Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian gave the shop some brief thought after Tian Mo left.

The purpose of this shop would definitely be different from the functional areas of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and other shops. Thus, he had to plan the specific layout of the shop.

The sales in the shops were also very important. They could not follow Tengda's recruitment process because those people were too skilled.

He had to think of a way to select a group of people who were similar to Tian Mo.

He was not in a hurry to hire people, but the renovation of the shop would take some time. He had to make arrangements quickly.

After some thought, Pei Qian called Liang Qingfan and asked him to come to the office tomorrow afternoon to finalize the details of the shop.

Once everything was arranged, Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief. He opened the webpage and looked at the current situation of Mission and Choice.

It was still not optimistic!

The overall reviews and reputation had been getting better ever since the release of the movie and the game. It has always been a hot topic on the internet.

Games and movies affected each other. As the sales volume of the game increased, the number of screenings in the cinema also increased.

Less than a week had passed, but the situation was already very bad. He could roughly deduce the sales volume of the game and the movie box office for the entire life cycle through the figures of the week after this weekend ended.

Pei Qian looked at the various media outlets, gamers, and the audience's praises and felt very tired.

It was like pouring toxic milk into his mouth one mouthful by one mouthful. He could not even finish it, and yet someone kept on pouring it down. Finally, it flowed down the corner of his mouth…

Pei Qian's eyes lit up as he fretted.

That was because he saw the discussion about Bunny Tail Live-Stream on the forum!

Pei Qian turned on Bunny Tail Live-Stream. Indeed, he realized that while he had been busy unearthing Tian Mo, the unpolished gem, Bunny Tail's "mandatory one hour" function had been released.

This was the first time Pei Qian had logged into Bunny Tail live-stream after the version update. Thus, a dialog box popped up. It briefly introduced the various rules after the version update, especially the "mandatory one hour" function.

An hour's countdown would appear in the upper right corner of the interface after officially entering the website or application for the Bunny Tail Live-Stream. Before the countdown ended, one could only browse the contents of the learning area or use the focus mode to hang the phone.

Of course, there were loopholes that could be exploited. They could indeed muddle through if they hung a bunny tail live-stream webpage on the computer for an hour.

The key was not this hour, but "creating additional trouble for the audience". The audience could indeed solve the problem by letting the webpage hang for an hour. However, there was a natural disadvantage compared to live-stream platforms that did not have any restrictions where they could just browse through.

Pei Qian looked at the feedback on the internet and finally smiled. His worries were gone.

"Has Bunny Tail Live-Stream gone crazy? It's a good live-stream platform because e-sports competitions are supposed to be thriving. Why are they forcefully disgusting their audiences?"

"I only have one or two hours of rest a day. I have to watch learning videos or let it hang for an hour if I want to watch live-streams? Isn't that too much? It's fine if they want to manage teenagers, but even adults?"

"It's alright. I'll do something else for a while as I wait for the competition to start."

"The key is that you have to remember to let it hang for an hour every day? Watching live-streams is always for entertainment. Aren't you tired if you do this?"

"Bye bye, Bunny Tail live-stream. There are so many platforms broadcasting competitions. It's not like I can only watch from you."

"It's a pity. I always thought that watching the competition live on Bunny Tail would be the best. Now, I can only change platforms."

"You can tell from the number of viewers in the live-stream. Bunny Tail's live-stream is filled with real data. Recently, the number of viewers in the various live-streams has dropped by at least two-thirds. They have fallen so much that even their own mothers don't recognize them."

"I don't believe that Bunny Tail Live-Stream is such a tough nut to crack. The figures are even worse than being cut in half. Hurry up and remove this restriction!"

"There's no point in removing it. The audience would not come back once they ran away. What's more, Bunny Tail Live-Stream should be prepared to walk down a path to the dark based on their official meaning. There's a lot of criticism online, but the official platform has not come out to give an explanation."

"Sigh, he's courting death."

"The bosses of the other live-stream platforms are probably kneeling in the living room, right?"

"To put it bluntly, Bunny Tail's live-stream this time is definitely a huge mistake! The previous few decisions were quite wise. I feel that the other live-stream platforms can't handle it. Why did they suddenly take a breather at such a critical juncture?"

"If you ask me, it's because Bunny Tail Live-Stream is too arrogant. It feels like the audience can't leave it. It's quite disgusting to start something so fancy."

"Boss Pei, do something, Boss Pei. Don't let those people in Bunny Tail Live-Stream joke around anymore! I just want to watch live-streams and entertain myself. I don't want to learn anything. Is that something a human would do?"

"Do you think Boss Pei doesn't know? Boss Pei's plan is flawless. How could he not know about such a huge matter? In my opinion, this is very likely his own decision!"

The netizens' opinions varied, but their tone was not good.

That was understandable. After all, most people watched live-streams for fun. If they watched live-streams, would they care about wasting time?

What's more, how many things in life were not a waste of time?

Therefore, most people would definitely be dissatisfied with Bunny Tail Live-Stream, which restricted users.

What's more, other live-stream platforms would definitely not ignore this.

Bunny Tail Live-Stream was courting death and had already offended its own platform's users to a certain extent. The other live-stream platforms had suffered quite a bit when Bunny Tail Live-Stream had just been established. With this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they definitely had to buy fake reviewers to secretly step them on the internet.

The data on the number of people in Bunny Tail's live-stream were real figures, so it looked especially obvious after the number of people decreased. It also proved the doubts of the people on the Internet.

All in all, no matter how one looked at it, the current behavior of Bunny Tail Live-Stream could be considered as 'the wrath of the heavens' and 'the enemy is besieged from all sides'.

However, the more Pei Qian watched, the happier he became.

This meant that he had achieved his goal!

It was good news to be able to suppress the popularity of Bunny Tail's live-stream in the early stages. If Bunny Tail's live-stream really developed and became an industry giant and monopolized more than half of the resources, it would be too late and most of the users would only forcefully accept it.

They had to nip it in the bud!

Pei Qian could not help but feel proud of his foresight.

He would observe it again after some time. Once he confirmed that the popularity of the Bunny Tail Live-Stream had been controlled, he could then throw more money in and turn it into a ruthless money-burning machine.

Pei Qian had not been in a good mood at first. However, his mood improved after seeing the enthusiastic netizens' comments.

Indeed, warm-hearted netizens were family!

Pei Qian was flipping through the netizens' endless 'praises' for the live-stream when his cell phone rang. It was Lin Chang.

"Boss Pei, the preparation work for the games department is done. I wonder how Ah Wan's handover is going? When can she officially start work here?"

Pei Qian was a little surprised. "Oh? So soon?"

It had only been a few days. The efficiency was too high.

Lin Chang smiled. "It's mainly because I spoke to the Old Master. He felt that Boss Pei's idea was especially good and supported it! That's why it went very smoothly."

"What's more, there's nothing much to do in the early stages of preparation. It's just to prepare the office space, the company's funding, registration, and so on. According to Boss Pei's plan, Ah Wan has to be in charge of the recruitment of the entire company's core members. We won't be able to interfere in the post-production and development."

Pei Qian was quite happy as well. "Sure, I've already arranged for her to hand over her work. It should be quite fast."

"I also think that there's no time to lose. The sooner the better. How about this? We'll meet tomorrow and finalize the project."

Lin Chang was stunned. "Huh? Finalize the project? Isn't that a little rushed?"

Pei Qian: "Well, there's no time to lose. The earlier we settle the project, the more time we have to prepare."

Lin Chang thought for a while. "Alright, let's meet tomorrow morning? How about 10 AM?"

Pei Qian: "Er… where is the address? If it's at Shenhua Corporation's headquarters, I'm afraid I can't make it there."

Lin Chang: "It's in Jingzhou. It's about fifteen minutes away from Shang Yang Games!"

Pei Qian was stunned. "Huh?"

"That's not right. Since it's Shenhua's gaming department, shouldn't it be located near Shenhua Corporation's headquarters? That way, it would be closer to Old Master Lin and Lin Wan would be able to return home more often, right?"

Pei Qian had thought that he would be able to send Lin Wan far away. He had not expected that she would only be sent to a place about ten minutes away from Shang Yang Games. He felt a little discouraged.

Lin Chang said, "Of course, Old Master wants Ah Wan to go back. However, we cannot rush this matter. If Ah Wan hears that she is leaving Jingzhou, she will definitely be very resistant."

"What's more, this company would have to communicate more with Shang Yang Games after this is established to obtain some help from them. It would be inconvenient to communicate further away."

"Coincidentally, Shenhua Real Estate has a few office buildings in Jingzhou other than Shenhua View. It would be more convenient to find a suitable office space."

Pei Qian thought about it and felt that it made sense. It would be counterproductive if he was too anxious and Lin Wan suddenly became wary.

"Alright, see you at 10 AM tomorrow."

…

Pei Qian rubbed his chin and began preparing for the meeting tomorrow after hanging up.

The reason why he was so anxious was because he was afraid that things would change if he delayed.

Recruitment was easy. Shenhua Corporation and Tengda Corporation were not short of money anyway. If this new company wanted talents, they could directly poach people and recruit them. There was ample time, and it would not be a problem to continue recruiting people during the research and development process.

However, the establishment of the game was a huge problem. Money could not solve it.

Pei Qian was worried that Lin Wan would not be able to make up her mind on what project she wanted to work on. After some hesitation, he decided to give up.

Thus, Pei Qian felt that he had to help Lin Wan build up her confidence. He had to help her finalize this project so that she could leave Shang Yang Games without any problems.

However, what kind of game should he create?

Pei Qian had not thought about it yet, but he still had a few hours to think about it. That should be enough.

"On one hand, it would be best if this game could barely recoup its costs or even incur losses. Otherwise, I might not be able to take it if it makes a huge profit."

"On the other hand, I cannot be too ridiculous. I cannot arouse Lin Wan's suspicion and scare her away."

"The second point is easier. The key is in the first point. How can we make this game unsuccessful? It's more difficult…"

"Of course, the best result would be good but not spectacular. It would have a good reputation but it would only be able to recoup costs or incur losses. That would be perfect."

After some thought, Pei Qian could roughly guess Lin Chang and Lin Wan's attitude tomorrow.

The two of them would definitely want this new games department to continue Shang Yang Games' successful experience. The first game would focus on stability.

In other words, creating a game genre that either Tengda Games or Shang Yang Games had created, would have a higher chance of success as they had a successful project as a template.

However, Pei Qian could not allow that to happen.

Shenhua Corporation was a huge organization with too many resources under their control. The cell phone department could easily give a recommendation spot in the cell phone market. It would not be a problem to make a mobile game popular.

What's more, Lin Wan was not a rookie. She had already hosted and developed several successful games. Even if she changed companies and hired new employees, it would probably be a matter of time before she created a successful game.

Pei Qian was so busy, and he could not keep an eye on her all the time. He could not extinguish the signs of success in time.

Thus, Pei Qian had to keep a close eye on the project and arrange a game project for Lin Wan that had a very low chance of success where she could not make use of any of Tengda's successful games at the moment, and everyone still felt that there was a chance of success.

"So what should we do…"

Pei Qian leaned back in his chair and fell into deep thought.