“There’s no sound at all. Isn’t this giving all the popularity to the GPL?”
“These people are too unprofessional. I have to think of a way to help them stir up popularity.”
“Hmm… how can I help?”
Pei Qian could not help but worry for them when he saw how low the popularity of the IOI Qualifiers was and how no one was discussing it.
If IOI’s popularity did not rise, how could it pose a threat to GOG?
If GOG’s popularity continued to soar, how were they going to lose money?
Thus, Pei Qian decided to lend a helping hand to Finger Games. At the very least, he could hype up the popularity of the IOI Qualification Competition and increase the popularity of the competition.
It was just a matter of spending some money on marketing; it would not cost much.
Finger Games and Long Yu Corporation were both big companies that did not lack money. Why were they so stingy on this matter? Pei Qian was quite puzzled.
However, on further thought, he realized that they might have been too busy in preparing for the qualifiers and had not taken the time to hype it up.
Yes, that was possible.
All the more reason to give them a hand.
However, Pei Qian had not thought about how to help exactly.
It was impossible for him to pay out of his own pocket. Pei Qian only had peanuts and could only buy fake reviewers on the internet to boast a little.
What’s more, the main purpose of doing all these things was to lose money and convert into more Personal Wealth. Yet, he had to spend his Personal Wealth before he lost money. Was he crazy?
Thus, he had to think of a way to make the System reimburse him.
The problem was that IOI’s qualifiers wAS not organized by Tengda. How could the System reimburse him? That did not make sense.
Pei Qian rubbed his chin and thought hard for a long time. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
“Yes, didn’t I just invest in an IOI club! I can do something about it!”
Pei Qian had just gone to Shanghai and invested in the FV Club at lightning speed. Only two days had passed since then.
Spending the company’s money to publicize the IOI qualifiers did not make sense and the system would not approve of it. However, wouldn’t it do if he were to spend money to publicize the FV Club and the IOI qualifiers?
He could spend as much money as he wanted to advertise his club. The System was very tolerant of this!
While Pei Qian had once made up his mind not to interfere with the operations of the FV Club, giving them money for advertisement should not be considered as interfering with the operations, right?
Of course, there was also a hidden danger in doing so. What if the FV Club became famous, gained more attention, and became profitable?
However, after some thought, Pei Qian realized that the possibility of this happening was too low. It was almost negligible.
What is the current situation of FV Club?
They had some money, but not much. Pei Qian had only given him three million yuan. That amount of money was nothing compared to the investments of the rich clubs. There was no need to mention the players since only three of them were left, and they were not that strong.
What can happen even if they are to publicize such a club with all their might?
E-Sports was about results after all. Without results, no matter how much marketing one did, it would only make the audience feel disgusted and uncomfortable. On the contrary, it would speed up the loss of their audience appeal.
What’s more, the chances of FV Club making it out of the qualifiers were negligible. Their popularity could not be retained even if they were to advertise like crazy now.
All in all, money-burning publicity would focus only on IOI qualifiers. It would not affect FV Club much. What’s more, Pei Qian had justifiably spent a sum of money.
Perfect, simply perfect!
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more it suited him. He immediately called Wu Yue, the boss of the FV Club.
“Hello, Boss Pei?” The phone rang only a few times before being picked up. Wu Yue sounded sleepy, as if he had just woken up.
Pei Qian looked at his watch. It was almost 11 in the morning. *Is he still sleeping? That means that he wakes up even later than me?*
Good, Boss Pei admired such people.
Pei Qian asked, “Does the club have enough money to spend?”
Wu Yue was obviously stunned.
Didn’t Boss Pei invest three million yuan the day before? Why is he talking about money again today?
Could it be that… Boss Pei knows that I went to buy players and is worried that I don’t have enough money, so he wants to give me more money?
Wu Yue could not help but feel warm and moved. He quickly said, “Don’t worry, Boss Pei. We still have enough money. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Pei Qian was not satisfied with this answer.
How could there be enough money? This Wu Yue was obviously not honest enough.
Pei Qian cleared his throat. “There is obviously not enough money. If you think that you have enough money, it must be because you are not doing all that you can!”
“How about this, I’ll give you another three million yuan.”
“However, this three million yuan will be exclusively used as a marketing budget. Use this money to publicize online. Use various channels to publicize the FV Club and the upcoming IOI qualifiers.”
Wu Yue was stunned for a moment. He quickly said, “Boss Pei, three million yuan for marketing is too much! I’m afraid it won’t be very effective. It would be a waste…”
“How about this, we can use five hundred thousand yuan or one million yuan for marketing while we spend the rest elsewhere…”
Pei Qian’s eyes lit up when he heard the word ‘waste’.
Waste was great!
It would be a real waste to use it elsewhere.
Pei Qian immediately said, “No, you have to spend all three million yuan on marketing and publicity. What’s more, we have to spend it all before the weekend. We can’t leave a single cent!”
“Don’t ask why. Just spend it.”
While Pei Qian had said that he would not interfere with the daily operations of the FV Club, Wu Yue had no reason to turn him down.
Wu Yue had been silent for a long time on the other end of the line. Finally, he replied reluctantly, “Alright, Boss Pei. Since you’ve thought it through, I’ll take the three million yuan for marketing.”
Pei Qian nodded. “Yes, don’t worry and spend as much as you can. Oh yes, you must remember to promote the IOI qualifiers.”
Pei Qian was afraid that Wu Yue would forget. He would be putting the cart before the horse if he were to publicize FV Club but not the IOI Qualifiers.
Pei Qian’s main aim was to let more people know about the IOI Qualification Competition and create popularity for IOI after all.
Wu Yue: “Alright, Boss Pei, I understand!”
…
Wu Yue sat up in bed after hanging up.
He rushed back from Jingzhou with a few players in the middle of the night and had also arranged accommodations for his team members. They had spent almost the entire night settling down and had only just fallen asleep at six in the morning.
He did not expect to be woken up by Boss Pei’s call in the afternoon and for another three million yuan to fall onto his lap.
Wu Yue was no longer sleepy. He got out of bed and washed his face. Afterwhich, he immediately called Manager Lu and explained the three million yuan marketing budget in detail.
Manager Lu had just woken up and was as confused as Wu Yue.
“Boss Pei gave us another three million yuan? What’s more, he specifically said that this is only for marketing expenses? We can only spend it on marketing?” Manager Lu also felt that this was a little ridiculous.
Why was Boss Pei so good to FV Club?
Other than the possibility that Boss Pe
i was actually Boss Wu’s long-lost father, it did not make sense.
Wu Yue said, “I made a rough deduction based on Boss Pei’s tone and recent events. Listen and let me know if you think this is possible?”
“The first thing Boss Pei asked me was if I had enough money. He must have found out about us buying players.”
“If that’s the case, Boss Pei must be giving us money to spend elsewhere.”
“Our team’s current strength is already considered very good in IOI’s e-sports circle. Our results would have to depend on the team’s adaptability. However, it would definitely not be a problem to compete with those strong teams.”
“Since we already have a certain level of strength, what our club lacks the most at the moment is obviously popularity and fame!”
“Boss Pei specially gave us a sum of marketing funds to remind us that it was the right time to generate popularity and heat.
Manager Lu was stunned for a moment. “But Boss Wu, the IOI qualifiers have not started. We are not sure that they will be able to qualify either. Wouldn’t the other clubs benefit for nothing if we are to generate heat now but not win the competition?”
Wu Yue shook his head. “There is such a risk, but we have to take it.”
“What’s the point of doing publicity after we’ve confirmed that we’ve made it? The competition would be almost over, and the heat would be over!”
“We have to publicize and warm up before the competition starts so that netizens will pay attention to the competition and our club. That way, we can gain more popularity after our team members achieve results.”
“As for the possibility of benefiting others… I can only say that this risk must be taken.”
“Boss Pei should be very clear about this as well. That’s why he repeatedly instructed us to spend all the money within a week. Isn’t he reminding us to create the hype before the game starts?”
Manager Lu suddenly understood. “That’s true.”
“Then, I’ll start preparing the publicity for FV Club and IOI qualifiers!”
…
Pei Qian put the E-Sports matter aside and stopped worrying after calling Wu Yue.
Even though he had spent three million yuan to promote IOI, Pei Qian did not have high hopes for the qualifiers. It would be best if they could generate popularity and help IOI fight back, but it did not matter even if they could not generate popularity.
The worst case scenario would be that the IOI qualifiers would still not be popular. However, three million yuan was already spent in Pei Qian’s eyes.
Pei Qian began to think about Beijing again.
At the moment, Pei Qian was more concerned about two projects in Beijing. The first was Qiu Hong’s independent game incubation base, and the second was Meng Chang’s Cold-Faced Lady.
The independent game incubation base had been officially operating for half a month. Pei Qian had not been there even once and was completely unaware of the situation there.
For some reason, he felt a little uneasy.
What if there were actually some money to be made in these independent games? What if the income from two or three games completely covered the losses of other games and the expenses of the incubation base? What if there were even profits?
Pei Qian knew his own character very well. It was not impossible, and it was very likely.
Thus, he was inexplicably worried.
However, Pei Qian could not personally go and take a look because the Destitution Plan and the incubation base had nothing to do with Tengda at the moment. Wouldn’t Pei Qian be exposing himself if he went?
Once the ‘Destitution Plan’ project was linked to Tengda Corporation, all sorts of capable, ambitious, and independent game producers would come to seek refuge. Then, the chances of this project losing money would be greatly reduced.
The other project was the Cold-Faced Lady.
Pei Qian had invested a lot of money into this project. It was impossible for him not to be worried.
It would be fine if he made a loss on such a project, however, it was precisely this type of projects that would go on to become unicorns if they were to succeed. Pei Qian also felt uneasy since he had never been there personally.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to send someone to take a look after much thought.
That person would make a trip to Beijing and check out the incubation base for the Destitution Plan and then check out Cold-Faced Lady’s shop and gather some information before reporting back to him.
It might not be useful, but at least he could feel more at ease.
However, the question was, who should he send?
The most important thing about this person was honesty. This person should not be too subjective in his or her judgment, and it would be best if he or she was not in charge of the various departments.
It was not a big deal to delay the department’s work, but it would be bad if the two projects were to be linked after this.
Thus, after some consideration, Pei Qian quickly decided on the best candidate.
He would send Little Tang!
Until now, Tang Yishu had no other work to do apart from managing the students’ meetings and feeding the cats. He did not need to worry about any possibility of linked effect from her journey to Beijing.
What’s more, Tang Yishu’s presence in Tengda Corporation was very weak. Even if she appeared in an independent game incubation base, no one would be able to guess the relationship between Tengda and the incubation base.
Apart from that, Tang Yishu was observing as a third party. She did not have any relevant professional knowledge and should be able to get rid of some subjective factors and see the actual situation of the independent incubation base and the cold-faced lady.
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed. He gave Tang Yishu a call.
“Hello? Senior.” Tang Yishu lowered her voice. “I’m in the study room. Give me a moment, I’ll head outside.”
A moment later, Tang Yishu’s voice returned to normal. “Senior, I’m out. What’s the matter?”
Pei Qian went straight to the point. “I want you to make a trip to Beijing over the next two days to help me with something. Our company has some business in Beijing at the moment. You can go take a look and report to me when you return.”
Tang Yishu sounded shocked. “Huh? S-Senior, I don’t think I can do it. I’m afraid of traveling…”
Pei Qian had already expected this. “It’s alright. This time, I’ll get Little Sun, who has the best driving skills in the company and another driver to accompany you. Before you set off, they’ll carefully inspect the car from beginning to end to ensure that nothing goes wrong on the way.”
“When Qiu Hong receives you, you don’t have to worry about anything. You just have to inspect it for me and then reflect on what you saw.”
Pei Qian knew very well that Tang Yishu’s luck was a little strange. However, her bad luck only appeared on small matters such as accidentally tripping on her way out or bugs appearing in the program.
Tang Yishu had never encountered life-threatening danger before. She was not a local in Jingzhou and had never met with a train derailment even though she traveled all the way here to study. Thus, there was nothing much to worry about.
It would be alright as long as Little Sun was extra careful.
Tang Yishu was still a little reluctant. “But Senior, it’s almost exam week. I still have to revise…”
Pei Qian smiled slightly. “It’s alright, it’s only for two days. Two days without revision would not affect you much with your calibre. It wouldn’t affect your scholarship.”
Every time he mentioned this, Pei Qian would be especially envious of these super geniuses.
Why did Tang Yishu score very well every time while he had to work so hard to pass?
This world was so unfair!
Tang Yishu hesitated for a moment but finally agreed. “I’ll make a trip then. However, I don’t know anything and
I might not be able to see any problems…”
Pei Qian smiled. “It doesn’t matter. Only people like you who don’t know anything can see some details. You don’t have to study on purpose or care about what others say. Just observe and then tell me what you have observed based on your first impression.”
“Oh right. Take note of the situation at the incubation base. Overtime is strictly not allowed.”
“If they don’t work overtime, take a look at their working conditions. If they are doing well, force them to play games. They must play for at least ten hours a week!”
Pei Qian had learnt to be smart now. He realized that he could no longer control these people by limiting their working hours. While many departments only had a short working time, their efficiency was very high. Their progress had not fallen behind at all!
Therefore, apart from working hours, he had to pay attention to the working conditions of the independent game designers in the incubation base. If their working conditions were off the charts, he had to take some measures.
Tang Yishu answered, “Alright, Senior.”
…
…
December 8th, Thursday…
At the headquarters of the Long Yu Corporation, the person-in-charge of IOI’s operations and cooperation department, Zhao Xuming, the person-in-charge of IOI’s local server, Chrétien, and the relevant staff were having a meeting.
Chrétien introduced Finger Games’ headquarters to everyone.
“The headquarters are currently preparing for the IOI World Finals. The finals will be held in Los Angeles this time and the venue is still being prepared. It should be completed by the end of this month.”
“The qualifiers from all over the world should be launched very soon to determine the participants of the international competition. The competition time for the international competition is temporarily set to be on the 24th of this month. The competition will officially begin on Saturday, which is the day of Christmas Eve. It will end on January 15th.”
“This competition basically does not coincide with the GPL competition. This is also my suggestion to the headquarters.”
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