At that thought, Zhao Xuming said, “Boss Ding, to be honest, I have good news!”
“Currently, Finger Games is preparing for IOI’s world finals. What’s more, they place a lot of emphasis on the domestic market. That’s why they will give some slots to the local teams this time. There was an IOI branch in SUG to begin with. This time, I went against everyone’s wishes and convinced the upper echelons of Finger Games to give the club a slot.”
At this point, Zhao Xuming lowered his voice. “This is confidential information, please don’t spread it.”
Ding Gan quickly nodded. “Of course.”
Zhao Xuming continued, “This is my thoughts. The current IOI branch of the SUG Club is quite complete, and the members are more experienced. We’ll consider letting the SUG Club take the lead and organize a training tournament.”
“As for the other clubs, we will talk to them one by one. However, the teams of these clubs might still need to be strengthened and adjusted. Thus, we might need Boss Ding and Manager Yang to be on the ball for organizing the training tournament.”
“What do you think?”
Zhao Xuming had thought that Ding Gan would agree to it. He did not expect Ding Gan to look at Manager Yang awkwardly.
Zhao Xuming’s heart sank. He had a bad feeling.
However, he was very confused. What else could happen?
Would Ding Gan reject such a good opportunity to organize a training competition to enter the IOI World Finals?
Ding Gan looked a little awkward. “Boss Zhao, we are very grateful that you have helped us fight for such a precious opportunity. However, I’m afraid that organizing the training tournament… will be a little difficult. That’s because our IOI branch… has only three members left… for now.”
“If only you had come two days earlier.”
Zhao Xuming’s jaw dropped. “Huh?”
How could the IOI branch only have three members left?
Most of these people had thought of switching to GOG before, but they had not done so because the professional gamers at GOG were already saturated. If they went to compete, they would not be able to obtain good results or bonuses.
On the other hand, IOI had at least some meager subsidies to ensure the basic lives of these players.
What were the players doing then? Not playing professionals anymore?
That didn’t make sense. The branch was still there. What would happen to the penalty fees if they left?
Ding Gan quickly explained, “Boss Zhao, this is the situation.”
“Originally, the members of the IOI branch would play live-streams and occasionally arrange for training competitions. Recently, the training competitions have become more and more difficult to arrange. That’s because very few clubs have retained the IOI branch. They have all transferred to GOG.”
“A few days ago, several GOG clubs suddenly came over, saying that they wanted to buy players from IOI’s branch. They were also willing to pay the transfer fee, which was much higher than their current salary.”
“The players are all very tempted. We respected their wishes and… let them go.”
After being stunned for two seconds, Zhao Xuming suddenly realized something.
This is bad!
GOG had just formed a GPL some time ago. All the teams were frantically fighting for players. More than ten teams had been formed therefore the demand for players had increased exponentially.
While the members of IOI were more proficient in IOI, there would always be a few players with talent for GOG. In the past, there were few spots and no teams wanted them. However, now that the quota had been expanded, there would be teams that wanted these players with professional experience and talent.
Zhao Xuming had neglected this point partly because he had been busy negotiating with Finger Games previously and had no time to care about these clubs. On the other hand, it was also because when the GPL Club was just established, it did not show any intention of poaching IOI players.
He did not expect IOI’s team to be torn down after just a few days!
Zhao Xuming had originally thought that if there was still a complete IOI team in the SUG, they would not need to spend any more time to form a team. They could take the lead and organize a training competition. They should be able to obtain a relatively good ranking in the international competition.
However, now that two members had been poached, there was no more hope!
IOI was a five-person game after all. A lack of people meant that they had to recruit new people and work together again. The impact was too great.
When Zhao Xuming first arrived, he was filled with excitement and confidence. In the end, he was splashed with cold water.
Ding Gan was a little embarrassed as well. He quickly said, “It’s alright, Boss Zhao. We’ll start recruiting immediately. If it really doesn’t work out, we can spend money to buy people from other clubs. We’ll definitely reassemble the team as soon as possible!”
At first, Ding Gan did not think too much about it. He just felt that there was no point in keeping the IOI branch. Since there was no competition, he could still earn a sum of money by selling them to GOG’s club. It did not matter even if he sold them.
However, the IOI World Finals had been delivered right to his doorstep right on the heels of selling his players. How could he explain this?
After a moment of silence, Zhao Xuming nodded. “Alright.”
What else could he say? The players had already been sold. They could not possibly pay the breach of contract to buy them back, right? That would be a huge loss.
The main reason was that these players were now very valuable. The transfer fee was also much more expensive. Wouldn’t they be making a huge loss this time?
Ding Gan would rather buy the IOI team members from other clubs than buy his own team members back.
However, Zhao Xuming was worried that since GOG clubs had started to buy IOI members on a large scale, they were probably not only buying from SUG.
What if IOI teams from other clubs were also torn apart?
Was he going to use the existing teams to create two or three teams that could compete in the international competition, or was he going to find new players purely based on luck?
Zhao Xuming suddenly had an ominous feeling. He felt that his mission might look simple but it was not that easy to achieve.
Tengda’s mastermind had tentacles that extended far beyond his imagination!
“Could this be part of Boss Pei’s plan?”
Zhao Xuming suddenly shuddered.
Chapter 760 - E-Sports Holy Land
November 27th, Sunday…
Pei Qian did not set the alarm this morning. He had wanted to sleep happily until noon, but he woke up at seven in the morning and was no longer sleepy.
He felt an inexplicable sense of panic and unease.
“Which department is causing trouble for me again…”
Pei Qian was speechless. He tossed and turned but could not fall asleep. He took his cell phone from the bedside and swiped it aimlessly.
Then, he accessed IOI’s forum out of habit.
During this period of time, Pei Qian had been paying close attention to IOI. He hoped that the game would improve quickly so that he could legitimately burn money for GOG.
Two days ago, public opinion on IOI and Finger Games had not been very good. Pei Qian was very worried.
After two days, Long Yu Corporation should have made some moves, right? The players should have calmed down by now, right?
He hoped that IOI was alright.
However, just as Pei Qian clicked into IOI’s forum, he saw a post that made his heart jump.
‘Take a look at the comments on foreign websites. Let’s see how bad the ultimate move of Finger Games is!’
“Before this, I thought that the veteran gamers of the local server had been infuriated by IOI’s modifications. I didn’t expect foreign gamers to be even more furious than us! That’s because the
price of the foreign server is twice or even three times that of the local server since IOI wants to compete in the low-cost zone locally!”
“The old gamers of the local server only made losses because they bought it in the past. They can still enjoy discounts in the future, but foreign gamers can only buy it at the original price. The world is really tough…”
“The low-priced region is still alright. Aren’t many games platforms that implement low-priced regional strategies as well? What’s more, GOG’s local server skin seems to be much cheaper than overseas, right? I haven’t seen foreign players rebel.”
“GOG’s situation is completely different. However, in terms of pricing, it’s the same in China and overseas. The epic skins in China are 18 yuan and 45 yuan respectively. The epic skins overseas are 2.49 US dollars and 6.99 US dollars respectively. There’s basically no difference.”
“The reason why GOG is so cheap in the country is that it almost gives free skins. The key is that there is a creative community in the country! This is a benefit that we enjoy alone. Any player who provides creative skins for heroes would get a huge discount when they first sell them.”
“Foreigners have no objections?”
“Very few of them have objections because not every foreign gamer knows about the creative community. The prices of all districts are the same from the original price alone. What’s more, the prices of 2.49 US dollars and 6.99 US dollars are already low enough. What’s there to complain about?”
“I think another reason is that GOG’s skin has always been cheap from the beginning. Everyone is used to it, and there’s not much room for them to lower their prices. However, GOG’s skin was very expensive at the beginning. Moreover, too many veteran gamers have already bought a lot of skins. Now, their value was suddenly cut in half. No one can accept that.”
“That’s true. It’s just like buying a house and a car where the prices halved not long after the purchase, and the price would not be maintained. It’s a commercial act where most people would experience a mental breakdown…”
“Didn’t you say that you were going to create a commemorative skin and a commemorative portrait for old players?”
“At first, it was supposed to be for local players, but the veteran players in foreign servers quit. That’s why Finger Games changed its tune and said that all veteran players would have it. In the end, it did not have much of a calming effect…”
The more Pei Qian read the comments below the post, the more panicked he became. He sat up straight in bed.
“This is bad. IOI seems to have entered a vicious cycle.”
“Damn, I’m so envious…”
Pei Qian thought that Finger Games would be able to quell the anger of gamers very soon. However, it seemed like it was not that simple!
That was because the gamers that IOI was targeting were obviously split into three.
The new players in the local server, the veteran players in the local server, and the players in the international server. IOI couldn’t bear to let go of any of these three groups and wanted to curry favor with all of them, but the interests of these three groups were too different.
If Finger Games tried to please any group, it would trigger an intense backlash from the other two groups.
That would put them in a certain ‘luxury car predicament’. When luxury car brands faced problems and their value fell and sales fell, many luxury car brands could only choose to reduce their prices in order to stop losses.
However, once the price was lowered, the loyal old car owner would not be happy. What’s more, it would give people the impression that the car was not worth anything. That would further damage the brand’s value, and no one would buy the car.
They could not raise the price or lower it. Everything they did was wrong.
Pei Qian began to panic.
Bro, I didn’t do anything at all.
You can’t possibly kill yourselves and hand the entire market on a silver platter to GOG, right?
I have already torn Shang Yang Games into two and gave you a handicap. You’re crippling yourselves in the end? Don’t tell me you don’t even have the strength to fight back?
No way right, no way!
Pei Qian felt inexplicably frustrated as he brushed his teeth and continued scrolling through the forums.
Finally, his efforts paid off. He successfully found a relatively optimistic message.
“Rumor has it that IOI’s world finals are about to be held! I heard that they have invested a lot this time. The prize pool will definitely surpass GOG’s competition and it will be held in Los Angeles. It would definitely be huge!”
“It sounds good. IOI should be more competitive than GOG. If the competition is done well, it would definitely be able to increase its popularity. What’s more, the storm this time would probably be successfully diverted.”
Pei Qian had heard this news many times before. This time, it was probably true.
It could only be said that IOI’s first world finals had been full of trouble and misfortune.
In fact, this competition should have been held a long time ago. However, during that period of time, Dayak Corporation had invested heavily in acquiring Finger Games. They did not have much funds, and GOG had pushed the prize pool to a new height. IOI’s finals could only be shelved.
After all, it would be bad if they held it late but the prize pool was even lesser.
Now that Dayak Corporation and Finger Games should have already prepared the funds and venue since they were making their moves. They were confident that they could do better than GOG’s international invitational tournament which was why they released the news to appease the players.
Pei Qian could not help but feel emotional. In a freak combination of factors, history seemed to have been moved forward by him.
In his memory, LOL’s S1 Finals had been quite well done. A year later, as LOL developed rapidly, S2 moved to Los Angeles and became extremely influential.
IOI and LOL might be two vastly different games, Finger Games and Fist were completely different companies but, there was still some similarity in this matter.
Initially, Finger Games had only wanted to set up S1 and test waters.
In the end, they were forced to raise the amount of money invested into the project to the level two years later.
“Speaking of E-Sports… should I go to various clubs?”
“I haven’t paid much attention to these clubs since the GPL quota was auctioned last time. I wonder how their teams are doing.”
After washing up, Pei Qian prepared to head out for breakfast before heading to Ming Yun Villas to take a look.
It was said that the few clubs that had just joined the GPL had also selected their training bases at Ming Yun Villas. However, he did not know the current situation.
…
Pei Qian took a car to Ming Yun Villas after breakfast.
When they were about to reach Ming Yun Villas, Pei Qian noticed that the chauffeur, Little Sun, had deliberately turned a corner. He did not follow the same route as before. Instead, he changed his route.
“Boss Pei, it’s Sunday today. That road might be particularly congested. I’ll change to another road. It might be a detour, but it should save us some time.”
Pei Qian did not mind and nodded. “Alright.”
However, when Little Sun reached the fork in the road, Pei Qian suddenly felt that something was amiss.
He had taken the same route to Ming Yun Villas previously. It did not seem like there was much traffic.
Ming Yun Villas was located in the southeast of Jingzhou City. It was surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the scenery was not bad. However, not many people stayed in it because the facilities were not good at the beginning. That was why no one was interested in it.
Subsequently, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and the nameless restaurant were opened there. The nameless restaurant became famous overnight and this place gradually became a gathering place for many ri
ch businessmen and celebrities in Jingzhou. The surrounding streets also benefited from it, making it a small commercial center and food street.
Even so, Pei Qian had not encountered traffic jams before.
After all, the nameless restaurant could only accommodate so few customers. How many cars could there be even if the restaurant was filled every day?
Did he have to make a detour?
“Maybe it’s because… it’s Sunday today? Everyone just happened to be gathering outside? Yes, that must be it.”
“Hm?”
Pei Qian was trying to counsel himself when he realized that something was amiss outside the car window.
That was because he saw an internet cafe with booming business. He did not seem to have any impression of it before he came.
“Eh? Who is so enlightened? Opening an internet cafe to spread Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s traffic?”
Pei Qian was pleasantly surprised to see that the internet cafe was doing well. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
What’s more, this was not the earliest branch of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s Ming Yun Villas. It was only a few hundred meters away from the original Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
This path had not been taken often before, so Pei Qian had no impression of it.
Pei Qian was shocked. He asked Little Sun, “Why is there a Fish-Catching Internet Cafe here?”
Little Sun said, “Ah, Boss Pei, it’s just opened recently. There’s also a branch in Deposit Fitness. Don’t you know?”
Pei Qian: “?”
Little Sun continued, “Recently, all the major clubs have been moving in. The teams have also been formed. People from all over the country are coming over for training. Boss Xiao and Boss Guo felt that one internet cafe and one gym would not be enough, so they made early preparations to open branches here.”
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