Chapter 68: The Analysis Report!
After scouring the internet for hours…
Pei Qian still couldn't figure out how Ocean Fortress got popular.
He dug through the comments—player reactions were roughly split into two camps: one full of praise, the other full of criticism. The two sides were constantly at war in every thread.
As for the rating? A bizarre C-shaped curve had formed: plenty of 1-star and 5-star reviews, while 2- and 4-star reviews were fewer. In the end, the overall score landed at 7.3.
Even the number of 1-star reviews outpaced the 2-star ones.
So... the word of mouth wasn't exactly great, but it wasn't bad either.
He continued reading player reviews and found they were completely all over the place:
"Can't believe a domestic game actually has such a great story mode? Instant 5 stars!"
"4 stars—minus 1 for the name. This is one of those good games that almost got ruined by its terrible title!"
"That final scene where you escape with the little girl and the fortress explodes is amazing! I legit teared up. It was so touching! I fully immersed myself in the role of the protagonist. You rarely get this kind of emotional engagement from domestic games!"
"The multiplayer is super creative. Biohazard Mode and Ghost Mode are both totally fresh concepts, and super fun! I suck at competitive FPS, but even I had a blast playing the zombie modes!"
"Anyone hyping this game must be a paid shill. The gunplay is garbage—how can you even praise this?"
"Garbage? Lmao, just because you can't handle the controls doesn't mean they're bad. Personally I think the shooting feels even better than Counter-Terrorism Plan—nothing beats the headshot rush!"
"LMAO this clown game sells a single gun for 888 yuan and even has gun tiers. How is this still pretending to be an eSports game? What a joke!"
"Who said it's an eSports game tho? It's literally a free-to-play title with one paid item. The Fire Qilin is basically just a cosmetic flex—its stat boosts are barely noticeable. This might be one of the most generous FPS games out there!"
"Totally agree. Meanwhile, let's talk about that money-grabbing mess Bullet Hole…"
"Oh please, don't even bring up Bullet Hole here. If you do, we'll just assume you're a shill from Tianhuo Studio."
"Excuse me?? Weren't you guys piggybacking on Bullet Hole's popularity earlier? Have some shame!"
"Piggybacking? Bruh, your game's just garbage and people migrated to Ocean Fortress on their own. What popularity are you even talking about?"
Pei Qian's brain was aching.
He didn't get it. He really didn't.
He scoured the official store, major forums, gaming sites, and even niche comment sections, hoping to find that one "trigger"—the spark that ignited Ocean Fortress's rise.
When Lonely Desert Road got popular, he found Qiao the Wet's original review video.
When Ghost General exploded, he traced it back to Ruan Guangjian's Weibo art post.
But Ocean Fortress?
Nothing. Not a single smoking gun.
And that's what made it so terrifying.
Logically, for a game to go viral, there has to be a catalyst—a first wave of hype, a few influential players promoting it, some sort of initial exposure that triggers the algorithm to feature it more, creating a feedback loop…
But this time, Pei Qian couldn't even find out who those first players were!
He was completely baffled.
But he had to figure it out.
He had to know what part of his strategy failed.
Because, as the saying goes: "Take a fall, gain wisdom."
If he didn't analyze how and why this game succeeded, the next time he tries to lose money, he might accidentally succeed again.
And that would be unbearable.
A man must never trip over the same stone twice.
Pei Qian pondered for a long time.
Then—lightbulb moment.
Sure, he couldn't figure out why Ocean Fortress became a hit.
But he was the boss!
Why the hell should he do this kind of grunt work himself?
Make Huang Sibo write the report!
Then Pei Qian could just read through it, figure out who messed up, and deal with them accordingly!
Just thinking about Huang Sibo made Pei Qian grind his teeth.
He didn't have concrete evidence yet, but with Ocean Fortress going viral like this…
There was no way that guy—with the initials HSB—was innocent.
"Great story mode"?
"Innovative multiplayer modes"?
Yeah, sure.
That was definitely Huang Sibo and Bao Xu's fault!
Letting Huang Sibo draft an analysis report would give Pei Qian a clear breakdown of where things went wrong.
Then he could settle the score later.
With that, Pei Qian sent Huang Sibo a private message:
Meanwhile, Huang Sibo was still buzzing with excitement over Ocean Fortress's success.
Suddenly, he saw a new message from President Pei:
"Write an analysis report on the success factors of Ocean Fortress. Include all aspects—design, promotion, etc. Send it directly to me."
Huang Sibo blinked.
Then quickly replied:
"Yes, President Pei!"
He wasn't even slightly annoyed—he was thrilled.
In his mind, this was like a straight-A student getting extra homework from the teacher.
What an honor!
"Why is President Pei asking for this report?"
"Could it be that… he doesn't understand how Ocean Fortress became a success?"
"Hah! What a joke!"
"President Pei set the entire direction of the project."
"It was his call to do zero marketing and let the game speak for itself."
"Clearly, his understanding of this game is far beyond all of ours!"
So why the report?
Simple: To help us consolidate our learning!
Just like how teachers ask students to write reflection papers after exams—President Pei wanted them to extract the key lessons and grow stronger from the experience.
"This just shows how much he values me!"
"Why else would he assign it to me, and not someone else?"
Brimming with enthusiasm, Huang Sibo opened a new document and started writing—detailing everything he knew about Ocean Fortress's success.
A few hours later…
Pei Qian received the report.
He skimmed through it.
The beginning focused on gameplay-related success factors:
Lower difficulty threshold, attracting a wider casual audience
Excellent story mode, which combined with national pride in domestic games, earned great word-of-mouth
A wide variety of PvP content
No paywall, allowing players to easily download and try it
The Fire Qilin's 888 RMB price tag satisfied rich players' need to show off
Its minimal stat boosts kept things balanced, and its XP bonus even benefited teammates, so average players actually liked having Fire Qilin users around
Pei Qian's mouth twitched.
"Wait… what?"
"This… this isn't what I planned…"
"Aren't these supposed to be reasons the game failed?"
"Why are they listed here as key success factors???"
He fought the overwhelming urge to smash his desk and kept reading.
Now came the part on how the game spread so fast.
Pei Qian sharpened his focus.
Because now, finally—he would uncover the mole.
The traitor, the one who started this disaster.
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