200: Chapter 200 reveals pre-order data, causing a major earthquake in the gaming industry!

March 8th, 7:30 AM.

There was exactly one day left until the official release of [Resident Evil].

Jiang Yuan woke up an hour earlier than usual today.

It wasn't because of nervousness, but rather that she had slept so well last night that she naturally woke up at 6:30 AM.

Since she couldn't fall back asleep tossing and turning in bed, she simply got up, washed up, leisurely ate a bowl of beef noodles downstairs, bought a cup of milk tea, and walked into the company entrance with a light step.

She had assumed there wouldn't be many people at the company at this hour.

However, upon pushing open the glass door, she discovered that more than half the people were already seated in the lobby.

Wen Lan seemed to be busy tallying some data, while Su Meng stood by the window, gazing at the scenery outside.

Lin Zhengtao was standing in front of the large screen talking to Qin Gong, both of them holding a steaming cup of coffee in their hands.

Zhou Ming was hunched over his workstation, frantically refreshing data across three screens; his hair was a bit messy, and he looked like he hadn't gone home last night.

Seeing Jiang Yuan walk in, everyone lifted their heads simultaneously.

Wen Lan raised the tablet in her hand toward her, the smile at the corners of her mouth impossible to hide, and said in a gentle voice:

"President Jiang, the latest pre-order data is out."

"As of midnight last night, the total pre-order volume across all platforms is 1,537,000 copies!"

When she announced this number, everyone in the lobby who was still working stopped what they were doing in unison, tacitly, and looked up at Jiang Yuan.

It was evident that everyone had already learned this shocking news and perhaps had already celebrated it; now, they just wanted to see what their idol, Jiang Yuan, would react to this terrifying figure.

Jiang Yuan took the tablet, glanced down at the data panel on the screen, then looked up. There was no overflowing, undisguisable joy; instead, she said in a calm, crisp voice:

"Then let's announce it."

Wen Lan blinked, as if she hadn't heard clearly, and asked:

"President Jiang, do you mean to make this number public directly?"

"Yes."

Jiang Yuan looked around, her expression indifferent as she said:

"There is no need to hide pre-order data. Releasing the number of 1.5 million is in itself the best promotional material.

Those players who are still hesitating whether to buy it will have more confidence when they see this number! Those who are still bad-mouthing us will realize how much of a clown they are when they see this number."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu immediately leaned half his body out of his workstation, his face full of eager excitement as he said:

"President Jiang, when should we post it? How should the copy be written? I'll draft it right away!"

Jiang Yuan glanced at him, thinking to herself that he always seemed particularly energized whenever doing this kind of thing, and said with an indifferent expression:

"No need to draft any fancy copy. Just one image and one line of text, stating that pre-orders have broken 1.5 million and thanking every player is enough. The simpler, the better."

In her view.

This number was enough to deal tons of damage and a heavy blow to the people behind those 'ghost soldiers'; anything else fancy was completely unnecessary!

At 10:00 AM sharp, the official Spark Games accounts on Wei-bo, Bilibili, Douyin, and other platforms simultaneously released an announcement:

"As of 7:00 AM, pre-orders have successfully broken 1.5 million copies! Thank you to every player for your trust and patience! Resident Evil unlocks officially tomorrow at 9:00 AM. See you there!"

Below the image was a line of inconspicuous, small text in a darker color, which was almost unnoticeable if one didn't look carefully:

"Among pre-order sales, the Deluxe Edition accounts for 57%, and the Standard Edition accounts for 43%!"

After the announcement was posted, the comment section exploded almost instantly.

The first to flood in were a sea of question marks and exclamation points, expressing everyone's inner emotions regarding this exaggerated figure without any concealment.

Then, it seemed the players came to their senses from the initial shock, and the atmosphere in the comment section began to liven up. Some were ecstatic, some were emotional, and some couldn't help but bring up old accounts and make lists:

"???"

"1.5 million? Pre-orders? Am I seeing things?!"

"No way, this game sold 1.5 million copies before it was even released? Is this still a domestic single-player game? Or am I still dreaming and haven't woken up?"

"Holy crab, who said before that domestic single-player games have no market? Come out and walk a few steps! Does your face hurt?"

"I remember someone saying that if this game could sell a million, we should count our blessings, and that it definitely wouldn't recoup its costs! And now pre-orders are already at 1.5 million, what can you say now?"

"Spark Games, what kind of fairy-tale company are you? From Plants vs. Zombies to Minecraft to dave the diver, and now even a horror survival game of this scale can sell like this?"

"Even I, someone who never plays horror games, pre-ordered it. Not for anything else, but for the Spark Games brand. They have never half-assed things for players, so I'm willing to bet 268 on it."

"Hehe, three of these copies are thanks to me. I'm going to fight the haters until 9:00 PM, then go straight to sleep to recharge, and start conquering the game tomorrow!"

"Don't go, come back! They are ghost soldiers; you can't possibly defeat an enemy that doesn't exist! Don't go!"

Meanwhile, in the Spark Games section of the NGA forum, an analysis post titled "1.5 Million Pre-orders, Can Spark Games Actually Recoup Costs This Time?" was pushed to the top of the front page by countless players less than ten minutes after the announcement was released.

The poster used a detailed data table to calculate the numbers.

Based on the pricing of 268 yuan for the Standard Edition and 328 yuan for the Deluxe Edition, combined with the 57% share for the Deluxe Edition.

The total revenue from the 1.53 million pre-orders had already exceeded 500 million.

And [Resident Evil] had a development cycle of over two years from inception to now, a peak development team size of over 150 people, plus the R&D amortization for the Aurora Engine and promotional expenses, with total costs estimated between 300 million and 400 million?!

At the end of the post, it was written like this:

"In other words, this game hasn't even been officially released yet, and it has already basically recouped all its costs and even started making a profit just from pre-orders.

In the history of domestic single-player games, such a grand occasion has never occurred. Previously, for domestic single-player games, selling a million copies on discount was already the ceiling, and breaking even was a victory.

But Spark Games, on the day before the game officially unlocks, is already standing on the profit line. This isn't just success; it's a myth. To be honest, I still feel like I'm in a dream—it feels so surreal!"

The replies below were endless, page after page:

"I was stunned after doing the math. Recouped costs from pre-orders? Is all subsequent sales pure profit??"

"To be precise, it's basically recouped, but considering there will be another wave of sales peak after release, profitability is a sure thing."

"We used to discuss whether domestic single-player games could survive; now we're discussing how much Spark Games can make. This change came too fast... I'm a bit unaccustomed to it."

"People from Tencent and NetEase must be ready to spit blood when they see this data, right?"

"Haters: I smeared you so hard, and yet your pre-orders broke 1.5 million? This script isn't right! Shouldn't you have just crashed and burned?!"