Chapter 278 - Teacher Qiao Painfully Holds Back (1/2)

October 4th…

After having a meal with Lin Chang the day before, Pei Qian carefully considered his new business.

Live-streaming and cell phone manufacturing would both require huge initial investments and potentially incur major losses. Even if he wanted to venture into these new territories, he had to wait for the next settlement cycle.

Of course, while huge initial investments were required, there was an expensive and a cheap method of going about things.

Take cell phone manufacturing for example. Even if Pei Qian wanted to start such a business, he did not need to have hundreds of thousands of cell phones in his inventory. It was impractical and unnecessary.

Huge manufacturers needed a lot of inventory for two reasons. First, they needed to reap the economies of scale. Second, they were afraid of being reprimanded by customers should their cell phones sell out.

However, Pei Qian did not have to think about these things.

It did not matter if he could not reap the economies of scale. In fact, he would be able to incur more losses. If he ran out of stock, so be it. He did not even want to sell a single cell phone.

He could only produce three thousand cell phones in the beginning; any more, and he would lose out.

In any case, his goal was to incur losses. There was no need to have such a huge appetite; he would lose whatever amount he could.

Of course, he still had to think about all the details. He could only take action once failure was guaranteed.

When he arrived at the office, the first thing that Pei Qian did was check on Repent and be Saved’s situation.

He could not determine much from a day’s worth of figures. However, it was good enough for Pei Qian that the figures did not show signs of improvement.

He was just about to refresh the back end of the game editor when he heard a knock on his door.

Pei Qian looked up to see Li Yada.

Li Yada shyly pushed the door open, pushed her thick spectacles up her nose bridge, and twiddled her forefingers. “B-B-Boss Pei, there’s been a serious problem. “According to the official platform’s regulations, a warning would be issued if a game’s refund rate exceeds 20%. If the refund rate exceeds 35%, the game developers would be forced to take the game off the shelves and edit it.

“At the moment, we’re close to 30%. If this continues, the consequences would be… dire.”

Pei Qian was confused.

Oh? Such a good thing existed?!

Pei Qian had never experienced this problem before because Tengda Games had always created games with hearts. They were priced inexpensively, and few people refunded them.

Even The Lonely Desert Road was priced extremely low; that was why very few players refunded it.

However, this situation was different. Repent and be Saved had attracted loads of ordinary and lousy players. Although most of these players might stay for various reasons, there was also bound to be a significant portion of them who would return the game out of anger.

Not only were the game’s reviews reaching two extremes, but the refund problem was becoming more serious as well.

However, this was good news for Pei Qian!

If the game was forced off the shelves to be edited, he could take his time to edit it before releasing it again. This way, he could control the sales volume as well. As long as he could release the game again a week before settlement, he would be fine.

Pei Qian had not done this on purpose; the System probably would not fault him, right?

Pei Qian glanced at the platform and asked, “Where’s the warning?”

Li Yada lowered her head. “Er, those are the official platform’s regulations. I’m not sure why we haven’t received a warning.

“It might be because we have a good reputation on the official platform.

“I’m just reporting this to you and asking for your advice on how we should move forward. Should we edit the game and lower its difficulty?”

“There’s no need!” Pei Qian raised his hand to stop her. “I understand the current situation well. Don’t worry.”

“Alright… alright.” Li Yada nodded and then left the room.

Pei Qian’s heart hurt slightly as he looked at the refund rate, which had not yet reached thirty percent.

Ai, what a pity!

I should have worked harder back then to make sure that it reached 35%!

The refund rate was not increasing now. Instead, it was constantly decreasing. This pained Pei Qian.

Yet, this was expected. As news about the game spread across the internet, most newbie gamers would have learned that the game was extremely difficult. They would be well-prepared before entering the game.

That was why the percentage of gamers who refunded the game was decreasing.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and then accessed Shaohu Reviews’ chat window.

The fake reviewers whom he hired had proven useful; the game was being brutally criticized.

Since that was the case, he needed to intensify his efforts!

He had to get more people to curse it and add fuel to the fire. It would be best if he could persuade more gamers to refund the game. Even if he couldn’t, he had to try to scare more gamers away. That would lower the game’s sales.

Of course, he could give clear directions this time either.

Pei Qian had to use the same method that he used before and drop as many hints as he could.

On the flip side, Hu Xiao was deeply reflecting on his own rash behavior.