Chapter 637 - Struggle’s False Marketing and Unorthodox Pricing (1/2)
September 3rd, Saturday…
Tengda’s new game, Struggle, was officially released!
In Shanghai…
He An, who had just finished tending to work, arrived home and prepared to rest.
He intended to go to Jingzhou and continue teaching Boss Ma last Friday, but his own Mengguo Games had run into some problems. He had thus ended up trying to deal with the problems until yesterday.
So his lesson with Boss Ma was postponed until Friday.
Although it had been unexpected, He An thought that the timing was good. That was because Tengda’s new game, Struggle, was put up for sale today!
He An was filled with expectations for the new game.
After all, Boss Pei had already done several standalone games earlier, and all of them had become benchmarks for domestic standalone games. He had achieved new heights, especially in terms of conceptualizing and depth.
This time, He An—like all other gamers—expected Struggle to be a large-scale action game. That was why he was hopeful.
It came just in time as He An was worrying about what to teach Boss Ma in his last lesson.
Everything that he had said before had been a summary and generalization of the lessons he had accumulated as a game designer over tens of years. The lessons had been filled with valuable insights.
From ideation to creation and then to sales and marketing, He An had already addressed them over.
However, it was precisely because the content so far had been rich and valuable that he was having difficulty finding anything else to talk about for the last lesson. If the content for the last lesson fell short, it would be meaningless.
It was just as well that Tengda was providing him with more material!
Since He An still had a week before his lesson with Boss Ma, he could use the time to analyze Tengda’s new game through and through.
Perhaps he would be able to obtain inspiration from the game or the game would trigger some of his sealed memories. Then, maybe he would be able to find something valuable to teach.
Now that he had finished work, He An preparing to play games to relax.
He switched on his computer and accessed the official platform. Indeed, in the most eye-catching recommendation spot on the official platform’s front page, it said: ‘Tengda’s new game, Struggle, is up for sale!’
However, there were only beautifully written words and no promotional poster.
It was a little strange.
Ordinary games would put up promotional posters on their advertisement spots, so that the beautiful scenes and characters in the game would be displayed for all to see. That would give gamers a better first impression and attract more of them to play it.
“Boss Pei is really stubborn. He is living up to his name indeed.”
Thinking nothing much of this, He An clicked the words.
Other game designers would have been expected to stick to the customs of advertising. However, there was no need for Boss Pei to. All things aside, the words ‘Tengda’s new game’ on the front page would cause gamers to press it at once.
When he arrived at the game’s details page, He An suddenly realized that something was amiss. That was because the details page was finally displaying the game’s synopsis and images!
The game was introduced in this manner:
In reality, no matter how much one struggles, they would not be able to escape their destiny.
There were many promotional screenshots of the game as well. They were beautiful, and the artistic style made a lasting impression, but the only problem was… the scenes and characters in the screenshots were worlds apart from everyone’s expectations!
The background was modern, and there were many foreigners wearing clothes that one would normally see in real life, including suits, T-shirts, and sweaters.
He An was confused.
What happened to the large-scale action game?
Indeed, some action games made use of modern material, but those were often set on mysterious islands or lost ancient ruins. None of them had been set in the city!
From the promotional screenshots, He An could tell that the game was nothing like action games!
What was even more confusing were the introduction and the game’s Mandarin name.
‘In reality, no matter how hard one struggles, they would not be able to escape their destiny’?
That was so depressing!
Yes, that was true to a certain extent. Most people were helpless in real life, and real life didn’t change according to one’s will.
However, that did not mean that this kind of fatalism should be promoted!
Life was filled with unhappy events, but people should try hard to live a good life no matter what. That was because there was no giving up or exiting. People struggled, not to live a better life than others, but so that they would live a better life than before.
What’s more, the English and Mandarin translations of the word ‘Struggle’ meant slightly different things!
In English, Struggle had many meanings. Before this, everyone had thought that the game would be an action one. Thus, they subconsciously assumed that ‘struggle’ meant to combat and fight.
However, in Mandarin, it was translated as ‘to strive’, which rid the gamers of their initial thoughts completely. At once, it exposed the game’s true theme!
With this opening, He An became stunned by Boss Pei’s actions, and he had not even entered the game. At this point, more intelligent gamers would have realized that they had been bluffed by the advertisements.
“Did Boss Pei use realistic themes and then become afraid that nobody would play it? Is that why he resorted to false marketing?
“It can’t be.
“He would not be able to lure gamers in this way, and it wouldn’t help his sales. Instead, it would backfire and ruin his own reputation. He would lose out significantly.”
He An was confused.
At that moment, he suddenly realized something. He retrieved all of Tengda’s promotional material at the height of its publicity campaign.
After reading the promotional material, he looked back at the game’s introduction.
He did this three more times.
Then, he understood.
“Boss Pei… did not engage in false marketing. He was telling the truth. At most, he was just misleading everyone.
“What kind of new strategy is this?”
He An realized that the content written on the game’s details page completely matched the game’s actual content!
The misunderstanding had only developed because of the mention of ‘motion capture’. Everyone had mistakenly thought that Tengda had spent a huge sum on motion-capturing because it had been creating an action game!
Yet, it turned out to have realistic themes.
Crazy! Why would you need motion capture for realistic themes? Do you have too much money and nowhere to spend it?
If this had been some other game designer, He An would have lashed out and cussed, thinking that this had been false advertising all along.
When He An had been teaching Boss Ma before, he had said that a game’s publicity would either make or break a game. If the game’s advertising and the actual game were mismatched, a destructive blow would have been dealt to the standalone game.
The result?
The advertising for Boss Pei’s new game and the actual game were mismatched! What’s more, it was ridiculously mismatched!
He An was troubled and perplexed. Boss Pei had committed a mistake that he had always known to be low-class. Yet, all the more, he did not dare to believe it.
Who was Boss Pei?
He was a talent at sales! He could find the best way of marketing every single game, and he understood how to create conversation among gamers.
Yes, this must be another special advertising tactic!
However, He An would only find out exactly how special it was after playing the game.
He An prepared to purchase it and then discovered another confusing thing. He had to purchase the dual protagonist modes separately?
When he clicked the purchase button, an introductory window popped up. One was the rich version, and the other was the poor.
The drawing on the rich version was of a business elite in a suit. He was swirling his glass of red wine while looking out of a full-length window, into the city, from the penthouse of a skyscraper. He looked like the prince of the world as if he held everything in the palm of his hand.
The words said: ‘Born in a wealthy home, your struggle would be unbelievably smooth. However, fate is unexpected. In the face of death, everyone is equal. If you are a rich person, I don’t suggest you buy this game, or it would feel very boring.’
Price: 19 yuan (Original Price: 29 yuan)
The drawing on the poor version was of a peasant in torn and tattered clothes, holding nothing in his hands. As the cars drove by on the busy street, he looked up at the skyscraper in front of him, with his back view emitting hints of envy.
The words said: ‘Born in a poor home, your struggle would be filled with pain, suffering, and helplessness. Your determination could change your fate, but fate is unwilling to be changed by you. No matter whether you are a rich or poor man, I don’t suggest you buy this game because you would be meaninglessly overwhelmed with negative energy.”
Price: 79 yuan (Original Price: 99 yuan)
The buttons for each version were separate. Obviously, one could only purchase either one. Moreover, there was no option for He An to buy both games.
He An did not understand the purpose of this. Wasn’t it just clicking one more button?
He would buy the rich version before he bought the poor version.
However, when he tried to click the button for the poor version, a pop-up window appeared.
“There are no second chances in life. If you want to experience both types of lives, you would not get to enjoy the discounts. Both versions would be sold to you at the original price, and you have to pay a total of 29+99=128 yuan for this purchase. Are you sure about this?”