Creating a zombie in a mountain village terrifies players worldwide.

Chapter 37 Media Communication
Soon, the first-day sales of "The Weird Videotape" spread like wildfire among major gaming media outlets.

Various platforms reposted this message, with a wide variety of headlines, attracting attention as much as a grand press conference.

[New Game Tops Charts! Horror Game "The Weird Videotape" Sells 20 Units on First Day, Surpassing Major Game Charts!]

[A shining example of domestically produced horror! "The Weird Videotape" crushes all other major game releases this year in first-day sales!]

[Major shockwave in the gaming industry! An early access game sold 20 copies on its release day?!]

[Expert Review: A Detailed Look at "The Videotape"—Why Did This Horror Game Sell 20 Units?]

[The Springtime of Horror Games? The Most Fun Horror Game of the Year, Tens of Thousands of Players Are Crying Out in Despair!]

Of course, these headlines contain some exaggeration; just take them with a grain of salt and don't take them too seriously.

But those in the media believe in making sensational statements.

Without exaggeration or embellishment, who would read your news?

A straightforward, descriptive approach is what instruction manuals do.

Exaggeration is key.

As a result, thanks to the dissemination of information by various gaming media outlets, more and more people became aware of this best-selling horror game.

At this moment, inside a mid-sized game company, a well-known game designer, upon seeing this news, exclaimed "WTF!"

"20 on the first day? An unfinished horror game can sell that much? Are you kidding me?"

"Where is our 'Martial Arts Battle: Sword and Magic' inferior to it? Why did ours only sell 30,000 copies on the first day?"

"Can't players tell the difference between fine bran and fine rice, or is it just that eating fast food and junk food is all the rage now?"

"This is a joke. They sold so much just by having a few livestreamers making a lot of noise. It's ridiculous."

As the designer was speaking, the office door was suddenly pushed open, and a portly man in a suit walked in.

"Zhang, get ready, we're having a meeting in a bit."

"The higher-ups have given the order: your next game must be a horror game."

Designer Zhang was stunned when he heard this.
Making horror games?
He was just denouncing horror games as garbage fast food, and now his boss wants him to immediately switch to doing this?

WTF
A similar incident is currently occurring at another mid-sized game company.

A development team was working hard on Skynet when suddenly, their leader called via VoIP.

[Xiao Li, could you add some horror elements to your game, "My Father-in-Law is Buddha"?]
Xiao Li: ? ? ? ? ? ?
"No, boss, this is a fantasy martial arts romance adventure RTS first-person shooter game, it has nothing to do with horror."

[Just carry out the orders from above. Besides, this is a golden opportunity, don't miss it.]
[I reckon other companies have already started taking action; we can't fall behind.]
Xiao Li's heart tightened: "But... I have no experience making horror games."

[Then you should go and learn it. Don't make excuses every time you're asked to do something, saying you have no experience or you can't do it. Young people should learn to be positive and overcome difficulties.]
The leader's voice remained firm.

[There are those videotape games now, right? That's a ready-made example for you to learn from.]
[That's settled then. The work is assigned to you; how you carry it out is your responsibility as the person in charge. Good luck.]
Li, who had no chance to refute, exclaimed, "Damn it!"

At this time, Pixel Interactive Entertainment, a well-known domestic company.

Rainbow Group Office.

Lee Misty and the top producer 'Benson' are sitting together drinking coffee.

Li Misi chuckled as she swiped her phone screen.

"These country bumpkins are so excited about selling 20 units on the first day. They're just like country bumpkins who've never seen the world. It's shameful."

Upon hearing this, the renowned producer Benson smiled slightly and put down his coffee cup.

"Yes, 20 units sold on the first day. I've achieved that twice in the games I've led, once with 21 and once with 23."

"The reason this horror game sells well is simply because it capitalized on a market gap. If you were to make another genre, it probably wouldn't even make a splash."

Upon hearing this, Li Misi smiled with satisfaction. He thought the same thing; the reason this horror game could sell so well was simply because there was a market gap and no competing products.

In his eyes, he had only succeeded by taking advantage of loopholes in the market and getting both fame and fortune through sheer luck.

Once there are more competing products, or big companies enter the horror game market, this videotape game will naturally lose its advantage.

Moreover, the game is short, and it is foreseeable that it will lose momentum and become weak. So how long can the popularity last?

"Ultimately, this kind of game is like fast food; you get tired of it after one meal."

As Li Misi spoke, she joked, "Once consumers get tired of it, we'll probably have to look for something new again."

Li Misi thought of her team's project. Although progress was slow, it at least had depth and playability, unlike that horror game that only relied on gimmicks and brief scares to attract people.

Thinking of this, he immediately closed the webpage and stopped reading media news.

Instead, he talked to the top producer in front of him about project issues.

"Benson, how's the diversification of our games going?"

Upon hearing this, Benson smiled confidently and replied.

"Don't worry, I have already emphasized the diversity of gender pronouns in some dialogue scenarios."

"Now there are not only 'he' and 'she', but also 'TA'."

"If a player chooses the wrong pronoun in their answer, it will trigger a racial discrimination debuff, reducing all attributes by 30%. To remove this effect, the player must first raise their favorability towards the NPC."

"So, I think we could create an in-app purchase system, like in online games, where you can not only sell game items but also 'gifts' that increase your relationship with your character. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Li Misi smiled slightly and nodded in satisfaction.

"Forget about in-app purchases, we don't make money from this game. But your diverse settings are interesting, perfectly integrated into the plot and choices, subtly introducing Western culture to consumers, which is great. Those gamers will definitely find it refreshing. Anything else?"

Benson smiled and continued.

"Of course."

“In terms of gender, I have also added a third gender – ‘non-binary’.”

"In the game, players will have to guess whether the NPC is male or female. If they answer incorrectly, their attributes will be lowered, and they can then work on their favorability to get it back."

Li Misi smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's interesting. This way, consumers will think carefully about each dialogue option, because if they make a mistake, they will lose attributes. This process also cultivates their independent thinking ability. Not bad, really good."

"As expected of a top-notch producer."

At that moment, Benson suddenly asked a question out of curiosity.

"By the way, Director Li, are you familiar with the Paradox Group's project? I heard that you and Director Yu, who poached me, are competitors."

Aren't you afraid their team will dominate our game?

Upon hearing this, Li Misi gave a disdainful smile.

“A competitor? If it were when I first arrived, he certainly would be.”

"But now? Heh, their group is no longer up to par."

"I heard their new project is an adventure puzzle game with a very small budget and limited manpower. What kind of good game can they make under these circumstances?"

"Don't worry about them, let's just focus on making our own game. If this project succeeds, I promise you your share of the profits, you won't miss out."

Benson smiled when he heard this.

"In that case, I'll have to trouble you a lot from now on, Director Li."

I still owe you two chapters, I'll start writing now.
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(End of this chapter)