Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Eric stood up and left in a hurry. Obviously, he wanted to go back and video call Finger Games' headquarters to deal with this matter.

Zhao Xuming had to continue watching the ICL competition and could not leave.

However, he was also very curious. Thus, he took out his cell phone and searched for relevant information online.

It was nighttime in Los Angeles. Players were active on the forums and live-stream platforms.

Zhao Xuming realized that not only were some forums and websites in the United States discussing this. A few popular posts were also being discussed on domestic forums by busybodies, be it GOG or IOI players!

"The ICL hasn't officially started the competition, yet Finger Games is making big news again? I saw the forum in the Northern American Region going crazy. They said that Finger Games is collecting sky-high prices for slots?"

"IOI's ICS slots for the Northern American Region were actually sold for seven million US dollars! It's too expensive, it's practically stealing money!"

"It's alright. I heard that the clubs in America are all very rich. They should be able to fork out seven million US dollars, right?"

"However, GOG is also preparing for the league over there. It's said that the way to obtain a spot is to compete freely. The starting price is only a million US dollars. This comparison shows the difference!"

"It's not just about the price. The clubs in the ICS competition area are very dissatisfied with the differential treatment of Finger Games. That's because the slots in the domestic competition area, which is also the ICL, are half bought and half given. They can almost be said to be cheap. However, the ICS competition area has to spend seven million yuan to buy the slots! More importantly, Finger Games has additional subsidies for the ICL team because of the previous public opinion storm. The ICS competition area doesn't have any."

"The clubs and gamers over there would indeed explode with anger thinking about it this way… They paid more than ten times the price for the slots in the ICL competition zone, but the treatment was not as good. This is equivalent to cutting off their own flesh to benefit the outer competition zone…"

"Now that I think about it, it's understandable that they exploded".

"I wonder how will Finger Games be able to resolve the crisis of public opinion this time. They were just planning to expand their territory, but their houses caught fire!"

Zhao Xuming became increasingly confused.

How could there be such a problem!

The main reason for this incident was that the Northern American Region's ICS was different from the ICL competitions in the country. Finger Games had given the ICL competitions preferential treatment in order to better promote the ICL league and save IOI's local server. They had no choice but to provide many additional benefits to the ICL league clubs because of the GPL.

However, Finger Games did not have such thoughts about the Northern American Region's ICS league.

There were two reasons. First, Eric was in charge of the ICL, but the other higher-ups of Finger Games were in charge of the ICS league. These two leagues were to compete at the same time and did not affect each other.

They would definitely have to earn from the ICS slot. They could not sell the ICS slot for cheap just because ICL did it, right? Wouldn't that be a huge loss?

Second, they had no choice but to compensate the ICL regional clubs with various conditions, such as ensuring that the players had nutritional meals, daily fitness, and so on. Eric did not want to spend this money at all. It was even more impossible to share this condition with all the other regions.

How painful would that be!

Thus, there was indeed such a gap between the ICL league and the ICS league.

In fact, this was very normal. Tengda did not achieve equality either!

Tengda treated GPL like its own son. However, Tengda only found a local company to work with in the outer competition zone.

However, Tengda would not be under such debate pressure!

The reason was that the two companies were in different positions and adopted different strategies.

Tengda was a local company. It was only natural for it to be in charge of GPL's operations and improve the various benefits. The various clubs might have spent money to buy slots but the money had been returned to them. Everyone was willing to spend it.

On the other hand, the slot for the outer division competition zone was to be bought by the highest bidder. The club would not complain whether the price was high or low.

As for the benefits of the GPL in the outer competition zone, even if the clubs in the outer competition zone were not satisfied, they would still aim for the proxy companies in the league and not Tengda Corporation directly.

What's more, these clubs would not be too bothered about the subsidies for food or fitness because they did not realize the importance. They had already saved money on the slots. It did not matter if they did not have these benefits.

However, it was different for Finger Games.

It was precisely because they were an American company that the pressure they faced in the United States was greater.

The clubs in the United States watched. Why were the slots for the ICL league so cheap? Finger Games even paid for the club's benefits. In the end, they had to spend seven million US dollars to buy a slot when it came to us?

Was Finger Games still an American company?

It's alright if you want to promote IOI, but don't suck blood from us!

Many gamers and viewers felt indignant after the public opinion exploded, especially those who started to dig up old scores.

Finger Games had a past record!

Previously, they had priced the skins in different areas and had been sprayed with blood. Initially, this was already in the past. They did not expect the fox to grow gray but never good.

What's more, Finger Games had branches in all the competition zones in the country. They took charge of all the construction work in all the competition zones. Therefore, if any problems happened, the club and audience would definitely direct their blame to Finger Games.

New and old grudges were added together. In addition, many clubs were adding fuel to the fire behind the scenes, wanting to pressure Finger Games. Therefore, once this matter was exposed, it immediately became a hot topic on the internet!

That was why the upper echelons of Finger Games called Eric immediately and asked him to solve this problem together.

As for how?

Zhao Xuming could not guess it, but Finger Games would probably continue to spend a lot this time.

Once this public sentiment crisis erupted, it would be impossible to appease everyone without bleeding.

Zhao Xuming could not help but feel nervous.

Just now, Eric had confidently said that the Northern American Region was Finger Games' home ground. The league would definitely be done flawlessly. Tengda would not be able to interfere.

What was happening now?

How embarrassing!

Not only was there a problem, it was a huge problem!

"Could it be that this was also arranged by Boss Pei? He purposely chose this timing to give Finger Games a hard time?"

"That's not right. Didn't Boss Pei just talk to us about the cooperation with ICL league?"

"Could it be…

"That's right. The public scandal this time is an accurate blow to the ICS league. It has nothing to do with the ICL. Naturally, it will not affect our cooperation…"

"This!"

Zhao Xuming was confused at first. Shouldn't Boss Pei be our ally now? Why did this happen again?

However, on further thought, Boss Pei and Eric's cooperation was only limited to the ICL league. In the other competitions in the world, the two were still mortal enemies and competitors!

Boss Pei did not seem to want to attack the ICL league and affect his own interests. Instead, he turned his spearhead to the Northern American Region and took drastic measures to hit Finger Games' doorstep!

Zhao Xuming shuddered.

Boss Pei gave people the feeling that he was suffering from schizophrenia. He would take out a dagger from his chest and stab you without a word while laughing and cooperating with you!

Zhao Xuming suddenly became suspicious. He did not know if this cooperation with Boss Pei was right or wrong…

…

At 4 PM, the ICL exhibition match was about to begin.

The members of the two clubs had already arrived at the competition venue in advance. The staff also began to make various preparations to ensure that the competition would proceed smoothly.

Zhao Xuming watched the audience enter from the backstage.

The venue would definitely be filled to the brim today. After all, it was the first day. It would be ugly if there were empty seats. Fortunately, IOI's old gamers, internal employees, and additional tickets had already taken up most of the seats at the venue. It would not be a problem to hire some people to fill the remaining empty seats.

At that moment, Zhao Xuming noticed that Eric had returned.

"You're back! How are things going?" Zhao Xuming quickly went up to him and asked.

Eric looked very tired. Obviously, he was very tired. "Basically, the solution has been confirmed. The ICS quota has been changed to start bidding from three million US dollars. The clubs in the Northern American Region will enjoy the same preferential treatment as ICL, mainly in food, fitness, and other aspects."

Obviously, the result of a meeting with Finger Games was to admit defeat!

It was already late at night in Los Angeles. The video call had been going on for half the night. It was obvious how important this matter was to the upper echelons of Finger Games.

Tomorrow morning, Finger Games would issue an announcement to appease the clubs and players in the Northern Amercian Region. Their attitude would be very sincere.

That was because the Northern American Region was their base camp. They could not do well in other competitions, but they had to do well in the ICS league!

The discrimination between ICS league and ICL league would indeed fall into the hands of others. It was useless even if they emphasized that the ICS league had more sponsors and that the seats were more precious. This reason was very difficult to justify.

Thus, he could only admit defeat.

The slots for the league had dropped from 7 million US dollars to 3 million US dollars. Finger Games would definitely lose a huge sum of money.

While the bids could be raised indefinitely, there were only a few big clubs in the Northern American Region. There was no need to raise the price of this slot. They definitely hoped that everyone would get the best at the lowest price.

Thus, the final price would probably be sold for four to five million US dollars. Finger Games would lose two million US dollars for each slot.

The subsidies for the clubs' food and fitness might not seem like much in terms of money, but it would be a continuous expenditure. The key was that these clubs might not appreciate it!

They would think that this was a benefit that they had fought for and not the preferential treatment that Finger Games had given them.

That was why Eric was speechless. His ICL was doing so well, but he was suddenly backstabbed!

Even though the money had nothing to do with him, it was obvious that the upper echelons of Finger Games were already very unhappy with his actions. They made the clubs and audience of the ICS very dissatisfied in order to promote the ICL league. Eric had to more or less take the blame.

If he did not manage the ICL well in the future, the upper echelons of Finger Games would settle the accounts. Eric would probably not be able to bear the consequences.

Zhao Xuming saw that Eric was not very happy and did not dare to continue discussing this topic.

"That's good! That's an ICS matter after all. It has nothing to do with us."

"The equipment here has been adjusted and the preparations for Bunny Tail Live-Stream have been completed. We're just waiting for the competition to start!"

Eric nodded and took out his cell phone from his pocket. He switched on the application for Bunny Tail live-stream.

The interface of the application for Bunny Tail Live-Stream was rather simple, even a little shabby but they gave enough recommendation spots to ICL. Once he entered the homepage, there was a huge banner of the ICL league. It was very eye-catching.

On the other hand, Tengda's own GPL league had not even been broadcasted live on Bunny Tail.

Eric temporarily forgot about the unhappiness from before and began to look forward to the official start of the exhibition match!