Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

March 21st, Monday…

Pei Qian woke up at noon sharp, ate his lunch, and then headed to the office. He was about to enter the elevator when he realized that GOG's client-side game was supposed to be released today.

Thus, he did not click '16'. Instead, he decided to head to the 17th level to walk around and ask how GOG's client-side game was doing.

Based on the time, the client-side game should have been released two or three hours ago. The initial figures should have been out. It would be enough to paint a rough picture for Pei Qian.

"GOG's client-side game would definitely not be as popular as the mobile game.

"After all, GOG's mobile version only became popular because the development of mobile games was lagging behind. Most other mobile games could not compete with GOG, thus posing little threat.

"Things would be different for the client-side game. MMORPGs and FPS games were of a higher tier, and players of those games were extremely loyal. The old Gods Rising and the up and coming IOI were on the same tier as GOG, and many other games that were commonly considered to be of a lower tier had many merits as well.

"GOG's client-side game is a newcomer in the market. Its starting situation cannot be that good in the face of such stiff competition."

With that, Pei Qian arrived on the 17th floor. The moment he entered the office, Hu Xianbin caught him.

"Boss Pei, you're here!" Hu Xianbin looked very excited.

At once, Pei Qian had a bad feeling in his gut. "What's the matter? You guessed that I would visit?"

Hu Xianbin smiled. "I just guessed. After all, GOG's client-side game is doing very well. You must have expected this. I thought there would be a high chance that you would come and take a look."

Pei Qian, "?"

Doing very well?! I don't think we have the same definition of 'well'!

Forget the fact that the mobile game did well. Now, the same thing is happening for the client-side game?

"Take a look, Boss Pei!"

Hu Xianbin gestured towards the monitor. Pei Qian looked at the computer that Hu Xianbin was pointing at. It displayed various initial statistics for GOG's client-side game. It was changing in real time.

Holy sh*t! It's doing so well?!

Pei Qian nearly shouted this out loud.

He had seen similar figures once GOG's mobile game was released, but that had been a mobile game after all. It had no other competitor, and it was only natural that its figures had been good. However, why were the client-side game's figures now better than the mobile game's figures back then?

That was impossible!

Pei Qian subconsciously turned to Hu Xianbin.

Hu Xianbin smiled, obviously pleased with himself. "Boss Pei, I knew you would test me. I've given it serious thought, and I've summarized the reasons for this!

"Firstly, competition among client-side games has been very stiff, but the overall market size is still bigger than that for mobile games. There are many more heavy gamers as well!

"Secondly, Tengda Games has been plowing deep into the client-side game market for two years. With standalone games like Ocean Stronghold as its predecessors, GOG's client-side game became very well-received from the moment it was released!

"Lastly and most importantly, GOG's mobile game, its competition, and its rewards have caused enthusiasm for the client-side game to build up even before it was released.

"Since the client-side game and mobile games are integrated, many mobile game users downloaded the client-side game as soon as they could to experience it.

"Many people had even started waiting in advance at internet cafes, to fight for the competition prizes. The moment the server was opened, they entered and worked hard to rise through the ranks. Every second mattered!

"That's why GOG's client-side game has achieved such impressive results at the start!

"According to the figures from Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Gods Rising, IOI's international server, and GOG's test server had been vying for first place. However, ever since GOG's client was released, the balance was broken.

"GOG's client quickly defeated the other two games and caught all the gamers' attention!

"Although it's still too soon to celebrate our victory, it evidently paid off to release GOG's mobile game before the client!

"Boss Pei, this is all thanks to your wise guidance!"

Pei Qian looked confused. "…I never told you to create a mobile version of GOG."

Hu Xianbin nodded. "That's right, you're not wrong. Big Sister Li was the one who requested us to create a mobile version of the game and link both of the accounts.

"However, Big Sister Li said that she had learned to displace the competition from you. The series of classic moves that you undertook for publicity gave Big Sister Li inspiration and changed her line of thinking. That was why she was able to think of such a method to advertise GOG's client-side game!"

Pei Qian, "…"

Was this what it felt like to be stabbed in the back from afar? Li Yada was still on holiday, but she had remembered to leave a thorn behind before leaving.

Pei Qian's head began to hurt, and he suddenly had an ominous feeling. From the looks of the current situation, things would turn dire if IOI still put off releasing a local server…

No way. IOI had to have a local server by the next cycle.

Otherwise, the plot would develop completely differently from what Pei Qian had imagined. The situation would spiral out of control!

Pei Qian turned to leave.

By now, Hu Xianbin had become used to Boss Pei's swift and decisive reactions. "Take care, Boss Pei! You're welcome here anytime! We'll always be ready for your inspection!"

Once Boss Pei left, Hu Xianbin looked at the figures on the screen and fell into deep thought.

"I have to admit that Boss Pei's decision to develop mobile games in the face of difficulty was extremely effective.

"Many people could tell that, with the rise of smartphones, mobile games were going to be in trend. However, their lack of understanding of the game industry prevented them from taking the right action.

"Although they knew that mobile games were going to be in trend, they mistakenly focused on creating light and relaxing games.

"Boss Pei was different. He had a deep understanding of both cell phones and the game industry. That allowed him to bring heavy games like Bloody Battle Song and GOG to cell phones.

"Er… he was not the one who made the decision, but Director Lin and Big Sister Li had obviously been influenced by his train of thought.

"Shouldn't we stick to developing mobile games in the face of difficulty, then? As far as we can, we should create a mobile version of any game that we develop in the future, right?

"Yes… that seems like a good idea. Ocean Stronghold's PvP mode can be converted into a mobile game as well. Hmm, I'll note that down. It's a bold conjecture, but I'll be careful to seek confirmation…"

…

…

March 22nd, Tuesday…

At Fei Huang Workspace…

"Boss Pei, I still think it's a loss if we don't screen Tomorrow is Beautiful for one more month. Given the quality of our film and the ticket sales, it seems basic to screen it in the theaters for one more month.

"Although we won't generate much more revenue, we would still be able to earn another ten or twenty million yuan, no matter how low the row piece rate gets."

After nagging at Boss Pei, Zhu Xiaoce sipped his tea. Pei Qian was not considering Zhu Xiaoce's suggestion at all. Instead, he sipped at his tea and smiled subtly.

This was a good day for Pei Qian.

Tomorrow is Beautiful was going to stop screening in theaters!

Pei Qian had been living a nightmare for the past month. He had thought February 22nd would be an auspicious date, and that the film would fail from the day of its premiere. However, after a month, the film had generated a total of 248.62 million yuan in revenue.

Flying Star Journey had offered some help at the last stage. While Tomorrow is Beautiful had approached the end of its prime, Flying Star Journey gave it a sudden additional burst of life. Just prior to its demise, the film stubbornly made another twenty million yuan more than Gou Yan had predicted.

Based on his calculations, Pei Qian guessed that the production team would get about 83 million yuan.

The total investment they had made into the film was thirty million yuan.

Thus, Pei Qian had resolutely objected when Zhu Xiaoce and Huang Sibo suggested continuing to screen the movie for one more month. In fact, he had been agitated that they had dared to suggest that Pei Qian should continue earning a month's worth of revenue from ticket sales.

All in all, today was the final day of Tomorrow is Beautiful's screening.

Director Zhu Xiaoce was obviously feeling sorry about it.

Although screening the movie for an additional month would not generate that much revenue—ten million yuan at most, out of which they would only take about five or six million, it would be free money after all.

Pei Qian sipped his tea quietly, scoffing inwardly at how little Zhu Xiaoce knew.

Screening the movie for one more month meant delaying their collection of profits for another month. The next cycle would probably last another five months or so. At the rate things were going, the earliest that they would be allowed to collect their profits from the box office would be a month after the movie stopped screening.

If they collected the cash in March, Pei Qian would be able to invest the money into another project immediately.

If they collected it in April, and then invested it into another project, the timeline for that project would be extremely tight. It would likely not be completed on time.

Thus, Pei Qian could not delay it any longer!

Since both of them had different views, they could not hold a conversation.

At that moment, Huang Sibo hung up a call, walked over, and sat down in the empty seat. "Director Zhu, Boss Pei's decision is apparently correct. Indeed, we shouldn't screen the movie for a month longer."

Zhu Xiaoce was stunned. "Huh?"

Huang Sibo grinned. "Aili Island's staff just contacted me. They want to be our exclusive partners for Tomorrow is Beautiful!"

Zhu Xiaoce, "?"

Pei Qian, "?"

Both of them had strange expressions: one was surprised, and the other was shocked.

After recovering from the initial surprise, Zhu Xiaoce smacked his thigh and shouted, "That's right! I understand now!

"Extending screening of the movie by a month could cause the audience's demand for the movie to fall. Then, Aili Island would offer a lower price to us when negotiating a partnership.

"Now, Tomorrow is Beautiful is being taken out of theaters while it's still popular. Negotiating a partnership with Aili Island—and an exclusive one, at that—could earn us very advantageous terms!"

Huang Sibo smiled. "That's not all. A highly-anticipated online series would be premiering in April. Then, many of the resources would be distributed.

"We're now at the end of March. Coincidentally, there aren't many popular online series on the website. If Tomorrow is Beautiful enters an exclusive partnership with Aili Island now, the film could still get very good recommendations by the website in April!"

A realization dawned on Zhu Xiaoce. "I see… impressive. Taking the movie out of theaters at the right time could maintain the film's popularity and get us more advantageous terms with video websites.

"However, can video websites really offer us more than five million yuan?"

Huang Sibo glanced at the document on his cell phone. "At the moment, Aili Island offers two types of exclusive partnership models.

"First, they could buy the movie out. Until now, Aili Island has offered ten to fifty million yuan for films that have generated over a hundred million yuan in revenue at the box office and that starred famous actors.

"Our film has generated over two hundred million yuan in the box office, and it's still very popular. Aili Island is offering us 18 million yuan.

"Second, they could split the revenue with us—"

Zhu Xiaoce smacked his thigh again. "The buyout, of course!"

Pei Qian, "Split revenue!"

Both of them spoke at the same time, causing the atmosphere to turn awkward.

Zhu Xiaoce's thinking was simple. Even if they sold broadcasting rights to the video website, no matter how many views it got, how long would it take them to earn 18 million yuan after splitting the revenue?

Of course, selling the movie and earning 18 million yuan at one go was more profitable. Then, they would not need to worry about the movie's revenue in the future.

On the other hand, nobody could guess Pei Qian's considerations.

Are you trying to kill me by collecting 18 million yuan at one go?

It took me so much time so spend all the additional money in our bank accounts for now. Settlement is right around the corner. If we earn another 18 million yuan now, where am I supposed to put it?!

Do you expect me to bathe in Lafitte every single day? I… oh, that would help me spend all the money, but the System would never allow it.

Thus, Boss Pei resolutely rejected the proposal!

Huang Sibo cleared his throat. "Heh, how about you let me finish?

"If we split the revenue, we would get paid 2.5 yuan for every effective view by members. Each member would have to view our film for more than six minutes before it would count as an effective view, and we would be paid every month for six months.

"After six months, the film would become free for all to view, but Aili Island would continue to pay us according to the incentive plan and based on the film's views and popularity.

"If we prioritize stability, we should go with the buyout. If we're extremely confident in the movie, then we can go for the split revenue option."

Pei Qian was determined. "Split the revenue!"

He did not care how many views the film would be able to get on Aili Island. He only cared about one thing: no matter how much Aili Island was going to pay him, he did not want the money now!

He could deal with anything—no matter how huge it was—during the next cycle!

Seeing how resolute Boss Pei was, Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce exchanged a knowing look and then nodded. "Alright, we'll go with the split revenue option. We're very confident in Tomorrow is Beautiful as well. We'll probably earn more money if we go with this!"

Pei Qian sighed inwardly, feeling melancholic.

Today… was supposed to be a good day, because it was the last day of the film's screening. Yet, what was happening now…?