Chapter 111 Gym Membership

February 16th, Thursday.

Beijing, "Qiong Tu Project" Independent Game Incubation Base.

After the Spring Festival, the incubation base had resumed normal operations, and the independent game developers had restarted their game development work.

Before the Spring Festival holiday, the promotional video released by "Qiong Tu Project" had achieved very good publicity results. The success of the demos for *Office Worker Survival Manual* and *Ink and Wash Clouds* had given all the independent game developers a shot in the arm, making them feel that their independent game development dreams seemed closer than ever.

Wu Zhicheng was clearly the most motivated.

The demo of *Ink and Wash Clouds* was very successful, and players were supporting it with real money. It was almost certain that as long as the subsequent content of *Ink and Wash Clouds* was completed step by step, sales would definitely not be bad.

Moreover, the entire staff of the incubation base were fully cooperating. Wu Zhicheng lacked nothing; he only needed to focus all his energy on game design.

The only minor flaw was that the incubation base had a rule that a certain amount of game time must be guaranteed every week to "collect inspiration," which gave Wu Zhicheng a headache.

It would be great if he could use that time to develop games.

At this moment, Wu Zhicheng was at his workstation, diligently designing the subsequent levels of *Ink and Wash Clouds*.

Each level chapter had to be unique in terms of packaging and gameplay, which was also very brain-taxing.

Qiu Hong came to the incubation base, looked around, and found that everyone was working very focused and seriously. He was very satisfied.

He couldn't help but think back to the situation when he had started his own game company.

At that time, Qiu Hong was also the boss, but every time he went to the company, he could see that the employees seemed to be working hard, but were actually slacking off. The independent game developers at the incubation base, on the other hand, were truly designing their games very seriously.

Qiu Hong couldn't help but sigh, could this be Boss Pei's charm?

Even though almost no one knew the relationship between "Qiong Tu Project" and Boss Pei, and even though none of the independent game developers had been inspired by the "Tengda Spirit," they were still doing the same things as Tengda employees.

Boss Pei's incentive buff could still take effect even without revealing his identity? And it could even affect Beijing directly from Jingzhou?

How absurd.

Qiu Hong came to the middle of the office area and clapped his hands: "Please stop what you're doing for a moment, everyone. I have two things to announce."

Wu Zhicheng and the other independent game developers all looked up and listened carefully.

Qiu Hong said: "The first thing is that I will be leaving for a while, I'm not sure how long, maybe one or two months, maybe three or five months, depending on the work situation."

"The independent game incubation base in Beijing has already gotten on the right track. Next, I'm going to Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities to open independent game incubation bases there."

"The initial plan is to establish three studios, namely the 'Qiong Tu Project' Northern Studio, Eastern Studio, and Southern Studio."

"Everyone needs to work harder in the future. Our Northern Studio was established the earliest. It would be embarrassing if it's surpassed by the Eastern and Southern Studios in the future."

"If you encounter any problems in your work, continue to find Xi Hao, and he will communicate with me at any time."

Everyone's faces showed some surprise, but there was no excessive reaction.

This was actually something that was unexpected but also reasonable.

The "Qiong Tu Project" was originally aimed at independent game developers nationwide. Now that the independent game developers in Beijing were settled, it would definitely be the turn of the independent game developers in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

It was just that everyone didn't expect it to be so soon.

However, it was Xi Hao who was responsible for the normal operation of the incubation base, so Qiu Hong's departure could be said to have no impact, and everyone would not be surprised.

Qiu Hong paused and continued: "The second thing is that I have arranged for everyone at the incubation base to have a membership at the Managed Fitness Gym. Everyone must exercise on time."

"In the future, your work meals will also be changed to fitness meals that are matched with the Managed Fitness Gym. This is to ensure everyone's health."

"After all, game development requires sitting for long periods of time, and the lumbar and cervical vertebrae are prone to problems after a long time. Persisting in fitness can give you more energy to develop games."

Hearing this news, everyone was stunned.

What the hell?

Got us gym memberships?

Wu Zhicheng was also at a loss. He was already very dissatisfied with the rule that "a certain amount of game time must be guaranteed every week." As a result, now he had to take time to exercise in addition to taking time to play games every week?

Moreover, everyone had been eating regular meals from Lazy Bones Takeout, which tasted very good. Although the level of healthiness was not as good as fitness meals, it was much better than other takeaways, and everyone was quite satisfied.

Now, they had to eat fitness meals with Managed Fitness Gym. Wasn't this redundant?

Wu Zhicheng hurriedly raised his hand and said: "Manager Qiu, the gym isn't necessary, right? Everyone is young and in good health..."

Qiu Hong's expression became serious: "In good health? Do you believe that yourself?"

"Before you came to the incubation base, you were all making independent games in your own residences, turning day and night upside down, and your diets were also irregular. Although you don't have any serious illnesses because you're young, who doesn't have some minor problems?"

"It just so happens that Managed Fitness Gym has opened in Beijing, and I heard that the fitness effect is very good. I've already arranged it for everyone, and you can't not go! Xi Hao, you have to supervise everyone and urge them to exercise on time. If anyone doesn't go, I'll hold you accountable!"

Xi Hao was also frozen at his workstation, not knowing what to do for a moment.

Qiu Hong's words were very strong, but in fact, he was not sure in his heart.

In fact, these requests were all made by Boss Pei, and he was just a mouthpiece.

Previously, after Pei Qian learned that Lazy Bones Internet Cafe, Lazy Bones Takeout, and Managed Fitness Gym had been opened on a large scale in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities, he had been thinking about how to counteract them and hold them back.

He suddenly thought that he also had a lot of industries in Beijing!

There was an independent game incubation base and Cold Noodles Girl. He would arrange for them all to have Managed Fitness Gym, which would not only create a certain amount of losses, but also interfere with everyone's work progress. Why not do it?

However, the relationship between the incubation base and Tengda Group could not be made public, so Qiu Hong could only continue to be a tool.

Wu Zhicheng and the other developers stood up one after another, wanting to discuss with Qiu Hong.

The gym was completely unnecessary!

Wouldn't it be better to let us make games in peace?

However, Qiu Hong had no intention of bargaining with them at all. He said decisively, "It's settled then," and then left.

Wu Zhicheng and the others obviously misunderstood, because Qiu Hong couldn't actually make the decision on this matter. Wasn't it wrong to bargain with Qiu Hong?

Looking at Qiu Hong's departing back, Wu Zhicheng and the other developers looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.

At the same time, they seemed to have tasted a familiar flavor...

...

At the same time, Shanghai, Long Yu Group.

In the meeting room, Eric looked at the latest report, a very proud smile on his face.

Zhao Xuming sat opposite Eric, trying to lower his presence and leave the stage to Eric.

Since the implementation of the "Eric New Deal," nearly a week had passed, and some clues could already be seen from the data of IOI.

The reason why Eric was so happy was that the data completely met his expectations, and the effect was even better than he imagined!

The decline in revenue was certain. After all, heroes were all free, and the price of skins was directly cut to 30% of the original price. In the short term, the player base of IOI would not experience explosive growth, but the average amount of money spent per person had decreased, and revenue would inevitably decrease.

However, the extent of the decline in revenue data was much more optimistic than Eric had expected!

From the data, although the price had dropped, many old players had been compensated and bought many skins that they had not planned to buy before.

Although the money made from each skin was less, the number of skins sold had increased, resulting in a small profit but quick turnover.

For example, some old players originally wanted to spend 80 yuan to buy a skin. Now they found that they could buy two, and they would still spend the money, instead of choosing to spend only 40 and save the other 40.

After the price of skins plummeted, it had reached the lowest point in history. The vast majority of players felt that the price of skins would definitely not drop again for a long time to come, so they no longer waited for discounts and chose to buy them immediately.

Moreover, this price cut created good hype. The number of concurrent online players and the average game time in both the national server and the world server had increased significantly.

Many players bought several skins in one go, so they naturally had to play a few more games to appreciate and feel them properly in the game.

In short, Eric was very satisfied with the data in the report, and he was naturally very proud and even a little inflated.

Eric looked around at everyone: "The higher-ups of Dayak Corporation are also quite satisfied with the data of the new version. It completely meets our previous expectations."

"So next, we must strike while the iron is hot and continue to make up for a major shortcoming of IOI."

"The mobile version!"

"One of the big reasons for GOG's success is its mobile version. Whether it's promoting it in the national server or promoting it in the world, GOG's mobile version has played a very crucial role."

"Previously, we were indeed too arrogant and felt that the mobile version was useless, so we missed the opportunity. Seeing that GOG has achieved such great success in the mobile market, we have also realized our mistakes."

"Therefore, Finger Company is currently starting to develop the mobile version of IOI, which is the same as GOG, with both the PC and mobile versions interconnected."

"After making up for this shortcoming, the gap between IOI and GOG will be further narrowed. Coupled with our price war, we will definitely be able to regain the market taken away by GOG!"