“How good is it?” Chen Sichu asked curiously.
Chen Junmiao was also curious, but she didn’t ask.
Lin Shuwen smiled and held her phone out to the two of them. “See for yourselves!”
The sisters took the phone and glanced at the data on the screen.
To be honest, they didn’t really know what kind of numbers counted as good, but they did know that Lin Shuwen and Luo Ming’s expectation for Plants vs. Zombies was to sell one million copies in the first month. Calculating a month as thirty days, that averaged out to 33,300 copies a day.
And now, in just over eight hours overnight, it had already sold 51,000 copies. Going by the average, that was actually pretty successful.
Of course, the sisters also understood that game sales couldn’t be judged by such a simple, crude average. There were many factors to consider. But if the first day far exceeded the average, that left some room for error down the line! Either way, it was definitely a good thing.
“Ding-dong~” A WeChat notification suddenly sounded on Lin Shuwen’s phone, and the sisters quickly handed it back.
Lin Shuwen opened WeChat and saw a message from Old Huang: “Shuwen, I’ve finished the backing track for your new song. While making it, I looped the demo you sent me no fewer than fifty times. This song is great. If the album’s promotional direction weren’t already set, I’d even want you to swap in a different lead single.”
“You’re too kind, Teacher Huang.”
“Did you write the lyrics and music for this song yourself?”
“No, it was a friend of mine. He’s not in the industry, so he used a pen name.”
“Your friend? Then he must be pretty young. I’d like to meet him when there’s time. Are all young people this impressive these days?”
“I’ll pass that along. Teacher Huang, I’m heading over to record now. Please bear with me for a moment.”
“The recording studio is reserved for you today. I chased everyone else out.”
“Thank you, Teacher Huang.” After thanking him, Lin Shuwen put her phone away.
“Miaomiao, Luo Ming’s identity must be kept secret, understand?” Lin Shuwen turned and said.
“I know. But Sister Wen, the songs under Long Ye’s name are all registered using President Luo’s identity. If you and President Luo ever have a falling-out, or if your relationship cracks, that would put you at a big disadvantage.”
“Don’t worry! Even if we have friction, our interests are aligned. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Sister Wen, if that’s the case, why not just push President Luo into the spotlight from the start? Why go through the trouble of creating the pen name Long Ye?” Chen Sichu asked, puzzled.
Lin Shuwen had asked Luo Ming this question before too. Luo Ming’s answer was that he didn’t want to become famous in the entertainment industry, didn’t want to get involved in entertainment industry matters, and had his own career to build.
So anything related to the entertainment industry would be handled by Lin Shuwen.
If Lin Shuwen could maintain a harmonious relationship with Huayue Entertainment, then giving Huayue Entertainment some benefits wouldn’t be out of the question. But if Lin Shuwen and Huayue Entertainment ever turned against each other, having the Long Ye alias on the more important songs would save some disputes.
Lin Shuwen quite agreed with Luo Ming’s explanation. To be honest, even she didn’t think she and Huayue Entertainment would stay as harmonious as they were now forever.
Some of Huayue Entertainment’s senior executives had long been unhappy with Sister Shan’s studio. It was just that Sister Shan held a special position in the company and was still the chairman Tong Qifeng’s right-hand person, so there was nothing they could do about her.
But Lin Shuwen had heard Sister Shan say that President Tong was almost sixty. If his two children at home hadn’t been uninterested in both the entertainment industry and Huayue, he would have stepped down long ago.
President Tong’s eldest daughter worked as an anesthesiologist at Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital, and she would only continue developing in that direction.
As for President Tong’s son, in Sister Shan’s words, he was a total lost cause. He never did anything serious and spent all day researching AI, whatever that was.
Since he couldn’t count on his children, President Tong thought it over again and again before appointing President Zhu as the company’s CEO.
And what about Sister Shan and the other veteran subordinates of President Tong? Once President Tong confirmed his retirement, would President Zhu still treat them the way he did now?
Lin Shuwen wasn’t sure, and she didn’t dare gamble, which was why she agreed to let Luo Ming register the Long Ye alias under Chen Junmiao’s name.
Actually, when Luo Ming first registered the alias, he had intended to use her identity. After Lin Shuwen learned about it from Luo Ming, she changed the Long Ye alias to be registered under Luo Ming’s identity instead.
If they were going to do it, they should cut ties with the company cleanly and clearly.
Using her identity would cause problems later if the alias was ever exposed. First, it would violate the company contract, and then there would be endless wrangling over those songs. Second, it would be unfair to Sister Shan, who would definitely feel hurt. And last but most importantly, Lin Shuwen understood that Luo Ming wanted to give her these songs as gifts, but she wasn’t the kind of person who would accept gifts from others for no reason, even if that person was Luo Ming.
Lin Shuwen planned to buy all these songs with her own money later. But she also knew very well that Luo Ming would absolutely refuse to let her pay for them.
So Lin Shuwen decided to open an account in Luo Ming’s name and, once the money in it accumulated to a certain amount, donate it in Luo Ming’s name. That way, she could at least do some good deeds on his behalf.
Beyond the financial side, Lin Shuwen had also thought of other ways to compensate Luo Ming. But those were things for after the two of them officially got together.
Meanwhile, Sister Shan smiled when she saw the message Luo Ming had sent.
Her days of running around day and night hadn’t been for nothing. Barring any surprises, Plants vs. Zombies’ sales today should reach 100,000.
From what Sister Shan had learned recently, no buy-to-play game in China had ever broken 100,000 in first-day sales.
“Domestically, it’ll probably be about this much. For buy-to-play games, we still have to look overseas,” Sister Shan murmured to herself.
Yesterday, Sister Shan had already contacted two big streamers on YouTube. One was a gaming streamer with over 1.7 million followers who specialized in reviewing all kinds of newly released games.
Hiring him was a perfect match for the job.
But this streamer was famously sharp-tongued. Even if you paid him, he wouldn’t hold back if your game was bad.
It was exactly because of his genuine, heartfelt reviews that this gaming streamer had a group of die-hard fans. He was a streamer who could genuinely drive game sales.
The other streamer was also a gamer, but she was the type known as a “game black hole,” a streamer who focused on creating entertaining moments.
No matter the game, hard or easy, she could always create some kind of comedic moment that left the audience in stitches.
Sister Shan wanted her to showcase Plants vs. Zombies’ fun factor and playability to the fullest.
One focused on professionalism, the other on entertainment. Sister Shan’s choice of people covered everything that needed covering. Next, it was time to test the quality of Plants vs. Zombies.
Once Plants vs. Zombies’ quality was recognized by these two streamers and their fans, the first step of promotion would be a success.
