This game is awesome

Damn the stars, I have to work overtime again today!

Xiao Li opened the game with a sad face, "Can the test be completed before this afternoon?"

"Afternoon? I heard from my senior that Victoria tested the game for three full days, and there are still many mechanisms that are not understood. For a grand strategy game like this, it should be pretty much the same..."

Xiao Li was stunned.

"So Lao Lin asked us to hand in the manuscript tomorrow?"

Xiao Wang next to me didn't take a nap. He was trying to stay awake and kept yawning.

"Bullshit, if we can make it the day after tomorrow, everything will be fine!"

"Hey, get to work."

Xiao Wang chose "Continue playing". He had been playing Stellaris since its release yesterday, but the more he played, the more he felt the game was "complex".

"Stellaris" and "Victoria" are completely different!

Victoria is a game that meticulously crafts its economic system, with a strong focus on the depth of economic simulation. Stellaris, on the other hand, does the opposite, with its economic, political, and even military systems not carefully polished and deepened, but with its “breadth” extended to an outrageous degree.

Playing this game is more like reading a visual novel filled with science fiction elements than "playing a game".

This feeling is even stronger when the event chain appears. What impressed Xiao Wang the most was the event that the whole country mourned for the leader after his death. At that moment, Xiao Wang felt that the empire in this game was really real.

When the [Pioneer - Wataum] event was triggered, Xiao Wang felt that Fanxing Studio's ability to play with science fiction elements was amazing.

It seems that Wataum might be right. We repeated their experiment and got similar results. It is possible that we really exist in a virtual world.

We lack sufficient information to know who would create such a world and why, but it is certain that no one would be cruel enough to create a universe just for fun.

The impact of this matter is far-reaching, and we now respectfully request your instructions for the next step. 】

Breaking the fourth wall! And in a humorous way, it teases the players about the cruel behavior of "creating a universe just for fun".

Moreover, many of the golden sentences make people laugh and think deeply at the same time.

He clearly remembered the words that popped up when he clicked on the item “Artificial Ethics”: “Specific situations determine what is moral. If you have the ability to define situations, then ethics are just clay in your hands, which you can manipulate at will.”

Xiao Wang can find similar prototypes for many events and options in the numerous science fiction works he has read.

The game "Stellaris" is really a melting pot of science fiction memes.

That's good, of course.

But the fact that I have to submit the manuscript tomorrow has ruined everything!

Volume Two

Chapter 204 [Forward! Binary Contest!] (Sorting is normal)

Beihai Villa, No. 404.

Gu Qingshi was lying on the chair with her arms and legs spread out, looking disgusted with the world.

It had only been a few days since the start of work, and Fanxing did not have a professional secretary to coordinate management, so a lot of matters had to be handled by her as the boss herself.

On the other side, Ai Li was drinking black tea. He gently rolled up his sleeves and picked up the teacup. He first smelled it and then tasted it. He took a sip of the tea but could not even see the movement of swallowing. His posture was very dignified.

Ai Li drank tea and flipped through the documents in his hand in his spare time. He glanced at them briefly and said, "The publicity team of Development Department 3 mentioned that many players mistakenly thought it was an RPG and gave it a bad review, which had a slight impact on Stellaris' rating. But the problem is not big, just a small ripple."

Gu Qingshi also knew about this "little wave".

The main reason is that as the base of Stars expands, the types of players increase, and it becomes difficult to satisfy everyone. Many Stars fans see new games and choose to pre-order them without even looking at the game type, but when the game is released, they find that they don’t seem to be suitable for the grand strategy game type.

Players who are more emotional began to complain in social media and forums.

Ai Li did not elaborate on this topic, but directly said: "Director An sent the game to NGI for evaluation, and the results should be available tomorrow."

Gu Qingshi said weakly, "How are the sales of Qunxing?"

"Better than expected. The 26-hour data is 72. The estimated 50-hour sales should be around units."

The data was better than Gu Qingshi expected.

Based on this data, it is a foregone conclusion that "Stellar" will sell millions of copies.

She is in a state of making a small profit.

The Stellaris development team is quite large, with a total of 120 people. Judging from the numbers, it is already on the same level as the AAA studios in this world. But the difference is that among these more than 3 people, nearly one-third of the employees are freeloaders from Stellaris...

Therefore, the labor cost is not that high, only about five or six million in total.

The real big costs are in outsourcing and promotion.

The cost of outsourcing is already on par with the labor cost, while the cost of publicity and promotion is 1.5 times the sum of labor + outsourcing costs.

Of course, all added up the expenditure is only about 20 to 30 million.

If this cost and sales volume of hundreds of thousands or millions happened on Earth, it could almost be said that a bicycle has been transformed into a motorcycle.

But unfortunately, this world is a bit harsh on game manufacturers.

The most demanding part is the extremely low product pricing.

The original price of "Victoria" was only 38 yuan. Even though it is now cost-effective and no longer a cost-free business, Fanxing's price for "Stellaris" is still only 78 yuan.

Even more outrageous ones, like Gulang's "Between the Gods", are priced on the higher end, but are only 158 yuan.

地球国区那动辄198、298、328乃至648的定价，在这个世界简直丧心病狂。哪怕是最恐怖的氪金游戏，氪金上限也只敢开到200元。

Many wealthy guys who play pay-to-win online games have complained more than once about how troublesome it is to spend money and make multiple payments.

But still no one dares to set up a paid entrance of more than 200 yuan inside or outside the game.

This is a legacy left over from the era of disorderly competition in the gaming market ten years ago.

That period was the fastest growing period for games, but also the darkest period for game manufacturers. NGI was not yet born, and several domestic and foreign game giants competed with each other at low prices and engaged in platform wars, with all kinds of discounts, exemptions, and discounts flying everywhere.

Games that should have been priced at several hundred yuan were initially sold for tens of yuan by manufacturers, and the remaining money was entirely subsidized by the platform. Then the weak domestic game industry was obviously unable to withstand it. In the end, the authorities stepped in to clean up the mess by establishing the NGI and the foreign game review and approval list, which saved the dying domestic game industry.

Players know what good life is like, and naturally do not want to live a tense life where a game costs hundreds of yuan and they can only buy one or two games a month. Therefore, domestic manufacturers, which are dying and have lost their bargaining power, have no choice but to comply with market demands.

Fortunately, AI technology has become popular rapidly and has also reduced product costs. These game manufacturers not only did not starve to death but have also slowly recovered.

Old and large companies such as Gulang and Yungong took advantage of this opportunity to rise.

However, the cost of failure in the platform war and long-term low-price marketing strategy to win the market is also obvious. When people mention the video game industry, the first impression is "losing ambition", and the second impression is "not profitable". The combination is even simpler, two words:

Useless!

Gu Qingshi wasn’t sure whether this useless thing was useful or not, but she did want to change the current situation in the industry.

If the industry wants to improve, it can only do so by raising the player payment threshold or expanding the player payment group.

The former is of course impossible. Gu Qingshi herself is also a player, so she can't change her mind. The only thing she can change is the latter. Judging from the sales data of Stellaris, she has done a good job in transforming players.

Gu Qingshi curled her lips, feeling that the information Li Xiaomeng had provided today was quite gratifying.

Gu Qingshi cheered herself up a little and planned to encourage Li Xiaomeng to report to work on time, but when she opened her eyes, she was shocked.

"Why is it you!?"

This really scared Gu Qingshi.

She just thought it was Li Xiaomeng talking to her!

"Li Xiaomeng asked for leave to play games."

Ai Li took a sip of tea and asked, "Master, do you have anything else to say?"

"Call Li Xiaomeng over, then go out and close the door."

"Ok."

Ai Li stood up slowly, went out to the tea room next door, took off Li Xiaomeng's headphones, and under the silly and puzzled look of the girl with twin ponytails, he took off his boots without any scruples and gently kicked her butt twice with his jade feet.

Li Xiaomeng smelled something sour. It was probably because of the thick boots she wore in the cold spring weather that the smell came out.

Unlike her, she inherited the fine tradition of Professor Zheng and has always been a slipper person. Her feet don’t sweat much and they smell good…

Li Xiaomeng's brain froze for a moment - why was she thinking about this! ?

The girl with twin ponytails who had just woken up instantly got furious. She yelled and cursed before being summoned to Gu Qingshi's office.

.......

"Boss, you called me?"

"Did you enjoy the game?"

Li Xiaomeng corrected him righteously: "I am investigating the market situation!"

"Oh, you're really thoughtful. You work so hard, you're worthy of being the person I trust the most."

Li Xiaomeng laughed, "It's okay, it's okay."

Gu Qingshi's face turned serious. "Since you're so thoughtful, then accompany me on the business trip. Anyway, the anti-cheating system is about to be launched, and the special team will be merged into the second development department soon. There won't be much work for the studio."

Ah, business trip?

Li Xiaomeng didn't want to go. Her game of Stellaris had just started, and she had also made an appointment with netizens to explore the new VRmmo online game together. How could she have the time to go on a business trip?

Li Xiaomeng was speechless for a moment, unable to think of any good excuse to fool him, and finally said guiltily: "I haven't finished my homework."

Gu Qingshi grabbed Li Xiaomeng's ponytail to stop her from running.

----------

It was uploaded normally. When I checked it at 12 o'clock, it was normal. But in the afternoon, chapter 203 was inexplicably moved above chapter 204. Even the order in my backend was messed up.......

The backend of HedgehogCat is really difficult to use. The sorting order cannot be changed, so I simply created a new volume and moved the chapters to the new volume.

Chapter 205 [You Old Confused Toaster]

"I'm working on my paper!"

"Where is the paper? Let me see it."

"I......"

Li Xiaomeng felt like crying when she thought of the title of the paper she had just drafted.