Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

February 16th, Thursday…

In Beijing, at the independent incubation base of Destitution Plan.

The incubation base had returned to normal operations after the Lunar New Year. The independent game designers had also restarted the research and development of the game.

The promotional video released by the Destitution Plan had a very good publicity effect before the Chinese New Year holiday. The success of the 'Survival Guide for Working Adults' and 'Black Ink and Clouds' DEMO had given all independent game producers a boost of confidence, making them feel that their dreams of creating independent games were closer than ever.

Wu Zhicheng was obviously the most motivated.

The DEMO of Black Ink and Clouds was very successful. Moreover, gamers were using real money to support it. They were almost certain that the sales would definitely not be bad as long as they completed the follow-up content of Black Ink and Clouds according to the prescribed order.

What's more, the entire staff of the incubation base was cooperating with him. Wu Zhicheng did not lack anything. He only needed to focus all his energy on the game design.

The only flaw was that there was a rule in the incubation base to ensure a certain amount of gaming time every week to "collect inspiration". That gave Wu Zhicheng a headache.

If only he could use this time to develop games.

At that moment, Wu Zhicheng was at his workstation, seriously designing the follow-up stage of "Black Ink and Clouds".

Every chapter had to be unique in packaging and gameplay. That was a very brain-consuming task.

Qiu Hong came to the incubation base and looked around. He realized that everyone was working very seriously and was very satisfied.

He could not help but recall the situation when he started his own game company, his own business.

At that time, Qiu Hong was also a boss. However, every time he went to the company, he could tell that the employees looked like they were working hard but were actually slacking. The independent game designers at the incubation base were seriously designing their own games.

Qiu Hong could not help but feel emotional. Could this be Boss Pei's charm?

They still did the same thing as Tengda's employees even if almost no one knew about the relationship between the 'Destitution Plan' and Boss Pei, and even if all the independent game designers had not been inspired by the Tengda spirit.

Boss Pei's incentive buff actually worked without revealing his identity? What's more, it could directly affect Beijing from Jingzhou?

It was ridiculous.

Qiu Hong came to the middle of the office and clapped his hands. "Please stop what you're doing. I have two things to announce."

Wu Zhicheng and the other independent game designers raised their heads and listened intently.

Qiu Hong said, "The first thing is that I will be leaving for a period of time. I'm not sure how long it will be. It might be a month or two, or three to five months. It depends on the work situation."

"The independent game incubation base in Beijing is on the right track. I'm going to Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities to open independent game incubation bases."

"The initial plan is to establish three bases: northern, eastern and southern bases.

"Everyone, you have to work harder in the future. Our northern base was the first to be established. It would be awkward if the eastern and southern bases surpass us in the future."

"If you encounter any problems at work, continue to look for Xi Hao. He will communicate with me at any time."

Everyone looked surprised but did not overreact.

This was unexpected but reasonable.

The 'Destitution Plan' was meant to be a developer for independent games in the entire country. Once the independent game developers in Beijing were on track, Shanghai and Guangzhou's independent game developers would definitely be next.

It was just that no one expected it to happen so quickly.

However, Xi Hao was in charge of the normal operations of the incubation base. Thus, Qiu Hong's departure did not have much of an impact. No one would make a fuss.

Qiu Hong paused for a moment and continued. "The second thing is that I have created gym memberships in Deposit Fitness for everyone in the incubation base. Everyone has to train on schedule."

"In the future, everyone's work meals must be changed to fitness meals that came with Deposit Fitness. This is to ensure everyone's health."

"After all, the development of the game requires a long period of sitting. If you take too long, your lumbar vertebra and your cervical vertebra are prone to problems. Persist on working out so that everyone would have more energy to develop the game."

Everyone was stunned after hearing this news.

What was that?

He even gave us a gym membership?

Wu Zhicheng looked confused as well. He was already very dissatisfied with the "must have enough game time every week" rule. Now, apart from taking time to play games every week, he had to take time out to exercise?

What's more, everyone had been eating regular meals from Fish-Catching Take-Out. The taste was very good. While it was not as healthy as fitness meals, it was much better than other take-out. Everyone was quite satisfied.

Wasn't it superfluous to have fitness meals with Deposit Fitness now?

Wu Zhicheng quickly raised his hand and said, "Boss Qiu, there's no need for the gym, right? We're all young people. Our bodies are very strong…"

Qiu Hong's expression became serious. "Very strong? Do you believe that?"

"You were making independent games in your own residence before you came to the incubation base. All of you had your days and nights inverted, and your meals were irregular. You might not have any serious illness because you were young but who did not have any small problems with their health?"

"Deposit Fitness happened to be in Beijing. I heard that the fitness effect is very good. I've already arranged for everyone to go. None of you can skip! Xi Hao, you have to supervise everyone and supervise their training. I'll hold you responsible if anyone doesn't go!"

Xi Hao was frozen on his desk, not knowing how to react.

Qiu Hong might sound tough on the surface, but in reality, he was not confident either.

In fact, these requests were all made by Boss Pei. He was just a mouthpiece.

Before this, Pei Qian had been thinking about how to counter Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Fish-Catching Take-Out, and Deposit Fitness after learning that they were opening in large numbers in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities. He had been thinking about how to drag them down.

He suddenly realized that he had a lot of businesses in Beijing!

There was an independent game incubation base and the Cold-Faced Lady. All of them would be assigned to Deposit Fitness. Not only would they be able to generate losses, but they would also be able to interfere with everyone's work progress. Why not?

However, the relationship between the incubation base and Tengda Corporation could not be made public. Thus, Qiu Hong could only continue to be a tool.

Wu Zhicheng and the other producers stood up, wanting to negotiate with Qiu Hong.

There was no need for the gym!

Wouldn't it be better for us to work hard on making games?

However, Qiu Hong had no intention of negotiating with them. He said firmly, "It's settled then." before he left.

Wu Zhicheng and the rest obviously misunderstood. That was because Qiu Hong could not make the decision on this matter. Wouldn't it be wrong to negotiate with Qiu Hong?

Wu Zhicheng and the other producers looked at each other as they watched Qiu Hong leave. They saw confusion in each other's eyes.

At the same time, they felt a sense of familiarity…

…

At the same time, in Shanghai, Long Yu Corporation…

Eric looked at the latest report and smiled very proudly in the conference room.

Zhao Xuming sat opposite Eric, trying his best to reduce his presence and leave the stage for Eric.

It had been nearly a week since Eric's New Strategy was implemented. He could already see some clues from IOI's data.

The reason why Eric was so happy was that the data this time was completely in line with his expectations. The effect was even better than he had imagined!

It was certain that the revenue would decrease. After all, the heroes were completely free and the price of the skins were reduced to thirty percent of the original price. IOI's gamers would not experience an explosive increase in the short term. On average, everyone would spend less money. Thus, the revenue would definitely decrease.

However, the decrease in revenue was much more optimistic than Eric had expected!

Based on the figures, while the price had been reduced, many old players had been compensated and bought many skins that they had not intended to buy before.

Each skin might have been sold for less but the number of skins sold had increased. It had the effect of making small profits and having a lot of sales.

For example, some old gamers had originally wanted to spend 80 yuan on skins. Now that they realized that they could buy two, they would still spend the money. They would not choose to spend only 40 yuan to save the other 40 yuan.

The price of the skins had reached the lowest point in history since it plummeted. Most players felt that it would be impossible to reduce the price of the skins for the long term, so they did not wait for discounts and chose to buy them immediately.

What's more, the huge price reduction this time had created quite a lot of popularity. The number of people in the local server and even in the world server at the same time, as well as the gaming time per capita, had obviously increased.

Many gamers bought a few skins in one go. Naturally, they had to play a few more games to appreciate and experience the game.

In short, Eric was very satisfied with the data in the report. Naturally, he was very proud and even a little arrogant.

Eric looked around at everyone. "The upper echelons of Dayak Corporation are quite satisfied with the new version of the data. It completely fits our previous expectations."

"Therefore, we have to follow up on the victory and make up for IOI's shortcoming."

"A mobile version!"

"One of the main reasons for GOG's success is its mobile version. GOG's mobile version played a crucial role in its promotion in the local server and in the world.

"We were indeed too arrogant before. We felt that the mobile version was useless, so we lost the initiative. We realized our mistake seeing GOG's huge success in the mobile game market."

"Therefore, Finger Games is already developing the mobile version of IOI. It is similar to GOG in terms of client-side and mobile games."

"After making up for this shortcoming, the gap between IOI and GOG will shrink further. Coupled with our price war, we will definitely be able to snatch back the market that GOG snatched away!"