Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Chapter 679: Qiu Hong would be the Best Candidate

Pei Qian also carefully considered its feasibility after having such an idea.

There were three lessons that he learned over time.

First, it was the lesson from working with Ruan Guangjian.

The cooperation with Ruan Guangjian seemed to be quite a failure in retrospect. Ruan Guangjian had been working on piloting the quality of original concept art of Tengda Games since Ghost General.

One key reason why many games succeed was because of the high-quality concept art which attracted the players at first sight. The graphics that fitted the games perfectly had also become a key link towards the art of the game.

Pei Qian looked back at his cooperation with Ruan Guangjian and felt that it was mainly attributed to his confidence.

Reasonably, he was looking for a small-time artist. The probability of encountering a gem should be minimal, right?

He managed to meet one nonetheless!

Who could he blame?

Therefore, Pei Qian felt that he had to cast his net widely.

This time, if he only concentrated on investing in one or two companies, then it would probably be the same mistake. He must therefore invest widely.

The larger the sample size, the more accurate the probability and the more the effect of luck could be minimized.

Next was the lesson of acquiring Shang Yang Games.

Pei Qian recalled that everything went well when he first bought Shang Yang Games. Things went downhill because he could not hold himself back. He wanted Shang Yang Games to make more losses, which was why he changed their games-with-paywalls model.

As a result, ‘Bloody Battle Song’ became a game with conscience and established a good reputation. It suddenly became popular after the remake plus changing to a client-side mobile game.

Therefore, this time, Pei Qian felt that he must not change the original operation mode of these companies. He should not even look at it.

That was because things usually change because of Boss Pei.

The ‘observer effect’ might be widely present in all aspects of life, but Pei Qian found that it was particularly prominent in himself and must be avoided.

Finally, it was the lesson learned from Dream Realization Ventures.

Dream Realization Ventures had invested in IOI, Shared Top Student, Top Student, Come Quick, Fully-Automated Bickering Machine, etc.—all of which had been successful.

The reasons for the success of these projects were different, but Pei Qian thought for a while and found that a very important reason was ‘attention’.

Pei Qian often chose the particularly outrageous projects because he wanted to lose money too much like the shared phone booth and fully-automated bickering machine.

However, this type of project was easy to generate talking points and obtain a lot of attention because it was too outrageous.

What was more, all industries connected with Tengda were not lacking in attention.

Coupled with Pei Qian’s confidence, there would always be purchasers once it garnered attention.

Therefore, Pei Qian felt that he should choose some normal, not-so-outrageous projects to minimize the possibility of making huge profits.

These projects would only make small profits even if they were successful. The other failed projects could offset the profits if he cast his net wide enough, so that the profits would not be too ridiculous.

Pei Qian had to find a new way after combining so much experience at failing:

He had to cast the net widely. The more companies he invests in, the less would the influence of luck be able to affect him. The chances of losing money were greater under the premise that domestically-produced standalone games would fail.

He must not interfere with the operating model of these companies or even know what projects they were doing to minimize his ‘observer effect’.

It was best to choose a project that was normal without many unique characteristics. This way, there would be no chemical reaction with Tengda’s fame and make huge profits from nowhere.

Pei Qian considered for a long time and felt that the guidelines this time were very reliable.

He should be able to make losses successfully this time after accumulating so many failure experiences, right?

So, the next question was... who should be in charge of it this time?

He looked around and found that there was no one he could use.

There were many people in Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games who understood games, but Pei Qian did not feel safe with them.

They were far too poisoned in their minds!

The common feature of Tengda’s employees was that they would misinterpret Boss Pei’s intentions and find the most profitable methods. At the same time, their understanding of the game led to the successful experience with Tengda Games.

Pei Qian felt that it might lead to failure even if he were to grab a random person from the other departments to become in charge.

Pei Qian had been failing at trying to ‘make his employees cross industries’ after all.

It seemed like every employee managed to transit successfully.

Get Ma Yang?

No, he could not trust Old Ma in this area with IOI as the precedent.

Lu Mingliang?

That would be worse. Lu Mingliang himself was a chief planner and had a good understanding of the game industry. Besides, he was doing well in Upwind Logistics; what if Upwind Logistics suddenly became profitable if he transferred him?

That would be a total loss.

After thinking about it, Pei Qian felt that he had to find someone with nothing to do with Tengda Corporation to carry this out.

It would be best if he knew a little about standalone games but not too much.

People who did not understand at all would get a professional consultant. That would become a hidden danger. People who knew too well would be too accurate.

Suddenly, Pei Qian thought of a good candidate.

Qiu Hong!

Pei Qian had a general understanding of Qiu Hong previously during class. He had just failed in a mobile game with paywalls himself, which was why he came to Jingzhou to give lectures and relax.

It was not easy for a successful producer to find investment, let alone a producer who had just failed.

Moreover, Qiu Hong had already started his own business. He would definitely not lower his head to apply for a job in a general company in the short term since he had no financial pressure.

That meant that Qiu Hong probably did not manage to find anything to do during the past six months.

Qiu Hong might have successful experiences, but it was limited to games with paywalls. He originally made standalone games, but that was when he first joined the industry. That standalone game failed.

Pei Qian felt that while Qiu Hong might be very accurate when it came to Krypton Gold Online Games, it might not be the case with standalone games.

As for Qiu Hong saying that he would never touch standalone games...

First, Qiu Hong actually did not reject standalone games. It was just that he was burned by it when he first entered the industry. That was why he was against it now.

Secondly, Pei Qian did not plan to talk about dreams or reason. It was just a very realistic issue of interest.

The reason why Qiu Hong gave up standalone games was to make more money and lead a better life.

Therefore, the key was not in the mode of games, but how much benefit Qiu Hong would get from this job.

Producers of Krypton Gold Online Games were very realistic people. They do it because the market told them that this was the most profitable.

In that case, Pei Qian would definitely be able to poach Qiu Hong over with more money.

The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more he felt that Qiu Hong was the best candidate.

Here came the problem... how was he to talk to him about it...?

Qiu Hong still thought that he was Ma Yang even until now.

Continue to engage him as Ma Yang? Give Qiu Hong the mission as the person-in-charge of Dream Realization Ventures?

That would work, but it was never good to cheat others.

What was more, Qiu Hong would come into contact with Tengda’s employees in the future. This matter would be revealed sooner or later so it was impossible to keep it a secret forever.

Therefore, he had to show his hand.

How then... could he do it so that Qiu Hong could better accept it?

It was certainly impossible to announce honestly. Pei Qian wanted to tell him the truth, but Qiu Hong would not believe it even if he risked being warned by the system.

Qiu Hong might even think he was being arrogant and leave on the spot.

Therefore, Pei Qian could only use another white lie.

Tell Qiu Hong that he used Ma Yang’s identity to ask him about his failure experience was, in fact, for friendly exchanges between designers and to get to know each other better. They could now cooperate since they had a better understanding. It was now logical to throw an olive branch[1].

Pei Qian dialed Qiu Hong’s number after thinking about his reasons. He invited him to make a trip to Jingzhou these few days for important matters to be discussed.

...

...

October 12th, Wednesday...

Wang Xiaobin was racking his brains out planning for the update of these downloadable contents of the old games.

There were too many old games. It was obviously unrealistic to update all the downloadable contents in four months which meant he could only choose which to do.

Moreover, he must also consider the price-quality ratio of the update content.

Some producers regard the downloadable contents as an independent game with large capacity and high prices. They also had a long development time.

Boss Pei gave them four months; it was impossible to achieve this effect.

Boss Pei might not be stingy with money, but money could not buy time.

Therefore, the difficulty was still very high. Wang Xiaobin did not have much experience in such jobs so he felt a huge pressure.

“Make ‘The Lonely Desert Road’ into an interactive mode? Drive with other players so that the desert road becomes no more lonely?

“Add a ‘do it if you can’ mode in Game Designer? Get the voice-over to choose his own route and get the players to mock the voice-overs?

“Add something to the plot of ‘Ocean Stronghold’? It doesn’t seem necessary... what if I were to add an epic weapon? Boss Pei will probably prefer the former.

“In the case of ‘Repent and be Saved’, it seemed like many players find it a bit boring to take so many weeks to clear one level. There might be new players entering, but the stickiness with the old players was basically gone. Should we make a challenge mode from scratch for the old players to find something to do?

“Hm...

“The content seems too simple; will the players buy it?”

Wang Xiaobin had some ideas but had no confidence in himself.

There were some regular updates such as giving a few new generals to ‘Ghost General’ and continuing producing some epic weapons for ‘Ocean Stronghold’ that seemed boring. However, these ideas were too small. He was afraid that the downloadable content prices would not be high. They might even make losses.

“The former is safe but not interesting; the latter is interesting but a bit risky...

“What would Boss Pei choose?

“Boss Pei will definitely choose the latter.

“I have to think of something creative since Boss Pei gave this important mission to me. I will be fully responsible for it!”

Wang Xiaobin continued to think about the plan.

...

...

October 13th, Thursday...

Zhu Xiaoce came to the hotel where Lu Zhiyao was putting up.

Three days had passed since Lu Zhiyao had arrived in Jingzhou. He had ‘experienced the script’ with the gaming laptop.

Zhu Xiaoce felt that it was time for him to take a look.

It was not for any other reason but mainly because the script had to be published within two days so it could not be delayed any longer.

Zhu Xiaoce had no clue so he could only find a way to see if Lu Zhiyao had any good ideas.

Zhu Xiaoce nodded gently at the door of Lu Zhiyao’s room.

The door opened after two minutes.

Zhu Xiaoce could not help but be shocked at Lu Zhiyao’s appearance.

The radiant, handsome movie king that arrived three days ago had become disheveled. He had short stubble growing on his chin, with eyes lacking focus.

Zhu Xiaoce was a little baffled. “What happened? Why did you become depressed over playing a game?”

“Director Zhu, your idea doesn’t work at all!” Lu Zhiyao exploded helplessly.

“I have been gaming like a madman these few days and did my best, but I feel nothing.

“I’ve given up.”

[1] This means showing the intention of ending a disagreement.