Here’s the polished English translation, keeping the narrative tone and flow natural:
The reactions from Dai Xiaomei and the players were something even Lin Yuan hadn’t expected.
The China’s gaming industry was so underdeveloped—and players had been deceived by bad developers so many times—that they no longer dared to place even the slightest hope in domestic games.
Even when faced with a genuinely good game or PV, they simply couldn’t believe it was real.
Lin Yuan sighed.
Players in this world really had it rough.
Having gone through something similar himself, he wanted to bring them a glimmer of hope.
He wanted to heal their repeatedly wounded hearts with games like Genshin Impact.
At that moment, many department heads in the meeting room had already opened their laptops, ready to argue with netizens online.
After all, seeing something they had worked so hard on being called trash and a scam—it was hard for anyone to accept.
“No need to worry about it.
Facts speak louder than words,” Lin Yuan said, waving his hand.
If they really tried to argue online, they wouldn’t stand a chance against the players.
But once Genshin Impact was released, all the slander would disappear on its own.
“And besides, all this criticism might actually be a good thing.”
“A good thing?” Wang Xiaomei looked at him, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.
“Well, even bad publicity is still publicity,” Lin Yuan said with a grin.
“Our company is still new—our visibility and discussion levels are extremely low.”
“Without spending massive amounts on marketing, it would be hard to make Genshin go viral before release.”
“But now… that might not be the case.”
Sure enough, just as he finished speaking, the head of marketing suddenly shouted excitedly:
“The total online discussion volume for the PV and Genshin Impact has surpassed one million!”
As he spoke, he quickly projected real-time data onto the big screen.
To him, exposure mattered far more than public opinion.
Within just one hour of release, the game’s total discussion volume had exceeded one million.
That was undeniably a huge marketing success.
On the screen, topics related to the PV had already crossed the million mark—and even made it onto trending lists on several social media platforms!
And this was without spending any money on promotions.
It was entirely driven by organic discussion and the exposure from Dai Xiaomei’s stream.
Although most of the conversations were criticizing them for “deceiving players with a PV,” it had undeniably drawn a huge number of new viewers to watch the video and learn about Genshin Impact and miHoYo.
Meanwhile, the PV’s views on video platforms had also surpassed one million within just an hour.
“Impressive!”
Looking at the data, Lin Yuan felt delighted.
Considering the current state of the domestic gaming market—and the actual quality of Genshin Impact—early criticism wasn’t a big concern.
After all, in his previous life, Genshin Impact had also faced massive backlash before release.
But in the end, its quality proved everything and completely reversed public opinion.
“Uh… boss, can I get reimbursed for this?” the marketing manager asked awkwardly, scratching his head.
The “rich viewer” who had sent the rocket donation in Dai Xiaomei’s stream… was actually him.
Thinking about the cost now still made his heart ache.
“Of course!
Absolutely!” Lin Yuan said cheerfully.
A single rocket donation generating this much exposure?
Totally worth it.
Still in high spirits, Lin Yuan turned to a gentle-looking woman in the room.
“Sister Xu, help him log the reimbursement.”
She nodded with a smile.
“Got it.”
After briefly discussing the next steps, the meeting came to an end.
This PV had only been a test.
Next time, they would release the actual game.
Based on the current reactions, the discussion surrounding the full release would far exceed what they were seeing now.
But at this moment, none of them realized just how far this “controversial popularity” would escalate.
After “The Outlander Who Caught the Wind” was watched by over a million viewers simultaneously in Dai Xiaomei’s stream, it completely blew up across the internet.
Previous “patriotic” scam games had relied heavily on marketing—but had very little real content to show.
They would recycle a few concept images over and over, quickly boring players.
But this time, miHoYo’s PV was different.
Even though almost no one believed it was real, the elements within it were deeply captivating:
A fantasy world, a fairy-tale town, knights and dragons.
Beautiful, scenery-like visuals, paired with excellent voice acting that perfectly matched each character…
Despite its short length, the PV felt like a journey through a magical world.
Even viewers who weren’t particularly interested in games found themselves intrigued after watching it.
But when they searched online for more information about Genshin Impact, they were shocked to find overwhelming mockery.
Many top streamers rushed to “debunk” it.
And major streamers on Shark Live didn’t want to miss out on the hype either.
Almost as if coordinated, they all came out to criticize the PV as fake.
Meanwhile, in a luxurious office building in Magic City…
At a branch of the marketing department of Penguin Games, a meeting was underway.
On the large screen in the conference room, miHoYo’s newly released PV was playing.
Soon, it ended.
“What do you all think?” asked a thin, sharp-eyed middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table, his hands clasped together.
“Judging from this PV, the company does have some capability,” said a capable-looking woman from the back.
“Of course, I mean in animation.”
“This newly established game company clearly doesn’t understand the environment of the domestic gaming industry—or the technical challenges of making an open-world game.”
“Exactly,” a short young man scoffed.
“They’re like newborn calves unafraid of tigers.”
“Once they burn through their funds and realize the game isn’t progressing, they’ll give up on their own.”
One by one, others in the meeting room voiced their opinions.
Normally they argued over everything—but this time, they were in complete agreement.
This new company, miHoYo…
Wouldn’t last more than six months.