Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 508 - 491: Offline 10% Off Trial Play!

Chapter 508: Chapter 491: Offline 10% Off Trial Play!

Lilith waved her hand, "Oh, Gu Fan, you are being too formal. When have I ever distrusted you?

"Your techniques and timing are fine, it’s just like me, lacking a bit of luck.

"Overall, I still trust you.

"As the number two at Nitiandang, you have to keep up the hard work, don’t slack off!

"But..."

She suddenly changed the topic, "Since you’ve made this request, of course, I have to consider fulfilling it.

"As the number two, you really have been tired lately. Let me take care of this plan personally this time; you rest up!"

Gu Fan chuckled, "No problem, President Li, this is exactly what I could hope for."

Clearly, Lilith was being typically verbally deceptive but straightforward in action. She spoke of trusting Gu Fan, yet when she saw an opportunity, she couldn’t wait to roll up her sleeves and dive in herself.

She wanted to further verify whether the problem really was with Gu Fan.

Although such verification had been done many times, this time there was a difference.

Gu Fan was completely hands-off, merely providing a set of plans.

When to use which plan was all determined by Lilith herself.

If there was a problem this time, could they finally clear the relationship?

Of course, Gu Fan didn’t expect to fully clear the relationship, as Lilith would always oscillate between distrust and trust, but at least for the foreseeable future, things should be quieter.

Lilith scrutinized the spreadsheet Gu Fan had provided, pensive.

Suddenly, her gaze fell on one of the plans.

"Gu Fan, I plan to use this strategy to start off. What do you think?"

Gu Fan looked in the direction Lilith was pointing and saw that the plan was for "offline collaboration."

Simply put, it involved spending money to get some offline stores to help showcase the spherical display.

The specific plan would be tailored to each store’s differences.

Some smaller stores, with little foot traffic, would probably be delighted for a chance to collaborate with Nitiandang.

For these smaller stores, there was no need to spend extra money; just provide them with a spherical display roughly matching their shop’s size.

While some larger stores or big malls, already having significant traffic, wouldn’t necessarily need to partner with Nitiandang, this would be the time to exercise a bit of financial power.

Through formal business collaboration, slide some money, organize some co-branding events.

This way, the first batch of spherical displays, both large and small, would all be placed out.

They could generate the intended promotional effects.

Gu Fan was a bit curious, "Are we using this tactic so soon? I thought, President Li, you would use it as a long-term strategy."

Lilith snorted coldly, "I have completely lost trust in these influencers!

"Every single one of them, not a single one is worry-free!

"Since that’s the case, why should I waste all the precious promotional budget on them? This time, I’m not inviting a single one!

"Might as well use physical stores for promotion right from the start!"

If we followed previous routines, the first wave of promotion would certainly involve finding online influencers and advertisers to stir up initial hype and deceive players into joining.

Then follow up with some offline events to further spread the buzz and break out of the existing circle.

After all, for gaming, influencers and their fans have a more target-specific effect and provide better promotion.

But "Blood of Lies" had clearly caused Lilith great distress.

These influencers, without exception, were all traitors!

Having signed agreements, they not only failed to dupe more players into "Blood of Lies," but also defected at the last minute, inducing a lot of positive sentiments among players.

Lilith was frustrated beyond words and was temporarily unwilling to spend a dime on influencers.

But the initial promotional activities still had to be conducted.

Just right, the spherical displays in the physical industry were also good for related promotions; prioritize these and promote them together.

Promotions offline might not be as effective or direct as online, possibly wasting some of the promotional budget.

But Lilith didn’t care anymore, however wasteful, it was still better than backfiring.

Gu Fan nodded, "No problem, President Li.

"In that case, I’ll have Guo Zhao Sheng take charge of this matter and negotiate cooperation with those offline stores interested in a partnership.

"Then, compile all the required sizes of spherical screens from different stores and expedite the production and installation."

Lilith shook her head, "No, I’ll inform Guo Zhao Sheng myself!"

...

June 5th, Saturday.

"Star Plan" officially launched.

Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji arrived early in the morning at the largest mall nearby and entered just as it started its operations.

"Aren’t we going to Nitiandang’s experience store? What are we doing here?"

"New game release today, not playing?"

Hou Ji was puzzled.

Zhuge Jun sighed, "Are you still not a hardcore fan of Nitiandang?"

"This situation is special, the launch event for ’Star Plan’ isn’t just at the Nitiandang’s official experience store, many offline stores are hosting it.

"And these stores are cheaper, subsidized, much cheaper than the official experience store.

"How should poor folks like us choose, do you have any idea?"

Hou Ji was shocked, "What? That’s a thing?"

By then, the two had entered the shopping mall and reached the first floor, where Zhuge Jun pointed to a super-long banner hanging down from the upper level in the central area.

The banner boldly displayed several large characters: Play ’Star Plan’ in Nitiandang at 90% off!

Below the banner, there were several different brand logos, including the mall’s net cafes, console game experience stores, and game experience areas, etc.

Net cafes and console game experience stores are easy to understand; they are common types of stores, except the former mainly uses computers, and the latter focuses on TVs and consoles.

What’s special is the game experience area inside the mall.

These experience areas generally don’t have dedicated stores; they are situated in corners near mall elevators and escalators, with a few custom-made large screens and big sofas, and a custom system, attracting quite a few people to experience.

It’s somewhat similar to the massage chairs in the mall rest areas, which are also used through scanning a QR code. Although they are small in size and have fewer users, they still do quite well as a supplementary activity inside the mall.

This time, ’Star Plan’ had partnerships with almost all these game-related stores.

They even launched a "90% off trial play" slogan.

The reason it was a 90% discount trial play instead of free trial play was primarily to filter out those who were not interested in games and just there for the place, and it also helped promote pre-recharging among customers in the stores, so this model was more popular with the merchants.

They continued walking inside, took an elevator straight to the fourth floor.

This level had many gaming and various entertainment options, and Tianxuan Net Cafe, which collaborated with ’Star Plan,’ was on this floor.

Before entering the net cafe, Hou Ji and Zhuge Jun couldn’t help exclaiming,

"What a huge sphere!"

Originally, there was a relatively empty area next to the entrance of Tianxuan Net Cafe.

The net cafe occasionally used it for activities.

But now, a huge spherical display screen had been added to the area.

The color of the sphere was quite uniform, but upon closer inspection, one could see many silicon-based tiny figures moving on it.

Various buildings were constructed, numerous production lines extended into the distance, and then suddenly, a natural disaster would strike, and everything had to start over.

Honestly, it was quite mesmerizing to watch for a long time.

Outside the net cafe, there were two network managers responsible for distributing flyers and pulling in customers. Seeing Hou Ji and Zhuge Jun, they immediately approached them warmly.

It was easy to see that they were the target customers!

They were wandering in a net cafe early in the morning, and being new faces, they were likely fans of Nitiandang.

They eagerly guided them inside while introducing the 90% off trial play event.

Zhuge Jun didn’t rush inside but asked, "What’s playing on this big sphere?

"Is it ’Star Plan’ game content? Is it a real-time demonstration or a pre-made promotional CG?"

The network manager quickly explained, "Hello, this is indeed the game content of ’Star Plan,’ but it’s neither a traditional real-time demonstration nor a promotional CG.

"It’s a randomly generated game matchup by the system. If you look closely, you’ll see that basically every time is different.

"This is also a new feature uniformly produced by Nitiandang for all partner merchants.

"Of course, this sphere can also display other content, but currently, our boss thinks this is the most interesting content, so we’ll wait until everyone is bored of it before changing it."

Zhuge Jun was a bit surprised, "Oh? Generated by AI? Different every time?

"That seems quite interesting!"

He watched from outside for a while, and it had to be said, the AI did have some tricks up its sleeve, at least the production lines and conveyors were very neatly arranged.

Of course, more detailed things couldn’t be looked at more closely.

However, Zhuge Jun highly suspected that this might be Nitiandang intentionally limiting the AI’s computing power

because in this way, the viewers are easily infuriated by some of the AI’s maneuvers, leading to thoughts like "I could do better," thus maximizing the conversion of viewers into players.

After watching briefly, Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji decisively entered the net cafe.

Because if they continued to watch, they might get hooked.

"Both of you must also be loyal players of Nitiandang games, right? Would you like to try ’Star Plan’ with this spherical display?"

After Zhuge Jun and Hou Ji checked their ID cards and recharged, the network manager skillfully guided them to a special area inside the net cafe.

Being a high-end net cafe chain located in a shopping mall, Tianxuan Net Cafe was inherently pricey.

Under normal circumstances, poor students like Hou Ji and Zhuge Jun definitely wouldn’t be able to afford it.

But with a 90% discount trial available this time, the price was quite reasonable.

Zhuge Jun noticed that in the lounge area of Tianxuan Net Cafe, which was originally spacious, had been simply transformed into a special trial play area.

There were a total of seven spherical displays, each equipped with a double sofa.