Who Can Refuse a Match-3 Game with Cute Girls?

"Huh, that's unexpected!"

Inside his rented room, Chen Xu stared at a sales statistic on his Official Game Platform backend with some surprise.

The growth rate of the data had truly exceeded his expectations.

On the first day, sales were 162 copies—neither high nor low, a middling number.

On the second day, sales surged roughly fourfold, hitting a full 610 copies.

The main reason for this was his promotional strategy.

With a budget of twenty thousand, normal advertising was out of the question.

On one hand, the funds were insufficient; on the other, the game itself was somewhat unique.

So Chen Xu set his sights overseas, on a forum frequented by gentlemen.

After all, for Chen Xu, what mattered was exposure.

As for the method, it was the relatively primitive approach of elite paid posters.

A large-scale bot assault never crossed his mind.

That wouldn't yield good results and might even backfire.

So Chen Xu's tactic was to buy accounts and go the elite route.

He purchased older accounts on the forum and used them to post review threads.

After posting, he had paid posters from other platforms boost the threads by replying.

Of course, the most critical point here was that the game's quality had to be solid.

Otherwise, this promotional method would be even less effective than a large-scale bot campaign.

The key to whether this model could succeed lay in turning players who discovered the game into allies, getting them to spontaneously recommend it to their friends and fellow gentlemen.

As a former professional game designer and a straightforward, honest player in his past life, Chen Xu naturally understood one principle.

What were players interested in, after all?

A simple theory: most players loved doing one thing.

That was pulling off something risqué in a normal game, and doing something normal in a risqué game.

This sense of contrast was something players found utterly irresistible.

Just like an online joke among gamers: "Men have two great hobbies—leading a good woman astray and persuading a fallen woman to reform."

Players were the same.

There were always some players who liked to pull off wild stunts in games.

Of course, relying solely on that wasn't enough to make a game successful; in the end, it came down to the game's quality.

But at least this trait could draw players in, and that was enough.

Judging by the sales of Magic Mirror, this promotional strategy had proven completely effective so far.

After all, choosing Magic Mirror was a decision Chen Xu had made after careful consideration, not on a whim.

He had done advance research on how similar competing products performed in the market, whether gentlemen's preferences differed from his past life, and even the feasibility of the release platform and promotion.

He had calculated everything, every last detail.

Under these circumstances, the success of Magic Mirror was entirely within Chen Xu's grasp.

The only thing he hadn't anticipated was that the gentlemen's enthusiasm far exceeded his expectations.

With 610 copies sold on the second day, Chen Xu believed this growth was just the beginning.

As time went on, word of mouth among players would steadily push Magic Mirror's sales higher.

"Yeah, at this rate, I can pay off what I owe on the payment app by next week."

"Good thing the overseas Official Game Platform settles in real time—as soon as the refund period passes, the money hits my account."

"But just like in my past life, these third-party platform cuts are really hard to stomach."

Thinking this, Chen Xu couldn't help but click his tongue.

The Official Game Platform took a 30% cut, mainly for daily platform maintenance, game engine updates, and R&D on the latest tech.

As for other third-party game platforms, they were far more predatory.

Especially when it came to mobile channels, they basically started at 50%.

Some even went as high as a 70-30 split, with the developer getting the 30% and the platform taking 70%.

It was on par with the goose farm and major mobile app store channels from his past life.

But there were benefits, of course—the user bases on these third-party platforms were genuinely large, and since the official platform's recommendations were sparse and its algorithms unscientific, many game studios and companies still turned a profit despite the high cuts.

They just got the scraps while the platform channels devoured the meat.

For Chen Xu at this stage, though, he only gave these platforms a passing glance—they held no real appeal.

Not that he thought it was too shady and didn't want to go on.

In truth, if he actually did, it would definitely speed up the capital accumulation in the Early Game.

The main reason was that the game "Magic Mirror" was just a little bit special—even if it went on a platform, the platform wouldn't give it any recommended slots.

Of course, that was for domestic platforms. For overseas platforms, the restrictions weren't as strict.

But with the official platform in place, there was no need to go through third-party channels.

Because those domestic platform operators didn't have much influence overseas.

Their main focus was all within the country.

From afternoon to evening, Chen Xu kept a close eye on the game's sales data.

And this period was the golden time for sales growth.

Refreshing the backend data every hour, he could see "Magic Mirror"'s sales climbing steadily.

From the previous hour's increase of over 100, it had now reached over 200 during this golden period.

Clearly, through various information channels, the name "Magic Mirror" was slowly reaching the ears of all sorts of gentlemen.

Each increment in sales was the support of those amiable gentlemen for the game.

And as player reviews were unlocked, "Magic Mirror"'s rating was also successfully displayed.

9.7 points—a downright explosive score.

But Chen Xu wasn't too excited.

The main reason was that, as an 18R game, players were incredibly lenient and tolerant toward this type of game.

Compared to traditional games, this score didn't hold much reference value.

Just as some forums were filled with all kinds of insults and drama, in the forums where gentlemen frequently roamed, user comments were remarkably harmonious—either "OP is a good man, may good men live in peace," or sharing their own viewing experiences and their love for certain teachers.

The only thing "Magic Mirror"'s score could prove was that, in the eyes of players, this game was definitely worth buying and recommending.

After all, who could resist such a fun Match-3 game with beautiful girls?