Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian was even more excited upon hearing it.

"Teacher He, tell me. I really want to hear about it!"

He An was a little surprised. "Why, is Boss Ma an experienced RTS game enthusiast?"

Pei Qian thought about it. "Hmm… I guess?"

He could probably be considered experienced if he liked that from now, right?

Why do I like RTS games? Maybe because it could help me lose money?

He An thought about it. "It's okay, an RTS game is not a deviation from today's topic. I'll talk about it briefly then.

"An RTS game is a real-time strategy game. It was glorious in the past. We were once the mainstay game type in the esports industry. However, when we talk about RTS, there is no avoiding talk about Fantasy Battle and Starcraft 2.

"Last year, Starcraft 2 was released and was a great success.

"However, that hasn't changed the industry's dislike of RTS games since it is more like a flashback. The success of one game will hardly change the decline of the entire game type.

"It is true as well. Except for a few established, well-known manufacturers; almost no one wants to touch this game type anymore.

"Even the big manufacturers do not seem to plan to invest too much money and energy into this game type. The decline of this type of game is directly related to the rise of new game types.

"RTS games have too high of a requirement for the players. Most players failed to reach the minimum operating threshold and naturally could not enjoy the game.

"At the same time, the single-player mode is also difficult to throw the blame to their teammates. The frustrations after losing are too strong, making RTS a very high-end and highly watchable esports event. However, it is very difficult to continue as a popular mass game because of the threshold.

"The mainstream popular games of the future would be games like GOG, especially the client-side game and mobile games with their unique advantages…

Pei Qian's mouth twitched again. Why was the topic back to GOG? He had to think of ways to change the subject.

"In short, making an RTS game without many IPs at this point in time would mean a dead end?"

He An nodded lightly. "Yes, you can think of it this way."

Pei Qian nearly danced with joy.

I thought so, too! I was finally on the same frequency with Teacher He for once.

Pei Qian had indeed considered the RTS game type before, but he decided against it by then because it did not seem dead yet.

It might not have any future, but many old players liked such game types. Moreover, they had a huge purchasing power. He was afraid that it might backfire. However, more than one year had passed, and the situation had changed!

The release of Starcraft 2 revived RTS, sucking away almost all the remaining RTS players.

Moreover, the competition between GOG and IOI was so intense that even Gods Rising could only tremble. What more could be said about a new RTS game?

Yes, let's do this! It seemed to be foolproof!

What a pity though… that it was no longer possible for this cycle. He could only think of using it for the next cycle.

He An sighed. "Sigh, actually part of the reason why I decided to retire is that my vision can no longer keep up with the pace of game development in this era.

"Previously I felt that Gods Rising would only be a beautiful niche and that mobile games would never have a strong impact on client-side games. Now, it seems like my thinking is outdated.

"Boss Ma, that is also the reason why I put this class on the second topic. I hope that you will always have long term vision and find the right type of game to develop. You'll be able to win lying down if you make a game that was on par with the era!"

Pei Qian: "…"

Teacher He, you were speaking so well. Why are you suddenly cursing me?

…

Ten at night…

DGE E-Sports Club…

It was already time for lights out. All the cell phones of the team members had been kept away. That was to ensure that they had enough rest.

Ming Yun Villas was, by default, a villa that was far away from the noisy city. There was very little light pollution. They could only see the faint twinkling of the moonlight and the starlight even if they did not pull the curtains.

That was the team's dormitory. Two people would share a room.

In the darkness, the human sprawled on the bed spoke.

"Old Zhou, can I trouble you to give me a cup of water? I'm thirsty."

Old Zhou on the other bed was obviously not asleep yet. "F*ck, what the hell did you do before bed? Also, why don't you take it yourself?"

The human figure was lying lifelessly. "I can't move."

Old Zhou: "Huang Wang, you speak as though I'm any better."

Huang Wang: "Old Zhou, don't pretend, you can definitely move. Please, if I really die of thirst tomorrow, the mock competition will be over; we'll have to practice more at night!"

Old Zhou: "Call me Daddy."

Huang Wang: "Daddy!"

Old Zhou:"…what the sh*t, you really have no bottom line as the leader of the team. I give up."

Old Zhou had no other choice. He could only flip over on the bed and walk strangely to the table by the side. He brought Huang Wang's cup to his bedside.

Huang Wang: "Ah…"

Old Zhou's face turned black. "Do you want to die?! Drink yourself, or I'll pour it all onto the floor!"

Huang Wang painstakingly sat up on his bed. "I'll drink… I'll drink alright. Give it to me."

Old Zhou stormed back to his bed.

Huang Wang took two sips of water, pursed his lips, and continued. "Old Zhou, we cannot continue on like this. We have to think of a way. That Jiang from the opposing team is definitely a hard nut to crack!

"We've been practicing for one whole week; we're gonna die if we continue losing like this!"

Old Zhou was speechless. "Isn't that because of your commands as the leader?! Jiang Huan can always think of some dirty old tricks to round us up and kill us. Our team is simply a mess when compared to the other team! Especially you. You play as a mid-lander, but your support is always slower than others. How can we play?!"

Huang Wang expressed his dissatisfaction. "F*ck, isn't that because of those Nakano twins? Anyway, that is all the problem with our strategy. We have to think of new strategies as well. Otherwise, who can take it if we continue to do extra training because we lost?!"

"Any more, and we can really become personal trainers instead!"

Old Zhou laughed. "No problem, I feel we can find someone from the opposite team to PK in real life before we become personal trainers. I can feel my muscles getting bigger."

"What about this? We'll think of some new tactics tomorrow. If the opponents play outside common sense, then we can only play dirty. I finally understand… this game really depends on strategy…"

Suddenly, the light outside the door lit up. Light shone into the room through the gap of the door. Both of them shut up hurriedly.

Zhang Yuan stood outside for two whole minutes before leaving.

DGE club's daily training these days were difficult to describe. Zhang Yuan was a little concerned after Boss Pei formulated the training schedule. However, he still strictly followed it.

As expected, these internet-addicted youngsters nearly died on the first day.

The schedule for the morning was a morning jog, but it quickly downgraded to brisk walk before becoming a walk and finally panting on the spot.

Strength training was arranged in the evening. They did not feel anything after the exercise that day other than that their bodies were hollowed out. However, they almost could not get out of bed the next day.

Luckily, Coach Yaling was a professional. She paid attention to everyone's physical condition during the training. Everything from nutrition, warm-up, and stretching before and after training were done very professionally so there were no major problems.

However, even so, these people were still taxed. Their performances in the mock competition plummeted since they started their fitness training. The top rankings of ten players were not maintained.

By the second week, things started changing slightly.

Muscle masses began to grow on players who were originally thin as bamboo poles. The plump players were visibly thinner. Everyone started adapting to the fitness routine, their gameplay started recovering slowly.

Then, one of the teams began to get a hang out of it.

Jiang Huan's team began to play all sorts of tricks during the mock competition and won a seven-game winning streak, blasting the head of Huang Wang's team.

As to why they fought so hard…

The reason was simple: lose and they had to train more!

If the other had lost beautifully, it would mean that the captain would practice with the backers in the team; if the team lost horribly, then the entire team would practice together.

After the next few days of extra training, Huang Wang—the captain—had almost no energy to get up for even a glass of water.

That was because the players' physical fitness improved and gradually adapted. Coach Yaling was already giving them extra training.

Zhang Yuan originally sympathized with these players but realized after observing for some time that it seemed to really have that effect if it went on!

Previously, he had heard that the clubs practiced with the first and second teams. In the beginning, there was no punishment so everyone used all sorts of tactics. No one took winning or losing to heart. Later, the team leader decided that the losing team would need to pay 100 yuan to the winning team to buy cigarettes and snacks. Both sides immediately became serious.

Moreover, this additional training punishment measure seemed to work even better. Both teams were racking their brains

The custom exercises arranged after the morning jog also had its effect. In the beginning, the players were all at a loss. What was there to train for if it was customized training with no one to be their opponent?

However, there was nothing else they could do by then. They could only practice some hero's basic skills and study hero mechanics infinitely and repeatedly in the customization.

After working hard to achieve the ultimate in the operations of the familiar heroes, they could only continue to study the heroes they were not familiar with.

Especially the mid-lanes, wild monsters, and various deeper game mechanics in the game. There was a lot of research, and a lot of data was in their minds.

After two whole hours, it was too boring to just practice muscle memory. They would more or less think about the game mechanics.

Very obviously, Huang Wang and his team had been getting better and better in training games recently. They were also desperately studying various tactics. Maybe they would win a victory soon and find their place.

When the time came, Jiang Huan and the others would practice one more time. A chase would become a perpetual movement.

GOG was a new game after all. Players who had the deepest understanding of the game were those high ranking players. Let them think about tactics that could not necessarily be any worse than the coaches who had transferred from the other projects.

Zhang Yuan could not help but sigh. Could Boss Pei's training plan be really something he thought carefully about?

The effects were pretty good after the period of trial!