Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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But data doesn't lie, and some people are starting to panic.

Xiao Li tried to keep it concise: "The current 1000 returning users are all Bakery Girl users, and the general feedback is 41 positive reviews, 183 neutral reviews, and 642 negative reviews."

"During the same period, among 17,000 questionnaires, the overall positive review rate for Bakery Girl was 21%, while the positive review rate for Frontline Girl was 98.7% in the current period."

"The negative reviews of Bakery Girl mainly focus on the program crashing, poor narrative, chaotic copywriting, and slow pacing, making it seem like a game from 17."

"At the same time, the evaluations of the girls on the front lines are mostly positive."

"Also, just now, Spark Games released the current battle report for Battlefront Girls..."

"Mr. Yao, would you like to read this?"

Yao Xiaodong replied with a single word: "Read."

He didn't look up, still reading the report in his hand.

"Okay, this afternoon Spark Games announced that the revenue of 'Girls' Frontline in China this month has exceeded 100 million RMB as of today... At the same time, 'Girls' Frontline: Companion' has sold over 2 million copies."

These two numbers were released.

The previously quiet meeting room was immediately filled with hushed discussions.

Those sitting here are all executives from Tencent Games; theoretically, they should have seen all kinds of games.

But they were still shocked by this result.

It's not that we're shocked by the emergence of another anime-style mobile game that has generated over 100 million RMB in revenue in a single month.

Instead, people were shocked by what magic Spark Games had used to achieve record-breaking revenue in the second year of a game's release.

"Is this true? It doesn't conform to market rules at all."

A Tencent executive double-checked the data with a colleague next to him and even took out his phone to check the news.

Until he saw the news.

I also checked the recent internal game revenue analysis of Tencent.

Only then did I believe it.

"This is actually real!?"

It's no wonder that these Tencent executives were so shocked, because in the current gaming industry, whether it's PC games or mobile games, there's still no concept of long-term operation.

Normally, revenue is highest when the game is first launched.

Then, as the planners repeatedly went to extremes to achieve their KPIs, revenue gradually declined.

This is normal.

Even if there are any subsequent events, it is often difficult to reach the revenue level of the initial launch.

Just like Honkai Impact 3 and Onmyoji.

A year later.

Both saw a decline in revenue.

Specifically this month, Honkai Impact 3 didn't even break 100 million views, hovering only around 90 million.

Therefore, the "old" game, Battlefront Girls, which was released in February of last year, saw its revenue gradually climb from 2 million to 1 million a year later.

It even surpassed Honkai Impact 3rd this month, which, for many industry insiders, is completely contrary to business logic.

Because there are very few things to spend money on in Battlefront Girls.

It's about skins, big builds, and rings.

Gone.

None of these three items are monetization points that affect gameplay, and none of them use the current mainstream monetization points.

The fact that it can generate such an exaggerated flow of money is truly baffling.

Just like many people who still don't understand why Azur Lane is still making money even in 2023, even after playing their own game, Bao Si.

At this point in time, many people are also wondering why the revenue of the "Frontline Girls" is getting higher and higher.

Spark Games has broken conventional wisdom.

However, it also gave many people a misconception.

Many industry professionals, especially game developers who don't know much about anime and manga, including Yao Xiaodong, had their first reaction upon seeing this data.

It's not about learning Spark Games.

Instead, they thought, "If Spark Games were to incorporate traditional pay-to-win strategies into Girls Frontline, how much money would they make?!"

But they don't know what things will be added.

The flavor changes when it comes to "Battlefront Girls".

Many manufacturers hope to tap into the anime and manga market, but at the same time, they retain many of the monetization elements found in traditional pay-to-win mobile games.

Everyone thought that the ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) mobile game market in 16 and 17 was a market where you could make money effortlessly.

It's as if money is easy to make from people who are born homebodies.

But in fact, the popularity of anime-style mobile games in the past two years is not due to these manufacturers.

Instead, it is Japanese animation that has cultivated a group of users who love animation and are fond of the broader anime and manga community over decades and countless high-quality animations.

14 to 18 years.

As long as your character art is even slightly good, making a profit in the world of anime-style games shouldn't be a problem, if not a fortune.

Is it really because users are stupid?

No, it's because a large group of anime fans have an innate fondness for their two-dimensional waifus.

A good character illustration can exist even without a storyline or any supporting framework.

As long as his wife is good-looking, someone will be willing to pay for her, even if he doesn't know the character at all.

For example, Yu Linglong from Girls' Frontline 1.

This is a typical example.

~~~

But even if it's chives.

If you cut too many times, you'll eventually realize it.

Therefore, in the previous life, about 20 years ago, a group of manufacturers who still clung to outdated ideas took turns marrying Bao Si.

They still think that anime-style games are just about making money by putting together character illustrations.

Plot?

Is the plot important?

Players are only looking at the character art.

If all else fails, we can always pay more attention to the gameplay and world-building.

And in the current timeline.

Because of the emergence of Spark Games.

Many manufacturers have witnessed the rise of Linli.

Because the "success" of Spark Games seems too simple.

Instead of understanding this, they reinforced the perception that the market is full of fools and rich people.

Yao Xiaodong is one of them.

Although Tencent had ventured into anime-style mobile games in its previous life due to miHoYo's success, it did not actually establish a dedicated studio.

In this timeline, the success of the Spark Games made the penguins genuinely envious.

As a company that has been established for only one year.

Spark Games has been too successful.

FGO's global monthly revenue is in the hundreds of millions, so we won't go into that.

Battlefront Girls' monthly revenue in the Chinese server has now exceeded 100 million.

Galaxy Park: Discovery reportedly earned 100 million in global revenue over six months by selling resurrection coins.

Even the unreleased game "Galaxy Paradise" has already garnered over 500 million pre-registrations.

The global pre-registration for the Fate-themed game "Fate/stay night" has reached a staggering ten million.

You could easily make a game like "Girls' Frontline: Companions" and sell 200 million copies in just two days.

Even setting up an online store can generate tens of millions in revenue...

For penguins.

Seeing others succeed is more painful than killing him.

So from the moment Girls Frontline was released, Tencent was thinking of "copying" the success of Spark Games.

Unfortunately, Zhao Ming and Yu Zhong are both useless.

They suffered a series of defeats.

The scattered explosion is like a piece of rotten mud that can't be helped up.

Every time things seem to be improving and a foundation seems to have been laid, upon closer inspection, it's still just the same old mess.

This is why Tencent Games ultimately chose Yao Xiaodong to personally take charge.

The reason is that Tencent's top management believes that Yao Xiaodong, a veteran, is capable of taking over this market.

Yao Xiaodong himself felt the same way.

But he's not really in this race.

That's why Yu Zhong and Zhao Ming were summoned.

On the one hand, they want to learn more information.

On the other hand, I also wanted to see what kind of person Yu Zhong really was.

Chapter 184 Super Adversity

Standing to the side, I listened to the secretary, Xiao Li, constantly reading out data.

It was an office with the air conditioning on.

Yu Zhong was sweating profusely, one drop after another.

He was already feeling very guilty before he even arrived.

I feel even weaker now.

Go with the wind, be bold; go against the wind, be cowardly.

It's clearly a huge headwind right now.

Previously it was just a matter of being relieved of his duties, but now it seems he might actually be laid off by Tencent.

If Yu Zhong is laid off by Tencent Games, then he's truly finished.

Keep in mind that he's still burdened with a huge amount of debt, and he's counting on Girls' Frontline 2 to turn things around.

But now, Girls' Frontline 2 hasn't even been released yet, but Bakery Girls has received rave reviews and is selling like hotcakes.

Not only did it fail to attract traffic, it may have had the opposite effect.

I tried to cover it up with a PowerPoint presentation, but the other party just pulled out the follow-up data.

~~~

"We sold 5 units in two days, while Spark sold 200 million units in three days..."

"We spent nearly 30 million on marketing and promotion, while Spark... it seems like they didn't do much marketing? They just posted an ad on Bilibili."

"Yu Zhong, answer me, why did things turn out this way today?"

Yu Zhong wiped the sweat from his forehead, truly unsure how to answer Yao Xiaodong.