiu Hong hurriedly said: "Okay, Mr. Pei, I will communicate with the people on the official platform."