Chapter 300: Bao Xu, From Now On You’re the “Guide Player”
Chapter 300: Bao Xu, From Now On You’re the “Guide Player”
October 23rd.
The English and Japanese versions of Turn Back Before It's Too Late were officially released!
On the emerging overseas streaming platform Link Live, streamer Handsome Hao had already downloaded the English version at the earliest moment and started a brand-new first playthrough.
However, this time he wasn’t following the normal route.
He was aiming for a speedrun.
After streaming for such a long time, Handsome Hao’s channel subscriptions have been steadily climbing, now surpassing 100,000 subscribers, which is already quite impressive for a new platform like Link Live.
Every day during his streams, viewers kept asking:
“When is the English version coming out?”
Meanwhile, on Aili Island, the videos Handsome Hao uploaded about Turn Back Before It's Too Late had also gained huge popularity.
Foreign viewers’ comments while watching the streams became a hot topic among domestic players as well.
Now that the English version of Turn Back Before It's Too Late had finally been released, Handsome Hao naturally seized this opportunity to promote it vigorously to all his viewers.
The livestream chat erupted in excitement.
“I’ve been watching this game for so long. It looks like a super high-difficulty action game. Thank you, streamer, for introducing such a fun title to us!”
“Awesome, the English version is finally here! God knows what kind of suffering I went through playing the Chinese version.”
“I have to say, the English localization is extremely well-done. I checked some key translations—perfectly captured the original meaning. Truly a conscientious developer, paying attention to every detail. Great work!”
“A game that got even someone like me—who’s never been interested in Chinese culture—completely hooked.”
“I’ve already watched the streamer beat the game several times. I’m sure it won’t be a problem for me!”
Many players also left supportive comments on the official overseas platforms, and others took the initiative to promote it across various forums and websites.
The overseas release of Turn Back Before It's Too Late was off to an excellent start!
……
Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Li Yada had been monitoring the overseas data.
The more she looked, the more amazed she felt.
“I really didn’t expect this. The overseas numbers are even better than the domestic ones?”
“President Pei is incredible!”
Li Yada was genuinely impressed.
The multilingual versions of Turn Back Before It's Too Late were produced with help from the official platform, with extremely high translation quality—but even so, Li Yada had never been 100% confident that the game would take off abroad.
The reason was simple: the cultural gap.
The domestic game market and the overseas market are completely different worlds.
Plenty of games that become massive hits domestically fail miserably overseas, no matter how much they are promoted.
And some games unnoticed at home end up thriving abroad.
Because of this, a whole group of publishers specializing in overseas markets have emerged—studying foreign player preferences and taking charge of adapting domestic games for international release. There’s huge profit in this.
This process, known as “overseas localization,” involves altering everything—from art style, gameplay, and mechanics to advertising strategies—to better fit foreign tastes.
Sometimes, for better results, they even completely replace the entire worldbuilding, swapping it for a Western-fantasy setting more familiar to foreign players.
So for a single game to become a hit both domestically and overseas is already a very low-probability event.
Any game that manages this inevitably becomes a flagship product and a major revenue pillar for its studio.
Therefore, seeing Turn Back Before It's Too Late perform so well overseas left Li Yada utterly astonished.
“To be fair, Turn Back Before It's Too Late really doesn’t look like the kind of game that would appeal to the overseas market.”
“The entire story is built on traditional Chinese cultural elements. Many things that strongly resonate with domestic players—like the Bridge of Helplessness, the Stone of Three Lifetimes, etc.—might mean absolutely nothing to foreign players.”
“But even so, overseas players still love the game this much. That alone shows how successful it is.”
“This is all thanks to the effort President Pei poured into it!”
Thinking of everything President Pei had done for Turn Back Before It's Too Late, Li Yada felt genuine admiration.
“First is the design of the game itself.”
“Turn Back Before It's Too Late is a very hardcore action game, which fits the tastes of overseas players extremely well.”
“President Pei took the risk of alienating domestic players by insisting on high difficulty—maybe he intended from the start for the game to succeed both domestically and overseas?”
“Next is the promotional strategy.”
“Many foreign streamers on Link Live were playing Turn Back Before It's Too Late while checking dictionaries live on stream. This gave the game huge exposure overseas and even created some meme-worthy moments that players kept discussing.”
“Getting foreign streamers to promote the game voluntarily is normally a small-probability event, but to be fair, this is also determined by the game’s own qualities.”
“The game is so outstanding that even without Handsome Hao, other foreign streamers would eventually have discovered it and spread the word.”
“And finally, President Pei told me not to rush the overseas release.”
“On one hand, he wanted to patiently wait for the game’s popularity overseas to build up. On the other hand, he wanted to give the translators more time to ensure the game’s cultural depth was translated accurately and elegantly.”
“All these factors combined are what made the overseas release of Turn Back Before It's Too Late successful!”
“I guess this is what they call ‘when you strategize from a thousand miles away, the victory is decided before the battle even begins’?”
“President Pei really is meticulous. He thinks of everything!”
“It seems I still have a lot to learn!”
Li Yada sighed sincerely.
Just as she was sighing, Pei Qian arrived at the office.
Li Yada quickly stood up. “President Pei, regarding the overseas version of Turn Back Before It's Too Late, the current situation is—”
Pei Qian’s face darkened instantly. He quickly raised a hand to stop her. “No need to say anything.”
Li Yada nodded immediately. “Ah, understood, President Pei.”
As expected, President Pei had already foreseen everything. Reporting good news at this point really was redundant.
Pei Qian, however, felt exasperated.
Hearing such terrible news early in the morning… what a way to ruin his mood!
Li Yada continued, “President Pei, the project team currently has no major tasks left. Just a few small bugs to fix. I’m thinking of assigning them some version optimization tasks, or maybe start preparing for a DLC. What do you think?”
“DLC? No!”
Pei Qian jumped in fright and immediately shut down this dangerous idea.
He looked at Li Yada with a serious expression.
“Everyone has already worked so hard for so long. Shouldn’t they be taking a proper rest now?”
“The employees are Tengda’s most precious asset. They absolutely must not be overworked!”
“Besides, constantly outputting without input will exhaust anyone’s creativity.”
“As game developers, they must play more games, explore more ideas, and gather more inspiration. Only then can they continue making fresh and innovative games that surprise players. Understand?”
“For this whole week, nobody is allowed to do any work. Uh… have Bao Xu lead everyone in playing games.”
“Bao Xu, from now on you’re the Lead Gaming Officer. Your job is to lead everyone in playing games.”
“Plan things out, assign tasks. No matter what they play, every person must complete at least 40 hours of gaming this week. If their gaming time isn’t enough, I’ll be coming after you!”
At the side, Bao Xu—who had been shrinking his neck and desperately trying to minimize his presence—jerked upright like a startled tiger.
Damn! My head was practically buried inside the monitor, and President Pei still managed to assign me!
Bao Xu quickly stood up. “Yes, President Pei.”
Pei Qian stormed back to his office, grumbling.
The staff in the office looked at each other, then collectively turned their gazes toward Bao Xu.
Bao Xu threw up his hands helplessly. “What are you all looking at me for? Hurry up and start… don’t make things difficult for me.”
The staff exchanged glances again, then rushed to set aside their not-so-urgent tasks, scrambling to open their games.
……
Inside his office, Pei Qian used his construction-site-level English to skim through the reviews for the English version of Turn Back Before It's Too Late, letting out a silent sigh.
Sigh… even though I had already predicted this outcome before making the English version, there really wasn’t anything I could do.
Pei Qian originally believed that cultural gaps and cultural barriers alone would block at least 90% of overseas players.
But now he realized… he had been far too optimistic.
He never expected foreign players to be so desperate for suffering that they would chew through untranslated content—and even make a bunch of Chinese-speaking streamers go viral!
As a result, after seeing the overwhelming domestic and overseas response, the official platform took the initiative to find a translation team to produce an overseas version.
Everything unfolded just like that.
“Forget it. Let fate decide.”
Pei Qian knew there was nothing he could do anymore.
He spent a bit more time reviewing all the activities for the upcoming 1024 Digital Festival like a student cramming before an exam.
In the afternoon, Pei Qian watched a TV show for a while, then took a nap in his office, waiting for the farewell dinner he had arranged that evening for Chief Editor Xia and the others.
……
……
That night, a seven-seater business van and a regular business van from Tengda stopped in front of Mingyun Private Kitchen.
Xia Jiang stepped out of the car, her face pale, her spirit clearly drained.
The others who got out behind her didn't look any better.
Even one of the strong, burly cameramen was walking unsteadily—judging from how weak he looked, he had probably thrown up earlier.
Clearly, most of them were not suited for this kind of extreme entertainment experience.
Recalling the unforgettable horrors from today at Jingzhou New World Amusement Park, Xia Jiang felt her whole body go weak.
Roller coasters, drop towers, giant pendulums, haunted houses…
She didn’t even know how she had survived all of it.
Her legs were still trembling.
Pei Qian had been waiting at the entrance ahead of time.
Upon seeing everyone looking so drained and exhausted, he couldn’t help but curl his lips upward into a genuine, heartfelt smile.
Heh. Finally, I get to strike back!
Let’s see if you dare backstab me again!
Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling pleased with himself, even wondering if he should arrange a similar “Death Experience Tour” for every journalist who came to interview him in Jingzhou.
That way, no one would ever dare come again!
“So, Chief Editor Xia, did everyone have fun today?” Pei Qian asked kindly, his smile warm and friendly.
Xia Jiang squeezed out a barely-there smile. “Yes… very fun…”
Pei Qian nodded in satisfaction. “Good! As long as everyone had fun. After dinner, get plenty of rest. Tomorrow, I’ve arranged a skydiving activity for all of you. It’s extremely fun—you definitely don’t want to miss it!”
Xia Jiang: “……”
……
……
The next morning.
When the staff arrived at the hotel where Xia Jiang and the others were staying, they found only the trophy, the certificate, and the 100,000 yuan prize money left for President Pei.
Next to the trophy was a letter.
“President Pei:”
“Thank you very much for your warm hospitality during this period. We had an unforgettable time in Jingzhou!”
“Due to the heavy workload, our higher-ups suddenly assigned us a new interview task, so we had no choice but to rush back. President Pei is always busy, and we didn’t want to disturb you, so we sincerely apologize for not being able to say goodbye in person.”
“Please rest assured, President Pei—the special feature interview will definitely be completed perfectly! We hope to have the opportunity to work together again in the future!”
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