452 Boss Pei is Very Strict

March 15th, Tuesday…

At 3 PM…

Pei Qian slept quite well the night before. He only woke up at noon. He went to the office after having lunch. The first thing that he did was to check on Be Quiet's sales.

The public's reaction to the game was still lukewarm. Some people were discussing the gameplay online, but not many people were paying attention. Most were still talking about the challenging prerequisite.

The game had a rating of 8.5 on TPDb's website. It was not low, but it was not high either.

That was because the gameplay itself was complicated, and there were very few gamers. Thus, not a single person had truly figured out the gameplay. Naturally, the game's reputation could not pick up.

As for 'Top Student, Come Quick', Pei Qian had not heard about the project in a while. It looked like everything was going well.

He glanced at the calendar. This week would be critical.

That was because the results of all of his projects would be released this week. He was going to find out whether he would end up with profits or losses!

After doing his calculations for various projects, Pei Qian suddenly realized that he had been forgetting something.

He wondered how the research and development of GOG had progressed. Speaking of which, the research and development of GOG was taking much longer than Pei Qian had expected.

His intention had been to create a game that would meekly compete with IOI. As IOI dominated the market, his own investment in GOG would be made ducks and drakes of. That would have put him a step closer to his goal.

However, the research and development of GOG had been too slow. Until now, the game had not been officially released.

Still, Pei Qian did not think too much about it because the environment at Tengda Games was quite tough…

On one hand, the chief planner of the project—Li Yada—had gone on holiday together with one of the core members of the team, Bao Xu. The project team had lost its backbone. On the other hand, Tang Yishu was seated in the office. The project became filled with bugs. Fixing bugs alone had driven the entire project team crazy.

At that thought, Pei Qian could not help but sympathize with Tengda Games' situation.

"Should I ask them how they are and offer some comfort?

"After all, the games department has been performing well recently. They've kicked the bad habit of working overtime, and have performed well in several Zero Overtime Competitions.

"What's more, they've significantly eased my burdens by slowing down the entire research and development process."

Pei Qian stood up, prepared to leave the office and walk around upstairs.

To him, it would be best if every project could be completed in the week before settlement. That would ensure that they would only be available for sale for a week and only generate a week's worth of revenue.

However, the problem was that it would be very difficult to control something like project timelines. In developing a game or working on other projects alike, it was common to run into problems and delays. In fact, completing a project on time was uncommon.

Pei Qian had to allow for some buffer time for the various projects and set their end dates for two to three weeks before settlement. Only then could he avoid having incomplete projects and delaying settlement.

However, that would give rise to new problems. What if his projects finished on time or even earlier?

Pei Qian would not be able to do anything about it. He could only bear with the pain and release the projects earlier. After all, they were already complete. He could not possibly insist on delaying their release without any good reason.

Be Quiet was an example of a game that had finished too early. That was why Pei Qian had to create a prerequisite challenge to make up for it.

At the moment, it looked like he had successfully salvaged the situation.

On the other hand, GOG was slower. It was progressing closer to what Pei Qian had expected in the beginning.

Soon, Pei Qian arrived at Tengda Games. As he walked in, he felt confused. There was no one he knew in the games department!

It was too bad. Tengda Games had been too successful. Every game was a hit. The old employees who had performed well and left a deep impression in Pei Qian's mind had all been sent away. Even the turnover rate for an important role like chief planner was high.

Between Huang Sibo and Lu Mingliang, one was at Fei Huang Workspace and the other was at Upwind Logistics. Now, both Li Yada and Bao Xu were overseas as well. Pei Qian did not know who to look for at that moment.

Several old employees looked familiar, but Pei Qian could not remember any of their names. He felt awkward.

Still, it was a good thing that everyone recognized Boss Pei. Once he walked in, three employees—who had been discussing something—quickly went forward to receive him.

Those three were Hu Xianbin, Min Jingchao, and Zhang Nan; who were Tengda Games' stand-in chief planner, systems designer, and skins designer respectively. In other words, they were the three people whom Li Yada had handed her job over to before leaving.

"Boss Pei! What's brought you here? I am Hu Xianbin, the stand-in chief planner for Tengda Games. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."

Hu Xianbin and his two companions introduced themselves one by one. Pei Qian tried hard to recall their names and faces and did a quick search in his memory bank.

Er… these faces are relatively new…

Had Li Yada found three newbies to take over her job? It was no wonder that GOG was progressing so slowly.

Still, this was a good thing to Boss Pei!

If this Hu Xianbin could match Boss Pei's expectations, Pei Qian would not mind allowing Li Yada to retire early.

Er… retiring at 25 years old? Would the System allow that?

Pei Qian smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'm just walking around. How's GOG's research and development going? Has it been smooth? Can people start playing it at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe next week?"

Hu Xianbin quickly answered, "We originally planned to release GOG's client next Monday. There are still many bugs in the game, and we've been trying to repair them. That's why progress has been very slow."

Pei Qian was very happy with this timeline. Still smiling, he said, "That's not slow at all! The timing is just right.

"As the saying goes, a slow artisan produces skilled work. If you fix more bugs during research and development, fewer bugs would appear once the game is released.

"Wait, did you just say GOG's client?"

Pei Qian sharply noticed a problem with Hu Xianbin's choice of words. GOG was a client-side game. Why did he have to emphasize that?

Hu Xianbin smiled. "That's right, Boss Pei. The mobile game has already been released today."

One could almost see three question marks above Pei Qian's head.

"???

"Mobile game? What mobile game?"

Stunned, Hu Xianbin replied, "The mobile version of GOG."

Pei Qian, "…"

What was going on? Was this deja vu?

Pei Qian immediately recalled when he was informed about the release of Bloody Battle Song's mobile version. At the time, he had been feasting with Shang Yang Games' employees at Ming Yun Private Kitchen. The news had arrived like a sudden rain cloud on a sunny day, turning him to stone.

The situation now was similar. Pei Qian's brain could hardly process the information. He only reacted a moment later. At once, he asked, "How's it doing now?"

Hu Xianbin proudly answered, "Please see for yourself, Boss Pei!"

The three of them parted to allow Boss Pei to see the screen that they had been looking at. It showed GOG's real-time data. All the numbers seemed to be increasing rapidly: the number of downloads, the number of active players, the number of top-ups, and the like!

Pei Qian's leg turned weak. He quickly sat down. Then, he moved his chair closer to the screen to study the figures closely.

It was true. All the numbers were going through the roof!

What shocked Pei Qian the most was that the mobile version of GOG had not only been released on the official platform but also on other channels such as Shenhua's application store.

Pei Qian asked, "How long did you all have to negotiate the partnership with these other platforms?"

Hu Xianbin shook his head. "We didn't have to. They approached us."

Pei Qian's mind was filled with question marks. With some brief explanation from Hu Xianbin, Pei Qian immediately understood.

Tengda's reputation was extremely good, and GOG's mobile version was well-made. The team had not needed to request to work with other platforms or beg other platforms to put GOG on their shelves. In fact, the other platforms had approached Tengda Games of their own accord!

Tengda had created standalone games and online games, and each one of those games had been a huge hit. Ocean Stronghold and Bloody Battle Song were examples of Tengda's successful online games. Of course, other platforms would have no problem collaborating with GOG.

Many platforms even offered to give Tengda a higher share of the revenue and profit, just so that they could sell GOG.

On top of that, GOG itself looked very attractive as a game!

At the moment, Gods Rising, IOI, and GOG had the upper hand in the client-side game market. IOI did not have a local server, and gamers in China had to use accelerators to connect to foreign servers before they could play. On the other hand, GOG was still being tested and had not been released yet. Thus, the competition among those three games was still unclear. It was difficult to tell which game would emerge as the winner.

However, neither Gods Rising nor IOI looked like they had any plans to enter the mobile game industry. Thus, GOG was the sole competitor and an extremely attractive one at that!

Of course, no one dared to guarantee that the gameplay was appropriate for a mobile game. Still, many gaming platforms and channels obviously saw a lot of promise in this move. Many of them wanted to invest huge amounts of resources to try it out.

That was because they stood to earn a lot of profit if it turned out to be successful!

For those two reasons, Hu Xianbin and the others had not had to approach channels or engage in publicity. They had only needed to leak some information before the gaming platforms approached them of their own accord, offering favorable terms.

There had been no need for them to worry about publicity; they had received everything while sitting back!

Extremely excited, Hu Xianbin said, "Big Sister Li had not told us how to work with other platforms before she left. I was a little worried at first, and I was even thinking about asking her about it online over the next few days.

"Now, I know I was obviously thinking too much!

"Boss Pei, I can only say that you've set an excellent foundation for Tengda. All the gaming channels are fighting to put our game on their shelves. That's what a good reputation can do for you!"

Pei Qian was momentarily speechless.

What has this got to do with me?!

He looked at all the figures on the screen, not knowing what to say. A huge threat had surfaced. He had to think of a solution!

Pei Qian could not sit still any longer. He quietly got up, planning to return to his office to surf the net and check how gamers were reacting to the mobile version of GOG. The situation would still be salvageable if people were dissing the game!

When he saw Boss Pei stand up, Hu Xianbin quickly asked, "Boss Pei, do you need us to do anything else?"

Pei Qian was speechless. "No."

Seeing Boss Pei's back view, Hu Xianbin felt slightly disappointed.

The figures look very good. Why didn't Boss Pei praise us at all?

Ai, Boss Pei is very strict! I can't become too proud. I have to work hard to gain validation from Boss Pei one day!

Hu Xianbin, who had been getting arrogant after seeing the results of GOG's mobile game, quickly regained his composure and continued working hard on GOG's client.