"Hello, Mr. Chen." Inside the opposite party's studio.

Chen Yiyang shook hands with a man named Luo Yuncheng.

As he walked over, he discovered that the studio was indeed very small, with only about eighty people in total.

This Luo Yuncheng is currently in charge of the whole studio.

"This is the game we've basically finished creating. You can take a look; we've done two tests before, and the data is quite good."

Under the other's introduction, Chen Yiyang briefly looked at the game.

Even though he had a thorough understanding of SLG games before coming.

He still frowned when he saw the game made by the other party.

SLG games are quite a large genre, with the most famous series being Three Kingdoms, Civilization, Total War, etc.

Of course, these are all single-player games.

In mobile games, this type of game is simplified to players building lineups through card draws, then allying with others to form alliances, and fighting against other alliances in a map for about a three-month season.

In these mobile games, the most influential factor isn't strategy but microtransactions.

A top spender can spend millions, while most ordinary players only spend about thirty bucks on monthly cards.

So, this is a game that relies on big spenders to maintain servers, and keeping them comfortable is the most important thing.

Since the game mode of these games is basically fixed, in recent years, game companies aiming to enter this genre tend to focus on art and visuals.

But the game from this small studio in front of him has hardly any competitive ability in terms of art or visuals.

Frankly, it's only slightly better than something made by AI.

What gives such a game the qualification to reach the top in this genre?

Chen Yiyang was somewhat confused. But due to the allure of insider information, he continued listening to Luo Yuncheng explain their game.

"Actually, our game's art and visuals are indeed somewhat poor, but we believe the true core of SLG isn't in visuals and art, but in gameplay."

Luo Yuncheng spoke eloquently. "I could even say, while SLG games are made for the wealthy, those ordinary players participating actually also wish for a gaming experience.

If we lower the cap on microtransactions to around ten thousand, allowing ordinary players to spend a few hundred each season and basically get a complete gaming experience, it will certainly stimulate their spending."

With Luo Yuncheng's explanation, Chen Yiyang finally understood the positioning of their game.

Which is, this is a game where players with just one or two hundred budget each month, who are practically 'nobodies' in other SLG games, can get a complete gaming experience here.

At least they can collect all the cards.

Not like other SLG games where spending thousands still doesn't craft a complete lineup.

It seems this is the true insight into how this game can break out in the SLG game field.

Chen Yiyang nodded, then curiously inquired.

"I see your game is basically completed; it could be launched soon. Why are you suddenly seeking investors? What happened to your former investors?"

"Well," Luo Yuncheng laughed awkwardly a few times, then replied with insufficient confidence.

"Actually, initially, we found a video platform to invest in our game, and they sent several directors to our studio to oversee our development.

But just as the game was about to launch, they felt it had no future, so they withdrew and were unwilling to continue investing."

Mobile games or online games differ from traditional single-player games.

The main costs of single-player games are in the development manpower.

Whereas the bulk of investment in online and mobile games goes into post-launch advertising and operation.

Especially mobile games, today prices are practically clear-cut. You pay the advertising platform a set amount, they bring you a certain number of players.

Among these cost-per-install mobile games, strategy games, especially SLG games, have the highest acquisition costs. For a strategy game, the user acquisition cost on the iOS platform is between 80 and 90 dollars.

On Android, the acquisition cost is around 30 dollars.

Meaning you spend 30 bucks on ads, and the ad platform gets you an Android user.

That user is merely attracted to try the game, how long they'll play, or if they'll spend money, remains unknown.

Optimally, at least one among ten acquired users is willing to play long-term.

The essence of SLG lies in alliance wars among hundreds of players, and a server must have thousands of players forming several alliances. After a season's battle, the alliances will again be matched with alliances from other servers, forming a new server for the next season's battle.

It means, at launch, an SLG game needs to acquire hundreds of thousands of users to support its initial player count.

Taking one million as a reference, split between iOS and Android at a 3:7 ratio.

It means for game launch advertisements, spending shouldn't be less than 42 million.

These are just user acquisition costs.

Besides that, paying protection fees to various gaming media, hiring some gaming influencers to promote the game, costs no less than several million.

Plus server costs, employee salaries.

This small eighty-person studio needs to prepare at least 50 million in cash to smoothly launch and sustain operations for a month.

If the launch income doesn't meet expectations, the platform must decide whether to keep investing in hope of a miracle or reduce investment to see how things go over half a year.

All these also require money.

At least ten million more.

So, even though this SLG game is completed,

The development cost over the past few years might have been just 50 million.

But to successfully launch, further investment of another 50 million is necessary.

This is why many big company's games, clearly completed,

Due to several unsuccessful tests, become silent, not launched at all.

Because online games need the most money after launching.

"The actual reason isn't just this simple, is it?"

Well-prepared Chen Yiyang pointed out what Luo Yuncheng was reluctant to say, "Imperial War is set to launch soon too. Is it clashing with your game's schedule?"

"Yes." Luo Yuncheng lowered his head.

This is also the reason his former investors withdrew.

Besides not wanting to continue risking several million.

Another reason is Tengxu also announced entering the SLG game field.

And the game made by their studio, Imperial War, also announced recently completing several tests, preparing for public testing soon.

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