Chapter 194: Choosing Between Two Plan
Shangyang Games.
Ye Zhizhou waited anxiously for a long time before finally receiving President Pei's reply.
However, when he saw what President Pei had written back, he was dumbfounded.
"Brother Wang, come look at this!"
Wang Xiaobin happened to be free at the moment. Hearing Ye Zhizhou's call, he immediately stopped what he was doing and walked over to his desk.
"Brother Wang, President Pei has already given us the plan for the new game. He… he picked mine."
Ye Zhizhou pointed at the document on his screen: Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition.
Wang Xiaobin's mouth opened slightly, a bit surprised. "This name… you came up with it?"
Ye Zhizhou: "…No, President Pei changed it. I originally wanted to call it Blood War Anthem 2."
"Hiss…"
Wang Xiaobin sucked in a cold breath.
That name absolutely reeked of bootleg knockoff energy!
And yet, President Pei actually named the game like this? That was…
Hard to understand!
"Did President Pei change anything else in the design?" Wang Xiaobin asked again.
Ye Zhizhou looked a little embarrassed. "I checked carefully—he didn't change a single word. Just the name…"
Wang Xiaobin: "…"
He couldn't help feeling a little sour inside.
Wang Xiaobin knew very well: the reason Ye Zhizhou wanted to make a sequel to Blood War Anthem was mainly because of his unwillingness to let go.
Ye Zhizhou had created the "Chosen One System" for Blood War Anthem, completely overhauling the monetization model of this pay-to-win game according to President Pei's requirements. For this, Ye Zhizhou felt very proud.
Now, Blood War Anthem's activity level and data indicators have stabilized nicely, with many old players returning and the game's reputation fully restored.
The only problem was—the game wasn't making money!
This fact gnawed at Ye Zhizhou.
In his eyes, no matter how good the reviews, a game that couldn't make money was still a failure.
Why didn't it make money?
Mainly because the graphics of Blood War Anthem were too outdated, completely behind the times. Plus, Shangyang Games had no budget for promotion, so no new players were coming in.
After cutting almost all monetization points, relying only on a handful of old players wasn't nearly enough to sustain revenue.
That was why Ye Zhizhou refused to accept defeat. He wanted more players to experience this brand-new "Chosen One System." By developing a sequel, he hoped the game could finally turn a profit.
But Wang Xiaobin didn't really agree.
In the past, they made pay-to-win games out of necessity, just to survive.
But now? They had been acquired by Tengda, with President Pei backing them. They had proper food to eat—why would anyone go back to eating crap?
Blood War Anthem wasn't some major IP anyway. It was originally just a third-rate trashy pay-to-win game. Was it really worth clinging onto so tightly?
That was why Wang Xiaobin had submitted a single-player game proposal instead. He had hoped President Pei would choose his design, so he could finally fulfill his long-held dream—developing a truly high-quality single-player masterpiece.
He had been confident about his proposal.
After all, among everyone at Shangyang Games, his experience was the most extensive, and single-player game design should have aligned best with President Pei's tastes.
In Wang Xiaobin's mind, President Pei was a genius designer on a mission to "save the gaming industry"—a noble person, someone beyond base desires, someone not motivated by money.
Otherwise, how could he have done something like cutting almost all of Blood War Anthem's monetization?
But now the results were clear.
President Pei had chosen Ye Zhizhou's proposal, not his.
Not only that, but President Pei hadn't even changed a single word of Ye Zhizhou's design—just the name.
This left Wang Xiaobin feeling puzzled, confused, and just a little disappointed.
"Oh, by the way, Brother Wang."
"President Pei said your proposal wasn't bad either, but it was too conservative. You can revise it during development—there'll be opportunities to use it in the future."
Ye Zhizhou truthfully relayed President Pei Qian's words.
Wang Xiaobin's spirits immediately lifted.
Oh! So that's how it is!
So President Pei did recognize his design after all—it's just that his approach was too cautious, not good enough for a single-player game!
In an instant, Wang Xiaobin was fired up again.
Now he roughly understood why President Pei had chosen Ye Zhizhou's plan and not his.
Ye Zhizhou's design, among the sea of pay-to-win games, stood out as genuinely innovative.
Whereas his own design, when compared to the crowd of single-player games, felt ordinary.
In different frames of reference, Ye Zhizhou's proposal naturally carried more novelty and was more likely to win President Pei's approval.
"President Pei said my design was too conservative."
"Well, yes, that's exactly the situation."
"I played it safe, relying on tried-and-true design elements—but now I see, that approach is somewhat outdated."
"The industry shifts so quickly. It might keep up with the times now, but after a few months of development, it would already feel obsolete."
"President Pei was right—it was too conservative of me."
"As expected of President Pei, he immediately saw the root of the problem!"
"Looks like I'll need to keep working harder."
Wang Xiaobin's momentary disappointment vanished in an instant.
Since that was the case, they would put all their energy into helping Ye Zhizhou bring Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition to life. Then, for the next project, he could pursue his dream single-player game.
The next three or four months would give him plenty of time to brainstorm and overhaul his current draft, so that by the time the opportunity came, he could present something that would truly satisfy President Pei!
Ye Zhizhou flipped through the design document again.
Sure enough—President Pei hadn't changed a single word!
"Brother Wang, what should we do? Should we just follow this plan exactly?"
Ye Zhizhou felt a little guilty.
But Wang Xiaobin's faith in President Pei was now at its peak. He nodded firmly: "Of course! President Pei has made the decision—what's there to hesitate about? We'll do it exactly as is!"
"Besides, this approach has another advantage: the development time will be drastically reduced."
"The Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition can essentially be treated as a high-definition remaster."
"In terms of gameplay and features, we don't need major changes. At most, we'll put in some effort to polish and optimize things here and there."
"That way, we can pour all the saved time and effort into the art and visual assets."
"Didn't you always say that Blood War Anthem has already been reborn, but it's just missing a beautiful façade? Well, this is the perfect chance to give it one!"
"I think that's exactly what President Pei had in mind."
Ye Zhizhou nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'll get started on cleaning up the design doc and preparing the art resource list!"
Once the design plan was locked in, the first priority was preparing the art resource plan.
Shangyang Games was still running at a loss. Even though they had handed over all their revenue, it wasn't enough to cover rent and salaries, so Tengda had to keep filling in the gaps.
And now this new project would need another huge sum of money. The only way was to file a request and ask President Pei for funding.
"I'm a little worried. I want to ask for two million—do you think President Pei will approve it?" Ye Zhizhou admitted nervously.
Wang Xiaobin paused for a moment. "Let's give it a try. When it comes to game quality, President Pei should be willing to invest. If not, well, we'll just have to cut down the budget."