Pei Qian didn't give the two of them much time to react before continuing.
"I have only three conditions for this game."
"First, I want the game to have plenty of story mode content. Don't just make it pure PvP. Our game must have depth and meaning!"
"Second, we must pay maximum attention to new players' experiences, making the game as simple and easy as possible!"
"Third, we must create epic weapons. Pricing… make it 888 yuan for permanent ownership. As for temporary experiences, you can decide yourselves."
Everyone fell into collective confusion.
Pei Qian chuckled inwardly.
Sabotaging a game was just that simple!
Creating an FPS game had been in Pei Qian's mind from the very start.
Having a completely inexperienced team develop an FPS game was already a gigantic pitfall on its own.
Unlike other genres, FPS games had extremely demanding requirements regarding "game feel."
This world already had a mature FPS game, "Counter-Terrorism Plan," which had essentially achieved perfection in terms of game feel, scoring a 100.
Even if another game reached a 99, it would still fail!
Because even just that 1-point difference would be infinitely magnified in the eyes of hardcore FPS players!
With a perfect "Counter-Terrorism Plan" out there, who would bother playing a mediocre imitation?
This differed fundamentally from card-based mobile games or MMORPGs, which heavily relied on repackaging. As long as you changed the packaging, even minor defects could be forgiven or overlooked in a new game.
But with FPS games, a single point difference in feel was huge and nearly impossible to overcome!
Deliberately competing against "Counter-Terrorism Plan" was essentially suicide.
Moreover, Pei Qian's three demands were each more devastating than the last!
The abundant story mode seemed like a good idea, but it was actually well beyond the team's abilities.
Story mode was typically high investment, low return. The most likely outcome was putting in tremendous effort and resources, only to receive absolutely no appreciation from players!
Using the same time and personnel resources, if you invested heavily in the story mode, other aspects of the game would inevitably suffer.
Focusing excessively on the new player experience and making the game excessively simplistic would definitely anger hardcore players—who are precisely the main demographic for FPS games!
The most critical condition was the third one:
Pay-to-win weapons!
Pei Qian had specifically learned from his experience with "Ghost General."
In his previous life, "Crossfire" had managed to overtake "Counter-Strike" despite its inferior game feel.
But this world didn't have "Crossfire"—or even any similar games.
Why?
Pei Qian believed it was because this world's gaming environment simply didn't allow such games to survive!
On the surface, what Pei Qian was doing seemed similar to "Crossfire" from his previous life, dramatically raising the barrier to entry via monetization. However, the result would be completely different due to drastically different gaming environments!
In 2009 of his previous life, free-to-play and pay-to-win games were everywhere.
But in this world, buy-to-play and subscription-based games were the mainstream. Even a game like "Cute Three Kingdoms" had received intense criticism for just setting a monetization ceiling of 1.000 yuan.
His biggest mistake with "Ghost General" had been making the game too player-friendly, unintentionally gaining overwhelming goodwill and achieving an unforeseen good reputation!
In a sense, he himself was the "original culprit," selling products cheaply that could otherwise have been sold at much higher prices...
Of course, Pei Qian didn't need to worry about the possible chain reactions of his decisions right now. His current priority was simply to ensure that his next game would fail miserably.
Maybe creating an extremely pay-to-win game with a terrible reputation would be a good idea!
Just imagine:
An FPS game with worse gameplay than "Counter-Terrorism Plan," mediocre quality, wasted resources on a pointless story mode, and guns that couldn't be used freely, each priced extremely high…
There would be absolutely no selling points!
Nothing more to say, it would definitely flop!
Right now, Pei Qian had essentially given a task with specific restrictions to Huang Sibo and Bao Xu, instructing them to proceed according to these three conditions.
Under these limitations, they could do whatever they wanted. he wouldn't interfere!
Considering the entire project team had zero experience developing FPS games, it would already be impressive if they managed to finish the game and get it approved. As for making money? Absolutely impossible!
As expected, after hearing his three conditions, both Huang Sibo and Bao Xu fell into deep thought.
Huang Sibo was astonished by the freedom and the difficulty of the task.
He initially thought that President Pei, as an experienced producer, would offer detailed guidance and supervision on the game's design. Yet, he just casually pointed out a broad direction and washed his hands of the matter entirely!
An FPS game with a substantial story mode, friendly to new players, and a ridiculously high pay-to-win ceiling…
The difficulty was immense!
But Huang Sibo couldn't just directly say it was impossible. Before the meeting, he had just resolved to give his all for President Pei. He couldn't back down immediately.
The harder the task, the more effort required!
Otherwise, how could he justify the generous treatment and trust from President Pei?
As for Bao Xu, he didn't have as many complex emotions as Huang Sibo.
He was simply recalling his experiences while playing FPS games, thinking about how he could successfully fulfill the task given by Pei Qian.
"Any questions?" Pei Qian asked.
Just as Huang Sibo opened his mouth to speak, Pei Qian quickly nodded and said, "Looks like there's no questions, good."
Several employees immediately swallowed their words.
You didn't even give us a chance to talk!
Pei Qian looked around at everyone.
"Then, the design team has one week to produce a draft design. Bao Xu, you'll be responsible for the creative direction and overall concept. Huang Sibo, organize the design team meetings, refine the details, and assign tasks."
"Ma Yang, your primary task right now is to follow along and learn from others, helping out wherever you can."
"If there are any issues, notify me promptly, especially regarding money. Never hesitate."
"Meeting adjourned!"
With the meeting concluded, Pei Qian felt incredibly relaxed.
So this was how it felt to be a boss?
Throwing all tasks to your subordinates and not having to worry about anything—it was incredibly satisfying!
Of course, ordinary bosses, even if they delegated most work, would still inevitably check in regularly to monitor progress.
But he truly had no intention of doing so. He wouldn't ask a single unnecessary question!
Whether the quality of the finished product was good or bad, he couldn't care less!
Of course, he'd still monitor some critical milestones.
For example, deadlines for submitting design documents, completing the first playable demo, and submitting for approval.
Having poor quality wasn't an issue, but the game had to pass review. They couldn't waste effort for nothing, or else the system would deem it a violation.
Pei Qian's goal was simple: ensure the game could be successfully completed, while allowing his team the freedom to squander resources and burn money as much as they wanted!
- - - - - -
If you want to see more chapter of this fic for free, please go to my Scribblehub Account[1], I cross-poted this fic in there too.
Link: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/[2]
[1] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/
[2] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/