Chapter 27: I'm at a loss!
"Congratulations! Your game 'Ghost General' has been selected as the hottest new game of the month in the Mobile Games section. During this period, please try not to update the version to avoid any unknown bugs affecting the gaming experience..."
Upon seeing this message, Pei Qian felt a profound sense of despair.
Here we go again, here we go again!
A chain reaction, misfortunes never come singly!
Actually, whether it's "Lonely Desert Highway" or "Ghost General", their success is due to a low probability event.
"Lonely Desert Highway" gained popularity because of a critique video by Qiao Lao Shi, while "Ghost General" became popular because Ruan Guangjian's original artwork gained traction among artists on Weibo.
If it were just that, the consequences wouldn't be so severe.
Because these two low probability events affected only a small number of people.
If there was no follow-up heat, the games would eventually cool down.
However, the problem lies in ESRO's official platform's automatic recommendation system!
ESRO's official platform compares the data of games launched in the same period, and those with better data naturally get better recommendation positions.
Both "Lonely Desert Highway" and "Ghost General" experienced a surge in data after the low probability events, which were then deemed as genuine by the official platform, and consequently got better recommendation positions.
The characteristics of these two games allowed their data to increase further once they got recommended...
And just like that, the situation spiraled out of control!
Now, "Ghost General" has made it to a major recommendation spot in the mobile game section, the "Hottest New Game of the Month". With this recommendation, the influx of users per minute is substantial!
Considering the high ratings of "Ghost General" and the overwhelming positive reviews in the comment section...
The consequences are simply unimaginable!
Pei Qian didn't even dare to check the backend data, as the more he looked, the more desperate he became!
He really wanted to ask the officials if they could stop recommending his game, please!
But he couldn't do that.
Because the official platform's recommendations are automatically based on data, and such behavior would be considered a violation and result in a system warning.
Now, Pei Qian deeply felt the truth of the saying.
In this world, one can't always control their fate!
...
Standing alone on the rooftop of his dormitory, Pei Qian felt a mixture of emotions.
He didn't want to stay in his room, as the settlement time was approaching, and he was afraid that he would cry out loud and Ma Yang would hear him.
The system's light screen automatically appeared in Pei Qian's vision, as it was time for the Wealth Conversion System's settlement.
[Wealth Conversion System]
[Host: Pei Qian]
[Surplus Conversion Ratio 100:1, Loss Conversion Ratio 1:1]
[Settlement in progress...]
[System Funds: 514723.5 (↑214723.5)]
[Personal Assets: 224.6]
[Settlement in progress...]
[Wealth Conversion in progress...]
[System Funds: 514723.5]
[Personal Assets: 2371.8 (↑2147.2)]
Pei Qian looked at these numbers and felt as if he had lost all hope.
He never dreamed that card games could be so profitable!
Among these 500,000, part of it is the subsequent income of "Desert Bus", as this game is still in operation, and the accumulated income of one dollar is quite considerable.
But it only accounts for a small part.
The majority of the income comes from "Ghost General"!
Pei Qian used his very limited knowledge of mathematics to roughly calculate.
In one week, the net income of "Ghost General" is about 500,000 yuan, which means the gross revenue is about 1 million yuan.
Next week, with the continued fermentation of popularity and the influx of more players, the income will only be higher!
Even if the game has few paid features and weak follow-up income, considering the size of the market, it will take at least two to three months to show signs of fatigue!
According to this data, it is highly likely that the monthly gross revenue of this game will exceed 5 million yuan!
A mobile game with a monthly gross revenue of 5 million yuan is actually just average, and if it's a small company with only 20-30 people, it would probably be considered acceptable.
But for Pei Qian, it was different. He made this game from scratch all by himself!
Ma Yang had only been paid a salary of 3,000 yuan a month for a month and just helped fill out a requirements form. All the other programming templates and art resources were purchased, costing a total of only 300,000 yuan.
The game made a net profit of 200,000 yuan in its first week of release, recouping its costs!
The numbers were not particularly exaggerated, but Pei Qian felt hopeless!
What made Pei Qian even more desperate was that "Ghost General" would continue to generate income for him in the future!
"Q Meng Three Kingdoms" had been operating for a year and was still very popular...
What did this mean?
It meant that even if Pei Qian tried his best to lose money in the future, he might not be able to do so!
Every month, there would be a stable amount of money coming into the system funds. The system would determine the loss based on the basic system funds!
For example, in this settlement, the system determined the profit and loss very simply by comparing the current system funds to the original 300,000 yuan. If the system funds were higher than 300,000 yuan, it was considered a profit; if it was lower, it was a loss.
If there were additional funds coming in every month, and the system funds were always higher than the initial amount provided by the system, then the system would always determine that Pei Qian was making a profit!
Terrible news, shocking news!
Pei Qian wanted to die.
"Could it be this bad?"
"I made 200,000 yuan, but only got 2,000 yuan?"
"And in the future, I can make money even when lying down, and I can't lose it?"
"No, there must be a problem somewhere. Calm down, calm down!"
"Let me think carefully. Things shouldn't be that bad..."
Just as Pei Qian calmed down, new entries appeared on the system screen.
[Next settlement time: 90 days later]
[About to replenish system funds, target amount: 500,000]
[System funds detected to be higher than 500,000, no additional replenishment.]
[System funds: 515,792.5]
[Personal assets: 2,371.8 (↑2,147.2)]
"Sure enough..."
"My mindset has collapsed!"
Pei Qian confirmed that his previous speculation was correct!
Every settlement, the system would replenish the system funds.
The settlement time and replenishment amount for system funds were different each time.
This time, the replenishment amount was 500,000, and Pei Qian's current system funds were already higher than 500,000, so there was no additional funds coming in.
If Pei Qian had lost the 300,000 yuan before, then he would have received 500,000 yuan this time...
Pei Qian felt hopeless.
The once guaranteed 300,000 yuan had turned into 2,000 yuan.
Who could bear that?!
In just a few minutes, the system funds had increased by more than a thousand.
This was because "Ghost General" was still generating profits continuously.
Pei Qian felt very upset and even began to doubt himself.
"Should I change my mindset? Should I think about how to make money in the future?"
"No, it's too late..."
"Besides, I might not be so lucky in the future."
At this moment, Pei Qian even had the thought of "should I consider making money in the future," but he quickly dismissed it.
The reason is simple - the cost-effectiveness is too low, and there isn't much operability!
Whether it's "Desert Bus" or "Ghost General", luck plays a big part in their success!
Can Pei Qian still have such good luck in the future? It's really hard to say!
The worst-case scenario is that he will end up making very little profit or even losing money if he tries too hard to make money.
The key is that the business model has already been chosen and cannot be changed!
The profit conversion ratio is only 100:1, which means earning 1 million yuan only converts to 10,000 yuan, which is not cost-effective at all!