Chapter 54: Elysia's Celebration Feast!!
Su Mu let out a massive sneeze, nearly losing his grip on his coffee.
"Director Su? Are you alright?" Carole looked at him with concern, and the other miHoYo employees in the office followed suit.
"I'm fine. Perhaps someone is talking about me behind my back?" Su Mu offered a small smile, signaling everyone not to worry.
"Director Su, you've been working too hard lately. Why don't you head back and get some rest?" Carole's worry was shared by the rest of the "Post-Honkai" trio; they were genuinely terrified that their director might drop dead from overwork.
It was currently 8:00 PM on the fifth night since the launch of Honkai Impact 3rd. The game's download count had surpassed 300 million and was still surging at an incredible pace. It had also charged up the iOS bestseller lists, reaching the top with absolute dominance. On platforms like Weibo, Tieba, and various gaming forums, discussions regarding Honkai 3rd remained at a fever pitch.
According to rough revenue statistics, the first-day earnings had reached a staggering 1 billion! Over the first five days, the total revenue had hit a terrifying 5 billion! At first glance, these numbers were shocking; in Su Mu's previous life, such a performance would have made jaws drop. But in this alternate world, it was actually within the realm of acceptance. After all, in Su Mu's past, Honkai: Star Rail had reached nearly 1.5 billion in its first five days.
In this world, the entertainment industry was highly developed, and a free-to-play, in-app purchase model like Honkai 3rd was a groundbreaking first. Combined with the endorsement of a world-class star like Eden, such success was not entirely unexpected.
Of course, beyond the hype brought by Eden, Honkai 3rd possessed genuine quality. Regardless of their initial motives for clicking on the game, players were quickly captivated by the story and characters, becoming loyal fans. Furthermore, Su Mu's generous distribution of rewards and his habit of fixing bugs as soon as they appeared earned a great deal of goodwill from the community.
Those industry insiders who had previously mocked miHoYo had all shut their mouths. Faced with such astronomical figures, their previous taunts had turned into boomerangs that struck them right back in the face. Many games took years to reach a total sales volume of 100 million. Compared to Honkai 3rd, it was the difference between heaven and earth!
After deleting their previous comments, major gaming companies began working overtime to study Honkai 3rd. Did their faces hurt from the slap? Yes. But making money was never shameful! Compared to their pride, they preferred to update their strategies and start raking in the cash!!
For players, a game was either fun or it wasn't; there weren't many complications. Rather than revenue, they preferred to spend time on the game itself. Videos related to Honkai 3rd were dominating every major website: lore theorists, meme creators, and those showing off their gacha pulls. There were also Abyss strategy guides and high-score chasers in the Memorial Arena. Clearly, the players were fully immersed in this unprecedented, exquisite experience!
The announcement of the five-day data caused the entire staff at miHoYo to erupt in cheers. They had never dreamed that Honkai 3rd could achieve such results! While Su Mu wanted to take everyone out to celebrate, he couldn't—at least not yet.
Tomorrow, a hot-fix update was scheduled to go live. The main story would be updated, and many of the planned improvements would be implemented, further enriching the somewhat "incomplete" launch build and making the game more whole.
However, massive success inevitably drew the attention of many, including those with ill intentions. According to the report from the Network Security Lead, the Honkai 3rd servers had been subjected to over a hundred hacking attempts today alone! To ensure their hard work didn't go to waste, the security team was giving their all. Fortunately, the firewall designed by Bronya was powerful enough; otherwise, the servers would have been breached long ago.
The first few days of launch were the most intense period for server attacks. During this time, Su Mu didn't dare to slack off. Furthermore, various bugs were surfacing in the game, all of which required immediate fixing. Bugs were things that could never be fully eliminated during testing, as one could never predict the bizarre ways players would find to break the game.
Additionally, there were other matters requiring Su Mu's attention. In short, although the results were pleasing, it was not yet time for the entire company to go out and get drunk. Instead, he had to stay behind and work overtime. The employees also understood the importance of the situation, so no one complained; they simply remained at their stations, busy with their tasks.
Of course, Su Mu saw their hard work and wasn't going to let it go unrecognized.
"Ta-da! Hello, everyone at miHoYo! Did you miss Elysia? Heehee, even though we've only been apart for a few hours, Elysia missed you all so much~!"
At that moment, the office doors were pushed open. Elysia appeared before everyone, pushing a massive cake trolley.
"Wow! Sister Ellie! Such a huge cake! Where did you get it?" Carole's eyes widened as she gasped.
"Heehee! It was arranged by our great Director Su, of course! As for me, I'm just a little delivery girl driven by Director Su's commands~~"
Before everyone could recover from their shock, Elysia clapped her hands. Behind her, a series of trolleys large and small appeared, laden with all sorts of gourmet food, drinks, and snacks. Pardo, Kosma, and Griseo were all helping to arrange the carts. In no time, the office was filled with the scent of a feast.
"Wait, was this also Director Su's doing? Did he go and order a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast?!" Carole shouted in excitement. Beside her, Timido's face was flushed red with joy.
"Ellie, I only asked you to buy a cake..." Su Mu walked over to Elysia and whispered.
"Kalpas found out you wanted to celebrate for everyone, and you know his personality... he immediately went and bought a massive amount of ingredients. Sister Eden, Kosma, and Griseo all went to help as well~" Elysia winked and gave a playful smile. "Of course! I, Ellie, also put in a lot of effort! Shouldn't you thank me?"
A bitter smile appeared on Su Mu's face. With even Eden helping out, the "weight" of this celebration feast was far too high. This was the kind of meal that money couldn't buy.
END OF CHAPTER
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