Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  “Not good, GOG has updated their official website!” Ye Zhizhou’s face was solemn as if he was facing a huge enemy.

  Pei Qian’s mind was filled with question marks.

  Updated their official website?

  It was just an update on the official website, not the game itself; what was all the fuss about?

  A simple update on the official website could not possibly overwhelm the popularity of new heroes on IOI, right?

  It couldn’t be.

  Lin Wan and Pei Qian came to the office with doubts and looked at Ye Zhizhou’s computer.

  That was where they saw the title of the event written in huge artistic characters in an eye-catching position. “GOG online creative community, every player is a hero designer!”

  There was also a small line of text at the bottom. “If the idea is adopted, you will be able to get 5% of the profits of the skin of the hero as an indefinite cash reward!”

  There were many rules for the event, including the opening of special sections on the official website. Players could contribute and participants could vote for the submissions, so that the website would have regular traction.

  Ye Zhizhou apparently just discovered it. His face was serious. “Min Jingchao really has his ideas! I did not expect him to use this method to dip into the creativity of the players!

  “They would be able to save a lot of creative work this way and directly choose according to the players’ preferences. The design team will only work on the production which will save a lot of time!

  “That’s not all. This event seems to have caused an uproar among the GOG players because the rewards are so generous!

  “You will be able to get rewards as long as you participate in this forum regardless of whether your idea was adopted or not! Even an enthusiastic onlooker would be able to benefit! “GOG might not have launched any new heroes, but the attention of the players had been completely taken away by this event! “I’m afraid it would be difficult to grab the players’ attention away from this situation even if our new hero, ‘Bloodthirsty Lonely Shadow’ is published…”

  Lin Wan’s expression became serious as well.

  “I see… what a wonderful counterattack. As expected, our greatest enemies are our own people.

  “This way, they would be able to fully use the players’ wisdom to speed up the production of new heroes; they could also use a portion of the profit to tie the players to the GOG game to prevent them from rebelling.

  “Most importantly, this method will only work if you have a large enough player base. The GOG occupied the dominant position in terms of numbers in the previous competition.

  “They did not launch any new heroes, simply made an event page, and announced it on mobile and PC clients. It immediately aroused the players’ emotions… “Can we also…?” Ye Zhizhou asked a little indignantly.

  Lin Wan shook her head. “We cannot. We cannot intervene in the research and development of Finger Games. Finger Games will probably not adopt it even if we solicit enough opinion.

  “What’s more, we are only operating it. The pricing strategy has to be about the same as the international server. It is difficult to give players such generous rewards. Naturally, there will be no way to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the players.

  “We thought we found GOG’s Achilles’ heel, but I didn’t expect them to have found IOI’s Achilles’ heel instead…

  “I heard that Li Yada abdicated; Hu Xianbin was busy making new games. I never thought that Min Jingchao would be so difficult to deal with.

  “It seemed like we underestimated the enemy. Everyone in the Tengda Games could face the enemy alone. No newcomer being promoted to a designer should be underestimated… “Boss Pei, no wonder you think that my current chances are less than 50%.” Lin Wan looked at Pei Qian and said with emotion. “Indeed, GOG’s move reduced our odds of winning to about 40%. Sure enough, any wrong step in the exchange of blows with masters meant that it would be very difficult to catch up from behind later on.”

  Boss Pei simply blinked without any additional expression.

  Lin Wan could not help but show a dazing expression. “Boss Pei, were you mentally prepared since you expected that they would adopt such a strategy?” Pei Qian: “…”

  Question marks started floating above Pei Qian’s head after reacting a few seconds later.

  “???”

  What the heck was this! Pei Qian did not have much expression, not because he was calm, but because everything happened so suddenly that his brain did not have the capacity to keep up.

  So…

  Tengda Games figured out a way to let players create their heroes because I did not let them recruit more people? Shameless! Not using their own brains to design the heroes but siphoning creativity from players. Was there still any law and order?

  Finger Games were seriously designing heroes while you guys just decided to copy! Shameless!

  Pei Qian almost trembled with anger. It felt as though he was warming up for a marathon when the athlete beside him suddenly hopped on a motorcycle to speed off.

  They might be giving players some profits, but that was just a portion of the profits and would be of no help in making losses!

  Wait, giving players profits?

  Pei Qian suddenly realized that he seemed to have overlooked the most crucial piece of information.

  “Wait, what did you say the highest reward for the adoption of the hero was?”

  Chapter 502 - Teacher He, Can You Share Your Experience in Failing?

  Ye Zhizhou replied, “Boss Pei, it’ll be 5% of profits earned from the sale of all skins for that hero and the relevant title for the hero.”

  Pei Qian was silent. He didn’t care about the other rewards, but 5% of the profits earned from the sale of all skins for the relevant hero…

  Needless to say, that was no small amount!

  The key thing was that the reward would last for life—it was permanent. As long as GOG was still operating, they would still distribute a portion of the profits earned.

  Others would undoubtedly wonder how long the game would be able to survive.

  After all, from the looks of the current state of the market, very few games were able to remain in operation for ten years and still remain prosperous and full of life. Those games were extremely rare.

  That was because the game industry was constantly changing. A successful game would have to compete with games in the same genre and games in other genres.

  For instance, people had once thought that MMORPGs would be the be-all and end-all for online games. However, MOBA games descended into the world and broke everyone’s mindsets.

  Now, how could people be sure that MOBA games would rule the industry as MMORPGs did in the past? How would they know that it wouldn’t disappear without a tract once another more popular game was released?

  Still, Pei Qian knew that GOG would continue to operate for a long time!

  If he was lucky, GOG would end up being defeated by IOI, and nobody would play it anymore. That would mean that the game would incur losses for a long time. Then, Pei Qian would be ecstatic. Of course, he would keep the game in operation so that he could keep burning money.

  As long as it was possible for the game to generate profits, the System wouldn’t object to it.

  However, if Pei Qian was unlucky, GOG would end up beating IOI, and it would become very profitable. Then, Pei Qian would have no reasonable excuse to take it down, and he would be forced to keep operating it.

  In other words, he would have to continue sharing 5% of the profits for a long, long time.

  Pei Qian was moved.

  Before this, he had lowered the prices of the skins to reduce revenue generated by the game. After that, Min Jingchao had given further discounts to improve gamers’ enthusiasm for the game.

  Yet, no matter how much they reduced the price or how many discounts they gave, the revenue earned would still only seem lowered to the game company, which was
powerful at making sales.

  To Pei Qian, it would never be enough! Pei Qian could not help but think about all the popular and successful heroes like Yasuo, Zed, and Lee Sin.

  If all of them moved over to GOG, wouldn’t the game achieve success immediately?

  Almost immediately, Pei Qian thought about another problem.

  Wait a minute, calm down. I can’t get in over my head over a mere 5% of profits…

  If I move all the heroes over to GOG, wouldn’t IOI be defeated once and for all? It takes a long time to create new heroes. We can create two new heroes per month at most, and we would only get slower as time goes by.

  Once we hit a certain number of heroes, every new hero’s skills would have to be connected to the others in some way. The balance would get harder to maintain as well. Those things would significantly slow down the development of new heroes later on as well.

  “In other words, only a limited number of people would get the money.

  “If I go crazy and move all the heroes over and I dominate all the profits, what would happen to the other gamers?

  “The event is meant for gamers to participate in. At the same time, it’s meant to repay our customers. It seems inappropriate for me to hog all the benefits.” Pei Qian considered that, if he started moving the heroes over, he would probably not be able to recall all the heroes. Still, recalling seventy to eighty percent of the heroes would likely not be a problem.

  That would exclude the rest of the gamers from participating in the event.

  It would be slightly overboard.

  What’s more, IOI’s current situation is quite dangerous. What if IOI collapses the moment I interfere?

  Although 5% of all profits earned from the sale of skins sounds tempting, I can forget about incurring losses once I turn GOG into a money tree. I would only get to convert 1:1000 of the profits for the rest of my life.

  What if the System adjusts the ratios based on the Matthew Effect again? That’s not likely, but it’s still possible…

  Yes, I have to keep my long-term goals in mind.

  After considering all the factors, Pei Qian summarized three main worries associated with moving all the classic heroes over to GOG.

  First, for the foreseeable future, there could only be that many heroes which could only be released that quickly. By extension, there were only so many people who could share in the profits.

  Pei Qian would not be able to get past his own conscience and steal those rewards out of the other gamers’ hands. After all, Boss Pei had so many other businesses. He could earn an income by scattering coins and incurring losses, but other gamers could not do the same.

  Boss Pei had his pride, and he was too embarrassed to take this step. On top of that, moving all the successful heroes to GOG could cause the game to become too popular. If things spiraled out of control and the game kept generating revenue, Pei Qian could forget about incurring losses in the future.

  Pei Qian still had a choice now. Incurring losses would certainly get him more money, but to a certain extent, he could still choose whether to incur losses or make profits.

  However, if GOG were to become popular, Pei Qian would have no choice but to make profits. It did not seem worth it to lose a choice in the long-term for this.

  Lastly, if IOI collapsed, what would Lin Wan do…?

  Lin Wan was in charge of IOI’s local server. If the game failed even after she had put in her best, she would think that she was severely lacking. Then, she would stay in Tengda to learn more and insist on not returning home.

  If that happened, who knew what kind of terrifying things her sister, her brother, and her father-who wanted to support her career wholeheartedly-would do…?

  Career

  Thus, after considering all of those things, Pei Qian decided not to take the bait that was meant for GOG’s gamers. He had to remain calm, take a holistic view of the situation, and think carefully before making any decisions.

  He would take a week to consider this further before he decided.

  Even if he wanted to move the successful heroes to GOG, he could not shamelessly steal all the money that had been set aside for the gamers. Instead, he could move one or two heroes just to supplement his own income.

  Moving one hero-just one hero-probably wouldn’t have such a big effect on the game’s outcome, right?

  April 28th, Thursday…

  At the cafe near Handong University…

  Pei Qian glanced at the clock. It was 1 PM. The class, including time for rest and time for chatting, would probably last until 5 PM. That would be four hours in total.

  After all, He An was receiving two hundred thousand yuan per lesson. Of course, he could not make each lesson too short.

  He An had two printed documents in his hands. He handed one set to Pei Qian.

  Pei Qian took it and briefly read it. Boss He had prepared seriously for this lesson. He had organized everything that he wanted to teach in this document and then printed it out.

  Obviously, he was a boss indeed. Since he had decided to teach Pei Qian, he was preparing for it very seriously. He had no intention to just take Pei Qian’s money and leave.

  Pei Qian was obviously elated.

  That was because the System would judge if Pei Qian had achieved anything based on whether he had acquired any knowledge or not. He would only be rewarded if he achieved the aim.

  The more serious He An was about teaching him, the higher Pei Qian’s chances would be of passing the System’s test in the end.

  However, less than two minutes into his happiness, Pei Qian’s face hardened slowly. He had just read the title of the teaching materials.

  “First Lesson on Successful Designs: The Way of Tengda Games’ Sales’!

  The corners of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched. He was finished! The ominous feeling had turned into reality!

  Last week, He An had set a few questions for Pei Qian, and all of them had been related to Tengda’s games.

  At the time, Pei Qian had not thought too much of it. He had unilaterally assumed that the test questions would be different from the actual teaching content.

  After all, He An had worked on so many successful games before. If he wanted to teach, he would surely teach based on his own successful experience, right?

  Yet, look at these! What the h*ll the materials were about now?! Were they all going to be about Tengda Games?

  Am I spending two hundred thousand yuan per lesson, just to learn about my own way of doing sales?

  What’s more, I don’t even have a specific way of doing sales!

  Pei Qian felt slightly awkward. “Teacher He, is this what we’re learning?”

  “Huh?” He An seemed surprised by ‘Ma Yang’s question. “Is there a problem?’

  Pei Qian cleared his throat. “Teacher He, have you ever worked on games that failed? Can you share about your experience failing? As the saying goes, failure is the mother of all successes. I want to learn more about the ‘mother’.”

  He An sniggered. “Boss Ma, you have the mindset of a classic layman.”

  Pei Qian: “…”

  He An explained, “I have taken a detour before, but the saying ‘failure is the mother of all successes’ only applies if you find the right path after failing yourself. If the right path is right before your eyes, why should you still insist on taking the detour?

  “You’ve got the cause and effect all wrong. You think that the reason behind many people’s success is that they have learned from their own failures. However, the truth is simply that they have found the right path.

  “Boss Ma, no matter what you do, don’t try to understand those ‘lessons’ on purpose.

  “That’s because, if you don’t know about a failed plan, you wouldn’t think in that direction. On the other hand, knowing about too many failed plans might end up distracting you from the right path and shaking your determination.”Pei Qian: “…”

  Distracting me from the right path and shaking my determin
ation? When you put it this way, I want to learn about it all the more. What should I do…?

  Pei Qian refused to give up. “Boss He, even so, we don’t have to learn from Tengda Games, do we?”

  He An gave Pei Qian a small smile. “If you want to learn, you obviously have to learn the latest and best design concepts. Who would learn outdated concepts? Furthermore, you’re an employee of Tengda to begin with. It should be easier for you to understand and grasp Tengda’s design concepts. Pei Qian: “But…”

  He An’s expression darkened. “Boss Ma, stop biting off more than you can chew! Since you’ve invited me to teach you, you should take what I want to teach you seriously. Otherwise, please find someone else to teach you instead!”

  Pei Qian stopped talking at once. It looked like Boss He was hell-bent on teaching Pei Qian about Tengda’s games.

  However, on further thought, it made sense. Boss He had spent so much time and effort preparing for this first lesson. How could he not lose his temper upon realizing that Pei Qian did not want to learn about this?

  Forget it, Pei Qian had to respect his elders. For all he knew, he might learn something from the lesson after all. Moreover, this was only their first lesson. Boss He would teach him about other things later on… right?

  Chapter 503 - Back to a Familiar Place

  Pei Qian nodded. “Alright, Teacher He. Let’s get started.”

  He An’s expression lightened. “Yes, that’s the attitude you should have if you want to learn. Today, we’ll be talking about a few of the fundamental concepts associated with game design theory. “This fundamental concept is ‘accommodation’! ‘Accommodation’ means choosing different design genres, paths, and advertising methods for different groups of gamers.

  “All in all, every single detail of the game has to match the target audience. A single mistake in detail could result in the game’s sudden death. You cannot afford to be sloppy.”