Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 142 Marketing Master
The moment this announcement was released, the entire public discourse exploded.

Players were blown away by this wave of benefits. Players who were complaining and questioning before suddenly calmed down, especially those who spent 9.9 yuan to buy the game.

Now not only is the 9.9 yuan back, but I also got an extra 10 yuan!

"Damn it, I should have bought it for 9.9 yuan too. I feel like I missed out on a fortune!"

~~~
That afternoon.

Meeting room of the Strategic Investment Department, Tencent Building.

The giant projector was focused on the newly released announcement from Startap.

The title, "[To all dear Star Tap players]", was enlarged, showing great sincerity, while the decisions made below were clearly marked in bold font.

The conference room was quiet, with only the soft hum of the central air conditioning.

This meeting was an emergency meeting of Tencent's investment department, and the topic of discussion was the valuation of "Star Tap," which had just been launched today.

That's because they're in the strategic investment department.

Whether Star Games is willing to sell its shares in Star Tap is unclear, but that doesn't stop the "big bosses" from demanding a valuation report from them.

Moreover, because it was requested by a "high-ranking leader," the report had to be done quickly, well, and accurately.

However... that's what I'm saying.

Valuing a software that has only been online for a day is no easy task.

The simplest logic is: if you don't have the data, what are you estimating?
But those below don't have the final say; those above only care about results. Didn't you see that Ming Zhiyu, the head of the game investment and M&A department, was there?
Since we have to do it, we can only gather all the information we can get our hands on.

Of all the information gathered, the most useful right now is undoubtedly this apology announcement.
~~~
"They turned an operational mishap into a phenomenal marketing event."

Ming Zhiyu tapped his fingers lightly on the table, breaking the silence.

"Xiao Xiang, what do you think?"

Xiang Lixuan, who was called out, thought for a moment and then spoke.

"Brother Zhi, this is probably... not an accident."

His words left everyone in the conference room somewhat puzzled.

One of them couldn't help but speak up.

"Mr. Xiang, isn't this an accident? The coupons were issued ahead of time, and the backend system didn't switch in time, causing users to pay. This is a standard operational accident on any platform, right? I saw on Weibo that it was almost an uproar around 3 pm."

"An explosion? Is it possible that Chu Chen wants something that explodes?"

As Tencent's number one fan, Xiang Lixuan couldn't stand such remarks and immediately got excited.

He pointed a finger at the announcement on the screen.

"Is this really an apology announcement? No, it's actually a promotional piece! It uses the guise of an 'accident' to convey several key promotional messages to players across the internet in the most credible and natural way."

"First, our gaming platform is incredibly popular; your enthusiasm has exceeded our expectations."

"Secondly, we prepared five million copies of the game, but they were all distributed in less than a day. What does that mean? It means that at least one million people flocked to our platform."

"Third, more than 10,000 players were still willing to spend 9.9 to buy our game after the event ended, which proves that our game has value and has successfully anchored the price for these free games."

What was originally a seemingly sincere apology letter turned out to be full of marketing hooks after he dissected it like this.

"The most brilliant part is the follow-up handling."

Xiang Li tapped on the compensation plan in the announcement. "Refund, plus a 10 yuan coupon. This time, the more than 1 paying players not only didn't complain, but instead became die-hard fans of Xingchen Games, telling everyone they had made a profit."

"As for giving all users a 5 yuan coupon... this is blatant user acquisition and activation. Users who were still observing will be tempted when they see a bargain. Users who have already downloaded the app will stay and see if they can buy anything else when they see an extra 5 yuan in their account."

"With this one operation, we have achieved popularity, reputation, users, and expected revenue."

Human psychology is strange like that. When these five games were given away for free, everyone felt it was only natural. They took them and that was that, without any particular feeling.

After all this fuss, these five free games, through the real money spent by more than 1 players, have actually begun to be valued at 9.9 yuan.

When a gift begins to anchor price perception.

Then the nature of this activity changes.

The five games included are no longer free entertainment, but a game bundle worth 49.5 yuan.

Starry Night Games not only gave away the "49.5 yuan value" gift pack again for free, but also gave everyone a 5 yuan red envelope because of their small mistake.

"Star's move was absolutely brilliant!"

Even if those who work in Tencent's investment department aren't professional game developers, they still have some understanding of game marketing.

But Chu Chen's marketing strategy, which encapsulates the wisdom of the "future," stands out as truly "unique" compared to traditional methods like buying traffic, expanding distribution channels, and celebrity endorsements.

"But……"

After a while, the same colleague from the channel asked another question.

"Aren't they afraid of being exposed and having their schemes exposed? Once they're labeled with 'false marketing' or 'deceiving players,' it's devastating for a new platform."

"Can we use this... as a bargaining chip?"

As soon as the question was raised, everyone looked at Xiang Lixuan, who smiled, a smile that seemed somewhat helpless.

"I'd like to, but I guess it's pointless..."

"Because we can't even do the first step."

"How should it be exposed? Who should expose it?"

"You published an article claiming that the operational mishap at Starry Night Games was fake, that they staged it themselves. Where is your evidence? Is it their internal meeting minutes, or backend server data?"

"Starry Games can simply say that those five million copies were our internal first-stage goal. Starry Tap is indeed a new team with insufficient experience, is that not acceptable? We immediately compensated all players after discovering the problem, wasn't that a sincere attitude enough?"

"You can't produce any substantial evidence; all your accusations will remain at the level of 'guessing' and 'inference'."

Xiang Lixuan paused, his voice becoming somewhat wistful.

"And guess what the players' reaction will be when you shout online, 'Don't be fooled, this is marketing!'"

He didn't wait for anyone to answer and continued talking to himself.

"Most players will think you're either jealous or a paid troll."

"They would say, 'Who cares if it's marketing or not? I got the game for free and even got a 5 yuan voucher. I'm happy, what's it to you?'"

"Look, this is the most terrifying part; this is a calculated scheme."

Xiang Lixuan's analysis was good, but he was still looking at the matter from a "marketing" perspective and failed to find the reason why Xingchen Tap was able to pull off this "marketing" success.

That is, "the game itself"

(End of this chapter)