novelraw Chapter 138: Stubborn Mouth
Chapter 138: Stubborn Mouth
An 80% player drop-off rate on the first day of closed beta, and a conversion rate less than one-sixth of the industry average.
Sheng Zhi knew exactly what that meant.
It meant most users never came back after the first try, and as for the conversion rate—sure, the industry average was based on PC games, but that was what made this even more frustrating. This was a mobile game, supposed to be a blue ocean, yet it couldn’t even reach a sixth of that average! Might as well just say no one wanted to pay at all.
This was complete trash!
Absolute garbage!
In any major company, if numbers like this came out, the closed beta wouldn't even need to finish—the whole project would be canceled, or totally scrapped and rebuilt.
But the problem was—why?
Why were the numbers so bad?
Wasn’t this supposed to be a blue ocean? He didn’t know FGO’s closed beta numbers, but their public launch hit nearly 100 million in revenue on the first day!
Why was it that both were mobile games, and his game, which basically copied all of FGO’s selling points, performed so terribly!? Where did it go wrong!?
“Why?”
Sheng Zhi’s eyes were red as he glared at the staffer in front of him. “Why is it so bad!? Was it a tech issue? Frequent crashes? Bad tutorials?”
“No…”
The staffer paused, then said with difficulty, “Based on the current feedback, none of those issues occurred.”
Sheng Zhi was furious. “Then why are the numbers so bad? What’s the reason? What did most players say?”
“Based on the feedback…”
The staffer glanced at Sheng Zhi, then continued, “The entire game is the problem. Closed beta users didn’t like it at all—they criticized everything from gameplay to story to visuals. Ironically, the only halfway decent thing was the monetization system, but most players didn’t even want to spend money, saying the characters weren’t appealing.”
“Why aren’t they appealing? Fate/Grand Order made insane money on day one!”
Sheng Zhi slammed the table. “Same gameplay! Same model! Why such a huge gap!?”
The staffer: “……”
He didn’t answer.
If Tang Yao didn’t suppress her staff’s opinions, then Sheng Zhi was the exact opposite—he was a full-blown tyrant in the company.
Good advice or bad, he didn’t listen to any of it. Forget comforting his employees.
He believed in his own experience above all, to the point of “my way or the highway.”
With his reputation as a star producer, the whole company basically revolved around him.
At the start, some people still voiced their ideas.
But when they saw Sheng Zhi didn’t like it… they just stopped talking.
Whatever, it’s just a job. If he doesn’t want to hear it, then we won’t say it… as long as we get paid. If the game sucks, that’s not my problem. Nobody’s expecting to ride the startup wave for equity anyway.
And judging from this mess, the company wasn’t going anywhere.
Under this kind of mindset, even though Sheng Zhi’s company was in its early stages, its energy was extremely low.
The staff, working under high pressure, just shut down and lay flat. Nobody dared point out the game’s core design flaws.
Now Sheng Zhi was asking?
The staff didn’t even know how to respond.
Might as well just stay quiet.
Because saying anything would just offend him.
Problems?
Who couldn’t see them?
Boring plot, bland characters, a copied gacha system and gameplay without understanding why FGO succeeded. That game had solid writing, emotional ties to historical figures, and top-notch character design. What did we have? A half-assed attempt at mimicking Fate’s art style, rushed and budget-cut artwork that looked like cheap fan art?
Or maybe we attracted the wrong kind of users?
Or was it that our tech team only built the bare minimum features, with nobody driving UI/UX polish, visual effects, or immersion-enhancing details?
There were problems everywhere.
Too many to list.
Might as well say nothing.
Just as Sheng Zhi was about to explode at the silence, his phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID—and his pupils shrank. Forget yelling, he hesitated for a moment and picked it up.
“President Lin.”
“How’s it going?”
Lin Shuang’s voice on the other end was calm, emotionless.
“Uh… everything’s fine for now.”
Sheng Zhi forced himself to speak. “There were a few small issues, but I’ll have them fixed soon…”
“By ‘small issues’…”
Lin Shuang tapped her fingers on the performance report in front of her, staring at the blindingly awful numbers. “Do you mean how 80% of our users dropped off on the second day of closed beta?”
The line went dead silent.
“Do you actually understand how 二次元 games are run?”
Hearing Sheng Zhi fall silent.
Lin Shuang finally let her emotions show. Her voice suddenly rose in pitch and fury: “Do you really get it? FGO is leveraging ANF’s 二次元 ecosystem to acquire the right users! And you’re still relying on traditional paid ads, attracting all the wrong ones! You even had the nerve to say they don’t understand games or the market!
Sounds to me like you don’t understand! Do you even know what ANF is? Do you know FGO’s showing up all over mainstream social platforms now!? Do you realize that major investors are all turning their eyes to Avalon, the studio behind it!?
Avalon Studio is already building an ecosystem! And you’re still stuck in the old ways! You even had the audacity to force a closed beta during your competitor’s version update! And claimed it was ‘on purpose’! Now what? Got your target users? Got good data?”
“I…”
Sheng Zhi looked awkward, hesitated, then mumbled, “It was an accident…”
“Still being stubborn! STILL! You’re calling this an accident!? I must’ve been blind when I picked you—this so-called star producer! Have you even looked at the competition!? Do you know what they’ve been doing lately!?”
Lin Shuang cut him off. Her voice was so loud even the staff standing nearby could hear it.
“I…”
“Go and study! Really understand FGO! Don’t be so stupid! The boss and producer behind Avalon is a girl who doesn’t even look twenty! And you can’t even match up to her!?”
Lin Shuang was furious—and her anger wasn’t just at Sheng Zhi: “Don’t assume being young means being dumb! She’s way smarter than you think! If you don’t understand, go learn! Learn properly!”
“……”
Sheng Zhi’s eyes widened.
He opened his mouth… but didn’t dare speak.
“Effective immediately, cancel the current beta test!”
“Bring in a professional narrative team—hire light novel authors or screenwriters to reconstruct the main story, and focus on the core experience! Characters! Plot! That’s the priority. Stop using your outdated MMORPG methods!
Scrap the game and rebuild! Give me a plan in three days! And if it still sucks—you’re out! The whole project ends!”
“Wait, President Lin…”
Sheng Zhi’s eyes went wide. He tried to speak.
But Lin Shuang had already hung up.
The beep beep beep tone came through.
Sheng Zhi stood frozen, while the staffer who’d been eavesdropping nearby silently lowered his tiptoes and slipped away.
Serves you right.
Watching the retreating figure, Sheng Zhi slowly lowered his phone, his face turning bright red.
Furious and shocked.
Did Avalon Studio kill Lin Shuang’s family or something? Why is she this pissed??
Fine!
He was going to see for himself what FGO had actually done!
He admitted that his game had problems, but did that mean everything he did was worthless?
“Learn properly”?
Fuming, he slammed down his phone, grabbed the mouse, and typed “Fate/Grand Order” into the search engine.