Is First Place in the Game Really That Hard?

"Ah, I'm screwed, totally screwed—I forgot the test draft, what do I do now!"

Xiao Chen paced back and forth, his face full of anxiety as he racked his brain for a solution.

There was really no helping it—this game was just a little too fun, and he'd lost track of time without realizing it.

"Chen Dong, what are you doing? Can you keep it down? You're messing up my gaming."

Xia Xiao frowned, looking at Xiao Chen as she spoke.

So, Xiao Chen's name was Chen Dong after all!!

"Xia Xiao, I, I didn't mean to, but it's about the draft—I've got to think of a way out!"

Xiao Chen said with an apologetic smile.

Suddenly noticing what Xia Xiao was doing, he couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Xia Xiao, what are you up to?"

"Recharging! The boss just gave me a hundred-yuan red envelope, so I can buy all the skins—awesome."

Xia Xiao chuckled happily, not even looking up as she replied.

"Hey, that's right! Wait, no—Xia Xiao, how can you still be gaming? We need to get that draft done!"

Xiao Chen paused, then urged her earnestly.

If they kept playing any longer, they'd have to stay up late writing that draft~~~

"Are you dumb? Testing, testing—you have to play the game to test it, don't you? If you don't play, what are you going to write the draft with?"

Xia Xiao knew what Xiao Chen was getting at, but she really couldn't put this game down!

After a moment's thought, she decided to give herself an excuse to keep playing.

"Uh, well."

Xiao Chen was stunned. Was that... how it worked??

"Besides, how can you call reviewing a game 'being addicted'?? We're clearly just collecting material here!"

Seeing the effect, Xia Xiao kept spinning the story.

"Huh, I guess that makes some sense!"

Xiao Chen looked confused, half-believing it.

But somehow, didn't that still feel a bit off?

Since the game was set to launch on a Friday, the period from noon to midnight saw the biggest daily spike in data.

After seeing the four of them off to the car, Wang Chuan returned to the Villa alone.

He opened the Pangu Editor and carefully monitored the relevant data for "Soul Knight."

Now, eleven hours had passed since the game went live.

It was almost midnight, and the data could no longer sustain its explosive growth.

As expected, the game's rating had dropped to 9.7.

Downloads, however, had more than tripled, reaching over a million.

"Looks like the 7 to 9 PM window is when the data really explodes!"

Wang Chuan habitually studied the data trend chart, clearly seeing that the biggest growth occurred between 7 and 9 PM.

Beyond that, the most important metric was revenue.

Daily revenue had hit over 600,000 in turnover, meaning it had grown by more than 400,000 during that period.

This surprised Wang Chuan quite a bit.

Even more surprising was "Soul Knight"'s ranking.

It had jumped straight from 17th place on the charts to 2nd.

Just a little more, and it would have overtaken "The Parable of Illidan" to take the top spot.

"Haha, not bad at all. If I can grab first place tomorrow, that'll be a real success."

"Ah, right, I still need to prepare for the next version update—otherwise, once the initial novelty wears off, it'll be all downhill~~~"

Wang Chuan rubbed his temples, deep in thought.

He wasn't getting carried away by the temporary success; he kept a cool head throughout.

The night passed as Wang Chuan worked, and soon it was the next day.

Noon, 12 o'clock.

More than 24 hours had passed since "Soul Knight" and "The Parable of Illidan" went live.

By now, the top spot on the new game charts had changed hands.

"Soul Knight" had successfully beaten "The Parable of Illidan" to claim first place.

Originally, according to Wang Chuan's plan, "Soul Knight" should have taken a few more days to clinch the top spot.

After all, the current buzz wasn't that high yet; it still needed time to ferment.

Besides, Wang Chuan had set very few and very light monetization points in the game itself.

The reason for this was to let more players experience the game and build up a larger player base.

At the same time, while accumulating players, he aimed to create a reputation that would sustain the game's long-term operation.

Moreover, if "Soul Knight" wanted to add more monetization points, there really wasn't much to add.

Given the game's own content, the current monetization points were already at their limit.

Forcing in more monetization points would easily anger players and disrupt the game's balance.

It just wouldn't be worth it!

"The first-day daily revenue hit 1.3 million, with the biggest sales at 11 PM, while 'The Parable of Illidan' only managed around 40,000."

Wang Chuan, combining "Soul Knight's" daily revenue, estimated Tian Boxun's data over at Penguin.

He had a rough idea in mind.

As for Tian Boxun's "The Parable of Illidan," Wang Chuan had played it a bit.

It was basically a complete imitation of "The Stanley Parable," just with a different storyline and slightly better art assets.

There was nothing original about it; the results wouldn't be explosive, but it wouldn't lose money either.

It was just a copycat following market trends.

Although this world had no piracy, the game market was mature, leading to a massive number of games.

For the same type of game, players had plenty of choices.

So, in this world, reaching million-level or even ten-million-level sales was much easier.

Just as Wang Chuan was pondering this, the office area in the villa got lively again.

"Manager Wang, I'm willing to give up a month's salary to beg you—please hire a customer service rep ASAP. I can't take it anymore~~~"

"No, no, one's not enough, make it two!!!"

"Oh my god, asking which class is strong—do you really need to call about that?? Isn't the phone bill free?"

Everyone was busy while complaining to Wang Chuan.

Since the game was made with the Pangu Editor, there were basically no programming issues.

And bugs were all sorted out during the beta test.

But on the player side, customer service was still needed.

Because Huangtu Game Company only had four people, and for customer service, Zhao Jing and Huang Shanshan usually filled in temporarily.

And while the two of them were very dedicated, facing "Soul Knight's" growing player base, they really couldn't handle it anymore!!!

"Haha, don't worry, I just took care of it. I'm outsourcing customer service to a team."

Wang Chuan, enduring the complaints from the two women, chuckled sheepishly.