Chapter 865: Old Friend Eric Is Back

February 2nd, Thursday...

Pei Qian continued to consider the work arrangements of the various departments in his office.

The new cell phone and smart fitness drying rack had taken care of Otto Technologies, Shang Yang Games, and Deposit Fitness. Pei Qian was very satisfied.

Pei Qian was especially satisfied with the design of the smart fitness drying rack.

No matter how one looked at it, this thing could not be sold, right?

Pei Qian could not help but feel proud at the thought that this idea could resolve the three departments that could backstab him.

However, there were still many tasks.

That was because Tengda Corporation had too many businesses and departments. Pei Qian could hardly manage all of them. However, he could not let his guard down because he did not know which department was preparing for something big. He would be forced to make profits if he was not careful.

Pei Qian still browsed through the work reports of the various departments. He thought about which projects would definitely incur losses to make the profitable departments work on them as he searched for clues.

Pei Qian felt a headache coming on after reading for a while. He took out his cell phone and scrolled through the news.

"Hm?"

"The upper echelons of Finger Games would have a change in personnel? The two data balance masters who was in contact with FRY Club privately had been fired and dealt with. The former head of China Region, Chrétien, has been dismissed. Eric will take over..."

"Eric is back?"

Pei Qian could not help but feel a little surprised when he saw this message.

Eric, my old friend!

IOI's global finals might have ended but the popularity of this competition had not subsided. FV Team' popularity and attention had increased unprecedentedly and won the championship. They had suddenly become a world-renowned team from a small and unknown club.

IOI's market share in the country might have been squeezed out by GOG but FV was still a domestic team after all. Many GOG players had been paying attention to them after they won the championship; not to mention internationally. Foreign players basically recognized this team and its five members.

All sorts of news about the FV Team were dug out after the competition.

On one hand, many exciting things could be dug out since FV Team had always been low-profile. On the other hand, FV's official Weibo account had been continuously working, and had also obtained a lot of attention for FV Team.

Thus, the content of FV Team being treated differently by Long Yu Corporation, Boss Pei providing them with top food and accommodation, logistics support, the strongest coaching team in history, and so on were all repeatedly discussed.

In the end, the news that two official statisticians of Finger Games had gone to FRY Team to help formulate strategies was exposed. It completely ignited public opinion!

Not only did domestic players protest strongly, the foreign players were also expressing that this was unacceptable.

FRY Team lost even more miserably because of this matter!

It was already very ugly for the finals to be 3: 0. It was worse that they obtained these results even though they had accepted tactical guidance!

Foreign players felt ashamed as well after such an incident was exposed. That was why they were pressuring Dayak Corporation and Finger Games.

Eric's minions, who were keeping an eye on Chrétien's faction,also took the opportunity to start an internal strife within Dayak Corporation.

The power struggle within Dayak Corporation was finally settled with the announcement of the official personnel changes.

Many players were still dissatisfied with the results even though Finger Games had fired two statistics balance masters after all. They had also eliminated a higher-up. They had done enough, and the voices of dissent gradually subsided.

However, the negative impact that this incident had on Finger Games and GOG would probably not be made up for a long time.

Pei Qian did not know what kind of power struggle Finger Games had. However, Eric becoming the person-in-charge of the China region might not be a bad thing from the results.

That was because Eric was more direct than Chrétien. Chrétien liked to play games in different ways, while Eric preferred to burn money directly. That suited Pei Qian better.

"Eric being able to return to being the person-in-charge of China this time means that the upper echelons of Dayak Corporation have also approved of his plan. So... is the real money-burning war about to start?"

"I'm suddenly looking forward to it!"

Pei Qian suddenly looked forward to Eric taking over IOI's local server.

Come, burn money with me!

He was just worried that he couldn't do it for a lack of reason!

...

At the same time, in the headquarters of Long Yu Corporation in Shanghai.

Zhao Xuming was all smiles as he welcomed Eric into the conference room.

"Mr. Eric, hello, hello!"

"You've been on the plane for more than ten hours. You must be tired from the long journey, right? Do you want to have some tea and rest before we start discussing business?"

Eric waved his hand. "No need. I'm very energetic now. Let's get to the main topic. Let's talk about the latest cooperation on IOI's domestic server."

Zhao Xuming did not dare to say much and quickly nodded. "Alright, no problem."

He did not say it out loud, but he knew very well in his heart that Eric's high-spirited manner was most likely due to him being newly reinstalled. He had to cooperate carefully.

Otherwise, he would be in even more danger.

Zhao Xuming and Long Yu Corporation's public relations department were also exhausted in dealing with the public relations crisis after matters were exposed previously. They did nothing but crisis management during the entire Chinese New Year holiday.

Zhao Xuming was also warned by the higher-ups after they barely managed to suppress the matter.

He might have been fired along with Chrétien if he had not been better at pushing the blame away.

On the other hand, Eric had replaced Chrétien. That was enough to show that he had completely gained the trust and support of Dayak Corporation and Finger Games' upper echelons. Eric was definitely going to showcase his skills now. If Zhao Xuming held him back, Eric could negotiate with the upper echelons of Long Yu Corporation and replace Zhao Xuming at any time.

Thus, Zhao Xuming did not dare to be negligent. He knew very well that everything had to be decided by Eric now. He could not go against Eric, or he would be the one being carried away.

Eric sized up Zhao Xuming. "Boss Zhao, I've heard some things about you. You seemed to have made a lot of mistakes during the promotion of IOI."

"However, don't worry. I like to look forward, so I can let bygones be bygones."

"However, I would like to emphasize that I have a different style of doing things from Chrétien. I hope you can cooperate with me."

Zhao Xuming quickly nodded. "Of course, that's my job."

He knew what Eric meant.

What Eric meant was that Zhao Xuming had his share of the blame for the lack of publicity previously. If Eric wanted to, he could replace Zhao Xuming with some methods at any time. However, Eric did not do that. Instead, he continued to make Zhao Xuming the person-in-charge of IOI's operations and cooperation department, obviously hoping that he would be 100% obedient.

That was Zhao Xuming's original plan. Naturally, he did not show any signs of resistance.

Eric was very satisfied with this and continued, "Next, I'll briefly explain IOI's new operating strategy."

"The changes to the new version might have reduced the difficulty of the game objectively, attracted new players, and increased the viewing pleasure of the competition, but it also produced many negative effects. The biggest impact was the convergence between IOI and GOG's design, which allowed FV Team, who used GOG's playstyle, to win the championship. Many players now think that GOG's game design standards and competition level is higher than IOI."

"That's difficult."

"However, it's impossible to change it back. On the one hand, it would cause players to have a bad impression of us 'changing every day' and 'having a chaotic train of thought'. On the other hand, it would also cause the game's threshold to rise and the competition's viewing pleasure to decline."

"Therefore, we can only make some minor adjustments to the content of the game and take our time to think about it."

"However, I came here with the winning magical equipment for Tengda."

"That is... burning money!"

"Tengda's trump card is to burn money. If we want to defeat them, we have to burn more money than them!"

"I have already convinced the upper echelons of the company to engage in a price war with GOG globally. All of the heroes in IOI will be free from the next version onwards. The price of all skins will be reduced to thirty percent of the original price. We will prepare generous rewards for old players, returning players, and new players. We will also invest a lot of money and resources to promote the game and regain the market share that GOG snatched away!"

"This time, I have obtained a lot of authority and funds from the headquarters. I will burn them until Tengda's capital chain cannot hold on anymore!"

"As for Boss Zhao, your task is to cooperate with me and do a good job of publicity in the China region."

"While this action would affect Long Yu Corporation's income, I believe that Long Yu Corporation would be able to distinguish the long-term interests and immediate interests, right?"

"If we allow GOG to continue fighting a price war, IOI's market share would be wiped out sooner or later. At that time, no one would be able to earn anything. If we can burn money to win GOG, our prospects would be limitless!"

"Boss Zhao, I'll have to trouble you to communicate with the higher-ups of Long Yu Corporation."

Zhao Xuming quickly nodded. "Don't worry, I'll settle it."

He knew very well that while Eric said "please communicate" politely, Long Yu Corporation did not have much room to reject the powerful position of Finger Games.

Zhao Xuming's heart began to race seeing Eric's confident expression.

Competing with Tengda Corporation on burning money?

Would it really work?

Zhao Xuming was very doubtful about this, but Zhao Xuming felt that there should be hope thinking about how rich Dayak Corporation was.

In any case, it was very difficult for him to participate in a fight between immortals of this level. He might as well do his job and quietly watch from the side.

Chapter 866: Bunny Tail Live-Stream

Pei Qian continued reading the latest news in his office.

FV Team's Los Angeles documentary had already been released, and it received a hot response.

FV Team had signed a huge contract with the live-stream platform during the Chinese New Year period. They had also taken on many endorsements. Many of them expressed their willingness to invest in FV Team. The team's valuation skyrocketed.

Wu Yue had not reported exactly how much they had earned but Pei Qian guessed that it would not be too little.

Back then, Pei Qian had spent three million yuan to buy 70% of FV Team's shares. Now, FV Team would be earning money for Tengda whether they signed live-stream platforms, accepted endorsements, or sold shares.

What's more, brands were an important representation of E-Sports Club's value. FV had achieved results and fame, and various capital had come to invest. The club's valuation had risen, which meant that Pei Qian's shares were also increasing many folds.

The shares that he had bought for three million yuan could easily be raised to tens of millions. It grew ten times more valuable in an instant.

What's more, Pei Qian was stuck in a bad place. He would make too much money and it would hurt if he sold it. If he did not sell it, the club's profits, dividends, and the advertising effect of fame would continue to make money.

Both advancement and retreatment were knives. This made him feel despair.

Pei Qian was feeling melancholic when someone knocked on his office door.

He looked up and saw Zhang Yuan.

"Boss Pei, I'm here to report about the GPL sponsors and live-streaming rights auction."

"The transfer fees for DGE's team members have been paid, a total of 13 million yuan. The exclusive title sponsorship of GPL has been bought at the price of 26 million yuan a year by Shenhua's cell phone. The collaboration price of a single type of business is 6 million yuan a year. At the moment, there are already computer manufacturers, external manufacturers, sports clothing, snacks, and many other manufacturers bidding for it. It's a total of 42 million yuan. The broadcasting rights have been given to three live-stream platforms, each offering about 12 million yuan..."

"All these funds added up to about 110 million a year."

Pei Qian suddenly felt that something was amiss. "Wait a minute, why does it seem to be higher than the price you mentioned before?"

Zhang Yuan nodded. "That's right, Boss Pei. That's because I followed your instructions and got these sponsors to pay in installments so that the money would be distributed every month."

"The sponsors are very grateful. This greatly reduced the pressure on their funds, so the bidding became even more intense."

"What's more, there are some partnerships in negotiations. If they succeed, it should not be a problem to get another ten to twenty million yuan as sponsorship."

Pei Qian could not help but freeze.

What the fu*k did it mean that the sponsors were very grateful to be paid in installments!

Was it alright for the bidding to become more intense?

You have completely mistaken! I just wanted to distribute the funds so that I could burn more money every month!

Pei Qian felt a little tired after listening to Zhang Yuan's report. He nodded and said, "Alright, I understand."

Zhang Yuan could not help but feel emotional seeing Boss Pei's expression.

As expected of Boss Pei!

The GPL league had only been held for less than half a year, and he had already earned more than a hundred million yuan. Yet, Boss Pei looked very relaxed, not excited at all.

Of course, more than a hundred million yuan was not a big sum to Boss Pei.However, it was earned from GPL league after all.

Most E-Sports competitions were still burning money to buy popularity throughout the entire world. There were very few E-Sports leagues and they were the only one able to obtain so much sponsorship and earn so much money!

Boss Pei was not surprised or excited by such a historical improvement.

It looked like Boss Pei had higher expectations for the GPL.

Yes, I have to continue working hard!

Zhang Yuan silently encouraged himself in his heart. He decided to follow Boss Pei's example and continue to do a better job at the GPL. Then, he left.

Pei Qian felt restless after Zhang Yuan left.

He stood up and walked around the office twice.

"No, this sum of money is too much. I'm afraid I won't be able to spend it all."

"We can't spend more money on Mission and Choice. It would be troublesome if we delay the progress and affect settlement. We might have already decided on a new project for Thriller Hostel, I've earmarked some funds. Such a project would take a long time to begin with. I'm afraid the working period would not be guaranteed if I add more money."

"I have to think of a way to burn money quickly without affecting settlement."

"Hmm... Since that's the case, I'll arrange for the live-stream platform!"

"At this critical juncture, I still have to rely on Old Ma, this trusted aide."

Pei Qian immediately sent Ma Yang a message, asking him to come to the office.

In fact, Pei Qian had long planned to create a live-stream platform to burn money. There were two main reasons why he had not taken action yet.

First of all, the live-streaming platform required a lot of funds. Previously, Tengda had other ways to burn money. It was not easy to squeeze out excess funds to create a live-streaming platform.

Secondly, the live-streaming platform was currently a newly-established industry. The major live-streaming platforms were burning money but the battle situation was still unclear. Pei Qian was afraid that if he created a live-streaming platform that became popular, he would have an advantage in the beginning of the live-stream war. It would be difficult to lose money.

Thus, Pei Qian decided to wait for a few live-streaming platforms to divide up the market share before entering the venue slowly. He would keep a low profile and follow behind these platforms to burn some money. That would be safer.

Tengda had a huge sum of money that could not be spent now. Several large live-stream platforms had more or less divided the live-streamers and viewers. Small live-stream platforms began to show signs of failing, and the situation of the live-stream war became clearer.

To Pei Qian, this was the perfect opportunity to incur losses.

Thus, Pei Qian finally made up his mind to get Old Ma to take charge of this matter.

Ma Yang arrived before long.

"Brother Qian! Is there anything I can help you with? Is there any new product that you need me to do live commerce?" Ma Yang's long face was filled with anticipation.

Pei Qian raised his hand. "No need!"

Pei Qian had asked Ma Yang to reverse-engineer the Fully-Automated Smart Bickering Machine previously. However, he had not expected the Bickering Machine to become even more popular.

Thus, Pei Qian would not take the risk again. He did not want Ma Yang to 'live commerce' any more Tengda products.

However, Pei Qian did not take his anger out on Ma Yang. Even if he had to split the blame, the first one to blame should be Chen Yufeng, who was in charge of writing the manuscript. Old Ma had tried his best after all. He had been talking about the shortcomings of the Fully-Automated Smart Bickering Machine the entire time. However, what could he do if the audience wanted to buy it?

Pei Qian asked Ma Yang to sit down and said, "I have a very important task for you this time."

"I told you before that when the time is right, we will create a live-stream platform for you to be the CEO. Now, the time has arrived."

Ma Yang's eyes lit up. "Really? Brother Qian? That's great!"

"To be honest, I've improved a lot during these few months of live-streaming. I'm definitely the CEO of this live-stream platform based on experience and ability!"

"Leave this to me, Brother Qian, don't worry!"

Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, I believe in your ability as well. How about this? Don't get too excited. I'll briefly explain how this live-stream platform works."

Ma Yang's expression turned serious as he listened intently.

Pei Qian organized his thoughts and said, "First, the name of this live-stream platform."

"At the moment, live-streaming platforms are mainly divided into two types. One type is like Waiwai Live-stream, ZZ Live-stream, the other type is like Cat Ear Live-stream, Wolf Fang Live-stream. The former is mainly some veteran live-streaming platforms, but these names are obviously not suitable anymore."

"Not only must the name of the live-stream platform be easy to remember, it must also have a clear meaning. For example, Cat Ear live-stream's mascot is a cat, and the gifts are all cat food, canned cat food, and cat sticks. That would make users feel closer to it."

"What's more, the name should be more cute. That way, it would fit the relaxing and happy atmosphere of the live-stream."

"Therefore, we have to come up with a name in the style of the second type."

Ma Yang nodded furiously. "That's right, Brother Qian. I fully agree!"

Pei Qian continued, "I've decided that our live-stream will be called Bunny Tail Live-Stream. The mascot will be a rabbit, and the gifts will be vegetables, carrots, and the like."

A look of confusion appeared on Ma Yang's long face. "Brother Qian, why isn't it called Fish-Catching Live Broadcast? This fits the requirements of the name as well. What's more, our Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Fish-Catching Take-Out have already become famous. Wouldn't it be easier for everyone to remember if it's called Fish-Catching Live Broadcast?"

Pei Qian laughed in his heart. Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Fish-Catching Take-Out had already become famous. That was why he did not want to live-stream Fish-Catching Live!

No matter which industry they were to enter, the chances of success would be greatly increased as long as it was related to Tengda's existing businesses.

Pei Qian was afraid that Fish-Catching live-stream would somehow become popular. That was why he decided to call it a bunny tail live-stream. He wanted to prevent the users from connecting this live-stream platform with Tengda.

What's more, the true meaning of the live-stream of the rabbit's tail was 'something's days are numbered'. It hinted that the live-stream platform would not be able to sustain for long before it could not make ends meet and would end up bankrupt. That was Pei Qian's beautiful wish.

However, these reasons could not be explained to Ma Yang.

Pei Qian cleared his throat. "There are too many live-streamers on the market now called with XXX-Fish. They are like flagfish, sharks, salted fish... There are so many of them. Our name would not be recognizable if we fight them to the death on this end. It would be easy for us to disappear and be buried."

"However, there is no live-stream platform with bunny in the market now. It would be more memorable to call it a Bunny Tail Live-Stream."

Ma Yang nodded. "I see. Brother Qian, you're right."

Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief. Indeed, Ma Yang was easy to fool.

He continued, "There are a few key points regarding the Bunny Tail Live-Stream that you must remember."

"First of all, we don't have to poach the streamers or force them to stay. All the streamers are free to come and go as they please on our platform. We don't have long term requirements for all the streamers. We can broadcast as long as we want."

"Secondly, the platform does not fake anything. The number of people in the room is what it is. The gift should be as much as it should be. Reject guild membership, not make fake popularity, and not make any agreement gifts."

"Lastly, strictly adhere to the relevant laws and regulations. Those who play the game of marginalization, those whose verbal insults cause adverse effects, and those whose value direction is incorrect, will be severely punished."

Chapter 867: Good Publicity Effect As Expected?

"Have you memorized everything?" Pei Qian asked after explaining everything.

Ma Yang nodded. "Don't worry, Brother Qian. I'll remember everything!"

Pei Qian was very satisfied. He felt that Old Ma was indeed worthy, he did not raise any objections to these requests.

Pei Qian's requests were obviously not conducive to competing with other live-stream platforms.

The host could come and go freely without any time restrictions. Objectively, he would definitely turn the Bunny Tail Live-Stream into a perfect springboard.

It was normal for live-streamers to jump ship in the live-streaming circle. On one hand, it was because live-streamers' income was rising too quickly and their legal consciousness was weak. On the other hand, it was also because the major live-stream platforms were sparing no effort to poach people from one another.

Nowadays, most live-streaming platforms would use huge contracts to lock up the big broadcasters. There might be a sky-high penalty fee but the fixed salary was also sky-high.

Bunny Tail's live-stream was a new live-stream platform. The official platform did not give a fixed salary. There were few viewers and not much money for gifts. Even if a small-time streamer became popular in Bunny Tail's live-stream, he would be poached by the big platforms very quickly.

The audience's appeal would be limited as long as there was a lack of influential live-streamers in Bunny Tail. It would be very difficult to become popular.

The data falsification by the live-stream platforms was already an open secret.

In fact, it was not just live-streaming. Data falsification was widespread in the internet industry. It had already formed a de facto currency banishment.

If there were two similar APPs, one had 1,000 real users and the other had 10,000 fake users. Investors would definitely choose the latter.

That was because they would think out of one or two thousand of the 10,000 fake users would be real, right? And who could prove that the 1,000 users of the former app were real?

Thus, when data falsification became an unspoken rule, companies without falsification would also be considered falsification. Real data became meaningless.

Many platforms were popular with hundreds of millions or even billions of searches. While everyone knew that it was fake by looking at this number, it would be much more livelier than live-streams with hundreds or thousands of people.

On the other hand, guilds, contract gifts, rankings, robot bullet screen comments, and so on were all methods to fake popularity. These live-stream platforms had to be complete.

On the other hand, Pei Qian was doing the exact opposite. He wanted to be the goody-two-shoes that had been kicked out of the game.

At that time, everyone would take a look. There were only a few thousand or tens of thousands of people in the live-stream on the front page of the Bunny Tail Live-Stream. How could they watch such a cold platform?

It was also a way to reduce the popularity of live-streams with strictness, severe punishment, and bad conduct. Of course, there was also a sense of social responsibility.

At the moment, most live-streams were very vigilant against lawful behavior. However, they turned a blind eye to many marginalized actions and hype.

For example, a rich second-generation heir would drive a luxury car on the streets to pick up girls. The girls would specially wear low-cut tops for the drive. The seatbelt would be tightened while they were racing on the streets. The girls would shout a few times because of the acceleration of the sports car... Soon, they would attract a lot of attention.

Strictly speaking, this was definitely not illegal, but it would generate a very bad value orientation.

Pei Qian couldn't care less about what other live-stream platforms would do, but his own live-stream platform would definitely prohibit it.

In other words, Bunny Tail Live-Stream would be much stricter than other live-stream platforms.

If these principles were implemented, Bunny Tail Live-Stream would definitely be drowned in many live-stream platforms.

Pei Qian's goal was to let the live-stream of the Bunny Tail Live-Stream continue in a half-dead state. He just had to keep paying high bandwidth fees and burning money.

At the moment, the mainstream live-streaming platform had a spending structure: bandwidth cost 30%, live-streaming contract fees 30%, other operating costs (such as regular office operating costs, marketing costs, copyright costs, etc.) 40%.

Pei Qian had cut off most of the streamers' contract signing costs, marketing costs, and copyright costs. He had also prevented the possibility of the platform becoming popular even though he had reduced spending.

That way, he would be able to incur losses as long as he could steadily pay the bandwidth cost.

The bandwidth cost was usually the monthly limit of bandwidth. If more than two million people were online at the same time during the month, the amount of data transmitted per second would be as high as three hundred GB. The monthly expenses would be forty million yuan.

Of course, the number of people online at the same time during the initial stages of Bunny Tail Live-Stream would definitely not be that high. However, even if the bandwidth was smaller, Pei Qian would still burn a lot of money every month no matter what, which would significantly reduce his current burden.

Pei Qian had already done his research on these contents.

Those who understood the live-stream industry would definitely question Pei Qian's thoughts or at least ask him a question.

However, Old Ma accepted everything without even asking. This meant that Old Ma either knew nothing about the live-stream industry or listened obediently to everything he said. He had no other thoughts.

Old Ma was very reliable no matter how he looked at it!

Pei Qian was very satisfied with Old Ma's reaction. "Yes, remember these few points that I told you. Go and prepare well. Ask He Desheng and Chen Yufeng to help when you're preparing the company. You can go to other live-stream platforms and poach a mid-level person-in-charge. In short, I'll solve the money problem. You can do whatever you want!"

Ma Yang immediately stood up excitedly. "No problem, Brother Qian. Leave it to me!"

...

Ma Yang had just left when someone knocked on his office door.

Pei Qian looked up to see Assistant Xin.

"Boss Pei, Meng Chang is here."

Pei Qian frowned slightly. "Just nice, let him in. I was just thinking of looking for him."

After a while, Meng Chang knocked lightly on the door and entered.

However, Meng Chang's heart skipped a beat and felt a little guilty the moment he saw Boss Pei.

That was because Boss Pei did not look too good. He looked a little unhappy!

When Meng Chang saw Boss Pei, he would always feel an indescribable sense of awe. It was as if his every move could not escape Boss Pei's eyes. He wanted to be clever but did not dare to.

However, on further thought, this was his first day at work. Even if Boss Pei was angry, he should be angry at someone else. It should have nothing to do with him, right?

However, Pei Qian handed him a report before Meng Chang could say anything. "Take a look for yourself."

Meng Chang reached out to take it, feeling a little lost. His expression changed when he saw the first page.

"This... this is the analysis of the transmission effect of the publicity plan that I made previously?"

"How is that possible?"

"How can the publicity effect be so good?!"

Meng Chang was completely stunned. He, who was extremely eloquent, remained silent for five minutes without saying a word.

This report was an analysis of the effectiveness of Tengda Corporation's marketing plan during the Chinese New Year!

Before this, Pei Qian had wanted Meng Chang to officially start work after the Chinese New Year. However, he had to spend a lot of money on Fish-Catching Take-Out, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Upwind Logistics, Sloth Apartments, and other physical industries.

Pei Qian thought about it. Since he had already decided to let Meng Chang be in charge of advertising and marketing, why not take the opportunity to let him practice?

Thus, Pei Qian assigned Meng Chang a task. He asked him to come up with a set of publicity posters for the related industries.

Meng Chang began designing immediately after receiving the promotional task.

He would obtain more commission if the effect of the publicity was worse. Wasn't that simple?

Meng Chang made a set of designs very insincerely. All the publicity posters were in an extremely simple style. A pure-colored background with a logo or a picture of a shop was enough. All other information would be omitted. Ordinary people who did not know about these industries would not be able to tell which industry they were advertising when they saw this advertisement.

Meng Chang stopped paying attention to this matter after completing the task.

That was because in his opinion, the publicity effect of this advertisement would definitely be very bad. There was no key information. What effect could it have?

However, after taking a closer look at the analysis of the transmission effect, Meng Chang realized that he was wrong.

The effect of this publicity plan was unexpectedly good!

Meng Chang knew marketing very well. Therefore, he reflected on his strategy and immediately understood what was going on when he read the report.

"This is bad, I missed a very important detail!"

"Boss Pei only asked me to produce a set of publicity posters for Tengda's physical industry, but he did not mention the scale of the publicity this time!"

"I thought that we were only going to do some publicity in Jingzhou or other cities. That's why we decided on this publicity plan."

"If it's just small-scale publicity, these extremely simple publicity posters would be very inconspicuous among the many colorful billboards. Those who can recognize it as Tengda's industry would know it even without looking at the advertisement. On the other hand, those who don't pay attention to Tengda's industry would also find it ridiculous after seeing this advertisement."

"However, I didn't expect Boss Pei to invest in such a large scale project!"

"It's not just Jingzhou and Handong Province. Even Beijing, Shanghai, and a few other big cities have been promoting it. Advertisements have even been piled up in some bustling districts, forming a crowd effect!"

"If it was just a simple advertisement, it would soon be buried in all sorts of colorful advertisements. However, if the entire street was filled with such minimalistic advertisements, it would immediately give passers-by a strong visual impact and leave a deep impression. It would also highlight a strong confidence in the brand's value..."

"However... As far as I know, we don't have physical industries in some cities, yet he insisted on advertising there?"

"This..."

Meng Chang felt light-headed.

A small detail that he did not grasp properly caused the publicity effect to change drastically.

Meng Chang was originally full of confidence and felt that the effect of this publicity plan would definitely be extremely bad. However, he realized that it was completely different!

He would be given a commission once a month according to the agreement he had signed with Boss Pei previously. The amount of commission would take into account the effects of all the marketing and publicity activities in the near future to decide.

Now that the publicity plan for Tengda's physical industry was so successful, it would definitely pull down the overall rating. The commission this month would probably be severely affected!

Meng Chang was shocked and did not know what to say for a moment.

He looked up at Boss Pei and then down at the analysis report in his hand.

That's strange. Why do I feel like Boss Pei is angrier than me?

Logically speaking, Boss Pei would not have to give me any more commission now that the publicity plan had achieved such a good effect and he had earned back his publicity funds. Shouldn't he be overjoyed and complacent?

Chapter 868: Workplace Common Sense Has Been Upended

Pei Qian felt a little helpless looking at Meng Chang's confused expression.

Forget it. It was his first time after all. He could not be too harsh.

Meng Chang might know about marketing but what he had done previously were positive marketing proposals that had very good publicity effects.

This time, perhaps because Meng Chang was still not used to it, he did not stop in time and accidentally succeeded in marketing again.

He believed that the loss of commission would make Meng Chang pay more attention. He would come up with a less effective marketing plan next time.

Pei Qian could not make it too obvious. It would be too abnormal if he flew into a rage despite the good publicity. Meng Chang would be suspicious.

He calmed down at that thought. "Forget it, let this matter pass. Let's talk about your next task."

Meng Chang quickly nodded and listened intently.

Pei Qian said, "I have two projects that need publicity and marketing."

"The first would be the daily marketing of GOG and GPL."

"The second is that Tengda is going to open a new live-streaming platform called Bunny Tail Live-Stream. It will also require some simple publicity in the beginning."

"Choose one yourself. Think about your commission before you choose."

Meng Chang quickly thought about it.

He had done a simple investigation and understanding of Tengda's various industries, so he still had basic knowledge.

Obviously, the first project was suicidal!

GOG was so popular and well-known in the country. GPL's league was also very popular. It was too easy to promote GOG!

The three letters 'GOG' could even be printed and it would serve as good publicity as long as they bought enough advertisement spots.

As for the second one, it was obviously much easier.

A new live-stream platform that was not very famous. Many people might not even know what the advertisement was talking about. The publicity effect would definitely be bad.

Meng Chang quickly made a decision. "I'll choose the second one."

Pei Qian nodded. He felt that this was a better choice as well.

"Do you have a general idea about the format of the advertisement?" Pei Qian asked.

After some consideration, Meng Chang said, "Make a promotional video."

He was afraid that he would make the same mistake again if he were to do publicity posters.

After all, the promotional poster was a picture. If it was made into a minimalistic style, many promotional posters would form a strong visual impact when stacked together. It would still produce a good publicity effect.

On the other hand, if he did not make it extremely simple, even if he only uploaded some basic information, it would become a standard advertisement. The publicity effect would not be bad.

The promotional video was a video with much more content. It should have the opposite effect as long as he did something to the content.

Pei Qian nodded slightly again. He was sincerely certain about Meng Chang's new attempt.

Not being stubborn was a traditional virtue of mankind.

After failing to produce the minimalist poster previously, he immediately changed his mindset to make a promotional video. This meant that Meng Chang was constantly trying and racking his brains to reduce the advertising effect.

Indeed, the incentive for high commissions was endless.

However, Boss Pei's smile had another meaning in Meng Chang's eyes.

"Why is Boss Pei laughing at me?"

"It's making me feel uneasy."

"Could it be that Boss Pei foresaw that my attempt would fail? The publicity effect this time would still exceed my expectations?"

"That's impossible. I haven't even said the proposal for the promotional video. How can Boss Pei predict the future?"

Meng Chang really could not understand what Boss Pei's faint smile was about. For some reason, he felt guilty.

Pei Qian said, "I've already asked the HR department to transfer a few people with relevant work experience to assist you. They've formed a special advertising marketing department. Their salaries and benefits are all handled by the company. You don't have to worry about them. You just have to be in charge of coordinating their work. Report to me directly if there's anything."

"Remember, don't slack off or reveal the contents of our agreement to anyone, understand?"

Meng Chang nodded. "Understood!"

He had to count on Boss Pei's commission to repay the millions of debt he was carrying. Naturally, he did not dare to say much.

In any case, Meng Chang's current goal was to reduce the publicity effect of the advertisements as much as possible in the regulations that Boss Pei had set. He did not care about anything else.

...

After leaving Boss Pei's office, Meng Chang saw a few Tengda employees working under him in the advertising and marketing department.

"Hello, Brother Meng." The lads greeted Meng Chang one after another.

Of course, they all knew about Meng Chang's glorious deeds. However, they would definitely have to get along well with each other in the future since they were now colleagues.

Meng Chang looked at these lads.

They were all energetic and looked good. The clothes they were wearing, the watches they were wearing, and the cell phones they were holding were all very expensive. It looked like they were doing well financially.

Tengda's high salary and benefits were no secret. Naturally, these young men were not poor.

Meng Chang looked at the Tengda employees who were not lacking in money and thought about how he owed millions of yuan. For some reason, he felt sour.

The few young men led Meng Chang to the office area of the advertising and marketing department. It was not on the same floor as the other departments in Tengda. Instead, they rented another place in the building.

Tengda's employees had expanded several times. The original floor was already filled with people. They could only expand to the other floors of this office building before building their own office building.

Meng Chang could not help but raise his brows.

He had thought that he would be working at Tengda's headquarters and under the noses of Boss Pei and the other employees. He had not expected to be in such a remote place.

I just have to turn a blind eye and let these employees slack off. Wouldn't that greatly affect the effect of the publicity plan?

What's more, this was not considered a violation of the rules. What could I do if my subordinates did not work hard and the plan they came up with was not perfect?

Meng Chang felt that as long as he relaxed his control a little, they would definitely become lazy and slack seeing that his colleagues were all relatively young and active.

Meng Chang felt that his chances of success were higher at that thought.

Meng Chang quickly entered a state of brainstorming after sitting down at his desk.

He was very smart, he had already thought about the contents of the promotional video in just a few minutes.

Then, he stood up and prepared to tell everyone his thoughts.

"Let me briefly explain the general content of the promotional video that we are filming this time."

"The theme of this short film is: How watching live-streams waste lives."

"There will be four characters in the promotional video: two university students and two office workers, with each watching live-streams and the other not watching live-streams."

"Students and office workers who watch live-streams spend a lot of time watching live-streams and give gifts to their hosts every day. After that, the university graduates would not be able to find a job, and office workers would be fired because of work mistakes."

"Students and office workers who don't watch live-streams use this time to learn and enrich themselves. Students graduate with outstanding results while office workers are promoted and paid more."

"Show the logo for the Bunny Tail Live-Stream at the end of the promotional video. Then, add a slogan: Everyone has the same amount of time. The difference is how you use it."

"That's about it. You guys can go through the details and then prepare for the shoot."

Meng Chang was filled with confidence and was impressed by his own intelligence.

This promotional video would definitely have the opposite effect!

Live-streaming was, to put it bluntly, a form of entertainment, a form of recreation. Any form of entertainment and recreation had to have a limit. If one overdid it, they would be wasting their own time.

Live-streaming platforms would never emphasize this point. They would only emphasize that watching live-streams could broaden your horizons and relax your mind.

The promotional video of Meng Chang's Bunny Tail Live-Stream obviously made the audience watching the live-stream feel uncomfortable, but there was nothing wrong with the contents of the entire promotional video. There was nothing to criticize.

It was just like how coke advertisements were harmful to the teeth. It was very unreasonable and even though it was defaming oneself, there was no problem with the entire content. There was even a certain degree of scientific and educational significance. Of course, it was at the cost of reducing one's own sales.

Meng Chang originally thought that his colleagues would definitely raise some questions. He had already thought of how to avoid them. However, these lads looked at each other and did not raise any questions.

"Alright, Brother Meng. Let's go through the details of the plan. Then, we'll look for actors and shoot scenes."

Everyone quickly got to work.

Meng Chang stood alone and did not say a single word that he had prepared. He nearly choked and was stunned for a while before sitting down again.

"Strange."

"Is this how Tengda works? They're so powerful that they don't even ask before executing?"

Meng Chang scratched the back of his head in confusion. At that moment, he felt like an undercover agent who had mistakenly entered the enemy's base camp and was full of flaws. In the end, the enemy ignored his abnormality as if his IQ was zero. Furthermore, they were smiling at him. It was a very strange feeling.

Meng Chang struggled for a long time but still could not figure out the situation. He could only do his own things silently.

He switched on his office computer and was greeted with a dazzling array of games. They filled the desktop of his office computer.

"This..."

Meng Chang was a little confused. He quietly created a new folder and stuffed all the game's speed icons into it.

"This should be a new computer. How can a new computer be installed with so many games? This is ridiculous..."

"Isn't Boss Pei afraid that his employees would play games and slack off?"

Meng Chang felt that everything about Tengda was strange. It was completely subverting his common sense in the workplace over the years.

Meng Chang was not in the mood to work either. He only had one thought in his mind now after all. He had to quickly come up with a few publicity plans to get commission so that he could repay his debt as soon as possible.

He continued to slack like a tool and watched his colleagues get busy. Finally, it was time to knock off in the afternoon.

"It's time to knock off. I'll sit here symbolically for a while and then be the first to leave."

"I'm the person-in-charge after all. The others will definitely follow suit as long as I take the lead and slack off."

"In this way, under the influence of subtle influence, all the employees in the advertising and marketing department would go home once it's time to knock off, slowly wearing down their fighting spirit..."

However, Meng Chang was still fantasizing in his mind when he saw the others hurriedly packing up and standing up.

"Brother Meng, quick, it's time to knock off."

"Brother Meng, you can't stay in the office after work. Let's go, I'll lock the door."

Everyone clustered around Meng Chang and left before returning home.

"I'll be leaving, Brother Meng."

"Brother Meng, I'm almost done with the proposal. I'll show it to you tomorrow."

"Bye, see you tomorrow."

Everyone dispersed in all directions. The entire process was as smooth as flowing water.

Meng Chang watched everyone leave in confusion and then looked at the locked door behind him. He was filled with bewilderment.

These people... ran off faster than me?

Chapter 869: A Five Hundred Million Yuan Project, Ignored?

February 3rd, Friday, 10 AM.

Pei Qian arrived at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's Handong University branch. After having an early lunch, he ordered a cup of coffee and asked the waiter to bring his laptop over. He then continued to consider the work arrangements of the various departments.

"Eh, Zhongdian Chinese Network's recent revenue figures are still rising steadily."

"Is this lousy website really getting better and better?"

"No, I can't let this go on. I have to make arrangements when I have time."

Pei Qian flipped through the revenue figures of a few departments and realized that while Zhongdian Chinese Network did not make the most money, its profits were the most stable and steadily increasing.

More and more authors joined Zhongdian Chinese Network from various statistics. The entire website's library was expanding.

Content was always the first priority for similar online literature websites. As long as Zhongdian Chinese Network could maintain its attraction to authors and provide competitive novels, its future development would definitely become smoother.

Pei Qian had been too worried about other matters previously and felt that no need to pay attention to Zhongdian Chinese Network since it previously did not make much money. However, it seemed like he had no choice but to pay attention to it now. If this went on, he would be raising a tiger.

However... How could he contain Zhongdian Chinese Network's development?

This was a technical task. He had to think about it carefully.

Pei Qian could not help but fall into deep thought.

As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a familiar figure push open the door and enter.

"Teacher He?" Pei Qian was a little surprised.

It was He An.

He An was a little surprised to see Pei Qian. Perhaps he did not expect to meet him by chance. Thus, he walked straight to the empty seat opposite Pei Qian and sat down.

"Teacher He, why are you in Jingzhou?" Pei Qian asked.

He An smiled. "I don't have much to do recently, so I came to Jingzhou to relax."

"That's right, Boss Pei, how... is your game going?"

Of course, this "game" referred to Mission and Choice. The birth of this game was closely related to He An.

He An had been feeling worried ever since he suggested to Boss Pei. He was afraid that he would lose five hundred million yuan. Wouldn't that be cheating Boss Pei?

Thus, He An came to Jingzhou to relax as it had been weighing on his mind. Of course, he had to ask since he met Boss Pei by coincidence.

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment. "Er... I'm not sure either."

He An: "?"

You are not sure about it?

This was a game project that cost five hundred million yuan!

The game had been developed for more than four months from the official start of production. It might have been almost completed by now if it had been a small project.

'Mission and Choice' was a huge production and the development period had to be extended. However, Tengda would have to produce a semi-finished product in four months with their efficiency, right?

Yet, Boss Pei himself was not sure?

He had already invested five hundred million yuan into a project, but the boss did not even check on it?

Could it be any more ridiculous?

Or...

Boss Pei had been joking before. He had thought that this project would definitely incur losses. That was why he had stopped the project after working on it for a while? He had stopped developing it?

He An looked at Pei Qian suspiciously. "Boss Pei, could it be that you think that this project would definitely incur losses and that's why you haven't developed it at all?"

Pei Qian immediately shook his head. "That's impossible!"

"We are developing it. It should be more than half done according to the progress, right? Just as well, why don't Teacher He join me to take a look?"

He An was even more confused. He had no idea what was going on.

Saying that Boss Pei did not put much significance to this project was not right since he had invested so much money and manpower into it; However, saying that Boss Pei placed much significance to this project was not right either since he did not even know its progress after developing it for four months.

He had to make guesses about the development progress?

It did not make sense no matter how he thought about it!

He An nodded. "Alright, I'm also very curious about the current situation of this game."

Pei Qian finished his coffee and walked with He An to the nearby Tengda Games headquarters.

This was the first time He An had come to Tengda's office. He was shocked by the spacious and luxurious office like everyone else.

He An could not help but feel emotional. "I've been working in the games industry for decades. This is the first time I've seen an office like this."

He noticed that not only was the office environment very good, the employees were also very enthusiastic about their work. Everyone was focused on their work. No one even stood up to greet Boss Pei when he arrived.

Only Hu Xianbin quickly stood up when he saw Boss Pei. "Boss Pei!" He addressed hurriedly.

Pei Qian smiled and said, "Nothing much, I'm just here to see the development of Mission and Choice."

"This is Boss He An from Mengguo Games."

Hu Xianbin looked delighted. "Boss He! I've heard so much about you. You're a veteran in the gaming circle! Hello, hello!"

Both parties exchanged a few pleasantries before Hu Xianbin began to introduce the development of Mission and Choice.

At the moment, Tengda Games was basically divided into two projects. One of them was in charge of GOG's development and daily operations. The person in charge was Min Jingchao. He had just returned from Los Angeles a few days ago and was about to carry his luggage back to Los Angeles to play. The other was in charge of the development of Mission and Choice, and Hu Xianbin was in charge.

"Boss Pei, the game's completion rate is about sixty to seventy percent at the moment. The basic gameplay and framework of the game have been completed. The various game mechanisms have also been more or less completed. There are still various stages of design and some details of the game that need to be slowly adjusted..."

Pei Qian listened intently and nodded repeatedly.

He An was also listening intently, but his expression was unpredictable and interesting.

That was because he realized that it seemed as though Boss Pei had never asked about this project before.

He could tell that Hu Xianbin was reporting more basic things, including development progress, early preparation, gameplay settings, and so on. If Boss Pei already knew about it, there was no need for Hu Xianbin to introduce it again.

There was no reason for them to lie to him.

Could it be that... Boss Pei really did not bother about it after the project was made?

So confident?

Of course, He An did not think that Boss Pei was not paying attention because he felt that no one would not pay attention to a project that cost five hundred million yuan.

Then... the only explanation was that Boss Pei trusted his subordinates very much!

Boss Pei believed that once he gave a design plan, his subordinates would be able to understand the concept of the design very well even if he did not ask anymore. They would be able to complete the work perfectly and finally produce a finished product that matched his expectations.

However, this would raise a new problem.

Boss Pei was so confident because he had come up with a very detailed and perfect design plan that would solve the series of problems that existed before Mission and Choice.

However, the game 'Mission and Choice' was too strange. What kind of design concept was needed to make it successful?

This plan was created because Pei Qian and He An had discussed the 'a game plan that was most unlikely to become successful'.

Huge investment, RTS game, sci-fi genre, poor balance, simple operations... These were all 'fatal flaws' that He An had raised.

He An believed that the game would never succeed as long as Boss Pei did as he requested.

What's more, Boss Pei had used the game's name and background that was previously known as the 'disgrace of the domestic games industry'. There was no chance of success at all.

Now, seeing how confident Boss Pei was, He An became more interested in the game. However, he also became more confused.

After a brief introduction, Hu Xianbin said, "Boss Pei, Boss He, would you like to try out this game's DEMO?"

Pei Qian nodded immediately. "Of course."

Hu Xianbin immediately brought up the DEMO for Mission and Choice on his computer. Then, he said, "Boss Pei, the current DEMO's completion rate is still alright, but a lot of parts of the plot are missing. That's because the plot is expressed in movies. However, the movie is still filming, so we can only experience pure combat for now."

Pei Qian nodded. "Alright, I understand."

Then, he looked at He An. "Why don't you try it out and give me some suggestions."

He An did not decline much. He sat in front of his computer and began to experience the DEMO of Mission and Choice.

As a real-time strategy type of game, Mission and Choice was naturally divided into stages.

Different chapters and checkpoints had different plots. There were big and small maps. The deployment of both parties' forces had also changed. The overall difficulty went from easy to difficult.

The map of this stage was all on the surface of the planet. There were no battles in space, but the size of the map was not small. It would probably be a stage in the middle of the game.

'Mission and Choice' used a third-person perspective based on the standards of real-time strategy games. However, it was different from games like Starcraft. 'Mission and Choice' had a much higher freedom in terms of perspective.

Ordinary real-time strategy games could drag and zoom into perspective. However, these operations were strictly limited and could not be zoomed in endlessly without restrictions.

That was because most of the time, players would be very busy when playing such games. They had to pay attention to all units on the battlefield, be it operations or observation. They had to have the most zoomed out perspective.

What's more, the model of the game itself was not that precise. If the perspective was too close, the game's graphics would look very rough.

Considering the beauty and practicality of the game, it was normal for the view to be restricted.

However, Mission and Choice had a high degree of freedom of view. One could pull the image very close because the precision of soldiers and other combat units in the game was higher than all of the RTS games currently on the market.

He An sighed silently in his heart. He had indeed burned enough money. There was nothing to nitpick on.

Every soldier's model, movements, and details were done very well. The design was also very unique. The graphics could be said to be top-notch.

He had spent so much money after all. There had to be some effect.

The concept art of the game should have been produced by Ruan Guangjian's Halo Workspace. The game's modeling and movements were also handled by top-notch outsourcing companies in the industry. There was nothing to nitpick about the art.