For advance 40+ chapters patreon.com/TranslationGod?
On January 8th, the closed beta for Swallowing Heaven and Earth officially concluded. Evan, realizing the future importance of the game's official social media presence, directly handed its management to Lana. He also informed the energetic Lana that the company's social media accounts would also be under her care from now on.
"But, Boss, I don't know how to manage social media," Lana said, blinking her bright, clear eyes, a little confused.
"Talk less, act cute more," the concise Evan directly gave her this six-word guiding principle.
However, thinking that Lana was currently listed as a receptionist but performing duties almost akin to his personal assistant, Evan felt a bit guilty. It was time to promote the girl.
Immediately after the closed beta servers were shut down, some data regarding the beta was delivered to Evan's desk.
After a quick look, it definitely couldn't compare to the numbers from the massive mobile games Evan remembered from his previous life. But to say it bluntly in this world, there wasn't a single competitor!
The total revenue was $1.1 million, which essentially squeezed the wallets of this batch of closed beta players completely dry. Most players felt the game quality was excellent, and there were almost no bugs during the beta. If they recharged one dollar now, they would get two dollars back in the official server. Rounding up, it was like earning one dollar for free! And the more they recharged, the more they earned. The boss of Redbird Studios was crying from the losses!
Evan, who was practically crying from the losses, turned to the retention rate statistics page. The data was also very impressive:
Day 2 Retention: 91%
Day 3 Retention: 62%
Day 5 Retention: 53%
If you covered the top and bottom of this data and just looked at the numbers, some people would believe it was the flagship game of a top-tier domestic company. And for domestic web games, it currently set a new historical precedent.
After reading it, Evan handed it directly to Owen, who was waiting nearby:
"After you've read it, make a copy and circulate it among the rest of the company. Then, fix the minor issues that appeared during the beta, and tell Logan that we'll officially launch the open beta on the 12th."
Owen took the data and quickly scanned it, surprise evident on his face:
"Okay, but we didn't really encounter any problems during the closed beta. We could even launch the open beta tomorrow."
Evan shook his head. "No need. Finish up tonight, then rest for two days. The open beta will make us busy again—no need to work continuously."
And shortly after, Redbird Studios' operational promotion fully commenced.
Gaming portals like GAME World, Arcade Nation, and Peak Gaming all featured full reviews of Redbird Studios' Swallowing Heaven and Earth and related articles about it setting a new daily revenue record for web games on their homepages.
The main writer for GAME World was still Rachel Waters, whom Evan was familiar with. In her review of Swallowing Heaven and Earth, Rachel praised it highly, believing that Swallowing Heaven and Earth was at the forefront of web games, even globally. "While the whole world focused on PC and console gaming, they made a wonderful 'reverse' move. They told us, and all game developers, that not all games need to incorporate every mechanism to be fun. They also taught all game developers a vivid lesson, a lesson called 'Creativity Wins.'"
As for the special feature on Redbird Studios, Evan was quite surprised that he occupied a significant portion of the article. It even included interviews Rachel conducted with his teachers and classmates at Harborview University. Rachel's flattery made Evan himself blush and his heart pound. In the interview, his academic advisor talked about how he, Evan, had shown his classmates a collection of chess games and other small games he'd programmed in high school when he first entered university. Rachel directly labeled him "the future light of American gaming" and "the pioneer of future gaming."
Although he inwardly felt that Rachel was absolutely right and agreed wholeheartedly, Evan maintained a calm expression. Turning to Lana, who was looking at the magazine with him, he said: "Lana, go ask Logan later if they spent all of this month's PR budget on GAME World."
Lana stuck out her tongue, not daring to speak.
Although Evan spoke sternly, Lana thought that if people had tails, Evan's tail should be wagging sky-high right now, shouldn't it?
Evan put down GAME World, wanting to see how other media outlets evaluated it.
Arcade Nation: "This game is bound to lead the gaming trend of the upcoming new year. They are a group of people who are truly good at games."
Peak Gaming: "The new year is almost over. Our editorial department had already finalized the ranking of excellent games for this year. The sudden emergence of Swallowing Heaven and Earth makes our list seem pale and powerless."
Amidst the mixed reviews from various media outlets, a sharp negative comment caught Evan's eye:
Galaxy Games: "No player with a conscience would support Redbird Studios' trash web game! Technology is constantly advancing, and times are constantly developing. The same applies to games. As a company, instead of thinking about how to create a better user experience, instead of making better stories and characters, they instead make a web game that has been abandoned by the times, and its main focus is a real-money shop. The soul of this game is full of the stench of money—it's utterly vulgar!"
Evan carefully looked at the author's name: Independent writer, Ryan Shaw.
Evan shrugged silently, placing the stack of magazines to the side.
Although media reviews were mixed, portal websites led by GAME World firmly stood with Evan, cheering for Redbird Studios. Following the confirmation of the open beta date, the topic of "raising kuns" completely exploded online.
Lana almost cried while scrolling through social media. The official account for Swallowing Heaven and Earth had been casually registered by Evan and currently only had one post, which Evan had also casually posted earlier. It contained some polite remarks about the closed beta and was almost a week old. But now, the comments under that single post were growing like snowflakes, such as:
"You have the guts to open a closed beta, have the guts to open an open beta!"
"Open the servers already! We're waiting out here!"
"Get your snacks ready, folks—this is gonna be good!"
"Please, please stop slandering Kun! Kun is so cute!"
Evan glanced at it, still unperturbed:
"Turn off comments for now, then go find Owen, ask for the specific time of the open beta, and then just post an announcement. Act cute more often—our player base relies on you to maintain it." Then Evan raised his left hand, spread his index and middle fingers, and pushed up the corners of his mouth, creating an exaggerated smile: "You got this~"
Lana gave Evan an exasperated look and left. Evan estimated she was probably going to find Owen.
Subsequently, the news that Swallowing Heaven and Earth would officially launch its open beta in three days at 10 AM was manually pinned by Lana. All players and media eagerly awaited to see what kind of storm Redbird Studios could stir up.
For every 300 Power stones and extra chapter.