Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

"Hello everyone, I'm the producer of the 'Shu Li' project, Yan Qi. I'm very grateful for everyone's attention and love for the 'Shu Li' project. I'm overwhelmed by the support of so many players. I will definitely do my best to develop 'Shu Li' to the perfect level in my heart. I hope that this game can be met with everyone as soon as possible."

"I also noticed that many players are worried about the financial situation of 'Shu Li'. Please rest assured here. Our production team has the ability to solve the problems of the funds on our own. We are not prepared to open the pre-sales. Please don't overinterpret it. Wait patiently for the news that 'Shu Li' is officially released!"

Yan Qi wrote briefly and posted a Weibo as an announcement.

He had thought that this matter should be over. I had already announced that I was not short of money. You should relax, right?

Unexpectedly, there were many comments and shares after this message was released. However, the problem was… many people did not believe it!

"You don't lack money? You're not trying to sell dog meat, are you? From the situation displayed in the promotional video, the investment for this game must be at least 100 million yuan. Is your team that rich? Or are you only planning to make a small-scale castration version?"

"Don't do that. Is there a need to say that the development budget is 'enough'? Just based on the worldview of' Shu Li ', it would start at 100 million yuan. It would not be too much even if it was 1.5 million yuan. It doesn't matter if you pull in more investment games to make it bigger. They already said that they would not interfere with the development. Why not take the money?"

"I think as a producer, you have to be responsible for the project. Why do you care what kind of money it is? As long as the project is produced, isn't it fine? There's no need to go against money!"

Yan Qi did not know to laugh or to cry.

What a mess!

He could not tell how many fake reviewers there were here. How many of them were passers-by who had been influenced by the fake reviewers? How many of them were players who were really worried about the project of 'Shu Li'?

He had no choice. It was too well-hidden!

That was because even the fake reviewers were expressing their concern for this project.

As the saying went, one should not slap a smiling face. It would be very easy to deal with fake reviewers if they were fake reviewers. However, fake reviewers like this were very confusing.

If Yan Qi were to get angry at this time and start roasting him directly or point the spearhead at the Tengda Alliance, saying that this was a plot against the Tengda Alliance, it would easily hurt innocent bystanders. It would definitely leave people with the feeling that he was' destructive and delusional '. That was very inappropriate.

The key to this matter was that Yan Qi had indeed taken Tengda's investment, but Boss Pei did not allow him to say it. Thus, even if he made an announcement, it would still give people the feeling that he was' vague and stammering '. The fake reviewers would add fuel to the fire and cause the audience to run away.

"Sigh, forget it, forget it. Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter to the Shu Li project."

"Brothers, time for lunch. My treat!"

Yan Qi felt that there was no need to dwell too much on this problem since his announcement had already been released.

Another announcement? It was very likely that the more he smeared it, the worse it would become. As long as he did not clarify the source of the money and did not clarify the relationship between the Shu Li project team and Tengda Corporation, the fake reviewers would always have a way to run away.

Therefore, he decided not to say anything and eat first.

The promotional video might not be able to naturally become popular like the initial expectations because of the interference of the fake reviewers but everyone still approved and liked the game 'Shu Li' from the netizens and gamers. They had achieved their goal.

Those people from the anti-Tengda Alliance could do whatever they wanted!

…

In the afternoon, at Shengyun Corporation.

Nie Yunsheng was also constantly paying attention to the latest trends in public opinion online. Then, he asked his subordinates to give instructions to the fake reviewers that he had hired.

The Vice-President of the public affairs department quickly rushed over and said, "Boss Nie, Yan Qi has not released a new announcement until now."

Ever since the public opinion incident with Tengda the last time, half of the people from Shengyun Corporation's public affairs department had been poached away. However, the highest position that they ran was only a Vice Manager. The Vice-President and Manager were still around, leaving some core employees behind. Thus, they quickly reorganized and operated normally.

However, the Vice-President of the public affairs department could not avoid being scolded by Nie Yunsheng.

After all, he was the Vice-President of this department. Half of his employees had been poached. That was obviously his fault.

The Vice-President had no choice but to work harder in the following work to change the impression of being useless in Boss Nie's eyes.

Nie Yunsheng asked, "Is there still no news from Tengda?"

The Vice-President nodded. "Yes, Tengda doesn't work over the weekend. Looking at the current situation, it shouldn't make any response."

"I highly suspect that Tengda did not realize that the matter with 'Shu Li' was targeted at them. Boss Pei might still know nothing about it."

Nie Yunsheng was very satisfied. "Very good! In that case, we can enter the next stage."

"Make things difficult for Tengda!"

After deliberately adding fuel to the fire, Shu Li's popularity was already very high and had a good amount of attention on the internet.

Even though Yan Qi had already posted on Weibo that the "Shu Li" project was not lacking money, he was not a big V and did not have many fans and huge influence like Tengda Games.

Yan Qi's statement only had a certain amount of influence in a small area. Many gamers who were discussing on the forums and Weibo did not know that he had posted on Weibo at all. He was still being led away by the fake reviewers.

What's more, from the looks of the current situation, Yan Qi would probably not post a second Weibo post. On the other hand, Tengda had not realized that the popularity of 'Shu Li' this time was actually related to them.

What's more, Tengda was not working over the weekend. That meant the weekend was the perfect time to attack!

The Vice-President immediately nodded. "Alright, Boss Nie. I'll arrange it now!"

After confirming Yan Qi and Tengda's reactions, the next stage was to point the spearhead at Tengda. They said that Tengda was indifferent to "Shu Li" and said that they wanted to revive the domestically-produced game industry. In the end, they still swept away the snow in front of the door. They did not drive other games companies in the country like what they promised!

Tengda would definitely not work during the weekend. That meant that they would not face any resistance even if they were to play games during the weekend.

Even when Tengda reacted on Monday, there were only two choices: either not to comment, not respond, or really express that they wanted to invest in the project of "Shu Li".

He could not possibly announce that someone had hired fake reviewers to discredit him, right? Not only would that not have any effect, but it would also seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill.

Nie Yunsheng felt that no matter what Tengda chose, the initiative was on his side!

…

In Shanghai…

He An did not go to the office today. Instead, he was drinking tea at home.

He might be in a semi-retired state but he still went to his own company every now and then to take a look. He was also paying attention to the latest developments in the domestic games industry.

To him, talents were emerging in every generation. The domestic games industry had a promising future with a talent like Boss Pei.

Creators would always have a peak period of creation. Once the peak period was over, it would be very difficult to follow the trend. Thus, there was no need to force anything. They would retire when they should and enjoy life.

However, even though he was semi-retired, he still had to pay more attention to the development of the domestically-produced game industry.

"'Shu Li'? Hmm, this game looks not bad. Another up-and-coming talent?"

"He chose the field of action games. His courage is commendable. There's no turning back now. He either became a masterpiece or lost all his hard-earned money… From the promotional video, he's very smart not to walk the path of Repent and be Saved and Eternal Reincarnation. That's a wise move…"

"Eh? We can discuss' Shu Li ', but why did someone bring Tengda along? That's ridiculous!"

"What has this got to do with Tengda! Boss Pei can invest in any game he wants. If he doesn't want to invest, so be it. Why are people playing moral abduction?"

He An was originally scrolling through news about "Shu Li" with high intensity, expressing high expectations and attention to the future of this game. However, as he scrolled, he came across some discussions that made him very angry.

"The project team for 'Shu Li' seems to be in Jingzhou. Several investment firms have expressed their willingness to invest. Why isn't Tengda showing any signs?"

"That's right. Tengda has been showing off its responsibility to revive domestically-produced games. Why is it silent when it requires real money?"

"F*ck, are you crazy? Tengda has been working on its own game. What's more, it has been working with Sun Strike Studios to develop Bullet Hole 2. The efficiency of this game is simply as high as a female pig. What else do you want?"

"However, did Tengda do anything to support the domestic games industry? How many producers are lacking funds for independent games and standalone games? The project 'Shu Li' is in Jingzhou. Tengda did not say that it helped them. There's also a good platform like Dawn Games platform. Didn't Tengda put their own game up?"

"Tengda did not say that it would help any domestically-produced game designer unconditionally!"

"But isn't that what Tengda's fans are bragging about? The light of domestically-produced games? The only hope to revive domestically-produced games? Tengda can't possibly be meticulous and only care about itself while enjoying such praise and superficial fame, right?"

He An felt his blood pressure rise instantly seeing these comments.

Was there something wrong with him?!

There were indeed signs of fake reviewers here, but some people really thought so.

He could only say that many things made people speechless. If a good person did a bad thing, he would immediately be consigned to eternal damnation and his reputation would be ruined. If a bad person did a good thing, he would immediately be sought after by tens of thousands of people. It was as if all the bad things that he had done previously had been cleared.

It was not even possible for good people not to do bad things. If anything happened, as long as you did good things slowly, "your character would immediately collapse" and "your fox tail would be exposed."

People were used to using the highest moral standards to request for good people. However, they would reduce their moral standards to an extremely low level for bad people.

Take the current situation for example. Those investment firms had never invested in domestically-produced games before. This time, after they expressed their willingness to invest in Shu Li, many people felt that their attitude was sincere and worth encouraging. However, Tengda, who had always had high hopes, did not express any stance on the project of Shu Li. Not to mention paying money, they did not even show any support on the surface. That was very disappointing.