Pre-Release Stream Canceled?

After hanging up the phone, Supervisor Lian began to arrange the translation work overseas.

Although she disagreed with President Meng on this matter, she considered that he was a shrewd boss who often succeeded through unconventional methods. Therefore, even if she had her own ideas, she would not act on her own initiative.

Everything shall be based on Mr. Meng's wishes.

Meanwhile, after ending his call with Supervisor Lian, Meng Shu received a call from Future Studio.

This surprised him somewhat, because he had contacted this studio before he was looking for a new office, after he had finished making "Skyhill".

The main goal is to port the games Dark Forest, 21 Points, and Visage to console platforms.

The purpose is to allow players who are afraid to play VR to experience Horror Games through a screen on other platforms.

After all, not everyone dares to confront their fears in VR, and in addition, his initial focus was on VR and he didn't consider players on other platforms, so this can be seen as a remedy.

The reason for choosing this company is simple: although they are not large in scale, they are quite powerful.

They are involved in most FPS games both domestically and internationally, and are long-term partners of many game companies.

Furthermore, because they excel at creating shooting feedback effects for FPS games, the shooting games they participate in offer a fantastic combat experience, earning them a good reputation in the industry and among gamers.

Now that more than half a year has passed, there should be good news about their transplantation work by now.

Meng Shu answered the phone, not holding much hope that the transplant would be completed.

On the contrary, he felt that six months was too short.

But things turned out differently than he expected.

The first thing the head of Future Studio said was good news.

[President Meng, hello. We are from Future Studio. Your port of "Dark Forest" to us is complete and now in the optimization phase. Once testing is successful, it can be sent to the factory for pressing.]

[However, only this small-scale game has been completed so far; the other two VR games will take some more time, sorry.]

Upon hearing this, Meng Shu was taken aback for a moment, then a slight smile appeared on her lips.

I never expected this, I really never expected it.

No sooner had I asked Supervisor Lian to arrange the overseas translation of "Dark Forest" than news came that the console port of "Dark Forest" was completed.

The timing is quite interesting.

Given this, when the VR version of Dark Forest is released, with the support of a large number of players both domestically and internationally, its sales may exceed his expectations.

Thinking of this, Meng Shu smiled again and began her busy work.

Time flies.

The four days passed quickly.

There's only one day left until the release of Bloody Scientist.

Players who were initially hesitant began to look forward to it.

The number of players who were initially expressing their support gradually increased.

After all, it's a new game. No matter how many people were skeptical before, now everyone has a desire to try it out and unveil its mystery.

According to a previous Weibo announcement, tonight will be the pre-release preview of "Bloody Scientist".

When the time comes, we'll see whether it's a mule or a horse.

Everything will be ready by tonight.

That's what the players were thinking, however...

A Weibo notification from Ji You left them all stunned.

Its content can be briefly summarized as follows:

Good afternoon, players. A pre-release preview event for * Bloody Scientist * was originally scheduled for 8 PM on July 9th. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, our senior management has decided to cancel the preview. Please rest assured, though, that * Bloody Scientist * will be released on schedule on July 10th. We look forward to it!

In special circumstances, we will notify you separately. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Respectfully submitted by the Weibo Ji You Team, July 9, 2023.

The announcement shocked the players.

This news is just as shocking as the previous reverse-delivery.

They never imagined that the day when Mount Lu was supposed to reveal its true face would be so hastily canceled.

If I'm not mistaken, it must cost a lot of money to do pre-sale promotions across all platforms, right?

Assuming that Ji You really did spend money on pre-sale previews, what caused them to cancel them?

The cancellation notice from Ji You quickly became a hot topic of discussion on various platforms.

The comment section below Weibo is especially chaotic, with all sorts of opinions expressed.

There were concerns, doubts, concern, and sarcastic remarks.

The most popular one is a new thread on Bihou.

The title is: [How should we evaluate the cancellation of the preview for "Bloody Scientist"?]

Although the post title was unremarkable, the number of clicks and replies was ridiculously high.

The comments, in particular, are incredibly varied, with all sorts of opinions.

"What the hell? The pre-broadcast across all platforms is just canceled like that? We've already paid for it, haven't we? This is too frivolous!"

"As a bloodsucker company, Ji You wouldn't just cancel it so easily; there must be a reason."

"Could it be that they reported it? Or is there some policy issue preventing it from being broadcast? Otherwise, there's no reason to cancel the pre-broadcast; they've already spent the money, why are they doing this?"

"How could it be a policy issue? It must be a problem with the content."

"They must have threatened someone else's interests and were targeted."

"What kind of ridiculous conspiracy theories are these? If they were really being targeted, would they dare to release it tomorrow?"

"No matter what, I will always support Ji You. Anyway, the game will be released tomorrow, so one more night won't make a difference."

"Give me a break, it's a terrible game. There's no rating. They said there would be a preview, but it was canceled. Isn't this just a way to cover up the game's poor quality?"

"The King of Knowledge is here? You think you know everything now? Is it really that interesting to keep criticizing games all day long?"

"I believe that Ji You is not the kind of company that spends money and does nothing; that would be completely out of line with Ji You's leech-like nature. Either it's a policy issue, or the game's content itself is not suitable for live streaming. There's no point in us guessing."

Although many users answered, their responses were all highly subjective.

Of these, only one highly-rated answer needs to be relevant to the situation and gain public approval.

"I personally believe the biggest reason for Ji You canceling the pre-show is the game's storyline. As we all know, other story-heavy games are generally more for playing than watching. Because if you watch streamers play, you'll know the plot. Since you already know what will happen in the game, the likelihood of you buying the game will be greatly reduced, or even nonexistent. As for Bloody Scientist, all we know so far is its tagline 'Fun to play,' we know nothing about the plot, whether it's linear or sandbox, let alone whether combat or story takes up more weight. In this situation, if the plot is revealed in advance by streamers, the remaining homogenous shooting gameplay will hardly attract players to spend money. Therefore, I think Ji You's management considered this situation and made the last-minute decision to cancel the pre-show. The purpose was to prevent plot leaks and avoid losing potential customers and sales."

This statement, though conventional, makes some sense.

If a story-driven game is revealed during a live stream, it's indeed difficult to generate any desire to buy it.

Since I already know what's going to happen in the game, why would I even buy it? Do I even have time to play it? Am I supposed to buy it and then take the time to play through a game whose plot I already know?

Am I bored?

Not everyone will buy a ticket; the pleasure of getting something for free is unimaginable.

And indeed, as this highly-rated answer says, if the plot is a small part of "Bloody Scientist," then with all of that revealed in advance, the remaining mainstream shooting gameplay will be really hard to attract people.

Unlike Horror Games, it's not about getting a scare or a thrill. Even if you know the plot, so what? Can you defeat the ghosts? Can you escape that eerie and oppressive atmosphere?

You can't.

Moreover, in the few games that Only Game, the randomized gameplay disrupts the established patterns, giving players a lot of freshness and making the experience as novel as the first time for players on their second or third playthrough.

Therefore, if the cancellation of the preview was indeed to protect the plot from leaks, as the top-voted answer suggests, then players can understand.

But... what if it isn't?

Thinking of this, the players hesitated again.

Time flew by again.

Night fell silently.

At midnight on July 10th, "Bloody Scientist," which had its pre-release preview canceled, was finally officially unlocked on the Xiyou Platform!

Immediately, some influential figures on Weibo and competitors began posting congratulatory messages, showcasing the extensive connections within these large companies.

And sure enough, the game wasn't released on Cyber Platform.

And the price is...

398 yuan!?

Good heavens!

Upon seeing this price, players exclaimed that it was awesome.

Then they all posted in the Fourth Calamity Club, exclaiming, "Wow, you're amazing, Ji You!"

The price of 398 yuan, especially on the Xiyou Platform, coupled with the cancellation of pre-shows, has turned players who were initially hesitant into those who are now waiting.

Because no matter how you look at it, it seems like a way to make a quick buck.

However, another group of players did not wait like the "wait and see" group.

Some of them are content creators (UPs), and some are live streamers.

In order to get a firsthand look at the game, they directly paid for it and started playing.

As expected, players went wild after experiencing the game on its first day of release.

Especially on Danmu Network, a content creator with 900,000 followers even posted a video called "Bloody Scientist".

The title is:

What a terrible game! The developer should go home and feed the pigs!