Chapter 125: Inheriting the Game’s Flaws!
Chapter 125: Inheriting the Game’s Flaws!
Noon, the 15th.
Pei Qian sat in his office, deep in thought.
Last night at 8 PM, President Pei’s Daily Life Season 3 officially premiered exclusively on Aili Island.
Since yesterday, the top banner on Aili Island’s homepage had prominently featured a massive ad for the show, promoting President Pei’s Daily Life.
Many viewers came in droves, intrigued by its reputation, and flooded the video with barrage comments (danmu). Even though the video was just over a minute long, it was incredibly lively. The dense stream of comments impressed many new viewers who had migrated from traditional platforms like Fanshu.com, showcasing the uniqueness of this interactive video format.
Pei Qian didn’t watch the premiere last night, but he did check the view count the next day.
It had already surpassed 600,000!
At this rate, the total view count could very likely reach a million.
Granted, not all of those would be valid clicks, but even conservatively, this episode alone would bring in about 200,000 yuan in bonus revenue from Aili Island’s incentive program.
What’s more, as the show’s popularity snowballs, later episodes would likely perform even better.
By this estimate, the ten-episode season could easily generate over 2.3 million yuan in shared revenue.
In other words, Aili Island essentially paid over 2 million yuan for the exclusive rights to President Pei’s Daily Life Season 3.
This price wasn’t high at all—it couldn’t compare to the tens of millions yuan paid for blockbuster dramas and variety shows.
But for Pei Qian, this was even worse than his worst-case scenario—enough to make him want to collapse!
Misfortune never comes alone, huh…
There was a knock at the door—it was Assistant Xin.
“President, here’s the new employee benefits plan we agreed on earlier. Just confirming with you one last time—if there’s no issue, I’ll go ahead and process it.”
Pei Qian took the document and glanced through it.
It was the benefits package they had drafted about a month ago.
After Ocean Fortress was completed, Pei Qian had launched a series of benefits, including across-the-board salary increases, project bonuses, shopping cards, and reimbursement allowances.
This time, the new benefit was a full employee medical checkup!
He had chosen a high-tier package at the best hospital in Jingzhou City, including a comprehensive health screening. The cost per person was 3,200 yuan.
With over 50 employees across Tengda, Feihuang Studio, and Moyu Internet Café, the total came out to around 160,000yuan!
In addition, standard benefits remained unchanged—the shopping card allowance had even increased to 3,000 yuan. Factoring in other creatively named bonuses, this round of benefits amounted to 500,000 yuan in total.
Originally, he had planned to save this money for the final effort to generate losses.
If he could get the system funds down to 700,000 yuan, then spending 500,000 yuan at the end would be perfect!
But now, it was awkward.
Based on his current estimates, even after spending this 500,000 yuan, the system would still show a surplus!
With the system’s 100:1 profit conversion ratio, that 500,000 yuan in company spending would’ve translated into 5,000 yuan in personal income—money he would now lose by spending it.
But he didn’t dwell on it.
“Go ahead as planned. Leave the file—I’ll review it again later.”
“Understood, President Pei,” Assistant Xin replied. She flipped through her notebook. “One more thing—today, a reporter named Hu from Playtime Weekly called to request an interview. That’s the third reporter this week. Should we continue declining, same as before?”
Pei Qian nodded.
“Yes, refuse them. Still the same two rules: nobody is to reveal my name or real identity to the public, and don’t disclose any information about the company’s salary or benefits. Please remind everyone again.”
“Understood, President Pei.” Assistant Xin turned and left.
So far, Tengda remained a mystery to both the media and the gaming community.
People knew the company existed, but who the boss was, what benefits employees enjoyed, and what the internal environment was like—no one had a clue.
As for why Pei Qian was so insistent on doing things this way…
There were two main reasons.
First, if the details of Tengda's generous benefits and high salaries were leaked, top talents from all over Jingzhou City would be scrambling to join. Some might even move from other cities just to apply!
And if a bunch of super talented people voluntarily offered to join at lower salaries, he would have to rack his brains to find reasons to reject them. If his excuses weren’t convincing enough, the system might not approve, and he could end up forced to accept these outstanding candidates...
Right now, he was already struggling to eliminate underperformers from the team. If more talented newcomers showed up, wouldn’t that just make his life harder?
Second, he still couldn't let his parents find out about his real identity. The longer he could hide it, the better.
He also didn’t want to become famous. After all, the more popular you are, the more drama follows. Once people started watching his every move, all kinds of things would become inconvenient.
The system had a strict rule: no one could suspect the system or the existence of the challenge. He didn’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble.
That’s why he refused all media interviews.
Many media outlets had called Tengda’s front desk asking for an interview, and they were all politely declined. This time was no exception.
...
Pei Qian glanced again at the 500,000 yuan employee benefits plan on his desk.
“Just think of it this way… It’s like I’m paying 5,000 yuan out of my own pocket to give out 500,000 yuan in benefits to my employees.”
“When you look at it like that, it’s kind of… worth it.”
“Ah… I really am a good boss.”
Pei Qian couldn’t bring himself to take away 500,000 yuan worth of benefits from his employees just to gain 5,000 yua in personal income.
After all, these employees had truly worked hard for him. Even though people like Huang Sibo and Bao Xu kept interfering with his plans in every way possible, they were still loyal and dedicated.
And from their perspective, they were wholeheartedly contributing to the company!
…It was just that, in his eyes, they were all ruining everything.
“Fine, whatever happens, happens. Salaries and benefits will stay the same, and we’ll even keep raising them as planned.”
“I can’t let my brothers down.”
“I didn’t manage to lose money this time, guess I’ll just try harder next time…”
Pei Qian felt a faint sense of melancholy.
He braced himself.
It was time to learn from his pain.
To reflect on the experience and draw valuable lessons.
He needed to figure out exactly why Game Producer had succeeded!
Or, perhaps… identify what major flaws the game might have—so he could copy those flaws in future projects.
The game had been out for two weeks now, and by this point, many players and professional reviewers had already shared their thoughts and critiques online.
This time, Pei Qian didn’t need to have the design team summarize the reasons for the game’s success—just skimming through online reviews was enough to figure out exactly where he went wrong!
First, let’s look at some of the more authoritative game media outlets:
“Game Producer is a highly successful interactive narrative experience that completely subverts traditional storytelling in games.”
“In this game, you play the role of a game producer. Your goal is to overcome numerous obstacles and choose the most promising path to develop your game. Will you become a star producer—or quietly go bankrupt? The outcome depends entirely on your choices.”
“What makes this game shine is how it maximally immerses players in a state of internal struggle and difficult decision-making—a true reflection of what real game developers experience!”
“But if that were all, then this game would simply be an excellent simulation. Compared to some other traditional sim games, its only real advantage would be its beautiful graphics.”
“What elevates this game to masterpiece level is the ever-present narrator who follows the player throughout. That narration is the game’s true stroke of genius!”
“At first, players may find the narrator annoying—being constantly mocked is aggravating—but when you think about it, it’s the narrator that makes the game interesting!”
“You could see the narrator as the producer’s inner greed, or the judgmental voices of people around them. For a content creator, the hardest part isn’t coming up with ideas or making the right choices—it’s persisting in the face of criticism, staying true to your vision, and pushing through until success.”
“In short, this is a rich, thought-provoking, innovative and one-of-a-kind game. It not only conveys how hard it is to be a game developer, but also exposes the real problems in the game industry, and encourages all content creators to stay true to themselves and persevere!”
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Summary: A deeply satirical look at the game industry, presented through black humor and a refreshing interactive experience!
Pros:
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Clever use of black humor
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Multiple endings keep players coming back
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The narrator is a brilliant highlight
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Offers insightful commentary on industry issues—truly thought-provoking
Cons:
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Sometimes the game intentionally limits player freedom, but this is part of the game’s design
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