155: Chapter 155: The First Phase of the Spark of Light Games Launched

The first week of November.

As the weather gradually turned cooler, although a hint of warmth still lingered in the air, Jiang Yuan, who was quite sensitive to the cold, had already changed into autumn clothes that were both warm and stylish.

Wearing a T-shirt and a sky-blue denim jacket paired with loose, casual black trousers and canvas shoes, her black hair draped over her shoulders. Her temperament was clear and cold, and she looked as beautiful as a young student who had just walked out of a university gate.

However, at this moment, the girl who looked like a "student" was sitting in her office with her brows furrowed and a solemn expression. In her clear eyes, a look of obvious contemplation flickered.

Before long.

She nodded with a look of certainty, as if she had confirmed something, and immediately told Chu Qing to call Qin Gong, the director of the company's Publishing Department, to come over.

When Qin Gong entered, Jiang Yuan was holding a cup of flower tea at just the right temperature, which Chu Qing had just delivered, and was flipping through the weekly reports page by page.

Seeing him enter.

Jiang Yuan turned the weekly report around to face Qin Gong, who had sat down across the desk. Her snow-white finger pointed at the schedule as she said calmly:

"Director Qin, you've scheduled the release of star ocean drift and deep sea mystery for the same day?"

Qin Gong looked down with some confusion and nodded, saying:

"November 15th, launching both at the same time—that was my arrangement! My thinking was this, President Jiang: neither of these games is very large in scale. Launching them individually might result in limited noise, so by bundling them together for a concentrated debut, the momentum should be higher, and they can also ride the coattails of the Sparklight topic."

Jiang Yuan didn't respond immediately.

Instead, she placed the tea cup back on the table, leaned back against her chair, and looked at him with a calm and indifferent gaze.

Qin Gong felt a bit uneasy under that gaze.

He had been at Spark Games for nearly two years now and knew that once Jiang Yuan looked at someone like that, it meant she was dissatisfied with that person's work, and the problem might not be small.

Silence reigned for a moment.

Just as Qin Gong was racking his brains to figure out what was wrong with this distribution plan.

Jiang Yuan suddenly spoke, her tone tranquil and indifferent:

"Regarding the distribution of a game, do you know what I care about the most?"

Qin Gong was silent for a few seconds before saying tentatively:

"Quality?"

Jiang Yuan shook her head and said in a crisp voice:

"That is the Producer's bottom line, not what I care about. What I care about is whether every single game can be seen by the audience it belongs to."

As she spoke, she picked up the steaming, fragrant coffee and took a sip. Her eyes fell on Qin Gong's face, wanting to see if this fellow had grasped her meaning.

Seeing that Qin Gong still looked bewildered, as if he were trapped in a dead end and couldn't find a way out, Jiang Yuan simply put down the coffee cup and spoke with full force in a cold tone:

"What is star ocean drift? It's a sci-fi simulation management game. Its selling point isn't visual impact; rather, it requires players to quiet down, build their first spaceship, recruit their first crew, and watch the various systems on the ship start to operate. A person wearing headphones, slowly experiencing the joy of managing alone in the vast universe!"

"That is simulation management. It's not like a card game where you know if it's fun after one round, nor is it like a shooting game where you can feel the handling with the first shot."

A look of sudden realization flashed across Qin Gong's face as he finally understood the biggest problem with his distribution plan.

But Jiang Yuan didn't give him a chance to speak and continued:

"And what is deep sea mystery? It's a relatively realistic underwater exploration and survival game. Within just a few minutes of starting, players can immediately feel the thrill of the deep sea."

"These are two games with completely different temperaments. You're pushing them on the same day. Do you think that with the Spark Platform's current active user base, it can fully support the audiences for two such different genres at the same time on the same day?"

Qin Gong was silent for a while before finally speaking, his voice carrying a hint of slight annoyance at himself:

"At the time, I only thought about making the launch momentum as big as possible. I didn't think too deeply about the tone of the games."

Jiang Yuan's tone softened slightly, but her voice remained crisp, pleasant, and clearly audible:

"It's not that you didn't think deeply; it's that your thinking was trapped by the concept of 'simultaneous release'."

"A concentrated debut isn't wrong, but the prerequisite is that the temperaments of the two games can reinforce each other, not dilute each other!"

"Although these two games aren't from Spark Games, they are the first batch of games selected for Sparklight. We cannot let them take such a huge risk during the distribution phase—which is just one step from the finish line—after they have been painstakingly completed."

"If the Spark Platform still had a sufficiently large daily active user base after excluding the fixed audience for hits like Minecraft and Plants vs. Zombies, then of course you could arrange it this way! But unfortunately, we don't have the qualifications to make such arrangements yet, do you understand?"

Hearing this, Qin Gong was stunned for a moment before letting out a bitter laugh:

"It's my fault. I seem to have fallen into the habitual thinking of 'big company-ism,' always assuming that the Spark Platform is no longer much inferior to Steam."

"I'm sorry, President Jiang. This was indeed my problem. It seems I've been given another lesson by you!"

Jiang Yuan gave a soft 'mm' and took another sip of coffee. Her clear, bright eyes looked at the dejected Qin Gong as she said calmly:

"Go back and change the schedule. star ocean drift is tentatively set for November 12th, and deep sea mystery is tentatively set for November 18th, with a six-day gap in between. Let star ocean drift use those six days to build up its word-of-mouth, and then deep sea mystery can take over the baton! This way, the popularity of the two games won't be competing with each other, but will be a relay relationship."

Qin Gong quickly pulled out his phone and jotted down a few notes, nodding as he wrote.

"In addition, the promotion and publicity must also be distinguished. The pre-launch content for star ocean drift should lean towards a slower pace. You can have the Producers release development logs to clearly explain the innovative designs they've made in the spaceship construction system and management mode."

"As for deep sea mystery, what is this game? It's a deep-sea survival exploration game made by a small team on a low budget. Its selling point isn't high production values, but rather creating a suffocating sense of deep-sea oppression with limited resources, as well as various creatures that only exist in fantasies!"

Nodding incessantly, Qin Gong said in a very crisp and serious voice:

"Understood, President Jiang! I see!"

Nodding slightly, Jiang Yuan said in a crisp voice:

"Good, go about your business."

Outside the door.

Qin Gong closed the door gently. After letting out a slow sigh of relief, he walked toward the office area where the Publishing Department was located, patting his chest with lingering fear as he muttered to himself:

"President Jiang is getting more and more imposing. Even though she didn't really get angry, I felt like I was back at the NetEase, facing that Boss San Shi."