137: Promotional MV

"Boss, please." After the meeting, Chi Yufeng and Li Xiuwu headed to the office.

Chi Yufeng handed Li Xiuwu a copy of the closed beta data and market forecasts for the open beta: "The game's closed beta has ended, and we've made some judgments about the market."

Li Xiuwu flipped through the documents, recalling the news he had heard from Liu Yifei's uncle.

"I've received word that SARFT is going to issue a game ban, prohibiting game programs on satellite TV stations. As various stations implement this, they might even escalate it, and game advertisements could be banned as well. Keep an eye on our promotional direction."

"Ah, I see." Chi Yufeng was taken aback. He had originally planned to get on several programs in some of the high-population provinces. If that was the case, the promotional plan would have to change.

Li Xiuwu looked at the proposal in his hand, which contained market research, expected profit directions, and an approximate player count.

Chi Yufeng gathered his thoughts and focused on the monetization model.

"Our game's primary way of making a profit is still selling time, which is the fairest for the game's development. Additionally, we've taken your advice, Boss, and have done some designs for fashions, mounts, and flying vehicles."

Profit must be the focus of the game.

"Have any fashions been designed yet?" Li Xiuwu closed the proposal.

From the proposal, it seemed the project team hadn't placed much importance on this aspect.

"Yes." Chi Yufeng immediately opened his computer, pulled up the Perfect World backend, and found the designed mounts and outfits; there were only three of each.

Li Xiuwu looked at the white, red, and black horses. The flying vehicles were also quite simple, and the outfits were all film-and-television-style ancient costumes.

"Not enough." Li Xiuwu shook his head.

"Mounts shouldn't be limited to horses. All kinds of legendary exotic beasts—exaggerated, cool, and showy."

"Fashions also need a sense of design. Don't limit them to film-style ancient costumes. We can create series of fashions: Hanfu series, replicas of historical costumes, immortal heroes genre film style, including Western styles, and even modern fashions like high heels. Flying vehicles should also be as exaggerated as possible for a shocking visual effect."

"Should we test the market feedback first?" Chi Yufeng spoke up.

He still had some doubts about the fashions. Would people really spend money on things that didn't increase stats?

"Just design them. Start with Ming Dynasty Hanfu. Zhu Yuanzhang once issued an imperial decree that for weddings, commoners could wear red, granting the couple status equivalent to the seventh rank, one level above local officials. Empress Ma also decreed that women could wear the Phoenix Crown and Embroidered Robe for their weddings."

Li Xiuwu looked up at Chi Yufeng: "When players get married in the game, give each of them a set."

"This is my first mandatory requirement for the game." His voice was serious.

Chi Yufeng was startled. Li Xiuwu had only given suggestions for this game before; this was the first time he had issued such a serious command.

He immediately straightened up and promised: "I understand. I will step up development and complete the design of this outfit set before the game's open beta."

"Tencent was able to escape its profit predicament starting with QQ Show," Li Xiuwu suddenly mentioned Tencent.

"Although Tencent isn't a game, it proves that a large number of people are willing to pay for appearances."

Chi Yufeng thought of Tencent's QQ Show and understood a bit. However, in his view, that was because QQ had a large number of female users, and those willing to put effort into appearances were basically all women. Male players were all about grinding stats; how many would care about fashions?

Li Xiuwu didn't correct his thinking; only the market could educate people.

"Pay attention to the issue of cheats. Don't let people use scripts. If there are enough players, there will be a large number of transactions for equipment, accounts, and gold coins. Make sure the transaction management for these is well-prepared."

Li Xiuwu discussed potential situations they might encounter after the open beta with him. Chi Yufeng took notes and compared them with existing games.

There were many games on the market to learn from, but Perfect World was a pioneering 3D game in the domestic market. As a high-freedom game, it also had an element of unpredictability.

"For the game's promotion, collaborate with Tencent and have them run pop-up ads for our game." After Li Xiuwu finished speaking, he suddenly laughed.

Pop-up ads—those were a great thing. Used well, they were a powerful tool, but they could also be a poison pill.

After hearing Li Xiuwu describe pop-up ads, a look of admiration suddenly appeared in Chi Yufeng's eyes. Although the boss wasn't the first to create them, no one in the market had thought of using them this way yet.

"Boss, can our social software also have pop-ups?" Chi Yufeng thought of the social software under Dream Time. This was a social software with the nature of a game community, with a clean interface and practical functions, which had already been promoted to some universities and enterprises.

"No need. Our social software is positioned as a tool. We don't use it for profit. At most, we can have a pop-up for holiday greetings."

... Li Xiuwu returned to the Courtyard House.

"You two, would you like to do an endorsement?"

"What endorsement?" Liu Yifei and Shu Chang were holding pillows, watching a TV drama.

"A game endorsement. It's for that game I took you to play last time."

"Is that game about to be released?" Liu Yifei asked him in surprise.

Since playing it at the company last time, that feeling of exploring the world had stayed on her mind.

"It'll be released next month, and promotion has already begun. Are you interested?"

"Sure." Liu Yifei nodded. In her heart, this was her own family's business.

"No problem for me either." Shu Chang nodded. Her thoughts were similar; their own company's game had to be promoted.

The next day, Li Xiuwu went to Golden Culture first and called Guo Fan and Ning Hao.

"You two great directors, come film an MV for me," Li Xiuwu said to them.

"No problem." Guo Fan had already filmed for Li Xiuwu once; for him, this was an internship opportunity.

"I also happen to need a change of pace." He had recently been revising the script for his big diamond.

Since Li Xiuwu was willing to invest, he planned to do a good job.

Pan Lei drove to Dream Time. Liu Yifei and Shu Chang had already entered the company and started playing.

Ning Hao and Guo Fan looked around the company curiously. Guo Fan had played games and was relatively familiar with the games published by Dream Time.

"Boss." Some employees saw Li Xiuwu and stood aside to greet him.

Ning Hao and Guo Fan's eyes widened in disbelief.

They had thought Li Xiuwu was just collaborating with Dream Time; they never imagined Li Xiuwu was the boss of this company.

Li Xiuwu being so young and the boss of Golden Culture was already shocking enough, but now this game company was also Li Xiuwu's.

The two of them began to doubt their lives. They were also young men, yet they struggled so much just to pull together a million to film a movie, while Li Xiuwu already owned two companies.

"Junior... no, Boss, you're also the boss of this company?" Ning Hao made a swallowing motion.

"I saw that the game industry was doing well, so I invested in a company. It's developing quite nicely."