Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Both competitions went as planned, one game after another. However, the more Pei Qian watched, the stranger things looked.

The gap between the popularities of both competitions was getting bigger!

At the start, many people had been watching IOI. However, as more time passed, that number decreased, and the competition became less popular. They were running towards GOG!

Even Pei Qian could barely keep himself from betraying IOI and escaping. Even after keeping his cell phone, he felt the urge to check how GOG's competition was doing.

He scrunched his nose and watched a couple of IOI games before he found the problem.

The standard was really horrible!

On one hand, IOI's game mechanism was outdated, and the audience had no affection for the heroes. On the other hand, the teams were of horrible and varying standards, so that the competition became no different from slightly better ranked matches.

Although Pei Qian could keep watching, the teams were poorly coordinated. Instead of looking like one complete team, they looked more like five random players who had been matched together.

It wouldn't have looked that bad if GOG had not organized a competition on the same day. However, side by side, one was clearly better than the other!

The majority of the audience had already been leaning towards GOG from the beginning. They had only peeked at IOI because they had heard that there would be 'Sino-foreign confrontation'. Yet, after watching a few games, they lost interest and jumped ship.

Once they did, they didn't turn back!

Moreover, trolls were repeatedly jumping back and forth between both live streams, just to drag a big group of viewers from IOI's platform to GOG's.

The gap between the number of viewers in both competitions continued to widen, and the change was glaringly obvious. The most ridiculous thing was that Pei Qian noticed people secretly leaving the actual venue as well!

After all, the tickets had been sold for very cheap. One could say they had practically been given away. Naturally, the audience would not feel heartache despite leaving early.

Clearly, those people were not enjoying the competition. Thinking that they would only waste time if they stayed behind, they decided to leave.

Pei Qian wanted to vomit blood.

Don't go! Stay behind and watch!

He really wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but he knew in his heart that it would be useless. The gamers would only support the game that they liked.

Pei Qian heaved a long sigh and leaned back in his chair, having mixed feelings.

Although the competition would end tomorrow, from the looks of the current situation, the outcome had already been decided. IOI had no hope of making a comeback.

What should Pei Qian do?

…

…

July 24th, Sunday…

Today, Pei Qian did not go and watch GOG or IOI's competition because the outcome had already been decided. Going to watch would only result in his corpse being whipped again.

Last night, Pei Qian read forums for a very long time. He read the comments that gamers had for both competitions and finally concluded that there was really no hope.

GOG's competition had completely trashed IOI's!

As a result, many players were beginning to feel bad for the latter.

"Looking at IOI's declining viewership really hurts my heart. The organizers must have spent a huge deal on advertising beforehand. Now, all the gamers that they had attracted have become viewers of GOG's competition!"

"That's right, a friend of mine used to be a hardcore fan of IOI but is now a fan of GOG…"

"It's too bad. GOG is too strong. Its mobile and client versions are synced, the game mechanism is fun, and even its professional tournaments are more interesting!"

"Poor IOI…"

"IOI is a successful overseas game of solid quality and fast updating pace, and that puts in a lot of effort in its operations. It doesn't make sense for it not to be popular after entering the local market."

"Hmm… if Tengda didn't exist, maybe that would be true."

"Actually, the managers of IOI's local server had done everything right. If they had not been up against GOG, they would have made it by now. GOG is really out of this world. It's a crowdsourced game that's been marketed in internet cafes and that has organized a competition…

"What's more, it linked its mobile and client version from the beginning and organized competition seasons to distribute rewards. It dominated the market a long time ago and could even deflect every single one of IOI's attacks perfectly. It's so powerful!"

"Boss Pei is an operational genius."

"Indeed, with Boss Pei behind GOG, IOI stands no chance."

"Wait a minute, isn't IOI being managed by Tengda as well? Shang Yang Games is a fully-owned subsidiary under Tengda Corporation, right?"

"Ai, they're all related, but there's a world of difference, understand? Do you know about dog-eat-dog competitions? Are you still unable to tell whose side Boss Pei is standing on?"

"It's true—Boss Pei will surely lean towards GOG. It's his biological child."

Reading those comments made Pei Qian feel exhausted inside.

Whose side am I on? I'm on IOI's freaking side, of course! That goes without saying!

Yet, the gamers aside, even Shang Yang Games wouldn't believe him this time. Pei Qian felt helpless. It looked like the entire project had failed.

However, if he looked on the bright side…

Could IOI's local server incur losses without doing anything now?

Lin Wan likely wouldn't leave Tengda and inherit her family business anymore. However, after this mess, the winner between GOG and IOI was very clear. If Pei Qian continued to pour money into IOI, wouldn't he be able to happily make ducks and drakes of it?

To Pei Qian, it was important to adapt to whatever life threw at him.

Since he could no longer help IOI, he could adapt his strategy and turn it into his loss-incurring tool. That didn't sound like a bad idea!

…

As Pei Qian thought about a plan for the future, he walked to the cafe to listen to Qiu Hong's past failures. Until now, Qiu Hong had already shared a few failures with Pei Qian.

Making a mess of project management…

Interference from bosses or external forces…

Not being able to find talents…

Lack of general knowledge and poor communication…

Absence of a united voice within the research and development team…

Pei Qian had to admit that Qiu Hong had been sharing about all of those failures from the bottom of his heart.

According to him, any one of the above could result in difficulties for the project; two could result in the research and development being stuck in the mud; three could make work a living hell.

However, Pei Qian realized that all of those fatal problems had miraculously been dealt with in Tengda!

This was freaking ridiculous.

He felt like he was in a race where everyone else was starting at the start line… while he had been standing at the finish line the entire time.

Most importantly, he wanted to run backward!

In short, he was in a rut.

Among all the failures, Pei Qian only found one he could possibly attempt: the absence of a united voice within the research and development team. However, he still had no idea how he could practically achieve that.

All he could do was hold that Qiu Hong would share even more past failures with him today.

Qiu Hong sipped his coffee and observed 'Ma Yang's expression. "Boss Ma, you look both happy and worried today."

Pei Qian nodded. "Yes."

He was right, but Pei Qian was feeling happy and worried about the opposite things.

Qiu Hong smiled. "Life is filled with things that don't go our way. Don't take it to heart, Boss Ma. The past failure I am going to talk about today is iteration."

At once, Pei Qian perked up. That sounded like something that he could apply directly!

'Iteration' was actually similar to updating to a new version. It covered situations when games were updated from versions 1.0 to 1.1 or even 2.0.

Qiu Hong continued speaking. "Boss Pei, you might be confused. Isn't iteration necessary for any project to succeed? Why would I count it as a failure? The key lies in whether one iterates with a clear goal in mind or not.

"All failed iterations have one thing in common: no one knows what the game or product would look like in the end. They're always wandering around aimlessly and adapting to the constant changes.

"Demand is always changing, and there always seems to be no end to the updates.

"Such behavior reveals that no one knows what the product is meant to look like in the end. The more they are updated, the further they stray from the bright path.

"On the surface, one might think that the product is improving with every update. However, in reality, it is just traveling farther away from its destination. One day, it would not be able to turn back.

"That's the case for many games. Their original versions are often very clear, but people keep on wanting to add more things during the research and development process. Thus, they keep iterating and adding things to the game until it looks nothing like the original.

"When the wrong iterations are made and the project team's voice is not united, there would be horrible, horrible, horrible calamities!

"The entire project would contain infinite internal frictions. It'll be like a boat heading straight into a whirlpool—even the best steersman would not be able to save it. One can only watch as it continues to sink deeper and disintegrate; it would be unsalvageable."

Pei Qian's eyes lit up.

Good! I've not wasted my money!

Finally, I've learned a fatal tactic from Qiu Hong!

All along, Tengda's games had been constantly XXX and updated. However, Pei Qian had had a very clear goal in mind when he worked on the updates. That unfortunately led to his success.

Yet, now, with Qiu Hong's theories as his guide, Pei Qian could clearly see a path to victory!

He had to create disunity within the project team and then force them to iterate. They would tear down and redo every single version, iterate, and upgrade… until the game became unrecognizable before settlement.

Wouldn't that be great?

"Boss Qiu, thank you so much!" Pei Qian thanked Qiu Hong affectionately, his eyes glinting.

Qiu Hong looked overwhelmed by 'Ma Yang's favor. He quickly said, "Boss Ma, don't worry about it. I'm just doing what I can to help you out because someone asked me to.

"What's more, I've only been sharing my past failures. Boss Ma, if you want to make use of them, you have to apply them in reverse."

Pei Qian's smile widened.

Apply them in reverse? No, I can directly apply all of your failures!

Indeed, learning is amazing. How else would I have known that there were so many ways to incur losses?

All his money was well-spent!

…

…

July 25th, Monday…

GOG and IOI's competitions had finally completed their third stage. Yesterday afternoon, the champions of each competition had been crowned. All the rewards and trophies had also been distributed.

However, it did not matter who exactly had been crowned champions.

What mattered was that, after the competitions, all the gamers and clubs were clear on one fact: IOI would not make it in the country! For the foreseeable future, GOG would dominate. These competitions had only served to lock in the game's position at the top!

…

DGE Esports Club…

The members of the H4 Club and the DGE Club were saying their goodbyes.

Team Leader Su was talking to Zhang Yuan about the future of the esports industry in the country.

H4 had regrettably been the runners-up in yesterday's competition. However, the results had already been a pleasant surprise, given that they were used to being tortured repeatedly and had not harbored much hope in the first place.