The Mysterious Marketing of Monster Hunter

Chapter 132 The Mysterious Marketing of Monster Hunter

That night.

When Lao Wei and Xie Yuan returned to the hotel, both of them were beaming with health.

"This game is quite interesting! I originally thought it would be extremely difficult, but the difficulty is just right. It's challenging, but not so difficult that you'll get completely crushed on your first try."

"Yeah, some weapons like greatswords and hammers do high damage, but their wind-up and recovery times are too long, which is really hard to get used to."

"But we still have dual swords! They do a little damage, but the speed at which they strike is incredible!"

"If you ask me, the katana is still the best; being cool lasts a lifetime!"

Old Wei stretched contentedly on the bed and said comfortably, "Even so, I still feel it's a bit of a pity; it lacked a little challenge."

After chatting for a while about their experiences with Monster Hunter, Xie Yuan reluctantly returned to his room.

After a day of sightseeing, the two had dinner with a group of close friends who were content creators. By then, it was already 11 p.m.

Xie Yuan had to get up early tomorrow to attend the game expo, but he felt no desire to sleep at all.

excited!

Lao Wei had participated in this kind of activity many times, but this was his first time.

"I can't sleep anyway, so I'll just watch some videos."

After the morning, the first game reveal and some new PVs were released, and players already know what exciting masterpieces are coming.

He was also quite interested to see how players would rate these new titles.

Sure enough, as soon as I opened the short video app, it was a piece of news about a new game being showcased.

Upon opening the comments section, I found that, as expected, the vast majority of comments were about Monster Hunter.

[Wow! Asylum Studios always manages to surprise us. This Monster Hunter: World is awesome!]

[Negative review, can't be paired with Anjanath]

[Monsters are a man's romance!!!]

[Damn development team, release my game, then take your entrails and get out of here!]

Xie Yuan was very pleased to see the players' reactions.

Unexpectedly, the previously struggling Asylum Studios has now become the focus of attention for many players.

One can't help but sigh at the impermanence of life.

The next video, unsurprisingly, is also about Monster Hunter: World.

This time, however, it was a "roll king" who attended the game expo.

"Hello everyone, this is [name]. Today, at the East China Game Show, the new game 'Monster Hunter: World' by the genius producer Chen Xuan was unveiled for the first time...."

'

Xie Yuan couldn't help but shake his head.

Judging from this, this guy only played Monster Hunter: World and then left to go back to his hotel to make a video.

This is a real roll.

However, the advantage was that the video garnered an extraordinary amount of traffic.

...First of all, to the disappointment of Dark Souls players, judging from the currently released demo version of Monster Hunter: World, although this game is also an action game, it is far less difficult than the former.

The difficulty gradient is more reasonable, the transitions are smoother, and it's challenging but not too difficult. Almost every new monster that appears serves as a tutorial, ensuring that players have enough content to get used to the game system.

In conclusion, if the difficulty of Dark Souls is daunting, Monster Hunter: World's well-balanced difficulty design makes it a worthwhile game to experience in depth.

This fair assessment resonated with Xie Yuan.

Although I suffered a lot in Dark Souls, it's a bit of a shame that Monster Hunter: World has actually lowered the difficulty.

Moreover, he is not alone in sharing this sentiment.

[Sigh, it seems the first 3A game could gain popularity by being extreme, but the second one needs to focus on playing it safe.]

[Although I'm a little disappointed, I'm still quite interested in this novel game genre.]

[Can girls play this too? I want to play with my roommates.]

[Will this be a fall from grace or a fall from grace?]

After watching videos for a while, Xie Yuan gradually felt sleepy.

I was just about to put down my phone and go to sleep when a new video caught my eye, so I decided to keep watching.

This is a food blogger I've been following for a long time.

The cooking style is incredibly unrestrained, especially focusing on roasted meats and fried foods. The portions are quite large, creating a strong visual impact.

It's the kind of thing that makes you want to go downstairs for a late-night snack when you're starving.

This person is also very cunning, always updating videos around 11 o'clock, which causes a lot of groans.

However, Xie Yuan was a little curious about his video today.

Although it's grilled meat, it doesn't look like real meat.

It looks more like...game graphics?

This really piqued his curiosity; what kind of work was this?

In the video, a calm yet slightly goofy voice can be heard.

"Hello everyone, I'm Chef Pan. Tonight's late-night food temptation segment features a roasted dragon leg, for which I've transformed into a cat."

The camera suddenly zooms out.

Xie Yuan sat up abruptly from the bed, dumbfounded.

Isn't that a cat from Monster Hunter?!

In the game, you can help fight, and you can also cook meat and food for the Azure Stars.

This is this.

What is this?

Before Xie Yuan could recover from his daze...

The video is still playing.

"Wait, why did I turn into a cat?!"

"Okay, that's not important. What's important is that I'm going to prepare a sumptuous barbecue for those heroes! For the sake of environmental protection, for the peace of the Great Anthill Wasteland, we, the lovely and charming heroes, are the Azure Star traversing the New World!"

"As we all know, the best ingredients often require the simplest cooking methods. Today we're roasting the left hind leg of a giant jackal dinosaur..."

'

"What? You want to eat it too? Then come to Monster Hunter: World!"

The video style remains abstract, with a unique thought process, carrying on the style of the series.

But watching it made Xie Yuan's brain freeze.

Did I see something wrong?

A food blogger received a game developer's order?

Or in such a flawed way?

The game doesn't mention the core gameplay at all; it only briefly demonstrates some cooking-related mini-games.

I opened the comments section and took a look.

[Congratulations on receiving the advertisement!]

[This is hilarious! If future male characters are all like this, I'd love to see more of them!]

[Damn it, Lao Pan, this is a legitimate hunting game! Won't the client be furious if you just call it GG like this?]

[To be honest, I'm actually starting to get interested in this game. What kind of genius game developer would hire an YouTuber to do this kind of mind-blowing commercial?]

I quickly watched a few more videos.

Sure enough, he came across another new GG about Monster Hunter: World.

However, this time it's a pet blogger.

[Seriously, I can tolerate you saying fishing as a pet, but a mudskipper is a fish? Do you think I don't play games?!]

[Seriously? Can you really raise such a cool pet in this game?]

[Upstairs, you can definitely keep cats; these monsters and dragons are all targets for hunting.]

[This is interesting. I'm actually quite curious about this game.]

Xie Yuan looked on in bewilderment as a bunch of random content creators all accepted commercial contracts for "Monster Hunter: World".

The key point is that none of them mentioned the core gameplay.

They mostly promote the game within their own fields, using methods they are best at.

I must say, the results are pretty good.

After all, these bloggers have become successful because they have found a niche they are good at and a video format they are familiar with.

Creating in your own style has the advantage of not alienating the audience, making the videos very interesting, and maintaining the same high quality as your usual videos.

The downside is that it's difficult to explain the game's selling points, which can easily mislead players.

From Xie Yuan's perspective, even if this game is simple, it's still an action game, not the kind of simulation management game that you can play by tapping the screen. It still has a certain skill threshold.

It's hard to predict how badly these players, drawn in by the food and pets, will be beaten.

But why?

"Is this what genius is?" Xie Yuan murmured to himself, "Always keeping everyone guessing about the reason for their next move?"

Is this done to expand the player base?

But will the effect really be good?

Xie Yuan thought for a few seconds and decided to join a new player group to check things out.

So I opened QQ and searched, and coincidentally, someone actually created a QQ group this afternoon called "Monster Hunter: World New Player Exchange Group". Click to join!

The review was approved almost instantly.

Since the game group was only established a day ago, there aren't many members yet.

But it was very lively!

As soon as he entered, many people greeted Xie Yuan.

[Welcome newbie, the grumpy one! Newbie's nude photos revealed!]

[Is the newcomer from Nanliang? Is he a fencer?]

After casually saving a few erotic images, he then greeted his group members.

Almost simultaneously, another new person joined the QQ group.

"Losrick City Party Secretary?" Xie Yuan was both amused and exasperated. "These silly netizens really come up with all sorts of names."

The name is abstract, and the profile picture is also abstract; it's an emoji with a wise look in its eyes.

Yes, that's how we SoulWanderers are.

So Xie Yuan went up and greeted them warmly.

Meanwhile, in Lincheng.

In a well-furnished 300+ square meter apartment.

Du Wenyan, wearing a nightgown and a face mask, squatted on a gaming chair, holding a game controller, staring at the computer screen with a somewhat unseemly appearance.

The final boss of Dark Souls, the Lord of Cinder, is displaying his final madness.

A feast for the eyes with spectacular special effects and wide-ranging skills. While not the most difficult, it is certainly one of the most exhilarating bosses to fight.

With lightning speed, he rolled over, then picked up the Lothric Straight Sword and unleashed the final blow without hesitation, causing the BOSS to fall to the ground.

"NICE!" Du Wenyan clenched her fist happily. "Two passes! My skill level is still pretty high!"

I breathed a sigh of relief, took out my phone, snapped a photo of myself clearing the checkpoint, and posted it in my classmates' group chat, which drew praise from a group of people.

Then, as usual, I switched to a short video app and casually watched a couple of videos.

"Huh?" Du Wenyan was taken aback.

One of her favorite beauty bloggers received a commercial order.

As a viewer, I have no objection to this.

Yes, this is a business order for a game.

"Monster Hunter: World?"

"What a powerful character creation system! And the equipment combinations are so appealing too."

"Some are sexy, some are cool, some are sophisticated, some are sweet. This game looks good, can we play it now?"

"Wait a minute, isn't this developed by the same company as Dark Souls?"

After thinking about it, Du Wenyan decided to join a QQ group in advance.

Since it's an online game, the experience of playing with other people should be pretty good.

She's good at it and has a very strong desire to share and perform.

What's the difference between not sharing amazing plays or the latest progress and being a master of disguise?

With that in mind, Du Wenyan searched and joined a new QQ group—a newbie player exchange group for Monster Hunter: World.

Yeah, I can bring some of my girlfriends to fight the monsters they can't beat.

Approved instantly.

Then, the beeping continued.

[Grumpy Guy: Hello everyone, newbie reporting in~ But I'm a macho man, not from Nanliang]

[Grumpy Fungus: Welcome to the Secretary of the Lothric City Committee! Newcomer's photo!]

Upon seeing the message, Du Wenyan skillfully found the photos of Yu Xiaoming cosplaying as the Fire Keeper and posted them.

[Grumpy Bacteria: Drooling.jpg]

[Grumpy Mushroom: Bro, you smell so good]

[Lothric City Party Secretary: Bro, it's bigger than yours! (Funny.jpg)]

The next morning.

Old Wei looked his cousin up and down, then asked suspiciously, "You little rascal, were you up to something last night? Why are you so sleepy, coming back to your room so early?"

Xie Yuan touched his nose somewhat sheepishly and said, "I joined a new group and met a bunch of silly netizens. We chatted until a little late."

Xie Yuan did, after all, personally participate in the offline demo.

Not only did he know everything about Monster Hunter: World, but he also visited many other booths, learned a lot of interesting facts and details, and was naturally welcomed by the group.

He especially shares the same idiotic views with that silly netizen who is the secretary of the Los Rick City Committee.

Especially after reviewing the information, I learned that the other party was in Lincheng.

Well, if the timing is right, we can even meet up offline to play a game.

After having breakfast, the two brothers went to the venue early again to queue up.

The venue was already very crowded when regular players were allowed in on the first afternoon.

By the next morning, the queue had stretched as far as the eye could see.

After overcoming numerous difficulties and finally squeezing into the venue, Lao Wei felt as if he had been kissed hundreds of times by a treasure chest monster, and he collapsed again.

However, Xie Yuan remained energetic.

On the first day, the two mainly stayed in Hall 1, which is the venue where the main stage, Tianshuo Network Technology, and the Madhouse Studio are located.

Today is Venue 2.

After looking around, Xie Yuan asked, puzzled, "Cousin, isn't that Hongtu Studio's booth up ahead?"

Do they have any new games? Why is the queue for the demo so long?

Old Wei was also a little puzzled: "I haven't heard of it? Although Hongtu Studio has declined a lot now, it's still a veteran action game developer. If they had a new game, wouldn't they at least showcase it on the main stage?"

The two brothers walked a few steps forward, and seeing that they couldn't come up with anything, they simply stopped a player who was jogging to try out the game and asked him some questions.

The player was clearly annoyed at being stopped, but upon closer inspection, it was Old Wei!

Her anger subsided considerably in an instant, and she even went up to take a photo with them before saying, "Didn't you guys see it? Yesterday afternoon, Hongtu Studio's booth had a huge bonfire, and they said there was a surprise today!"

what?

The two brothers were momentarily stunned.

bonfire?

The Dark Souls bonfire?

No, the mental hospital's studio is right next door in Hall 1.

Are you guys really going to use your ultimate skills so close to each other?

The three of them then drew closer and saw more of what they were seeing.

Yes, it is indeed a campfire.

Hongtu Studio is very cunning; this campfire is clearly a copy of the Dark Souls campfire, but it's more of a resemblance in spirit than in form.

To be honest, it's not a case of plagiarism or copyright infringement.

But anyone with a discerning eye knows what this means.

Next, let's look at the game on display and available for hands-on testing—unsurprisingly, it's "War Souls 4".

Old Wei was silent for two seconds, then chuckled and said, "That's really cunning. Rumor has it that 'War Souls 4' was changed to 'Souls of the Souls' because of its poor reputation. They didn't promote it on the main stage on the first day. It seems they didn't know if Asylum Studios would release information about 'Dark Souls 2' or DLC, so they just held back."

,

Xie Yuan finally understood and couldn't help but curse, "You didn't see any new information about Black Soul, and you immediately jumped out to ride the wave and shamelessly try to get attention. Are all established studios this shameless? No wonder your junior sister switched from Hongtu to Chen Xuan's."

.