“Our global finals will definitely not be any less popular than the GPL league in any way, however, there is indeed no need for us to go head to head with them considering the special circumstances of our local server. A lapse in timing could ensure that the popularity of the finals would be maximized.”
“On top of that, deep innovations in IOI’s gameplay are still underway. The next goal of the headquarters is to further absorb the advantages of the gameplay in GOG. I will fight against the public opinion and request to use the modified version in the finals to compete. I want to show the world’s players, especially the Chinese players, our determination.”
“Boss Zhao, how’s Long Yu Corporation doing?”
Zhao Xuming replied, “Everything is going smoothly at Long Yu Corporation. The progress is perfect!”
“Domestic players have accumulated a lot of resentment some time ago, because of the low-priced region and the changes to the game. However, we are beginning to see the effect of dragging it out.”
“Targeted compensation given to old gamers temporarily appeased their anger. As for the new version, while there were some changes to the gameplay, many old gamers did not resist it after adapting for a period of time.”
“I believe that as time passes, they will slowly accept it.”
“Of course, we cannot be blindly optimistic about the current situation. There are still some old gamers who are less active. However, this is not a big deal. As long as the global finals are done and IOI’s popularity rises, these old gamers will definitely return.”
“The local clubs are already foolproof. Long Yu Corporation has collaborated with three veteran clubs to help strengthen their team.”
“These three veteran clubs are famous clubs in the country. They are currently the strongest, and there is no problem for them to fight their way out of the qualifiers. The other clubs have also gotten quite a good transfer fee by buying players. They can also play a supporting role when they participate in the qualifiers.”
“This can be considered a win-win situation for the small clubs, big clubs, and us, the organizers.
“All in all, we are ready for the IOI World Finals!”
Chrétien nodded. “Yes. Is there a FV club among the three clubs you mentioned?”
Zhao Xuming was stunned. “Huh? No.”
“FV Club is a small club. It’s not famous. Even if they were to participate in the qualifiers, they could only be a sidekick. Their skills are very far from the pros.”
Chrétien could not help but frown, slightly stunned.
Obviously, both parties had deviations on their information.
“Then why is this FV Club spending their own money to advertise for the qualifiers? I thought this was an idea from Long Yu Corporation.” Chrétien said.
Zhao Xuming was confused. “When did this happen? Why didn’t I know about it?”
Chrétien was a little unhappy. “Since yesterday, Boss Zhao doesn’t seem to be very well-informed.”
Zhao Xuming quickly explained, “I’ve been busy for the past two days and didn’t pay much attention to this.”
He turned to his subordinate. “Do you know about this?”
The subordinate nodded. “I know. Actually, the publicity only appeared yesterday afternoon and evening. I’ve already sorted out the relevant content. I wanted to report to you later today.”
The subordinate quickly took the initiative to take the blame seeing that the atmosphere was not right.
Zhao Xuming said coldly, “Give it to me now!”
The subordinate quickly stood up and left. A moment later, he returned with a set of documents and handed them to Zhao Xuming.
Zhao Xuming took it and quickly scanned through it.
From the report, the FV Club had done publicity in many places, including live-stream platforms, video websites, forums, and so on. Apart from buying hot searches and advertisements, there were also signs of fake reviewers under these topics.
It had indeed greatly increased its popularity, but all of these marketing activities were limited to the domestic IOI qualifiers and FV Club.
What’s more, since the FV Club itself was not very famous, they had to use the IOI World Finals for marketing. Therefore, FV Club was not the most important part of the publicity.
It was no wonder that Chrétien thought that Long Yu Corporation had instructed the FV Club to do these marketing activities.
Zhao Xuming was confused. What was happening?
The emperor was not anxious, but the eunuch was?
Long Yu Corporation did not deliberately publicize IOI’s qualifiers in the country mainly because there was no need to waste money on it.
There were only a few teams participating in the domestic qualifiers. Other than the three veteran clubs like SUG, the other teams were just there to accompany the players. They had already been confirmed when the teams chose their players.
What’s more, the qualifiers would not attract much attention in the country. There would not be many people watching the competition either. The Long Yu Corporation did not plan to spend too much money on the field. They had only found a recording studio to make do with it and thought that it would be over after a walk.
Why spend so much money on marketing under such circumstances?
The audience would come in to take a look when the game became popular. That was it for the stage? That was the standard of the game? It was too far from GPL!
It might not have a good effect even if he were to spend money.
Thus, Zhao Xuming did not forget to publicize the game, he deliberately did not want to publicize it too widely. He just had to go through the motions and send the three veteran teams to the international competition. Then, he would do his best to publicize and generate popularity during the international competition.
Money had to be spent wisely.
However, FV Club paid for the publicity unexpectedly!
Zhao Xuming was confused. The qualifiers had nothing to do with them.
It would have been fine if the clubs like SUG were to pay for publicity. After all, they would be able to obtain real popularity and traffic. However, the FV Club was just there to accompany them. Wouldn’t it be a waste of money to advertise?
Chrétien became unhappy when he saw Zhao Xuming’s confused expression.
He gently knocked on the table and said, “Boss Zhao, the situation with FV Club is not of very good influence.”
“We don’t have enough publicity on our own. Many players actually obtained information from the FV Club, since there’s no news from the official platform. That makes us look unprofessional!”
“I originally thought that you were the one who instigated the publicity of the FV Club. I thought that you were not professional in this matter. However, I did not expect you to not know about this at all. This is even more unprofessional!”
“We have never asked about the domestic qualifiers due to our trust in Longyu Corporation. However, the current situation seems to be letting us down, right?”
The corners of Zhao Xuming’s mouth twitched. He was speechless.
How unlucky!
According to the original plan, they would just casually organize the domestic qualifiers. It would be fine as long as the scene was passable. The teams were all internally decided, and no one would watch them. Why would they create such a huge scene?
It would not be too late to save the money and wait for the international competition to kickstart.
The official platform was in a difficult position now that FV Club was doing this. Players would think that IOI’s official publicity was worse than a club’s. They would definitely think that Finger Games and Long Yu Corporation were unprofessional.
For example, the Long Yu Corporation was like a department leader. Initially, they had brought all their members along to slack off. Others could not tell, but they could feel that this department was not very impressive.
In the end, someone in the department su
ddenly worked hard as if they were on steroids and worked overtime every day. Everyone else in the department was exposed and became a bunch of useless people waiting to die.
The person-in-charge of the department would definitely be scolded the most.
Zhao Xuming quickly said, “Don’t worry, there’s still time to salvage the situation!”
“The competition will only start on Saturday. There are still two days left. We will invest some resources into promoting IOI’s qualifiers. That way, players will think that FV Club has only obtained insider information in advance. They will not think that we are unprofessional.”
“What’s more, we should be able to achieve a good effect by doing publicity now with FV Club’s publicity.”
Only then did Chrétien nod in satisfaction. “It would be best if you can salvage the situation. I believe in your professional abilities.”
On the surface, Zhao Xuming looked calm and relaxed. However, he was cursing in his heart.
Why was this FV looking for trouble? They were harming others without benefiting themselves!
This time, Long Yu Corporation would have to fork out another huge sum of money to invest in the qualifiers.
Not only did they have to spend money on advertising and marketing, but they also had to hurry up with the construction of the competition venue and make it more gaudy, right?
With more attention on the game, there would definitely be more players who would nitpick. If the venue was not good enough, it would definitely lower the level of the competition and be more embarrassing.
Of course, the game would start in two days. Time was of the essence, and it would be too late to change the venue. He could only purchase some decorations to improve the venue’s effect as much as possible.
Zhao Xuming still could not understand why FV Club had nothing better to do than to spend money to promote themselves, but he did not have the time to think about it.
After all, time was of the essence. The competition would begin in two days. Zhao Xuming had to focus all his energy on preparing for the qualifiers.
…
At the same time, in Beijing…
Tang Yishu alighted from the car and stepped carefully into the capital.
This was her first time here. Nothing had happened to her even though she had been frightened on the way.
However, that did not make Tang Yishu feel at ease. Instead, she felt more dangerous.
Perhaps it was because the safety measures had been done so well that bad luck had not found an opportunity to take advantage of. She did not know which breakthrough point bad luck would find that would suddenly explode with the accumulation.
Little Sun drove the car directly to the hotel parking lot. Qiu Hong had already helped to book a room and was waiting in the lobby.
According to the schedule, they would eat something at noon and rest for a while. In the afternoon, he would bring her to the independent game incubation base. They would visit the Cold-Faced Lady the next day and return to Jingzhou in the afternoon.
Qiu Hong looked at the mechanical watch in his hand and guessed that it was about time.
Two minutes later, he looked up and saw Tang Yishu at the hotel entrance.
The two drivers were like bodyguards, one on the left and one on the right, carefully protecting her safety. However, the automatic revolving door at the entrance of the hotel suddenly stopped for some unknown reason. The three of them froze on the spot.
Qiu Hong quickly opened the side door. “Little Tang, right? Come here!”
Tang Yishu and the two drivers had no choice but to walk through the side door. However, as soon as they entered the lobby, the revolving door at the entrance of the hotel returned to normal.
Qiu Hong did not pay much attention to it. He thought that it was just an accident and shook hands with Tang Yishu.
“You’ve had a long journey, the three of you must be tired from it. Here’s the itinerary: We’ll have a simple meal nearby, and then the three of you can go back to the hotel to rest at noon. We’ll gather in the lobby at two in the afternoon. I’ll bring everyone to the incubation base to take a look.”
“The time now is… Eh?”
Qiu Hong subconsciously raised his wrist to look at the time. However, he realized that the mechanical watch that had been working just now was no longer moving.
He was a little confused. He had been wearing this watch for a few years, and there had not been any major problems. He had just received a message on it a few minutes ago.
Why did it stop all of a sudden?
Tang Yishu looked up at the sky in embarrassment, pretending that nothing had happened.
…
At noon, at the independent game incubation base…
Wu Zhicheng was having a meal with a few new independent game designers in the resting area.
“See, I told you that Fish-Catching Take-Out’s tomato eggs are very delicious, right? They’re different from the ones made in restaurants outside, right? Fish-Catching Take-Out’s food is absolutely healthy.”
“…Huh? Work plan? Don’t worry about that. It’s not necessary to complete by the dateline. It can be adjusted. If you feel like you have anything new to add, feel free to look for Xi Hao.”
“…Don’t be afraid of him. Don’t treat Xi Hao as your boss or manager. He’s just the boss of the service department. He won’t interfere with the project. He’ll only plan the work according to your ideas. How the project is done depends on you.”
“Come, eat more.”
Wu Zhicheng was like an old veteran, showing meticulous care for the new independent game designers, even though he had only been here for less than a month.
At first, Wu Zhicheng thought that he would not be able to adapt to this kind of collective work. However, after coming here, he realized that it was completely different!
After coming here, the development of Black Ink and Clouds could only be described as progressing by leaps and bounds.
Wu Zhicheng also thought deeply about the difference.
Now that he recalled, thinking that he was efficient developing games at home previously was all an illusion.
That was because he would often be distracted by trivial matters when working at home. For example, what to do with the art resources in a certain part of the game, and what to do if he suddenly realized that the entire framework was unclear when he was halfway through the checkpoint. He would have to redo everything.
Similar situations often happened because Wu Zhicheng did not plan the entire project meticulously and comprehensively. Moreover, these trivial matters would indeed distract him.
However, after coming to this incubation base, everyone else was in charge of these small matters. Wu Zhicheng himself only needed to seriously think about creativity and design. Naturally, his efficiency increased a lot.
Many independent game designers could not make it because of this problem.
There were specializations in the industry. Even within the planning department, there were different types of work such as designing and modifying the gameplay, raising the art requirements, and planning and development progress. It was very difficult for anyone to be well-versed in all of them.
If he was not good at a certain part, he would have to spend a lot of energy to fill that shortcoming.
However, with the help of the incubation base, independent game designers like Wu Zhicheng only had to be in charge of creating creativity and game design. The other jobs had professionals helping them. With such a detailed division of labor, the efficiency was naturally greatly improved.
Initially, Wu Zhicheng was a little afraid of socializing and worried that he might run into problems in the workplace. However, after spending some time together, he realized that he was worrying for nothing!
As the person-in-charge of the administrative department, Xi Hao was very clear about the positioning of his own department: this was just a service department.
Thus, there wa
s no issue of who was in charge of whom. Naturally, there were no twists and turns in the workplace.
On the contrary, these independent game designers had been screened by Qiu Hong previously. They varied in capabilities but their personalities were rather simple. Thus, they did not do much mutual deception and were naturally closer to each other.
Wu Zhicheng realized that there were very few people in the world who were completely autistic and did not want to communicate with others. Many people looked so autistic and socially fearful because they were in a circle that was not suitable for them.
Wu Zhicheng was now in a circle that suited him very well. Thus, he was very happy every day and his personality became much more cheerful.
Everyone was having lunch happily when Xi Hao walked in.
“Boss Qiu might be bringing people over to take a look in the afternoon. I’m letting you know in advance, consider it an inspection.” Xi Hao said.
Wu Zhicheng was stunned. “Is there anything that we need to prepare in advance?”
Wu Zhicheng might have very little official work experience in companies but he had seen the inspection by leaders before. Usually, they had to make preparations in advance to leave a good impression on the leaders.
To be honest, Wu Zhicheng had always been very curious about who the boss behind the incubation base was, but he had never gotten a definite answer.
On the surface, Qiu Hong was in charge of everything. However, there were rumors that Qiu Hong was not the real boss. There was someone else behind the entire plan.
He wondered if the person who came to inspect this time was the real boss?
Xi Hao shook his head. “There’s no need to prepare anything in advance. We just have to show our true colors.”
“We are strictly following Boss Qiu’s instructions. The eight-hour work schedule might not be long, but everyone’s work is very serious and fulfilling. In fact, it is even better than 996 for many companies.”
“I think it should be enough as long as everyone shows this serious and responsible working attitude as usual.”
Chapter 775 - Too Many Mishaps
Xi Hao gave a few simple instructions before going back to work.
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 507