Chapter 264: Practically the Treatment of a Favored Daughter!
September 17th.
Shangyang Games.
The mobile version of Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition had officially completed development. It shared data with the micro-client version, allowing players to log in directly with their existing accounts.
The amount of change in gameplay controls was far less than expected—after all, the original operation method was just "tap, tap, tap."
After converting the web game's cluttered UI into a cleaner, block-style mobile layout, Wang Xiaobin and Ye Zhizhou tested it and found the controls to feel surprisingly good.
From the standpoint of gameplay and functionality, the mobile version's experience was almost identical to the micro-client one. In fact, thanks to the different platform, it might even be more convenient.
Purely from a gameplay experience perspective, the mobile port was a great success. Of course, the real verdict would depend on player feedback after launch.
While the rest of the team was busy with the final rounds of debugging, Lin Wan had already contacted the person in charge of the Shenhua Mobile App Store to secure top-tier featured placement for Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition.
Currently, Shenhua Corporation's main focus is still on their smartphone business. Their attention toward software hadn't yet reached the same level—this App Store revamp was more of an exploratory experiment.
After all, with the explosive growth of mobile games, every company with a user base was considering how to turn those users into profit by building their own game distribution channels.
So Shenhua's attempt at running an App Store and game marketplace was completely normal, anyone with sense would do the same.
Since it was still an exploratory effort, the Shenhua Mobile App Store wasn't particularly polished yet. But even so, because Shenhua phones had a large, high-value user base, every single recommendation slot on the store was immensely valuable.
All of the featured slots had clear price tags, and the very best ones weren't even available just for money—they also depended on a game's metrics.
After all, the more profitable a game was, the greater the revenue share it brought to the platform. When multiple developers were offering similar payment, naturally the platform would give priority to games with better data.
But Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition had a special advantage—Lin Wan's personal connections. Thanks to that, all the approvals went through like a green wave of traffic lights.
Lin Yu herself didn't need to step in personally. She simply instructed one of her subordinates in charge of the App Store, and naturally, people would handle all the necessary legwork.
From Lin Yu's point of view, arranging this featured slot was merely a small gesture—both as a token of gratitude toward President Pei and as a limited show of goodwill toward Lin Wan.
The message was basically: "I'll get you a recommendation slot to make you happy," not "I fully support you in chasing your dream of making games."
Lin Wan, of course, understood this perfectly well.
That was precisely why she was even more determined for the Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition mobile version to succeed.
First, she wanted to live up to President Pei's trust.
Second, successfully launching a project of her own would mark the first real step toward achieving her dream in game development.
And finally, Lin Wan wanted to prove to both her grandfather and Lin Yu that her choice to enter the gaming industry wasn't a rash, emotional decision—but one backed by genuine capability and results.
Since turning Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition into a mobile game had been Lin Wan's call, a total flop would hit her threefold—professionally, personally, and emotionally.
If that really happened, she might even have to consider resigning to take responsibility.
With the featured slot already arranged, everything now depended on tomorrow's launch.
. . .
Ye Zhizhou had just finished another round of testing and was now checking the game's chat groups.
The guild chat group for Blood War Anthem's veteran players was still active. The players inside had been following every bit of news about the game's status.
At first, none of these old players had high hopes.
After Old Liu pulled his series of nonsense stunts back in the day, the web version of Blood War Anthem had basically fallen into a half-dead state. Even if one day the official servers suddenly shut down, nobody would've been surprised.
But gradually, this game—which looked like it could drop dead at any moment—had somehow begun to show signs of life again!
First, the game's content underwent a massive overhaul—the "Chosen One" system update completely transformed it from a traditional web game that thrived on exploiting hatred and squeezing money out of players, into a fair and balanced game where everyone stood on equal footing—one that you could enjoy fully even with just a little spending, or none at all.
After that, the developers invested heavily into producing Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition, completely overhauling the art assets and even hiring several celebrities as endorsers.
All these signs pointed to one thing—Shangyang Games, the studio behind the title, suddenly wasn't short on money anymore!
Nobody really knew where their newfound wealth came from, but that hardly mattered. Having money was always a good thing.
Money meant the developers could afford to take losses for a while, make sweeping improvements to the game, and pour funds into marketing.
In short, every indicator suggested that this game was heading toward an incredibly bright future!
And recently, when rumors spread that a mobile version with shared data was about to launch, the old players in the community could hardly contain their excitement.
With this, they could log into the game anytime, anywhere.
They could play on the way to work, or while lying in bed after getting home. And if they wanted better graphics, they could just switch to the PC micro-client.
In the past, during national wars, not having a computer at hand was a huge pain—but now, that problem was gone!
At the same time, the viral popularity of Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition's ads gave these players a pleasant illusion:
It felt like the whole world suddenly knew about this game.
The commercial featuring Zhang Zuting and his four close buddies had taken the internet by storm. The compilation video alone had over two million views on Aili Island.
All over the web, memes like "Fried Pig Trotter" were everywhere. Joke videos and commentary clips about both the ad and the game itself were flooding every platform.
If that didn't count as "trending," then what did?
Naturally, players were eagerly banging gongs and drums in anticipation of the mobile version's release.
But Ye Zhizhou, who was quietly lurking in those player groups, knew the truth—all of this was just an illusion.
On the surface, the game looked vibrant and successful. In reality, Shangyang Games had been burning through President Pei's money nonstop. Counting both development and marketing costs, they had already spent ten million yuan.
Ten million—that was no small number.
Used carefully, it would've been enough to develop a small-scale online game, or even a fairly polished indie title.
If the mobile version launched and still ended up maintaining this same façade of "apparent popularity but actual mediocrity," it would be a devastating blow to everyone involved.
. . .
September 18th.
That morning, the entire Shangyang Games team arrived at the office early, nerves on edge.
Everyone had downloaded the Shenhua Mobile App Store on their phones, checking it every few minutes.
At 10 a.m., Ye Zhizhou reflexively refreshed the page again—and his eyes lit up.
"It's up! It's here!" he shouted.
Everyone immediately crowded around.
The Shenhua Mobile App Store could be downloaded on other brands of phones (except Pineapple, of course), and Shenhua phones came with it pre-installed.
The group excitedly began playing a "find it" game—searching for Blood War Anthem's mobile version on the store.
After checking every section, the entire room collectively drew a sharp breath.
This was practically the treatment of a favored daughter!
Completely beyond everyone's expectations!
On the App Store's main page, there were four large banner features at the very top—and the first one was Blood War Anthem!
Zhang Zuting was pictured holding a massive sword mid-swing.
Below that were five horizontal category tabs, and under those, five "hot recommendation" apps—including major shopping and video platforms.
And among those five, there it was again—Blood War Anthem!
The icon was Zhang Zuting's face, dressed up in his in-game costume, and the title read: "Blood War Anthem (Servers Open at 10 AM on the 18th)."
Below it were the details: file size—370 MB, a four-and-a-half-star rating, and a bold tagline:
"Endorsed by Zhang Zuting—A Truly Fair and Exciting National War Game!"
Clicking on it took users straight to the game's full detail page.
This was the front page of the app store—every single spot there was worth its weight in gold.
And Blood War Anthem had taken up two of those precious slots!
But that wasn't all. On the "Game Mall" tab, at the very top under "Editor's Picks," the first featured title was again—Blood War Anthem!
Click into the "Online Games" category, and right there in the top section labeled "This Month's Major New Releases"—there it was yet again, Blood War Anthem!
The third main tab was the Rankings page. This section listed all software and games on the platform, ranked according to an algorithm that combined short-term and long-term downloads, user ratings, popularity, and profitability.
And sitting comfortably at #7 on the list—Blood War Anthem!
Beneath it was a label showing 350,000 installs, a 4.7-star rating, and the most eye-catching part—a bright red badge beside the title that read: "Featured Recommendation!"
This tag indicated that Shenhua Mobile App Store's official team had personally selected the game. They periodically picked out titles that were both high-quality and visually appealing to highlight.
Having that badge was basically equivalent to Shenhua telling all its users:
"This is an officially approved good game!"
With so many different types of promotion, it was no wonder everyone at the office was amazed.
Just how powerful were Lin Wan's connections to pull this off?!
Those scattered minor placements—like the smaller feature boxes buried in subcategories—could still be bought with money, sure.
But these front-page prime spots? They weren't just competing with other popular games—they were up against top-tier apps too. If you didn't pay big money, you didn't even get a chance.
And even that wasn't the most outrageous part.
The truly over-the-top move was that Blood War Anthem had been manually boosted to #7 on the rankings chart!
On a mobile screen, the seventh position just happened to be the last one visible—perfectly placed so users didn't even need to scroll.
Technically, the ranking algorithm was mostly fair.
After all, if the entire chart were filled with fake entries, it would be way too obvious, and users would notice immediately.
So the usual trick was to quietly slip in one or two "promoted" titles and pad the data just a little—not enough to look suspicious.
Exactly like how people buy trending spots on Weibo.
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