They wanted to make a trashy game, but how come it sold like hotcakes again?

Chapter 64: Final Preparations

With the viral spread of the "Election of the Moderator of the 'Idiot Bar'" meme, discussions about Kirby on various platforms have exploded exponentially. This small-scale game, priced at only 68 yuan, successfully broke down players' psychological barriers with its top-notch live-streaming entertainment.

On China's largest single-player game forum, while Zelda is still highly regarded, Kirby's reputation is generally lukewarm.

Meanwhile, other forums were filled with jubilation.

In a viral post titled "[Focus Discussion] Honestly, how many of you initially thought this was a children's game, but now you can't stop playing?", players' replies were full of laughter and self-deprecation:

The original poster said: "I want to confess first. When I saw that this game was so simple, and the reviews said that it was short, easy and unoriginal, I thought that Tangren Games was definitely trying to make a quick buck."

Last night, after watching Lao Xian'er and the others' livestream and seeing so many "idiotic" ways to die, I couldn't resist and spent 68 yuan to buy one. Now all I can say is: This is what real men should play!

"Who can argue with that! Although the game's art style looks extremely simple, like a three-year-old's doodle pieced together from a few simple circles and pink blocks, the rounded and delicate visual feedback can instantly make you let your guard down!"

"The core 'inhale' and 'copy' mechanics are simply a stroke of genius! I used to be a Souls-like player who got brutally beaten in hardcore action games, but I still had a lot of fun in this game."

"The two-player mode is the most fun, allowing you to experience the purest joy with your friends."

"A lifesaver for working people, and the ultimate blessing for those with poor hand-eye coordination. While most games on the market are desperately trying to make them incredibly difficult and frustrating, Kirby focuses on 'low barrier to entry and high feedback,' making it a true salvation after get off work! Kirby can float in the air indefinitely without worrying about falling into pits and dying from a misjudgment. This 'foolproof' margin for error, combined with its cute and rounded art style, is truly therapeutic."

"Isn't the most ridiculous one the 'most idiotic person' who jumped off a cliff seven times while holding a key? The game's low barrier to entry, coupled with the 'infinite jumps and takeoff at any time' mechanism, can really make people relax their vigilance to the point of brainstem loss."

Besides the screen full of funny jokes and "idiotic" GIFs, the forum also naturally has its share of rational data analysts and industry insiders. They see through the cute appearance of this pink sphere to Tangren Games' chilling strategic plan.

A technical analysis post titled "Looking at Kirby's trump card: This is a perfect dimensional reduction attack" was pinned to the top by the moderator:

"Everyone is laughing at the simple mechanics of Kirby, but have you ever thought that this is precisely where Tangren Games' brilliance lies?"

First of all, this game does not have any complicated 3D physics engine. Its underlying logic is extremely clean. "Inhalation" and "copying" are essentially highly modular and independent abilities.

This means they only need a very short development period and a very small number of people to complete the development.

Secondly, let's not forget what Tangren Games' real focus is right now. It's Zelda, which requires massive algorithmic support and boasts a realistic physics and chemistry engine!

During the long development hiatus of The Legend of Zelda, the company needed a healthy cash flow to stay afloat.

Kirby is the perfect filler.

Its "low barrier to entry and high feedback" not only accurately targeted casual gamers and female groups, but also leveraged tens of millions of yuan in sales with an ultra-low development cost of less than ten million (reportedly only six million).

Using profits to relentlessly work on the underlying code of Zelda—this kind of business logic of using competition to fuel future growth—which other domestic company can pull off this?

The comments below this post were all filled with "worship" and "terrifying upon closer inspection".

Players have finally realized that Tangren Games, which was once universally criticized online, is now not only capable of producing monster-level demos like "The Legend of Zelda" in terms of technical prowess, but has also become a master in terms of business operations and scale control.

Actually, all the speculations online were wrong; Tang She didn't think that much about it at all.

He would be satisfied as long as the sales of Kirby's Star Trek exceeded the system's requirements.

And the money earned is even more useless.

Or rather, it can only be used for the promotional phase now. The official content of the game has entered its final stage, and most of the employees are spending all day in Hyrule testing for bugs.

We're just waiting for it to launch before the Lunar New Year.

Ren Wei also prepared a face-to-face meeting for this year's Lunar New Year's Eve.

Tangren Games currently operates three online games.

Three Kingdoms Kill, Pokémon, Fall Guys.

Pokémon itself hasn't been updated much. Apart from the occasional release of new Mega Evolutions and Dynamax Pokémon, it's mostly just new seasons with various restrictions, allowing PVP enthusiasts to log in and play a couple of rounds occasionally.

The Tiger Talisman mode in Three Kingdoms Kill remains the same, but in order to satisfy players' desire to play new generals, several new event modes have been introduced.

For example, "Dou Dizhu" (a popular Chinese card game) and the occasionally available PVE mode.

Players can use the event points earned in those modes to redeem limited-time generals.

This was naturally praised by other players as a sign of good conscience.

Fall Guys has ushered in an era of massive collaborations. Since they are all their own IPs, they have already collaborated with the other four games in a year, and the latest collaboration with Kirby is also in the works.

And Tang She also made a lot of money that year.

Therefore, the sale of physical cards will begin next year.

The Three Kingdoms Kill and Pokémon are completely different modes.

The game "Three Kingdoms Kill" is simply about selling cards. A complete set of all generals, basic cards, a tablecloth, and some necessary accessories costs 198 yuan.

If you only need the most basic deck, it costs 29.8 yuan.

Each new general card is priced at 0.5 yuan with free shipping after each update of the general pack, with a minimum bid of four cards.

The price is reasonable, and sales are good.

The game even received a lot of praise because Tangren Games added several general cards that can only be used in face-to-face games.

Pokémon also uses the trading card system.

Ordinary cards are worth only a few cents and nobody wants them.

The prices of those extremely rare cards on second-hand platforms have already exceeded four figures.

The most expensive card recently has been listed for over ten thousand yuan on the second-hand market and was even snapped up instantly.

Some criticized them for their appalling behavior. However, this has nothing to do with Tangren Games.

It's not like they created this secondhand market.

If there are buyers, there will be sellers; do whatever you want with it, right? It just doesn't sound very appealing.

As for offline events for other games, there are none yet.