Chapter 103

But reality was somewhat cruel.

Among the other minigames launched that day, the ranking position of "Panzer Saga" was not ideal, leaving them disappointed. After all, they had invested almost all their fortunes on this game. Their investments would go down the drain if the game didn't rank high enough.

However, Jack wasn't discouraged by this. He tried the minigames that were at the top of the ranks and found that the playability and player retainability weren't as great as that of "Panzer Saga". This made him realize that the rankings were not a true reflection of the game's quality.

The two began discussing ways on how to improve the game while planning their next marketing strategy.

After a thorough discussion, they decided to split up to find a solution to the problem. They believed that as long as they persisted, "Panzer Saga" would succeed.

Jack returned to his dorm. He researched some information in-depth and carefully examined the top-ranking games, where he gradually discovered some unusual signs.

It turned out that almost all of the top-ranked games had many five-star reviews, but Jack found it odd that many of the usernames for these reviews only had a string of random letters and numbers in them. They looked like fake accounts created to boost the games' reputation.

Then, he accidentally discovered several identical accounts in the comment section, leaving him more convinced of this.

This wasn't the case only with the top-ranked games. Many newly launched games after Jack's showed similar signs.

The thousands of comments and reviews seemed to have come from only a handful of usernames they were manipulated.

In stark contrast, though "Panzer Saga" had not received many reviews, the reviews seemed more genuine and in-depth. Many users described their amazing experiences with the game in detail.

Guided by his doubts about the rankings, Jack began to search for relevant information online. Eventually, many things became clear to him.

Jack wasn't dejected after learning the truth. On the contrary, he was proud that his game could still maintain its ranking without any manipulation, which demonstrated its potential and appeal.

At night, Jack called Patrick and explained the reasons for the low ranking of the game. He asked if there were any systems that could help them improve the game's rank.

Patrick's hands were tied, but he said that would inquire about this matter.

As Jack and Patrick were discussing how to market the game, Samuel entered the dorm.

Samuel asked awkwardly, "Jack, can you lend me some money? Living expenses have been a bit tight lately." Latest content published on find⸺novel.net

He explained that the money was to pay for an unexpected living expense. Jack knew that Samuel had spent a lot to pursue Jenna, so he didn't say anything else and just gave Samuel the money.

It was late at night.

As Jack lay in bed thinking about ways to market "Panzer Saga", he was suddenly woken up by the loud ringing of someone's phone.

It turned out that his dormmate, Ronnie, had set an alarm for an event in "Panzer Saga".

Jack felt a stir in his heart at Ronnie's excitement, and it boosted his confidence greatly.

The following day, Jack explained to Patrick in detail about the developments of the game rankings.

Patrick frowned deeply. Although he had dabbled in the realm of game cheats, the complexity of game marketing and promotion still felt foreign to him. In fact, he was less experienced than Jack in this area.

However, he had built an extensive network from years of being in the gaming industry, so he immediately contacted a few friends in the industry to gain an understanding of how game recommendations operated.

Apart from the games' exceptional playability, securing a spot on various ranking lists required investing funds in recommendation slots or relying on the game's inherent potential to attract the attention of recommendation providers.

Behind this mechanism was a profit exchange between the game developer and the recommendation providers. The more popular the recommended games, the more profit the recommendation providers made.

However, the current game recommendation market was monopolized by major mobile phone game developers. So, it would be challenging for "Panzer Saga", a game that had insufficient early promotion and was behind in the rankings, to attract the attention of these recommendation providers.

Jack and Patrick were caught in a tough spot, as they needed hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing funds.