Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  Jiang Fan, who remained at the side to explain the game, could not help but offer reasons for the hiccups while perspiring profusely.

  He had no other choice. Qiu Hong was supplying him with funds, and so he was the boss!

  Jiang Fan could not afford to be careless. What if Boss Qiu became unhappy with something and decided not to invest in the game anymore? Wouldn’t Jiang Fan have a huge problem on his hands then?

  The funds they had left in the workspace could only last them over a month at most. From the looks of the current situation, they would not have enough funds to see the game to completion.

  If Boss Pei decided not to invest in it, the workspace would have to sit around and do nothing for a period. What’s more, if the game could not sell because it was incomplete, the workspace would lose everything, and all of its resources would have gone to waste.

  The sale of games was considered a one-off sale for most game developers.

  If the game was popular among customers, the workspace would only have to avoid messing up and continue to update content to make more and more money.

  However, if the game was not popular, customers would not purchase the game no matter what improvements and edits followed subsequently.

  It was rare for games to build a good reputation from constant improvement and editing alone.

  After all, no one would be able to tell whether the game failed merely because it was incomplete or problematic at its core.

  Continuing to invest resources in a failed project was far too risky, and few game developers would dare to make such a wager.

  That was what people meant when they said that a penny stumped heroes.

  Thus, on a certain level, the amount of money that Qiu Hong would provide today would determine the fate of the Survival Guide for Working Adults and Cherry Workspace.

  As Qiu Hong played the game, he pondered very seriously.

  He had been working hard on developing games with paywalls earlier, but he still had the ability to appreciate standalone games.

  To him, this game had a chance of succeeding, but the chances were not high.

  That was because a game mechanism like that was never before seen.

  The game itself was an educational game, but it was different from other educational games in the market. Mini-games had also been thrown into the mix to make it more interesting.

  What moved Qiu Hong even more was that the game’s description of’ ‘societal slaves’ was extremely apt. On one hand, the gamer would feel like it was a joke; yet, at the same time, they would feel a sense of bitterness.

  Obviously, Jiang Fan had injected his own experience while working into the game as well. Otherwise, Qiu Hong would not have found it so easy to empathize with the depiction of societal slaves in the game.

  The project completely fulfilled Boss Pei’s requirements!

  To say that the game was unreliable… it was quite interesting and novel. Moreover, while it was largely incomplete, the general framework was already in place. The developer, Jiang Fan, had once succeeded in creating standalone games as well.

  Yet, to say that it was reliable… Jiang Fan was a lawyer who had moved into developing games. His three other colleagues had illegitimate backgrounds in planning and strategizing as well. Leaving the innovation of the game to them was extremely risky, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to appeal to current gamers’ tastes.

  What’s more, the project was short of funds. One could say that they were nearly at the end of the road.

  Weren’t all the conditions for the ‘Destitution Plan’ satisfied?

  At that thought, Qiu Hong decided not to carry on playing. He immediately said, “Not bad! This project fits the bill for the Destitution Plan. We have decided to invest!

  “How much more funds do you think you would need to complete this project and maintain its quality?”

  Jiang Fan was stunned. At that moment, he had no idea how to react.

  You’ve decided to invest just like that?

  That’s too rash, isn’t it?

  Not even thirty minutes have passed since we began chatting!

  When other investors considered investing, they always beat about the bush and refused to broach the main subject for a long time. When it was time to negotiate the contract, there would also be many additional clauses and a lot of bargaining, which often tired Jiang Fan out.

  Yet, Boss Qiu had only exchanged a couple of pleasantries and experienced the game for ten minutes before deciding to invest. During those ten minutes, many lags and bugs occurred in the game as well.

  Jiang Fan could not help but feel emotional. After serious consideration, he said, “Boss Qiu, based on the current progress, I think we will need about four hundred thousand yuan more!”

  Qiu Hong nodded. “Alright. We will invest five hundred thousand yuan. Make sure that the game is produced perfectly!

  “However, I have two requests.

  “First, the game must be buy-to-play, and there must not be any in-game purchases available.

  “Second, once the game is put up for sale, you hit the minimum quantity to recover your capital, and start generating profits; we will split the profits according to our investment. Based on the proportion of our investment… we’ll take thirty percent.”

  Jiang Fan was dumbfounded. “That’s it?”

  Qiu Hong nodded. “That’s it. What else could there be?”

  Confused, Jiang Fan asked, “What if the game fails? What if we can’t even recover the initial six hundred thousand yuan?”

  Qiu Hong answered, “We will only accept split profits after you recover the initial six hundred thousand yuan. If you don’t generate profits, we will not get a single cent.”

  Jiang Fan was speechless.

  That sounded too good. It was as good as giving him money.

  Other investment companies that Jiang Fan had met with in the past wanted more than just shared profits. Many wanted shares in Cherry Workspace, and others were even bold enough to ask Jiang Fan to be jointly and severally liable.

  Compared to those companies, Boss Qiu seemed like a charitable philanthropist!

  Cherry Workspace would not stand to lose out at all if they took the five hundred thousand yuan, would it?

  If the game failed to recover its capital, Boss Qiu would not ask the workspace for a single cent. That would be as good as giving the workspace five hundred thousand yuan for nothing. If the game generated profits, Boss Qiu would only get thirty percent of the profits. That meant Cherry Workspace would earn much more.

  The conditions were so good that Jiang Fan found it difficult to believe.

  Qiu Hong grinned. “All in all, you can take some time to consider the terms and raise any questions.”

  Jiang Fan quickly nodded. “Of course, there are no questions! But Boss Qiu… your terms are so good that I’m finding it hard to believe this is true…

  “Are you sure you’re not doing charity?”

  Qiu Hong smiled. “Those are not my terms, but my boss’s.

  “He had set all of those prerequisites in advance. He also told us what kind of company to invest in, how much profits to take, and so on.

  “I’m just following his orders.

  “Strictly speaking, he’s the initiator of the Destitution Plan, and he’s the one paying for it as well.

  “Your workspace just so happened to fit his criteria perfectly. If you want to thank someone, thank my boss.”

  For some reason, after hearing Qiu Hong’s words, Jiang Fan’s heart grew warm, and he felt like a spring breeze had just lightened his mood.

  He felt like he had been walking in snow for a long time… when he was suddenly given a down jacket.

  Developing independent games could be extremely lonely. With limited manpower, the workspace had to fix the endless number of bugs that kept appearing in the game, and they seemed perpetually far away from the finish line. They found it extremely difficult to get help from people i
n the same industry, games channels, or investors alike.

  Once they started working on independent games, they could not turn back.

  Most workspaces that developed independent games quietly disbanded without anyone knowing. It was rare for companies to succeed, generate profits, and achieve their goals.

  Yet, now, the Destitution Plan made Jiang Fan feel like he was not alone.

  Someone was willing to lend him a helping hand and help him quietly!

  Deeply moved, Jiang Fan asked, “Boss Qiu, can I please ask who your boss is?”

  Qiu Hong smiled. “I’m sorry, I cannot tell you that. I must keep it a secret. However, my boss is very famous in the game industry. You have probably heard of him before.”

  Once again, Jiang Fan was stunned.

  He was doing a good deed without leaving a name? Did such an ideal person really exist?

  The ‘Destitution Plan’ was termed an investment project, but it was probably offering more help than anything else. More likely than not, it would end up incurring losses.

  If its purpose was not profits, it was probably a reputation.

  Yet, this big boss was doing it neither for profits nor for reputation. Was he really intent on doing good deeds? Did he really just want to assist in the development of domestically-produced independent games?

  How noble and generous must he be?!

  There were many big bosses in the local game industry, and so Jiang Fan could not figure out who this one was. Still, he only had respect for him.

  Qiu Hong stood up. “If you have no other questions, I’ll go back and prepare the contract. Once it’s signed, we’ll transfer the funds at once.”

  Everyone at Cherry Workspace stood up. “Alright, Boss Qiu. We’ll do a good job of the Survival Guide for Working Adults!”

  Qiu Hong smiled and nodded… and then left Cherry Workspace.

  For some reason, he had an amazing feeling.

  What he was doing now seemed much more meaningful than everything that he had been doing for the past few years combined.

  Seeing those young people in Cherry Workspace reminded Qiu Hong of himself many years ago.

  He had also been filled with drive and dreams.

  Yet, those young people were much luckier than he had been.

  If he had had the help of something like the Destitution Plan back then, would he have persisted in the field of standalone games?

  Feeling emotional, Qiu Hong headed towards the next game workspace that he had to inspect.

  Chapter 698 - The Regulation of an Esports Environment

  October 24th, Monday…

  The Manage Loss Trainees meeting was held as scheduled last Saturday.

  However, there was nothing worth talking about.

  That was because the cycle had just started, and the various departments were just getting started on their projects. What’s more, everyone was sticking quite closely to Boss Pei’s instructions, and so they could not find any signs of generating profits.

  Even if there were or if various departments worked together for a combined event, Pei Qian would only see them in the last month of the cycle.

  Thus, Pei Qian could relax considerably for now.

  Of course, even then, the Manage Loss Trainees meeting proceeded as usual. He could not afford to be careless.

  Today was Monday, and so Pei Qian prepared to head to DGE Club for a visit.

  Before this, Old Ma had done averagely in distributing cash through Weibo. However, the livestream had achieved considerable success. The old members of the DGE Club directed huge amounts of traffic to him, thus forming a virtuous cycle. Until now, Old Ma was still getting tens of thousands of new followers on his Weibo every day. It was very ridiculous.

  Fortunately, online trends passed as quickly as they came. Old Ma’s popularity from appearing on the livestreams of DGE’s old members was slowly dissipating.

  As for Old Ma’s current followers… most of them were only showing up for the money. For now, Pei Qian could not sense any threat.

  Thus, Pei Qian decided to cut off Ma Yang and the DGE Club’s link for once and for all!

  Once Old Ma noticed that he was gaining new followers at a slower rate, he might make an appearance as ‘Coach Ma’ on the livestreams of the DGE Club’s older members once again. Then, his number of followers might balloon once again. It was a significant hidden threat.

  Pei Qian had to think of a way to dissipate the popularity that Old Ma was not meant to gain in the first place.

  Thus, he headed towards the DGE Club to take extreme measures against Old Ma.

  …

  In the DGE Club, the ten new members finished their breakfast and prepared to commence their independent training.

  The DGE Club retained that part of the training schedule because it had proven effective. Although it was boring, everyone took it very seriously.

  When he saw Boss Pei appear, Zhang Yuan quickly stood up. “Boss Pei!”

  Boss Pei nodded and walked into the conference room, with Zhang Yuan following closely behind him. Neither of them wanted to interrupt the members’ training.

  “Boss Pei, do you have any instructions for me this time?” Zhang Yuan sounded slightly excited.

  More than a month had already passed since the international invitational tournament ended. All the clubs had become relatively confused by now.

  All of them had been burning money to poach people for the sake of the competition earlier. They had also been negotiating partnerships with Xing Le Livestream Platform, and the entire industry seemed to be buzzing.

  The international invitational tournament had indeed put most of the teams in the spotlight. However, once the tournament ended, their popularity dissipated as well.

  The next international invitational tournament would probably be a matter for the following year.

  Thus, for now, members and clubs alike would have too little of a drive.

  Zhang Yuan was no longer only in charge of DGE Club’s daily training schedule. He was also the communication line between various clubs and Tengda and had been put in charge of scheduling mock competitions for all teams.

  It was obvious that no one was as keen. They played in a slipshod manner at mock competitions, and star players invested more energy in their live-streams instead.

  The various clubs turned a blind eye to it and did not bother too much.

  Zhang Yuan thought that it was only natural for everyone to relax after the competition. However, slacking off and wasting time like that was quite inappropriate.

  Still, he did not have any solution to the problem.

  Could Boss Pei be coming today… to fix this problem on his behalf?

  Pei Qian sipped his tea and said, “I’ve already spoken to Boss Ma. He’s not allowed to continue live-streaming with DGE’s members anymore. He shouldn’t be interrupting their daily training.”

  Zhang Yuan was stunned. “Huh?

  “Er… Boss Pei, that isn’t a big deal. The clubs don’t have any particularly urgent training plans, and the team members have to live-stream either way. Inviting Boss Ma along would balance out the skills…”

  Pei Qian: “?”

  Zhang Yuan, whose side are you on?!

  Pei Qian’s expression became stern. “How can you allow that? Our club is formal, and the members are as important as we are. Their task is to do well in competitions and not to play games with their boss.

  “That’s why we have to be strict with ourselves and get our roles right. We can be managers, but we cannot be owners. There’s a crucial difference between the two, understand?”

  Zhang Yuan instinctively straightened his back.

  Was Boss Pei… just going by the books?

  Was he this critical even with Boss Ma, his trusted right-hand man and best friend?

  Strictly speaking, Boss Ma was acting inappropriately and using work resources to boost his personal fame by seeking to play games with DGE’s members.

  Howe
ver, on further thought, it was not that serious. Even the members didn’t think much of it.

  Yet, Boss Pei had told Boss Ma not to come and interrupt everyone’s daily training. Personal relationships were one matter, but work was another.

  He had to separate the two very clearly!

  Zhang Yuan suddenly understood that Boss Pei was setting the standard and an example for the DGE Club and the entire professional circle of GOG!

  The local esports industry had just taken off, and many clubs were filled with rich second-generation heirs. In terms of management, they did poorly. A few members played games with their bosses and forged good relationships to hold tightly onto their positions. Obviously, this was not desirable for formal clubs.

  By being an example and refusing to make an exception even for Boss Ma, Boss Pei was undoubtedly sending a clear signal to the rest of the industry.

  Obviously, Boss Pei was determined to legitimize the industry and other clubs!

  Zhang Yuan could not help but feel immense respect towards Boss Pei. “Alright, Boss Pei! I’ll supervise the club’s training closely and make sure that they become legitimate. I will not let them get distracted by irrelevant matters!”

  Pei Qian was stunned and momentarily speechless.

  I only said that the team’s not allowed to play games with Old Ma and make him more popular than he already is.

  I didn’t say anything else!

  How the h*ll did you arrive at that?!

  Forget it, forget it. The outcome will be the same either way.

  Pei Qian quietly sipped his tea.

  He had only come today to deal with Old Ma’s matter, and he had had no other plans.

  However, since he was already here, he decided to check on the club’s status anyway.

  At that thought, Pei Qian casually asked, “How have the DGE Club and the other clubs been recently?”

  Pei Qian only asked this casually because the DGE Club and the other clubs could possibly backstab him.

  Zhang Yuan perked up at once.

  There it was!

  Boss Pei is indeed here to offer me some guidance!