For gacha games, buying traffic is already standard industry practice.
To some extent, it has even become an indispensable part.
The attention war between Zhumeng and Moyu Games has further increased the already soaring costs of buying traffic.
What's even more terrifying is that the price of buying traffic is higher, but the conversion rate is lower!
On July 22nd, a "mid-tier" game called 'Kara's Song' also released a version preview.
Although this game couldn't squeeze into the top ranks, it had its own stable player base, coupled with a fixed marketing budget, so it was doing pretty well.
Each version preview could attract nearly a million in popularity in the live broadcast room, and the preview post comment section could get four or five thousand comments.
But this time, because 'Project Frost Snow' and 'Divine Bird' were 'fighting,' the cost of buying traffic was raised by Moyu Games by almost double!
Even though they gritted their teeth and spent the money, the popularity of the live broadcast room still declined by more than 30%.
The comment section had only a meager thirteen hundred comments.
The data simply plummeted!
As for those that were already half-dead, their daily active users were about to drop to the point where they couldn't even give an explanation to their bosses.
On July 24th, the day before the preview war began, a new game that had announced its public beta date three months ago—'Voyage in the Wind'—couldn't afford the current high cost of buying traffic, and had no confidence in winning enough player attention in this war, so it directly announced a delay.
The delay announcement didn't even give a clear launch time.
These were just the two worst cases; the other friendly companies weren't doing too well either.
New events, new announcements, and even sweepstakes events saw a noticeable decline in player activity!
Players' attention was all focused on this war, and they were stingy in sharing it with them.
Only the boss, 'Abyss of Gods,' was large enough to calmly watch the excitement.
For 'Abyss of Gods,' there was no opponent when it came to spending money; there was also no opponent when it came to the total number of players and community stickiness.
A brief decline in popularity was completely harmless.
The only thing that could defeat them was themselves—the planning team had repeatedly made annoying moves that angered players, causing old players to harbor resentment and slightly damaging their reputation among passersby.
But thanks to its amazing global base, it could still sit firmly on the fishing platform.
There was no way around it; the family fortune was too large to be squandered in a short period of time.
So the situation evolved into—
Players couldn't wait for the preview war to arrive, and friendly companies also hoped that it would come soon… and then quickly end, so everyone could return to normal and stop doing such exciting things.
Only the 'Kingdoms,' which ranked fourth and had only a small gap from the third-ranked 'Divine Bird,' had a different idea when they saw this immediate effect:
Could they learn this trick? Find an opponent to fight with?
…
The preview started at 19:00, but the live broadcast rooms of 'Project Frost Snow' and 'Divine Bird' began to be flooded with viewers from 18:00 onwards.
[18:30]
The official accounts of both sides released live broadcast reminders, and the dark live broadcast rooms also lit up, playing the background music of their own games.
The speed at which players poured in began to skyrocket, and the popularity of the live broadcast rooms on both sides also began to soar at a rate of tens of thousands per minute!
Everyone was already eager to give it a try, eager to eat the hottest melon at the first time!
Ten minutes before the preview started, because there were too many viewers in the live broadcast rooms, a large number of viewers found that the live broadcast rooms began to lag, and the dynamic images used as backgrounds also became blurred.
Obviously, excessive bandwidth pressure triggered the platform's intelligent adjustment.
But the operations of 'Project Frost Snow' and 'Divine Bird' weren't just for show; they had anticipated this happening long ago.
Song Zhicheng had already made arrangements with Meng Hui, the contact person of 'Project Frost Snow,' with the P station live broadcast department in advance.
Less than 30 seconds after the live broadcast rooms started to lag and become blurred, the live broadcast department quickly completed the expansion and added lines, making the live broadcast rooms clear and smooth again.
However, 'Divine Bird' didn't sign an agency agreement with P station, but rather a simple buyer-seller relationship, so it inevitably took longer to deal with.
Viewers were stuck for 10 minutes before the problem was finally completely resolved.
[19:00]
The host appeared, and the moment the preview finally started, the popularity of the live broadcast rooms on both sides was:
'Project Frost Snow':
Number of viewers in the live broadcast room [9999+], popularity [ million].
'Divine Bird':
Number of viewers in the live broadcast room [9999+], popularity [ million].
But this number only lasted for a moment.
The next second, the popularity of 'Divine Bird's' live broadcast room began to skyrocket at a rate of tens of thousands per second!
It easily broke through 8 million, surpassed million, and finally settled at [ million]!
This rapid increase couldn't be explained by 'the preview starting and players naturally pouring in.'
Because at this time, 'Project Frost Snow' had just risen to million.
In the same amount of time, 'Project Frost Snow' rose by 100,000, but 'Divine Bird' rose by million…
This outrageous data change was immediately noticed by the viewers.
The two live broadcast rooms also instantly became lively, and the people who were there for the drama ignored the host's greetings and started chatting directly:
" million popularity in 10 seconds, I ask you, are you convinced!"
"It's money power! 'Divine Bird' used money power!"
"Moyu Games doesn't talk about martial ethics!"
"Martial ethics? Heh, it seems that there are still too many new players. When has Moyu Games ever cared about face?"
"Zhumeng! P station is calling you to recharge!"
…
These comments are destined to go unanswered.
In order to seek stability, most of the so-called preview live broadcasts of gacha games are actually pre-recorded.
Especially with this event's booming popularity, both sides were worried about potential mistakes causing serious repercussions, so it was pre-recorded.
This isn't exactly a secret to veteran 'erziyou' players.
They had no intention of interacting with the official channels, simply watching the livestream and chatting amongst themselves.
—
First Stage: PV Release.
The PV for "Divine Bird" showcased a brand new sky island – essentially a new map.
A more three-dimensional sky island boasting beautiful scenery of all four seasons.
From a bird's-eye view, the landscapes of spring, summer, autumn, and winter could be seen simultaneously, creating a breathtaking panorama.
However, an unknown crisis suddenly emerged. The snow and ice in the perpetually frozen zone began to melt, and the temperature in the rainforest soared, threatening the survival of plants and animals…
On this sky island, players would encounter a new companion – the maiden priestess, Larna.
Together with her, they would pass trials, enter the ancient ruins hidden within the sky island, search for the source of the disaster, and stop its spread…
……
The PV's quality was naturally top-notch.
The latest novels are first published on 6_9_shu_ba!
The map design was also quite outstanding.
But the players' attention was entirely focused on the new character – the maiden priestess, Larna.
This girl had a pair of rounded white angel wings on her back, wore a white gauze priestess robe with gold trim on her upper body, and a white gauze skirt with mysterious golden patterns on her lower body.
Below that, there were only translucent white socks and wooden sandals.
She held an ancient staff in her hand, and her face wore a pure and innocent expression.
Pure innocence and alluring sensuality were perfectly blended!
The host was also savvy, immediately following the PV with an introduction to Larna's background story, skill characteristics, character positioning, and other details.
The livestream quickly reached its first climax, with the chat overflowing with comments:
"Ahhh, 'Divine Bird' gets it now!!!"
"Invincible! Is this the dress code for primitive priestesses? I'm in love!"
"Don't stop me, I'm going to find a truck and transmigrate to find Larna!"
"I've already bought my plane ticket, I'm going to the Amazon rainforest to find a wife tomorrow!"
"I'm going to whale for her!"
"388 pulls, must get!"
……
Sitting in his office, Fei Zhiyuan was pleased to see that the players' feedback after the character's official reveal was consistent with the small-scale internal testing.
The livestream's popularity was climbing again.
And this time, it wasn't just relying on spending money!
He glanced at the popularity of the "Frost Snow Project" livestream and nodded with satisfaction:
"Not bad, one city conquered."
—
The popularity of "Frost Snow Project" was indeed slightly behind.
Because the planners Lu Cong and the artist Ding Nian appeared in person to greet everyone and express their gratitude, it took a little longer, and the PV was released a step slower.
And the content of the PV was indeed slightly inferior to "Divine Bird" –
The beginning of the PV also followed the usual practice of releasing new content for the open world.
But the open world of "Frost Snow Project" was not particularly stunning to begin with. It was only after Xu Meng's continuous strengthening of production tools and technical talent that it finally had some highlights – a large quantity and variety.
Compared to the "Divine Bird" team, which relied on open-world content, had nearly two years of mature development experience, and had produced 16 sky islands of various sizes, it was still slightly inferior.
However, with the appearance of the new character, this passive situation was quickly reversed!
When it comes to sex appeal, Dream Weaver is the big brother!
In this regard, not to mention "Divine Bird", even if "Abyss of the Gods" came, they would have to call them big brother!
Under the night sky, the lights around the large sign of the "Silver Mystery Ballroom" in Silver City shone brightly.
Inside the ballroom, the lead singer – Qing Ling was standing in front of an old-fashioned microphone in the center of the stage, singing a lingering and melancholic nostalgic song with a melancholy expression.
Behind her, a row of dancers wearing red cheongsams stood in neat ranks, dancing gracefully to her melodious and winding tune, occasionally raising their legs in unison to show off a row of pale, white, long legs under the cheongsams.
Qing Ling was also wearing a cheongsam, but unlike the backing dancers, her cheongsam was light green.
Her arms were exposed, and the slit of the skirt ran from her calf all the way to her shoulder! Only a white jade pendant was used to cinch in her waist.
This slightly reduced the amount of exposure, but better outlined her beautiful figure.
Her fair arms slid in the air holding an unopened paper fan, and the tender green fan pendant complemented her cheongsam.
She wore this classical and sensual new-style cheongsam, swaying gently with the singing, swaying like a tender green bud about to bloom.
Classical yet youthful, elegant yet seductive.
Infinitely charming!
Unlike the wailing and howling in the "Divine Bird" livestream when Larna appeared, the players of "Frost Snow Project" were stunned when they saw this scene, and the livestream was even eerily quiet for a few seconds.
Then the barrage erupted wildly!
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! What did I just see? Dancers?!"
"It's a singer! But it's kind of the same…"
"This cheongsam! This figure! This voice! This movement! I can't take it anymore!!"
"My wallet is crying, but my little brother is also crying!"
"The first female character in the erziyou world to openly sing in a ballroom!"
"Awesome! I can only say, awesome! Dream Weaver is indeed worthy of its name!"
"The big brother is the big brother! Clearly and confidently doing the sexy stuff!"
"I seem to hear Dream Weaver saying to 'Divine Bird': You're already selling yourself, why are you still covering up, what are you pretending for?!"
Begging for monthly tickets in the middle of the month!
