“Argh—”

Seeing Yan Sheng’s name on the caller ID, Shen Miaomiao frowned slightly.

She glanced at the time—it was only 8 a.m.

Yan Sheng knew Golden Wind had strict 9-to-5 working hours.

So normally, he wouldn’t bother her outside of that unless it was something important.

Important business…

Shen Miaomiao arched a brow.

Oh right—

Yesterday was the day Titanfall’s trailer dropped. If she remembered correctly, the rival was Golden Wind’s old partner: ZhenTing.

She knew Titanfall was a single-player narrative-driven game.

And ZhenTing? Also a single-player narrative studio, and an industry veteran.

Talk about misfortune meeting disaster.

They were already outmatched on budget—

Now they were up against an old master in the exact same genre.

There was no doubt they’d get wrecked.

The only question was—how badly.

Now, with Yan Sheng calling so early,

It was probably not just a bruising—they were likely in a total wreck.

Shen Miaomiao lightly patted her face and cleared her throat before answering:

“Hello, President Yan.”

“Ah, good morning, President Shen,”

Yan Sheng’s voice on the other end was oddly cautious.

“Sorry to bother you so early—I know you start work at nine, and it’s not work hours yet.

It’s just… this is a bit urgent.”

“No worries,” Shen Miaomiao chuckled, “Go ahead.”

“Right, it’s like this…”

Yan Sheng paused briefly before continuing,

“I’m calling to discuss adjusting Titanfall’s promotional allocation.”

There it is!

Shen Miaomiao cheered inwardly.

She and Yan Sheng had discussed promotion allocation before.

As a flagship title, Titanfall, along with FuryFlame and Kol, would get both their own in-house promotions and free promotion from YiYou.

Before the first trailer showdown, Titanfall had only been allocated 20% of the shared promo budget.

After all, YiYou’s main strategy was to support the racing and sports titles, not Titanfall.

Compared to the other two, Golden Wind had the smallest share.

That was normal—and Shen Miaomiao had agreed to it.

And now, this call…

Shen Miaomiao didn’t even need to guess.

Clearly, yesterday’s defeat had convinced Yan Sheng that they shouldn’t waste any more resources on Titanfall and wanted to slash its share.

Hooray!

She couldn’t wait for YiYou to cut all their promotional support.

“Mm-hmm, President Yan, how much are we cutting it by?”

Shen Miaomiao was ready for this.

But—

On the other end, Yan Sheng paused, confused:

“Uh… huh? Cutting it?”

“Yeah,” Shen Miaomiao blinked, even more confused now.

“Aren’t you calling to cut our promotional budget?”

Hsssss—!!!

Suddenly—

Yan Sheng audibly gasped.

Then quickly chuckled awkwardly:

“Ahahaha, President Shen, you’re too funny!

I know… uh, that initial 20% allocation was really unfair to Golden Wind.

That was my oversight. You graciously went along with our flawed plan.”

“I understand you must’ve been unhappy, so I’m calling to apologize and—more importantly—discuss increasing your promo allocation.”

That’s right!

This call was to discuss how much more promotional weight Titanfall should now receive!

Because yesterday’s performance was undeniable!

The trailer launched—and in just four hours, Titanfall had turned an inevitable loss into a comeback.

With results like that, how could he not offer them more?

Unless he never wanted to work with Golden Wind again!

So, bright and early, Yan Sheng had called Shen Miaomiao to sort things out with her first—

Then he’d tell the other two studios.

But the moment he opened his mouth, Shen Miaomiao misread the whole thing!

Yan Sheng panicked.

He thought this was her expressing resentment over the earlier unfair allocation.

And honestly, that would’ve been fair.

Golden Wind had taken a huge risk to partner with them.

They didn’t even have their own promo budget.

And yet he’d only given them 20%.

Shen Miaomiao had shown generosity.

He hadn’t.

If she was mad, it made sense.

So Yan Sheng immediately lowered his tone and owned up—hoping to win forgiveness and offer compensation.

But!

Shen Miaomiao was absolutely dumbfounded.

Wait… what?

Increasing our promo share?

WTF, Yan Sheng?! Don’t mess this up!

Why on earth would you suddenly increase our allocation?

Is this some pity move for our dying project?

No!

Just let us die in peace!

“Uh…”

Shen Miaomiao took a moment to process before speaking slowly:

“I think… there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding, President Yan. I’m not upset.

“I just… don’t quite understand why you’d want to increase our promotional share?”

Yan Sheng froze—

Then breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Phew—false alarm!

She didn’t even realize what had happened yet!

“Ahahaha—”

Yan Sheng laughed out loud.

“President Shen, you are truly unshakable! Much respect!”

Shen Miaomiao: ???

Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

“What do you mean, President Yan…?”

Yan Sheng burst out laughing:

“It blew up! It blew up! Titanfall is trending like crazy!!!”

Just as Shen Miaomiao was getting out of bed—she flopped right back down.

She yanked the blanket over her head.

Paused for a moment, then kicked it off with a snarl.

Goddamn it. The dream was backwards.

She couldn’t breathe.

“So you’re saying… we actually beat ZhenTing yesterday?”

“Beat?” Yan Sheng scoffed.

“No—crushed!

Not only did you crush ZhenTing, you turned the entire second round of this competition around.

YiYou X2 is now trending higher than the Polar Bear 3rd Gen!”

Shen Miaomiao: …

Wow. How impressive.

I @#$%&%@#$...!!!

She took a deep breath to calm her rising panic.

“So… President Yan, how much of a promo increase are we talking about?”

“Well…”

Yan Sheng hesitated.

“Our preliminary plan is to double it—bring Titanfall up to 40%.

Of course, that depends on your company’s preference.

We know Golden Wind didn’t budget for promotions due to the high development costs,

So if needed, we’re even open to raising it to 60%.

I’m sure FuryFlame and Kol won’t object.”

Of course they wouldn’t.

Golden Wind had earned the recognition.

Plus, now that Titanfall had caught fire, XunTeng would likely respond—so YiYou had to support Titanfall accordingly.

However—

Yan Sheng continued thoughtfully:

“I wouldn’t recommend going too far.

“If Titanfall gets far more promo than the other two,

It sends a message to the market that this is our ‘main title.’

“But based on what I know, due to budget constraints, your game’s playtime is only around six hours,

Which is significantly shorter than the average flagship title.

“If we over-promote, we risk creating unrealistic expectations.

That could damage both YiYou and your studio—

When the game launches, it could suffer a backlash.

Too much hype leads to disappointment.”

Yan Sheng’s concerns were valid.

And not without precedent.

Many decent games had failed from over-hyping alone.

When marketing built up insane expectations, even small flaws got magnified.

What should’ve been minor issues became fatal.

Good games were ruined.

And Titanfall was now in danger of walking that same path.

Yes, the trailer had exploded in popularity.

But it was still priced at 198 yuan—and only lasted six hours.

A fancy mooncake box with just two mooncakes.

No matter how good it tasted, people would complain.

Any mismatch between the trailer and actual gameplay… any flaws… even slightly underwhelming combat or story pacing—

Could all kill the game.

Because it was expensive—and short.

Which meant?

Players would nitpick it to death.

Unless—

It had jaw-dropping narrative, spectacular combat, and insane level design.

But games like that?

Didn’t exist.

Yan Sheng wanted Shen Miaomiao to exercise caution.

Promotion was good—but don’t go overboard.

But!

When Shen Miaomiao heard all this—

Her eyes lit up.

Oho?!

That’s a thing?

What an amazing discovery!

She’d always thought that more promotion = better sales.

That’s why she’d always held back, saying things like “good wine doesn’t fear deep alleys.”

But now—

Yan Sheng had opened her eyes.

Turns out, promotion could backfire!

It needed to match the product.

Big dreams required big delivery.

Otherwise?

You’d get torn to pieces.

Wonderful!

Backlash is wonderful!

Shen Miaomiao grinned.

Today, she would wear a crown on her skinny neck and run a marathon in oversized underwear!

What?

You say she had a safety net but YiYou would take real damage?

They deserved it.

If not for her system, Titanfall should’ve never been greenlit!

Golden Wind wasn’t ready for flagship-level games!

If this new-gen flagship project was a mountain climb, the other five studios came fully equipped.

Golden Wind? Not even a rope.

And YiYou only gave them 20% promo.

Fair? Maybe.

But kind? Not even close.

At the very least, they should’ve given 30% and split the rest.

Now that Titanfall was suddenly hot, they wanted to ramp up—but were afraid of backlash?

Hmph!

Shen Miaomiao pouted.

Too late! I don’t care!

If anyone’s going down, you’re coming with me, Yan Sheng!

With that thought—

She flashed a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“But I have full confidence in our game.”

“Ah?!”

Yan Sheng’s heart skipped a beat.

Crap.

We’re in trouble now.

“Um… what do you mean, President Shen…?”

“Ninety percent.”

She made a wild demand.

“FuryFlame’s mediocre. Kol flopped.

YiYou X2 was tanking—until my Director Gu pulled a miracle.

With a 170 million budget, we crushed ZhenTing’s 1 billion project.

We saved the entire ship from sinking!”

“President Yan—

The market is buzzing. Players believe in us.

How is it that our business partner doesn’t?”

RATATATATATATATA—!!!

Shen Miaomiao’s rapid-fire words blasted through the phone like machine gun fire.

Yan Sheng was left stunned and speechless.

Wait… why don’t I believe Golden Wind can create a top-tier, story-driven, action-packed masterpiece?

…

Because those don’t exist!!!

Yan Sheng slapped the desk.

He couldn’t convince himself!

Golden Wind was good, sure, but Shen Miaomiao’s confidence was delusional!

Still—

He couldn’t argue with her head-on.

After hesitating, he said,

“Uhh… how about 60%? That’s the max our risk model says TTF can handle. Any more would be… suicide.”

Perfect. That’s exactly what I want. Suicide!

Shen Miaomiao pouted and played the rogue:

“President Yan, what’s a ‘limit’? Golden Wind doesn’t believe in limits!

Sure, 90% might seem high—but you know our situation.

FuryFlame and Kol are big, wealthy studios.

They have their own promotion.

We rely entirely on you.

President Yan, you wouldn’t want us to defect to XunTeng, would you?”

HSSSS—!!!

Yan Sheng gasped.

What kind of culture did Golden Wind even have?

But that threat hit the nerve.

ZhenTing had already joined XunTeng. Their games would go to Polar Bear 3rd Gen.

If Golden Wind defected too?

YiYou would lose the FPS market.

Because right now, Golden Wind was the only studio in China that could go head-to-head with XunTeng’s big three.

Yan Sheng took a deep breath.

“Seventy.”

Shen Miaomiao: “Eighty.”

Yan Sheng clenched his teeth:

“Seventy-five. Final offer. Top-tier promotion quality. Please have mercy.”

“Hmm…”

Shen Miaomiao still wasn’t fully satisfied, but nodded.

“Fine. Seventy-five. A pleasure working with you, President Yan.”

Yan Sheng forced a smile:

“Pleasure… is all mine…”

Yan Sheng was devastated.

He didn’t know if Shen Miaomiao was happy—

But he certainly wasn’t.

He had no idea where this girl’s confidence came from.

Seventy-five percent!

This was YiYou’s promo team we were talking about—

A company that held half of China’s gaming market, on par with XunTeng.

People might not understand what that meant.

Put simply, if Golden Wind did full self-promotion,

YiYou’s 50% would equal that effort.

So 75%?

Was massive over-promotion.

Still—

The results were what they were.

“Sigh—”

Yan Sheng let out a long breath,

Shook his head helplessly,

Then called the heads of FuryFlame and Kol.

To his surprise, neither objected.

As Shen Miaomiao said, YiYou’s promo was just a bonus to them.

They even thanked Yan Sheng for leaving them a slice of the pie.

Next, Yan Sheng called their own Marketing Director, Li:

“Hey, Old Li. I’ve finished talks with all three partners.

Reallocate promo resources—Golden Wind gets 75% starting tomorrow.

Shift resources from the other two games toward Titanfall.”

“…Yeah, you heard right. Seventy-five percent.

I know it’s over-promotion. Don’t worry. Titanfall can handle it…”

Maybe.

After hanging up, Yan Sheng shrugged, unsure.

Hopefully, they really can.

Otherwise?

He’d be going down with Golden Wind.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com