Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  “It’s only two months this time; to make all this money become losses gives a lot of pressure. I’ll follow my plan and stop developing new games. I’ll get Lu Mingliang and the others to work on updating the existing games. As for the internet cafe, I must open a few more chains and branches.

  “En, I still have to think of other ways as well. Time is of the essence; this task won’t be easy.”

  It was only five million in the System Funds on the surface-if Pei Qian wanted to successfully make a loss, he had to take into consideration the current profitable projects as well.

  Ghost General was earning six hundred thousand, Ocean Stronghold three million and five hundred thousand, and Game Designer was bringing in one million and seven hundred thousand monthly.

  These were the numbers post-article.

  Although Game Designer was a new game, it was-after all—not as widely accepted as a game like Ocean Stronghold; and players wouldn’t play it for long. Furthermore, many people had chosen Cloud Clearance. Although its reputation was good, its profits were still not comparable to Ocean Stronghold.

  Pei Qian only had one loss-making project: Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. However, only around three hundred thousand was lost monthly. Including the rental for the company office space, salaries, company benefits, and other expenses, that was at most one million monthly.

  Calculating like this, it seemed as if Pei Qian was using a cup of water to put out a fire!

  If Pei Qian did nothing, his monthly profits would be around four and a half million. Of course, this was a rough estimate. The sales for all three games would fluctuate monthly while he couldn’t precisely calculate company expenses that well. All in all, it was a ballpark figure.

  In two months, Pei Qian needed to make a loss of two months’ profits plus existing money in System funds; that was fourteen million in total.

  “Fourteen million yuan. Opening a new Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would cost three million. I can open another four branches then. When five internet cafes start to make losses together—besides the initial capital injection, I can still make losses of one and a half million. Perfect!

  “Hold on.

  “I have to make new editions for players this time; no matter how much I charge, I will definitely still make additional profits. It seems opening these new internet cafes might not be sufficient; I have to think of something else.”

  Pei Qian thought for three minutes but to no avail.

  “Forget it. I’ll start on the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes first. I’ll then slowly think about how to continue making losses.”

  The office atmosphere was very good. Some people were playing games; some were yawning while others were snacking and watching shows at the same time. Perhaps they were searching for travel destinations online.

  Pei Qian never cared that everyone used office hours to do their own things. While he appeared mum about this on the surface, he actually was very supportive of such acts internally. However, it was a pity that everyone gave it their all, and their morale was very high while working. That gave Pei Qian a headache.

  Tomorrow was the start of the Labor Day holidays. Tengda always had a policy of giving more holidays than required by law, never less. Furthermore, as this coincided with the just-completed release of a new game, many people had made plans to head out for this holiday. Some were planning to head home while others were going to play a little.

  Pei Qian called everyone to the conference room as he made plans for after the holidays. Soon, everyone had gathered.

  If it was any other boss, the first order of business would be to motivate all the employees and brag about Game Designer’s success, to praise everyone for working hard, and then encourage them to continue doing so for new projects to achieve stellar results once more.

  However, Pei Qian didn’t even mention any of these. He hadn’t completely recovered from his emotional trauma. Everyone also didn’t feel it was strange. After all, Boss Pei wasn’t a person who rested on his laurels!

  Pei Qian thought for a moment and decided to first address the first place elimination system.

  “First, I want to briefly mention the next best employee selection process. From now on, the best employee selection would be done twice a year, on February 1st and August 1st. Each best employee would be awarded a one-million Dream Fund while the second-best would be given a month of paid leave.”

  After the previous round of selection, Pei Qian had not considered when the next round was going to take place. He had actually intended to do it more often to reap the benefits. However, Pei Qian had fixed it at twice a year mainly because Pei Qian realized that this first place elimination system didn’t seem to be very manageable.

  Furthermore, Lu Mingliang had been doing a rather good job as chief planner, and Pei Qian was rather pleased. He didn’t want to let Lu Mingliang go. Now, Pei Qian was extremely careful when it came to similar manpower deployments or movements; he was worried that he would dig out yet another hidden talent!

  However, he couldn’t completely abolish this system; and so Pei Qian had settled on it being a twice-a-year affair.

  Regarding this, everyone didn’t have any comments. Everyone felt that even if they had to choose one person this time, they couldn’t think of anyone special to nominate. Most of them would just give their votes to Lu Mingliang.

  However, strictly speaking, Lu Mingliang wasn’t really worthy of this award. After all, from the developing process to the release of the new game, Boss Pei had personally overseen everything.

  Even Lu Mingliang himself felt this way Furthermore, as Boss Pei had also not previously dictated the period for each selection, everyone all accepted his decision. There were still three months till August 1st; many people were rubbing their hands together and raring to give it a shot!

  Even if they couldn’t become the best employee and clinch the one million Dream Fund, even getting second place and having a month of paid leave was a very good thing! Only Bao Xu shivered a little and really wanted to ask Boss Pei if he could automatically be withdrawn from consideration.

  Seeing that no one had any dissenting views, Pei Qian continued. “I’ll talk about the work plan for the next two months.

  “Considering that the players of our existing games have a strong desire for updates and new editions, I have decided to temporarily stop the development of new games. We will spend these two months to update and refresh our current games to fulfill the wishes of our players.

  “The rough plan is as such.

  “For The Lonely Desert Road, there will be a new Endless Mode, multiplayer function, and a new map. They were to be priced at one yuan as new downloadable content.

  “For Ghost General, there is going to be a new set of generals, priced at five yuan.

  “For Ocean Stronghold, there is going to be a new epic weapon, priced at 888 yuan. We’ll set a limit of five hundred weapons for sale each month.

  “For Game Designer, there is going to be a new language package and setting style, priced at five yuan.”

  Everyone instinctively looked at each other, confused. They haven’t heard wrongly, right? So cheap?! Could they recoup their capital?

  Just for Ghost General and Game Designer, as their animation had been done personally by Ruan Guangjian, even if he had a very good relationship with the Big Boss; he still had to be paid accordingly!

  As for Ocean Stronghold, it was even more ridiculous. The new epic weapon was limited to five hundred pieces monthly?

  Ocean Stronghold had around four hundred to five hundred thousand active players. To sell only five hundred pieces a month? Wouldn’t they only be able to earn two hundred thousand monthly?

  Everyone’s expressions changed from shock to confusion and then back to admiration again.

  Indeed, only Boss Pei could do something like this!

  Pei Qian’s expression still looked very ordinary even though he was showered with looks of admiration and respect.

  It c
ouldn’t be helped. The five-yuan downloadable content for Game Designer and Ghost General had been the lowest price that the system was willing to accept. Also, he couldn’t use a downloadable content method to make profits from Ocean Stronghold and could only continue selling epic weapons.

  The new epic weapon priced at 888… the system had not allowed a change in price. Pei Qian could only take another path and limit the number of sales a month. This way, only five hundred could be sold a month; wouldn’t he be able to suppress the income from it, then?

  Chapter 136 - Don’t Say Anymore; I’ll Take Over!

  Soon, the plans for each game’s new updates were all decided and arranged. As for the specifics of these plans, Pei Qian didn’t care about it as he left it all to Lu Mingliang to settle. Pei Qian viewed this matter rather positively.

  He knew that these new editions and downloadable contents were definitely going to make money. However, while they might make some money, they would not make that much as well.

  Since earning the money from these games was within his expectations, he wasn’t going to be too upset about this.

  If these games actually turned in a loss? That would be an unexpected joyous event!

  Indeed, after his thinking changed, life seemed to become rosier; and he became happier.

  After the meeting ended, Pei Qian prepared to make his way to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. He wanted to swiftly finalize the matter of opening new branches and to decide on venues and start renovations right after the Labor Day holidays were over.

  To finish renovations in one month and start incurring losses the next; this would be just in time for the next settlement. The timing was perfect.

  Pei Qian had just left the conference room when Ma Yiqun called out and stopped him. “Boss Pei, could I talk to you about something privately?’

  Pei Qian was a little stunned as he then nodded and said, “Alright, follow me to my office.”

  Pei Qian actually really liked someone like Ma Yiqun. It was hard to find such a lucky charm. To date, Ma Yiqun had been very diligent and obedient in the company, learning from Boss Pei’s advanced game designs philosophy. He had not done any meaningful work at all.

  Regarding this, Pei Qian was rather pleased. If every employee was like Ma Yiqun, Pei Qian could spend less time worrying.

  “What’s up?” Pei Qian sat down behind his desk as he gestured at the chair across him, asking Ma Yiqun to take a seat as well.

  Ma Yiqun looked a little embarrassed. However, after hesitating, he still spoke up. “Boss Pei, it’s like this. I have a friend, and he has encountered a situation recently…”

  Pei Qian revealed a light smile, “Are you referring to yourself? Don’t worry; if you have any difficulties, do tell me directly. I’ll give you three days of paid leave so that you can settle your issues and then come back to work.”

  Ma Yiqun hurriedly shook his head, “No, no, no. Boss Pei, you misunderstood. It really is my friend. Huang Sibo and I used to work at Shang Yang Games; you should know about this. After Huang Sibo left-as they were lacking an administrative planner, they hired someone to replace him.

  “Recently, this person had lost his job and had come to ask me if I could recommend him a position…”

  Huh?

  Pei Qian focused on Ma Yiqun’s use of the words ‘lost his job’. Normally, this was a phrase used if one had been forced into something and not a voluntary act. That person had not resigned but had been sacked?

  Pei Qian counted using his fingers. Huang Sibo had joined Tengda in November last year; that was around half a year ago only. Since this person was Huang Sibo’s replacement, he should have entered Shang Yang Games in November to take charge as an administrative planner. Then… he had been sacked in half a year?

  This person seemed rather talented! Pei Qian must have such talent here! However, after Pei Qian thought about it again, he figured that he had to ask clearly what happened.

  What was the main reason this person was sacked?

  If it was because he couldn’t perform up to standards, Pei Qian would probe no further and immediately take him on. If it was because this person had leaked company secrets or did other related illegal things, Pei Qian could not accept him then.

  If he did something wrong, Pei Qian was going to be implicated. The system did not allow any illegal activities to take place within the company.

  “Your friend… why did he get sacked?” Pei Qian asked.

  “Sacked? No, no, no.” Ma Yiqun hurriedly shook his head. “He lost his job because Shang Yang Games is going bust.”

  Pei Qian, “…”

  What a letdown.

  Pei Qian knew about Shang Yang Games; that was Huang Sibo’s old company after all. Furthermore, Jingzhou City didn’t have that many games companies; and Shang Yang Games was considered a more reputable one.

  However, he had heard that this company was doing fairly well; why had it collapsed?

  Pei Qian was very envious!

  “Shang Yang Games… why did it collapse?” Pei Qian asked, sounding very concerned. He was really concerned. After all, this could be a valuable learning experience for him, right?

  Ma Yiqun was also a little emotional. After all, he had worked at Shang Yang Games for a very long time; he would be lying if he said he didn’t have feelings for the place.

  “Sigh, this story is rather long.

  “Signs of this have actually appeared quite early on. Since October last year, many in Shang Yang Games had already started to look for jobs. Even our chief planner back then, old Liu, had also attempted to jump ship. Things were already rather bad back then.”

  Pei Qian recalled and realized that indeed had been the case.

  November last year, Old Liu had come for the interview almost in tandem with Huang Sibo. As Old Liu had much experience, he had then been rejected by Pei Qian. Come to think of it, that a company’s chief planner was secretly thinking of jumping ship, that company’s situation must be rather bad.

  Ma Yiqun continued, “However, although the company situation was worsening back then, it could still somewhat maintain itself. After all, our main games were still accruing steady flows of revenue. However, cost pressures started to pile up.

  “Based on what I know, Old Liu actually was constantly thinking of leaving. However, as he did not find any particularly good opportunities, he had continued working there.

  “After that, old Liu saw Ocean Stronghold’s success and that its Red Kilin had been so popular even though it cost 888; he decided on a promotional activity to sell one weapon in his game at that price as well.

  “I suspect that he felt the company was going to sink and wanted to give it his all one more time.

  “In the end, the boss actually assented. After all, the company was facing financial difficulties and if they managed to get an influx in revenues in the short term, at least they could still save themselves for a while.

  “However, they were scolded badly by players! Not only did they not make any money, but the game’s reputation also tanked. Active players kept on deserting, and that was when revenue started to collapse rapidly!

  “They then couldn’t even save themselves anymore. Now, they can’t even afford to pay salaries. Last week, the boss there gathered everyone and said the company had run out of funds and for everyone to hurry up and find another job.

  “Hence, this brother of mine had contacted me.”

  Pei Qian listened quietly.

  I had actually contributed to this?

  Without Pei Qian even knowing, Ocean Stronghold had even sent Shang Yang Games on its way, making it tank even faster.

  All in all, this was too coincidental.

  Furthermore, Jingzhou City’s gaming industry was also rather small. At this moment, Pei Qian actually was a little envious of Shang Yang Games’ boss. Look at him, he could make as much loss as he wanted! Furthermore, he had done so badly he had immediately gone bankrupt!

  En? Hold on.

&n
bsp; Pei Qian suddenly had a stroke of inspiration.

  I have no need of being envious of him!

  I can just take over the business, right?! What was there to be envious about? How good would it be if I directly took over as boss of Shang Yang Games! A company that was already successfully bleeding money; if I took it over directly, wouldn’t that mean I was making losses as well?

  This was a treasure!

  Ma Yiqun saw that Pei Qian did not agree immediately as he hurriedly added, “Boss Pei, I know that Tengda’s standards for hiring new employees are very high. I hope that you can give my friend a chance… for him to come for an interview.”

  Pei Qian nodded, “Don’t worry. Your friend will not lose his job.”

  Ma Yiqun was stunned. He immediately cried out elatedly, “Really? Thank you, Boss Pei! I’m really thankful!”

  Ma Yiqun interpreted Boss Pei’s words as saying that even if his friend didn’t fulfill Tengda’s criteria and couldn’t join this company, Boss Pei would still recommend him for other jobs, right?

  Righteous! This man was too righteous!

  Ma Yiqun did not think that Boss Pei would actually agree so readily. It seemed like Boss Pei really treated all his employees as his friends-as his brothers!

  Ma Yiqun walked away feeling very grateful and thankful.

  Pei Qian was delighted. Whether Ma Yiqun’s friend fulfilled Tengda’s hiring standards; that was no longer important. As long as he bought the entire Shang Yang Games, wouldn’t that solve the problem? If Pei Qian bought it and allowed it to continue operating as per usual, all the losses incurred would then be counted as his.

  Where was he going to find such a good deal elsewhere?!

  Chapter 137 - Selecting New Branch Managers

  Pei Qian called Assistant Xin over, saying that he wanted to make a trip to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. On the way, Pei Qian briefly explained Shang Yang Games’ situation.

  “After the holiday, make some time to check Shang Yang Games out and then explain your findings to me in detail. You can leak some information to their boss; tell them that I am interested in acquiring them.”