Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

These live-stream platforms looked stupid and rich, but they were not really stupid. They were very smart in this aspect.

Liu Liang pondered for a moment and asked, "What about the attitude of the other live-stream platforms?"

The employee who came to report answered, "They also find it expensive and are trying to lower the price with Longyu Corporation."

Liu Liang nodded. "Yes, I'll talk to the stewards of the other live-stream platforms in a while. We have to reach a consensus on this matter. This price is too high. We can only accept it if it's at most seven million yuan!"

The popularity of ICL would definitely not reach half of GPL from Liu Liang's point of view. The additional money was on account that FV Team had just won the championship.

Of course, Long Yu Corporation would not give in so easily. Both sides would have to haggle for a long time.

However, Liu Liang was confident that as long as a few live-stream platforms worked together to lower the price, Long Yu Corporation would be the one to make the final concession.

He had to work hard to obtain an acceptable price even if he could not make too many concessions.

The competition between these live-stream platforms was usually very intense, the Vice Presidents still looked harmonious on the surface but they could not wait for their brains to explode. The price of the ICL league this time was too high. No one wanted to be a spendthrift. Working together to lower the price was in the common interest of all live-stream platforms. They did not have to worry about everyone not cooperating.

The employee who came to report nodded and left.

Liu Liang looked at the product manager and programmers in the conference room. "Alright, let's continue discussing this new function!"

"We'll start on a 996 working hour system this week and finish developing it in a month. There shouldn't be any problems, right?"

…

In the evening…

Shanghai, Long Yu Corporation headquarters.

Eric was raging in the conference room.

"There has to be a limit to the price! You want to get broadcasting rights for ICL for six or seven million yuan? Dream on!"

Long Yu Corporation had been in contact with various live-stream platforms over the past two days. They had revealed to them that the ICL league was about to begin. At the same time, they had also revealed a rough price: the broadcasting rights were 11 million yuan.

Eric had wanted to set the broadcasting rights higher than GPL, but he was stopped by Zhao Xuming.

Eric was thinking that if the price was too low, it would be equivalent to admitting defeat. It would be equivalent to admitting that the ICL league's popularity and commercial value could not compare to the GPL.

However, Zhao Xuming was more realistic. He repeatedly persuaded him that the current ICL league was not as popular and commercial as GPL! Wouldn't it be awkward if he set the price so high that no one bought it?

Thus, after much consideration, Eric decided to set the price at 11 million yuan—one million yuan lower than GPL.

Eric had his reasons as well. IOI was currently one of the most popular games in the world. The overseas league slots were sold very smoothly and the price was not low. ICL was also IOI's championship zone. It would be a joke if the price was set low.

11 million yuan might be a little expensive, but the live-stream platforms in the country were going crazy trying to fight for popularity. Someone should buy it.

However, after discussing with a few larger live-stream platforms in the country, the reactions of these live-stream platforms were surprisingly uniform: they found it expensive!

Most live-streaming platforms would accept about six to seven million yuan, almost cutting off half of Eric's price.

How could Eric accept this?

One had to know that the ICL league was one of his important ways to promote IOI. The broadcasting rights would be sold for an entire season. If it was sold at a low price from the beginning, wouldn't the live-stream platforms benefit for nothing when the ICL league became popular in the future? Wouldn't Finger Games suffer a huge loss?

Thus, Eric was not willing to sell it cheaply but the live-stream platform was not willing to be a spendthrift. Both parties were frozen.

Eric looked at Zhao Xuming. "Boss Zhao, what do you think?"

Zhao Xuming quickly answered, "I think we have to reduce the price."

"Don't be angry, let me finish."

"I know. IOI's international league slots are very easy to sell. After all, IOI's influence overseas is not bad."

"But we have to consider the special circumstances of the local server, right?"

"The local server, IOI, is the most severely squeezed by GOG. There are not many players left, and it is not popular enough to begin with. These live-stream platforms might not be lacking in money, but they are more inclined to pay high premiums for popular competitions. As for popular competitions, they will think of ways to lower prices and control costs."

"What's more, a few live-streaming platforms are working together to lower the price. Their interests are the same, and it's not easy to divide them."

"That's why I think it's reasonable for the broadcast rights to be reduced to eight million yuan and the total price to be over forty million yuan."

"Let's first organize the league and make it popular. It won't be too late to sell it for a high price next season."

"However, we definitely cannot lower the price directly. Otherwise, people would think that we are easy to talk to. Perhaps these live-stream platforms would not be satisfied and would continue to lower the price."

"What we should do now is to quickly publicize ICL league and create enough popularity. As long as it becomes popular and the live-stream platform recognizes its value, their alliance will naturally collapse. Then, there will be platforms to buy the broadcasting rights of the ICL league privately."

Eric nodded. "Yes, that makes sense."

"At the end of the day, we have to let these live-stream platforms see the popularity."

"How's ICL's promotional video going?"

Zhao Xuming said, "Don't worry, it's done! This time, we gathered all the veteran clubs and all the celebrity players in the country to film the promotional video. We obtained many scenic spots in Shanghai. The effect is absolutely great!"

"What's more, we learned from the previous World Competition promotional video. We made many cool post-production special effects for the promotional video. It's definitely not bad!"

Previously, when Zhao Xuming was working on the promotional video for the international competition, he happened to bump into GPL's Spring Competition promotional video. It was a tragic sight.

The promotional video for the GPL's Spring Competition directly used a pure CG method to press Zhao Xuming's traditional method of publicity film to the ground.

That was why Zhao Xuming had learned to be smart this time. He added many cool special effects and game material in the promotional video. He combined the players, scenes, and game characters with CG technology while filming many landmarks in Shanghai to create a promotional video that he was very satisfied with.

The reason why he did not copy the GPL's pure CG format was mainly because he was afraid of being scolded.

The current version was not a copy of the GPL, but it had a style and standard. It could only be said that the huge price was worth it.

Zhao Xuming was very confident about this.

Eric nodded. "Very good. Get ready. We'll release it tomorrow. Then, we'll follow up with the publicity as soon as possible. We have to make the ICL league more popular as soon as possible!"

…

…

February 29th, Wednesday…

Tengda Corporation, marketing department.

Meng Chang was watching the promotional video "Coming Out of the Cocoon Without Becoming a Butterfly" seriously. At the same time, he was once again amazed at the efficiency of these young men.

The entire promotional video was actually about a story of a young internet addict with a broken E-Sports dream. The plot was very straightforward and understandable, the filming process was very smooth.

Meng Chang even deliberately buried some details in the promotional video, such as the training environment of the E-Sports Club, salary remuneration, future insurance, and so on, waiting for the audience to discover.

He had to admit that the promotional video for Bunny Tail Live-Stream had dealt Meng Chang a huge blow.

He had not expected that the live-streaming industry of AOE would have such a positive publicity effect when it came to Bunny Tail.

He could only say that he had been tricked by Boss Pei!

However, it was different this time.

Bunny Tail Live-Stream was a new industry. It had not been released at all. It was easy to change it. Boss Pei could naturally succeed easily if he had not planned it.

However, the e-sports industry had existed for so long. All sorts of chronic illnesses were present. Moreover, according to Meng Chang's knowledge, Boss Pei seemed to have not managed Tengda's e-sports industry for months.

He could not possibly be tricked by Boss Pei again, right?

Meng Chang, who had failed twice in a row, was eager to regain his pride.

It was already the end of the month and he was about to calculate the publicity effect and salary of these plans. According to the current situation, Meng Chang would not get a single cent of commission.

However, what if the E-Sports promotional video had a good reverse publicity effect?

There might be a turnaround for the commission.

Therefore, Meng Chang was also very anxious. He prepared to release the promotional video as soon as it was completed.

Meng Chang felt that there was no problem after reading it several times.

Thus, he decided to upload the promotional video online!

…

At the same time, in Shanghai.

Wolf Fang live-stream headquarters.

Zhao Xuming had just arrived and was planning to discuss the ICL broadcasting rights with Wolf Fang's Vice-President, Zhu Yan.

Wolf Fang Live-Stream was a late star, unlike veteran live-stream platforms such as Waiwai Live-Stream and ZZ Live-Stream. However, it was developing very quickly and the financial resources behind it could not be underestimated.

What's more, Wolf Fang Live-Stream was a platform for relatively 'straight men'. The main content of the live-stream was the game business. Most of the live-streamers were more down-to-earth.

That was why Zhao Xuming had specially made a trip here to find a breakthrough point.

Previously, several major live-stream platforms had unanimously felt that ICL's broadcasting rights were too expensive and wanted to work together to lower the price. On the one hand, Zhao Xuming had released the ICL's promotional video and bought a lot of popularity, creating the illusion that ICL was very popular and anticipated; on the other hand, he had tried to contact and persuade these live-stream platforms separately.

Wolf Fang Live-Stream's main business was in gaming and they were very rich. What's more, its headquarters was in Shanghai. It was top priority in all aspects.

The two quickly got down to business after exchanging pleasantries in the guest room.

Zhao Xuming asked. "Boss Zhu, you should have seen the ICL promotional video, right?"

Zhu Yan nodded. "Yes, I saw it. It was indeed very well shot! The players, Shanghai's scenery, and the hero characters in the game were all combined together, giving people a refreshing feeling."

"Especially the scene where the five members of FV Team appeared. A large number of bullet screen comments almost covered the entire screen. It can be seen how popular they are."

"The publicity film's popularity and response were quite good after it was released. It was indeed unexpected."

Zhao Xuming smiled. "Of course."

"Boss Zhu, some live-stream platforms think that ICL's broadcasting rights are a little high. I understand that very well. After all, from the popularity of the game, IOI is indeed far from GOG."

"However, we have to take into account the future popularity."

"Finger Games has decided to spend a lot of money to promote IOI domestically. You should have heard some news, right? We invested a lot for the promotional video this time, but it's only an appetizer. There will be more publicity in the future."

"Finger Games will definitely not lose out in burning money!"

"Our Long Yu Corporation will also cooperate fully with Finger Games. In the future, IOI's local server's market share will definitely continue to expand. ICL league's popularity will definitely continue to increase!"

"If we take this into consideration, 11 million yuan is actually very reasonable."

"In addition, to express my sincerity…"

Zhao Xuming deliberately lowered his voice. "We can also make some concessions on the price. Reducing one or two million to make friends is nothing to the wealthy Finger Games."

"It's just that such preferential treatment is not always available. Boss Zhu, you had better make plans early."

Zhu Yan remained silent for a moment and did not answer immediately. Instead, he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip of tea.

Zhao Xuming was slightly surprised seeing Zhu Yan's expression.

Why did it feel like Zhu Yan was not moved at all?

Zhu Yan paused for a moment and said slowly, "Boss Zhao, I've seen the promotional video for ICL. It's done very well."

"But if I'm not wrong, you haven't seen the E-Sports promotional video that Tengda just released, right?"