Chapter 348: Textbook Marketing

Chapter 348: Chapter 348: Textbook Marketing

Fortunately, William had no classes in the afternoon, so he threw himself entirely into the game. After three hours of peeling back the layers, he finally managed to piece together the blood-written words in the ward (the reverse of "2917"), the coordinates of the shadow in the elevator shaft (3rd floor, room 5), and the string of numbers in the basement medical records (7-3-1-9) to crack the final password: "7319".

He immediately shared the password with the netizens he had teamed up with to solve the game.

The moment he entered the password into the game interface, the screen suddenly plunged into darkness, and only a line of crimson text slowly emerged: "Congratulations on passing the trial. The real game has only just begun."

Immediately after, an unreleased clip from the movie Saw suddenly played: in a dim, enclosed room, a figure wearing a bizarre mechanical mask appeared on screen, and a raspy, mechanical voice spoke: "You are obsessed with horror, craving thrills. Now, welcome to my home turf."

At the end of the clip, the movie’s release date, October 30, 2003, was clearly marked, along with a prompt: "Redeem premiere tickets with your game completion certificate."

The chat group instantly exploded. "Scream Queen" sent ten exclamation marks in a row: "It really is a teaser game for Saw! That clip just now was absolutely insane! That mask gave me goosebumps. I have to go watch it when it’s released!"

William replayed the clip over and over, suddenly noticing a toolbox that flashed by in the background. It was identical to the prop in the game’s basement.

He immediately took a screenshot and shared it: "Everyone, look here! The details in the game are all foreshadowing for the movie! The password ’7319’ we cracked earlier is likely the room number of the core secret chamber in the film! Future World is so good at doing tie-ins!"

This discovery sent the enthusiasm in the puzzle-solving group skyrocketing again. Some people started analyzing the game footage frame by frame, looking for more clues related to the movie.

"The whispers in the ventilation duct, when translated, sound like ’Make your choice.’ It must be a key line from the movie’s protagonist!"

"The ECG in the ward. The waveform is perfectly synced with the rhythm of the background music in the clip. The soundtrack must have been produced by the same team!"

The players’ spontaneous interpretations quickly created a chain reaction.

A large number of posts titled "Mysterious Horror Game × Saw Foreshadowing Analysis" appeared on Facebook, with every scene and every line of dialogue in the game being scrutinized repeatedly.

Someone discovered that the name of the film’s director, James Wan, was hidden in the game’s production credits. Others compared the color tones of the game and the movie’s concept posters, finding that both used the exact same dark, moody lighting style.

"So this is a prequel game for the movie!"

"Being able to exchange a completion certificate for premiere tickets, this perk is so generous! I need to hurry up and get my friends to team up and solve the puzzles!"

The popularity of the related topics continued to soar, even breaking into the top ten on Facebook’s trending list, instantly bringing Saw, which had previously only circulated within a small circle of hardcore horror fans, into the view of a much wider audience.

In Chen Shiyu’s office, the screen was syncing real-time data on player reactions.

When the keyword "Saw Teaser Game" appeared, he picked up the coffee on his desk and took a sip, a glint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

"The players have already spontaneously connected the game and the movie, two hours ahead of schedule." He said to the planning director beside him, "Has the hidden ending clue just thrown out by the ’Ghost Messenger’ sparked any new points of discussion?"

"It’s completely blown up!" The planning director pulled up the backend data, his tone excited. "The hidden ending requires collecting all five ’Jigsaw Tokens’ in the game.

Now, 80% of the core players have started a second playthrough. Moreover, some players discovered that once the tokens are combined, a QR code exclusive to the movie premiere appears. This design has caused a surge in users’ desire to share, with 5,000 retweets in just half an hour."

He paused and added, "Also, in the gameplay videos from those independent horror game bloggers, they have already started proactively promoting the movie’s release date.

The one with the highest view count has already broken 300,000, driving the movie’s official social media account to gain 200,000 followers. You have to realize that before this, Saw only had heat within the hardcore horror circle. Now, the attention from average users has tripled!"

The effectiveness of this promotional campaign was stunning, yet the cost required was merely hiring a few college students to create a rudimentary but seemingly "sincere" horror game. The funds spent on this were likely only one-tenth of traditional promotional methods.

Chen Shiyu clicked on the "Foreshadowing Analysis Post" compiled by players, and looking at the meticulously detailed analysis, a smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

This was exactly the best outcome that Irene Coppola had discussed with him.

In the 2003 horror movie market, most relied on traditional posters and trailers for promotion, while they used the format of an "immersive puzzle game" to make players voluntarily become promoters for the movie.

Having players drive the audience. Such an idea was not only innovative but also saved a significant amount of costs.

"The movie elements we embedded in the game were all precisely designed." Chen Shiyu explained, "The blood-written passwords, prop details, dialogue easter eggs. These were all ’precision feeding’ targeted at horror game enthusiasts and the core movie audience.

Facebook users in 2003 already enjoyed fresh interactive formats. We used ’unknown suspense’ to pique their curiosity, and then used premiere tickets to incentivize sharing, perfectly aligning with the current logic of social media dissemination."

The technical team sent new feedback at this moment: "Mr. Chen, according to data monitoring, 20,000 players have successfully obtained the qualification to redeem movie tickets, and 70% of them have already shared the game link to social media platforms.

Moreover, quite a few non-horror game enthusiasts have also downloaded the game to try and clear it after seeing the foreshadowing analysis shared by their friends.

The user base has already broken out of the 18 to 25 age student circle and expanded to 26 to 35 year old professionals, 40% of whom are core fans interested in independent horror films, and another 20% are new users attracted by the puzzle-solving elements."

The technical team pointed to the user profile analysis chart, "More importantly, the search volume for the two keywords Saw and ’Jigsaw Trial’ has skyrocketed by 800% on Google within 24 hours. Many theater chains have already proactively contacted us to inquire about the details of the release schedule!"

Chen Shiyu stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

The night in New York in 2003 was deep, and the city was brightly lit, just like the communities on Facebook that were boiling over because of the game and the movie.

"We have already won this teaser campaign." He said softly, "The current horror movie market is in desperate need of fresh gameplay. We used the game to max out the sense of anticipation. Now, even though Saw hasn’t been released yet, it already has sufficient buzz and an audience base."

He turned to look at the team, "Notify the R&D team to update the game with the final Chapter tomorrow, unlock the full movie trailer, and release another 100 ’Premiere VIP Seat’ perks to push the heat to its peak. We must make Saw the most anticipated horror movie of the second half of 2003!"

Meanwhile, in the puzzle-solving group, William and his teammates were busy doing a second playthrough of the game, searching for the last "Jigsaw Token."

For him, this carnival that fused horror, puzzle-solving, and movie easter eggs was not just a gaming experience, but an exclusive feast belonging to hardcore horror fans.

He did not yet know that every time he solved a puzzle and every time he shared, under the precise manipulation of Chen Shiyu’s team, it had become the most powerful promotional boost for this "unreleased" horror movie.

In this autumn of 2003, a wave of horror frenzy sparked by a Facebook game was paving the way for the explosive debut of Saw.