Chapter 720 - 362: Second Life Star Film and Television Network
"What’s so incredible? Be more specific," Zhou Ming asked his assistant, confused.
The assistant explained, "President Zhou, didn’t you ask me to keep an eye on that interactive movie game from Second-Life Star? They only started promoting it this afternoon, but it’s already on Tiao Yin’s trending list and Weibo’s hot search. The online hype is insane right now, and they’re saying it’s going on sale tomorrow."
"What?" Zhou Ming was a little surprised to hear this.
He worked in the game industry himself, so he naturally knew the patterns of game promotion. Promotions were usually done well in advance. Who launches a game the day after they start promoting it?
And yet, his assistant was saying the game had already hit Tiao Yin’s trending list and Weibo’s hot search. That was something even established game companies like his couldn’t achieve.
Never mind the cost—the key was the short amount of time.
’Chen Jincheng’s fame is really no joke.’
Curious, he took out his phone to check for more information online. He froze when he saw a clip of President Lei playing the game on his computer.
*Shocking! What Game Has the Great Boss Lei So Addicted?*
The title made him want to roast it.
’Does President Lei really need to go this hard?’
’Didn’t I just say I wasn’t optimistic and refuse to buy the mobile game adaptation rights for this game?’
However, with President Lei cooperating with the promotion like this, it was no wonder the game’s hype was exploding.
He was curious just how well the game would sell. If it couldn’t get good sales numbers even with President Lei putting his own reputation on the line to promote it, then the future of interactive movie games in the country was dead.
This did, however, pique his interest in the game.
But as he clicked on a few videos, he started to feel that something wasn’t right.
"HOLY SHIT, Chen Jincheng is finally willing to release this game."
"I was hooked by that one story demo stream back then. After waiting for so long, it’s finally out."
"I’ve got one thing to say... wait, it goes on sale tomorrow? Alright, if it’s tomorrow, I’ve got no complaints."
"All I can say is my money is ready. I can’t be Chen Jincheng in real life, so you’re telling me I can’t even be him in a game?"
"..."
Although every comment showed how much the game was influenced by Chen Jincheng’s fame, they also all carried a strong desire to buy it.
As someone in the game industry, he naturally knew that the most important thing was to stoke the players’ desire to buy. Making them want to pay up was everything.
This level of purchase intent was something most games could never achieve.
It was terrifying.
Zhou Ming’s interest in the game intensified. ’Perhaps I made an empirical error this time. I shouldn’t have been so quick to turn down President Lei.’
He went home after work.
He discovered that the discussions about the game *Damn, I’m Surrounded by Beauties* on Tiao Yin had grown even more heated, even pushing it to the number one spot on the trending list.
This was terrifying.
For any other game, reaching this level of hype would basically be the pinnacle of success.
He stayed up late following the news before finally going to sleep. The next day, he got up, washed up, and went to the company. The moment he saw his assistant, he ordered, "Keep a close watch on the game *Damn, I’m Surrounded by Beauties* for me today. Notify me the moment it goes on sale."
Hearing this, the assistant gave Zhou Ming a strange look, prompting him to ask in confusion, "What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
The assistant quickly explained, "The game already went on sale last night."
"Weren’t they saying today?" Zhou Ming was stunned.
The assistant nodded. "It was today. The online outcry was huge, so they changed it to 0:00 AM today."
"They’re that casual about it?" Zhou Ming was speechless.
’Fucking hell, no legitimate game company does things this way. Are they some kind of amateur troupe?’
’But then again, Second-Life Star is an MCN agency for online celebrities. When it comes to making games, they pretty much *are* an amateur troupe.’
’Whatever, that’s not important.’
Zhou Ming hurriedly sat down at his office computer and started checking the sales data for *Damn, I’m Surrounded by Beauties*.
When he saw the sales revenue, he was truly dumbfounded.
million.
That’s right.
The game went on sale at midnight last night, and it had already generated 108 million in sales revenue.
’Good god, I must be seeing things.’
’How long has it even been? And on top of that, Youke.com is predicting the game could exceed one billion in sales.’
’But the game only cost 20 million to make!’
This made him curious enough about the game to pay for and download a copy himself.
At the beginning, the protagonist woke up in a room. Then came the room exploration part, which had zero gameplay mechanics. To inspect something, you had to choose "yes" or "no".
’Seriously, an idiot could make this kind of game.’
But when the male protagonist picked up a pair of super sexy lace panties from the bed, he suddenly realized there was more to this game than he thought.
When a very beautiful girl—wearing a sexy white shirt and no pants—suddenly appeared and saw the protagonist holding her sexy panties, things seemed to get even more complicated.
The key was that the game was in first-person. Facing this beautiful woman who had appeared out of nowhere, he actually felt a pang of guilt, like a thief caught in the act.
’This...’
’Interesting!’
Zhou Ming was suddenly engrossed in the game. Although he was a tech geek, he was also a big boss who had had his fair share of girls throwing themselves at him. But playing this game and seeing one beautiful girl after another appear, he couldn’t help but feel a little envious of the protagonist.
He seemed to immediately understand the game’s core value: its emotional value.
The emotional value provided by one beautiful girl after another.
This was an emotional experience that ordinary people would never get to have in their lifetimes. Girls of that caliber wouldn’t even give a normal person a second glance, but now this game let them experience it all.
Who couldn’t afford a few dozen yuan for that?
’So, this is brilliant.’
In a short time, Zhou Ming didn’t even realize that his perception of the game had done a complete 180.
It wasn’t just Zhou Ming. By now, a huge number of people online had already bought the game.
Especially Chen Jincheng’s die-hard fans.
Guo Feng was one of them. He bought the game first thing in the morning, downloaded it, and started playing.
He had been following it ever since Cheng first promoted the video, thinking the game looked very interesting. Naturally, he had to try it now.
*Chen Jinceng Simulator*. He was going to be Cheng for a while in the game, too.
Even though he was a rich second-generation heir and had plenty of girls around, how could his life compare to Cheng’s? Who could refuse the feeling of stepping into Cheng’s shoes?
He even stood up a girl to play the game. When she asked what time he would arrive, he replied directly, "Let’s cancel for today. I’m being Chen Jincheng."
"???" The girl sent a row of question marks and a confused emoji.
But Guo Feng didn’t even look at it, continuing to ’be’ Chen Jincheng.
If a rich heir was this engrossed in being Chen Jincheng, it went without saying for ordinary people or single guys. They were truly captivated.
The ’Miss Chengs’ were all so delicate and charming, they just couldn’t get enough.
Many people couldn’t resist posting online about it:
"I played a game and experienced a sliver of Chen Jincheng’s happiness. I can’t even imagine how happy Chen Jincheng must be."
"We play a game, and at the crucial moment, the screen goes black and it’s over. But Chen Jincheng got to ’study the details’ for half an hour."
"I think this game is missing a lot of cutscenes. The worst part is, when the screen goes black, they give you a few ’ahhs’ and ’unns’ to make you imagine things!"
"..."
Post after post proved just how popular the game was.
After a full day, many of the faster players had already finished the main storyline. They had gotten the good endings and bad endings, but there was no way to trigger the perfect ending.
To trigger the perfect ending, you needed to buy the DLC and bundles to experience the new female character storylines. Only then could you complete the perfect ending.
So, these people immediately planned to buy the DLC and bundles.
And then, they felt like their world was collapsing.
’Fuck, the game is out, but it only has the main story. They aren’t selling the DLC or bundles at all!’
There were clearly options to buy the DLC and bundles, but they just popped up with the words: "For related purchases, please await further notice!"
"HOLY SHIT, isn’t this just toying with people? Are they trying to mess with our heads?"
"666, Cheng, you don’t see me as a brother anymore, do you? Pulling a fast one on me like this."
"Cheng, we can’t be brothers anymore. Can’t you just release it decisively?"
"Chen Jincheng, are you doing scarcity marketing? I was a neutral passerby, but now I’m turning into an anti-fan. Unless you release the DLC and bundles right now."
"Chen Jincheng, be smart about this. Don’t blame me for unfollowing you!"
"..."
Anyway, a whole bunch of people had a collective meltdown, and many rushed to Chen Jincheng’s Touyin Number to leave comments.
A day passed, and Zhou Ming had played through most of the game.
’Honestly, putting Chen Jincheng aside, even with a complete nobody as the lead, this game could still be a hit as long as they cast the right girls. It just wouldn’t be *this* big of a hit.’
The next day, when Zhou Ming checked on the game again, its sales revenue had already broken 250 million. The golden sales window for a game is typically one week. At this rate, it would be no problem for this game’s sales to exceed 1 billion.
’In other words, Chen Jincheng just grabbed some female influencers from his company, threw together this game in what seems like no time at all, and ended up pocketing over a billion for free?’
’This...’
With that thought, he hastily took out his phone and dialed President Lei’s number.
At that moment, Lei Xiaojun was with Chen Jincheng at the Second-Life Star game department, looking at the sales data. He knew that another part of President Chen’s financing project was now complete.
With the profits from *Damn, I’m Surrounded by Beauties*, even if they left 20% in the game department for R&D, it would be enough to sustain the department’s operations and develop new games.
He couldn’t help but say, "President Chen, we still need a plan for mobile games!"
He said this, of course, because of Rice.
Chen Jincheng smiled and said, "President Lei, don’t worry. *Sheep Herding* is a mobile game, and so are those lawn-mowing and tree-chopping... type games."
"Mm!" Lei Xiaojun nodded. Just then, his phone rang. He smiled when he saw the number. "It’s Zhou Ming from Music Elements. The guy must have seen the game’s sales data."
He answered with a smile, "President Zhou, what’s with the call?"
Zhou Ming’s embarrassed voice came through the phone, "President Lei, I’d like to talk to you about that game from Second-Life Star."
Lei Xiaojun said teasingly, "President Zhou, I thought that game had no future. Weren’t you uninterested?"
Zhou Ming flinched at that but didn’t dwell on it. "President Lei, I misjudged this time. As soon as I get the rights, my team will immediately start the mobile game adaptation project."
Lei Xiaojun said with a laugh, "I’ll send you the number for Second-Life Star’s person-in-charge, President Chu Hong. You can add her and chat yourself."
"Okay. President Lei," Zhou Ming immediately agreed.
After hanging up, Lei Xiaojun instructed Sister Hong, "President Zhou from Music Elements will contact you later. Don’t be polite about the licensing fee. Ask for more. He made a killing off that match-three game."
He was well aware of this, since their Rice Phones collected a channel fee.
"Okay, President Lei!" Sister Hong nodded.
Online, as *Damn, I’m Surrounded by Beauties* continued its hot sales streak, more and more people completed the main story. Then they discovered a block: the perfect ending required the DLC and bundles, which also included new "Miss Cheng" storylines and more interactive gameplay.
Everyone could afford a few dozen yuan.
But when they went to buy it, they found they had no idea where. Were they playing the game, or was Chen Jincheng playing them?
Suddenly, more and more people joined the public denunciation of Chen Jincheng.
And just then, Second-Life Star finally made an announcement about the DLC and bundles for *Damn, I’m Surrounded by Beauties*: "In light of our players’ love for our game *Damn, I’m Surrounded by Beauties*, your enthusiasm for purchasing the DLC and bundles, and the public denunciation of our boss, our boss has decisively conceded. He has decided to release the game’s DLC and bundles tomorrow. Purchase address: Second Life Star Film and Television Network."
As soon as this announcement came out, everyone was stunned.
’Second-Life Star Video Network? What the hell is that?’
They had heard of Penguin Video, iQiyi Video, and Uku Video. When did Second-Life Star launch a video network?
’Could it be the old LeTV Film and Television Network?’
’Don’t tell me Second-Life Star actually wants to compete with Penguin, iQiyi, and Uku?’