Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

December 16th, Friday...

Shanghai, Long Yu Corporation.

Zhao Xuming was in his office, checking on the progress of IOI's operations.

Zhao Xuming's work was far from complete even though IOI's qualifiers had come to an end.

Long Yu Corporation still had to cooperate with Dayak Corporation and Finger Games. They had to continue publicity work for IOI World Finals and build momentum for the upcoming IOI World Finals.

Logically speaking, the international competition would be a global competition. Team and players' promotional videos in various regions should be jointly promoted and shot by Finger Games. That would ensure the consistency of the publicity materials and its linkage.

However, Zhao Xuming and Chrétien decided to let Long Yu Corporation shoot a publicity film for a domestic team first after discussions.

The goal was clear: to further increase the popularity of IOI's international competition.

IOI's current operating situation was in a slump, which was why Finger Games placed more emphasis on local publicity.

A promotional video would be able to spark discussion in the country and increase its popularity if Long Yu Corporation were to shoot it first. At the same time, it would show how much importance Finger Games placed on local players. It seemed beneficial no matter which angle they thought from.

It was Finger Games' business to organize the World Finals. Long Yu Corporation would be able to make use of the World Finals to hype up IOI's popularity domestically.

Knock, knock, knock. A knock came from outside the office. The assistant pushed the door open and entered.

"Boss Zhao, the promotional video has been sent over. Would you like to take a look if you have the time?"

Zhao Xuming nodded and took the portable hard drive from his assistant. Then, he started to play the IOI World Finals special promotional video specially made for the domestic server on his computer.

The entire film was not long, only less than three minutes.

The logo of Finger Games and Long Yu Corporation appeared on the screen first. Then, a cool and hip BGM started playing, introducing the main content of the promotional video.

The promotional video this time was about the three teams that had made it to the international competition. Basically, all the players had individual scenes.

There were only 15 people in total. There would be nothing left if they cut the scenes.

The filming location was in Shanghai. Thirty percent of it was in the studio while seventy percent were outdoor scenes.

They filmed in a small venue with the IOI theme for the indoor shoot. The contestants would stand or sit, and they would pose in different poses to interact with the IOI theme in the venue.

On the other hand, the outdoor scenes were taken at famous attractions in Shanghai, which would maximize the local and cultural characteristics of Shanghai.

The players' movements were all different. As the scenes changed, the voice-overs that the players personally dubbed were interlaced.

"Someone asked me, what is the meaning of the game?"

"I replied that the meaning of the game is perseverance."

"The meaning of the game is to do your best to win."

"The meaning of the game is to break through doubts and create impossible miracles."

"World Submit, here we come!"

In the final scene,all fifteen members of the three teams advanced together. They walked up the steps of the stage in the interior of the stadium with a throne at the top.

Zhao Xuming watched the promotional video several times and nodded slightly. "Yes, not bad."

"It's not easy to be able to complete it in such a short period of time and with such a high completion rate."

The assistant smiled and said, "Of course. We spent a lot of money to find the best filming team in the country this time. You get what you pay for. The effect is guaranteed."

The filming of the promotional video this time was tight and had a lot of work to do.

It had only been a week from the qualifiers to the publicity film shooting and editing. Fortunately, the filming team was strong enough. They had only managed to complete it in time after working a lot of overtime to film and edit the scenes.

There was nothing they could do about that. They had to complete the promotional video as soon as possible and to warm up to the audience in advance. It would be too late if the promotional video was only released after the international competition began.

However, since the publicity film itself was short, many players only had two or three seconds to film. They completed the filming in two to three hours, so the effect was not bad.

Zhao Xuming sighed. "We have to thank Tengda Corporation. Their publicity film for GOG's international invitational tournament inspired us greatly."

The assistant nodded. "This is the benefit of having a back-to-back competition. We can learn from our predecessors' experience. What's more, we're using the same filming team as the one used for Tengda Corporation's international competition. We won't lose face in terms of quality!"

Zhao Xuming asked, "Didn't Tengda look for this team to film a new promotional video? GPL's season finals are almost over. The spring competition is about to start. Logically speaking, the promotional video should be out soon."

The assistant shook his head. "I also asked the person-in-charge of the filming team indirectly. He said that he had not received any news so far."

"There might be two possibilities. The first is that Tengda's promotional video for the spring season has not started filming yet. They are not in a hurry. After all, there is still some time before the start of the spring season competition. The second is that Tengda has found other filming teams. However, the other filming teams are unlikely to be better than the one we have found so far."

Zhao Xuming nodded, feeling much more relieved. "That's good."

Ever since he started planning for publicity for the IOI World Competition, Zhao Xuming had subconsciously used Tengda as a benchmark.

This included the IOI World Finals 'Domestic Special 'promotional video. They had also hired the same filming team as Tengda GOG's international invitational competition. They had used similar filming techniques. What's more, they had surpassed Tengda GOG in terms of clothing, make-up, interior design, and other aspects.

Zhao Xuming felt that his biggest advantage was his geographical location.

The filming was going to take place in Shanghai. There were many more landmarks, historical sites, and so on in Shanghai than in Jingzhou. The film would emit a strong Chinese aura and resonate with gamers.

What's more, the publicity film for GOG's international invitational tournament was done well. Zhao Xuming could vouch for that.

The indoor scenes, the interactions between the players and the game elements, the style of the transition, and so on were all very inspiring. The quality of the promotional film would not lose out to GOG's global invitational film.

Zhao Xuming knew very well that there was only one standard for shooting a promotional video - win against Tengda.

As long as he could win against Tengda, he would have a satisfactory explanation for both Finger Games and IOI players.

He had spent a huge sum of money on setting up the indoor scenes and hiring a filming team. He had finally gotten something in return.

Zhao Xuming was pleased with himself as he watched the promotional video another two times.

"It's a pity that the lines are a little awkward," said Zhao Xuming.

The assistant nodded. "Yes, a little, but that can't be helped."

"The filming team does not know enough about IOI. In order to ensure that the theme of the promotional film does not go astray, we have to write our own lines. The players are not professional voice actors. It is very difficult to get a suitable voice and tone from them. They can only do their best. They will be more or less awkward."

"However, there are pros and cons to retaining the contestant's original voices. At the moment, it looks acceptable."

Zhao Xuming continued, "Why are there so many scenes of the members of the FV Club? What's more, they look so handsome. The other two clubs feel so inferior."

He instinctively felt unhappy.

Now, the entire world knew that the FV Club was a club that Boss Pei had invested in. It was a competitor with GOG through and through. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were undercover spies.

FV Club had won the qualifiers and obtained the number one seeded spot in the international competition. That was already a slap in the face. Yet, they were still an absolute C position in the promotional video. The other two teams had become spare tires. That made Zhao Xuming instinctively unhappy.

The assistant was helpless. "Boss Zhao, there's nothing we can do."

"The players of FV Club have a good image and temperament. They are like models compared to the internet addicts of other teams. In order to ensure the best effect, the filming team would definitely give them more shots since they were also more handsome than the other team."

"What's more, FV is the number one seed in our competition zone. If they don't stand in the C position, people will definitely say that we're petty and suppressing FV Club. It's very hard on us."

Zhao Xuming nodded helplessly. "Alright."

He could only blame the other two teams for being disappointing. They would have been in the attention if they had obtained the first seeded entry, right?

Zhao Xuming watched the promotional video two more times. The more he looked at the members of FV Club, the more he disliked them.

However, he had no better idea. He could only reluctantly say, "Alright, then choose a suitable time to release this promotional video."

"After posting it, buy some popularity on the internet. Don't make it look too ugly, it can't be less popular than GOG's global invitational film at the very least."

The assistant nodded. "You don't have to worry about that. I'll definitely settle everything!"

He was about to leave when Zhao Xuming stopped him.

"Wait a minute. There's also the preparation for the international competition. What's the current situation?" Zhao Xuming asked.

The assistant replied, "According to the previous arrangements, the World Server has been updated with a new version. The clubs overseas have all been training with a new version."

"The update for our domestic server would be one week later, that means we'll only get the version update on Monday or so.overseas. However, the players in the clubs are currently playing ranking and training competitions in the world server. The impact is not that big."

Zhao Xuming looked pensive.

Finger Games was going to use the new version for the international competition. All the clubs knew about this.

It was understandable that Chrétien wanted to use the World Finals to show the new version of IOI to players around the world. However, he had to update the version in advance to let players familiarize themselves with it so that the teams could train in the environment of the new version.

The battle teams were more or less dissatisfied. After all, there were many changes in the new version. It would be very trying on the team's learning and adjustment ability to adapt to these changes in such a short period of time. It also tested the team's ability to train heroes.

However, everyone had to start from scratch considering that all the teams had to train and learn. It was not particularly unfair, so while most teams only complained and they did not protest too intensely.

Zhao Xuming pondered for a moment and asked, "Are foreign teams better trained than domestic teams?"

The assistant nodded. "Of course, Boss Zhao."

"The foreign teams are all in World Server. There are no delays and they can communicate with their teammates. Rank's environment is much better than our domestic server. What's more, the veteran E-Sports Clubs in Europe and the United States are all in contact with each other. They can arrange for frequent training competitions. If many teams train together, they will naturally improve faster."

"There are only three teams in our country. The other two clubs are not on good terms with the FV Club. It would be difficult for them to achieve good results."

Zhao Xuming nodded. After some consideration, he said, "How about this? Contact Finger Games. I'll arrange for the players to go to Los Angeles in advance!"

The assistant was stunned. "Go in advance?"

Zhao Xuming: "That's right. We'll go there in advance. On one hand, we can get used to the living environment there in advance so that we are able to adapt. On the other hand, we can train in the environment in the world with low delays. We can also arrange for training competitions with the veteran clubs in Europe and America. That would improve our results."

"While we will probably not be able to win the European or American championship, we'll still be able to keep up if we sharpen our guns at the last minute. If we lose too badly, we won't be able to keep our faces."

"As for the expenses, it's nothing more than taking out more money for food and accommodation. We'll reimburse the clubs this bit of money so that they have to train hard and fight well. Don't disgrace our Long Yu Corporation!"

The assistant nodded hurriedly. "Alright, Boss Zhao, that's a good idea! I'll go and talk to Finger Games and book the air tickets and accommodation in advance!"