Chapter 270 - 181: Cherry Dynasty, Seventy Years of Rule

Players didn’t spend a penny playing the game, and some even made money from it.

Tianba Studio made money on each game sold, charging exactly what they should, so their due revenue didn’t decrease.

The advertisers didn’t lose either. Their advertisements met the exposure targets and even performed better than expected.

So here’s the question!

Who lost out?

Initially, Chen Ba didn’t know who was at a loss. He thought it was a win-win-win situation. But it wasn’t until he was reported that he realized who was losing.

Other advertising platforms were losing!

Every company’s advertising budget is limited; they can’t advertise infinitely. Since the budget is limited, if they advertised in "Don’t Leave After School," naturally, they’d have to reduce spending on other platforms.

So...

Tianba Studio became the most unwelcome outcast in the advertising industry.

You, a game developer, accepting ads is understandable; everyone can grasp that concept. After all, there are so many advertising channels, anyone could take ads.

But why did you have to share the money with players?

That’s breaking the industry rules!

"Damn Chen Ba, how disgusting is he? Not only does he not eat, but he also smashes others’ bowls. Is this something a person would do?"

Upon learning that their advertisers were leaving, and the culprit turned out to be a casual puzzle game, the ad department manager of a certain portal website was so angry he broke two ashtrays.

It’s a disaster!

He had been in the internet advertising business for almost twenty years and had never seen a more nauseating advertising platform than "Don’t Leave After School."

Why, when you advertise for others, don’t you charge ad fees, and instead share it with users?

Who does that?

Tianba appears to be the good guy, making himself look righteous, but what about the others? What are they supposed to do?

"Don’t Leave After School" spread like a plague across the advertising industry. Advertisers liked this model because advertising here not only worked well but users also affectionately called them "golden daddies."

Users also liked this model, since they got a share of the ad money, why wouldn’t they like it?

"Golden daddy, give a bit more, next time I buy something, I’ll definitely buy from your brand, I’m committed to you!"

But for those internet companies that used to make a mint from ads, this novel model left them pulling their hair out, wishing they could fly to Jiangning and set Tianba Studio on fire.

Harming others and oneself, ruining the industry!

Many ground their teeth in hatred but couldn’t say much because advertisers were happy, users were happy, and if you disagreed, who the heck were you?

Actually, those who took the biggest hit weren’t these internet companies, but the games embedded with tons of ads.

They were the true peers in trouble!

In some brainless money-sucking game, akin to "Legend," featuring rampant ad pop-ups, a guild leader who spent over 200,000 couldn’t stand this mindless game anymore.

Originally, such games weren’t friendly to small spenders or zero-cost players, so few people played them.

The "Divine Realm" guild he established had only 170 members in total.

But these 170 people had dwindled to 41 over the past two months, with the rest declaring Away from keyboard, or "A game" as commonly known.

These players who left couldn’t stand the endless money-gouging events in this lousy game, and most importantly, the advertisements were just too much.

Don’t want to see ads?

No problem! Buy a lifetime card for 198 yuan and you can skip the ads.

Making "ad-free" a mode of spending, this game disgusted countless people.

But most games out there are similar, either grind-intensive or money-intensive. People didn’t have many options, sticking around just to kill time.

But with the sudden emergence of "Don’t Leave After School," many zero-cost and low-spending players were shocked to discover they didn’t have to suffer, and watching ads could earn them money?

Why bother playing then? I’m out!

The guild’s players left in droves, and as the guild leader who spent immensely, the game experience deteriorated along with it.

He couldn’t stand it anymore; he only cared about two things in games, the crowd and being in the limelight!

Now the game was losing players fast, despite spending millions, what was the point? I’m out; I’ll go compete for the throne in "Don’t Leave After School."

Fun fact: big spenders follow the small spenders and zero spenders.

When a game gathers a massive audience of small spenders and zero spenders, rest assured, there are plenty of top spenders, supporting the whole server.

"Don’t Leave After School" is no different.

With a surge of players and the news that the game would soon be free, Chen Ba was shocked to find that the number of wealthy players had increased.

In the five zones, originally only Zone Four had a wealthy foreigner supporting the whole server.

But now, Zone One, Zone Two, and Zone Five all saw the emergence of "astonishingly wealthy" players rallying their district’s enthusiasm to compete for the throne.

"Why isn’t there anyone in Zone Three?"

Lu was intrigued; other zones had rich players popping up, and Zone Three, being the most popular, surely must have some, right?

"Zone Three does have them!"

"As you said, Zone Three is the hottest zone, so there must be more than one top spender."

Chen Ba shook his head and said, "With so many wealthy players gathered, do you think Zone Three would be as peaceful as usual?"