September 29th, Thursday night...
Li Shi had gone to Sloth Apartments in Dawn of Prosperous City early in the morning. He switched on his television and waited for 'Financial Observation' to premier on CCTV's Finance Channel.
The episode had been advertised long ago. It would look deep into Tengda Corporation's business model, and its title was this:
Tengda Corporation: Always believe that something strange is about to happen.
Just reading those words would be enough to pique anyone's interest!
There were many people like Li Shi who were waiting for the episode to premier.
That was because everyone was curious as to how the episode would analyze Tengda Corporation's business model.
Financial Observation was a professional financial segment, which contained a chatting-and-discussing-style of reporting the news. Members of the finance media, professionals, and businessmen were often invited as guests on the show to chat about economics and make it more relatable and commercial. The program was both easy to understand and highly professional.
Of course, many so-called 'famous economists' frequently appeared on television and were often praised by the media. However, none of them knew what they were talking about, and most lacked the 'conscience' that academics should have.
Still, because of the platform that Financial Observation was on, no such problem existed. Thus, it was quite popular among viewers.
Li Shi had seen a few episodes before and benefited a lot from their analyses of business models.
This time, however, the Financial Observation segment was going to cover Tengda Corporation, which had rapidly expanded in two years. What kind of sparks would that generate?
Just thinking about it excited him!
Soon, the program officially began.
...
"An in-depth observation of economics for the benefit of the greater public. Good day, everyone. I am the host, Wang Zheping.
"Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd is a company that was established in Jingzhou in 2009. In just two short years, its business had expanded into the technology, video games, internet cafe, food and beverages, online literature, logistics, fitness, and rental apartments industries.
"Compared to the companies that featured on our Financial Observation segment before, it's not as large-scale. It has not risen to the top in most regions around the country. From the looks of its situation, the company seems mix-natured and non-elite.
"Many people have criticized Tengda Corporation's business model, saying that it's 'biting off more than it can chew' and 'being fickle-minded'.
"On the surface, that may appear to be the case. Every time Tengda achieves a breakthrough in one field, it would waste no time in entering the next. In fact, it tends to give one a sense of being 'too impatient'.
"However, as Tengda Corporation continues to expand, perhaps we should start thinking about whether it's really 'biting off more than it can chew' or not, as people say? Has Boss Pei, a man who has built an entire business empire in just two short years, really been making low-class mistakes in terms of business strategy, or does he have other considerations?
"For today's Financial Observation segment, we have invited Professor Bai Qimiao, an expert in economics, to conduct an in-depth analysis on Tengda Corporation's seemingly unreasonable business model and the deeper intentions within!"
Before the program officially started, a short video was played. It featured most of the achievements that Tengda Corporation had achieved so far.
That included excellent games that had received multiple praises from the official games platform, Fish-Catching Take-Out that had actively responded to garbage sorting efforts, the old industrial zone that had been turned into the star project that was Thriller Hostel, the Tengda Life App that had contributed significantly to convenience in Jingzhou, and so on.
After that, the host began to discuss the topic of the day with Professor Bai Qimiao.
Professor Bai Qimiao had a head full of gray hair and wrinkles on his face. He spoke slowly and made the audience feel comfortable.
"Tengda Corporation is a very interesting business. I have conducted some simple research into the company as well.
"Earlier, many netizens said that Tengda's business model seemed mix-natured and non-elite. Why? That was because one look at Tengda's history would reveal that it started out producing games. Halfway through, it established internet cafes. Once those took off, it established a restaurant, gyms, rented apartments, and so on.
"Obviously, this is very different from how ordinary businesses conduct their affairs.
"Ordinary companies pursue deep cultivation in certain fields. Take those who have established internet cafes for example. If their internet cafes are successful, they would move on to open more branches in other cities. After that, they would look for investors who would pour money into their business and allow them to expand rapidly. Once they have chain stores across the country, they would try hard to dominate the market.
"Yet, Tengda does the exact opposite. Once it achieves some results in a certain field, it casts it aside and enters another. Its original business would be left to survive on its own and develop slowly without further fund-raising or investment efforts.
"Thus, until now, most of Tengda's businesses—apart from its games, movies, cell phone, and the like—are still concentrated within Jingzhou City and Handong Province at the most.
"While many young companies choose to focus on super first-tier cities in particular, Tengda steers clear of them.
"Many people think that Tengda's strategy is stupid. Why? Take their internet cafes for example. If they channel all their funds into opening more internet cafes across the country, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would have a greater market share, and it might earn tens of times of its income. When the time comes for it to be listed, how much more could the company make?
"Yet, recently, fewer and fewer people have been echoing this thought. Why? That's because most people have come to realize the merits of Tengda's business model.
"We have noticed that Tengda's various physical industries work together to support and help one another. No decision to enter a new field would be made hastily. Obviously, each decision is deliberate and well thought-through.
"What disadvantages are there to such a business model? Slow results.
"The company is depending on its own funds and only expanding when it has spare cash. Of course, this would take much longer to yield results than the conventional business model. Many companies would have raised several rounds of funds in a year or two, thus increasing their market share by sixty to seventy percent or even more. On the other hand, while Tengda's physical industries are quite significant in size, they have not fully moved out of Handong Province.
"Its rate of expansion in a certain field cannot be compared to conventional models.
"However, what are the merits of such a business model? A solid foundation!
"You would find that the businesses are interconnected and interdependent. That forms an extremely stable and closed loop.
"Each time a new business is launched, customers of the other businesses would be channeled over. That would easily resolve the problems that most start-ups face. Once customers get used to that new business, they would become more loyal. Even if competitors start price wars, they might not be able to win customers over!
"Of course, between the two business models, neither is better than the other. Both could succeed, but it's obvious that Tengda Corporation's model is more stable and reliable. Once it's formed, it would be unshakable.
"That's why I think that Tengda Corporation has different ambitions.
"Many companies now think about burning money to create data and attract more investments. Then, they would seek to be bought over by larger companies for their founders to achieve financial freedom.
"Is that kind of behavior right? I won't comment, but it's certainly too short-sighted. Such business models would definitely not become commercial giants.
"On the other hand, Tengda's business model is especially stable because it takes things one step at a time! Its end goal is to become a super-large enterprise with an extreme ability to fend against risks. Its future competitors would be multinational behemoths like Shenhua Corporation and Pineapple.
"Boss Pei's goal is obviously not to sell the company off so that he can achieve financial freedom. His real goal is to fight the big guns.
"Such far-sightedness and patience are lacking in most entrepreneurs and are exactly what I want to encourage and promote."
The host, Wang Zheping, nodded. "Professor Bai, do you think other companies can learn from or replicate Tengda's business model?"
Bai Qimiao shook his head. "It'll be very difficult.
"Tengda Corporation is able to adopt such a model because its founder, Boss Pei, is far-sighted and good at planning. At the same time, the group has Tengda Games to provide endless funding and support the group's wide range.
"Other companies that want to adopt such a model could end up rupturing the entire company's capital chain once a single project fails. The risk is too high!
"Then again, that goes to show how valuable Tengda Corporation is. We should really cherish private enterprises like that."
The host, Wang Zheping, nodded again. "Professor Bai, Tengda's slogan is the title of this episode. What do you think about it?"
Professor Bai Qimiao smiled subtly. "That's a very interesting slogan that perfectly describes Tengda Corporation.
"To me, there are two ways to understand this sentence:
"First, it is directed to all users, telling them to believe that Tengda is a surprising enterprise that can create miracles.
"Customers must always believe that Tengda will surprise them.
"That's because Boss Pei's plan is so complex. At first glance, most of his businesses don't seem related. That's why it would make people feel 'strange'.
"However, once the secret is revealed, people would feel that it was unexpected but reasonable.
"Second, it's directed to employees to cultivate a positive attitude and acknowledgment of risk among them.
"A foreign economist once proposed the 'black swan theory'. It's complicated, so I won't go too deep into it.
"That slogan perfectly fits the theory.
"Always believe that strange things are about to happen. That's an emphasis on the co-existence of opportunity and risk. We have to be ever ready to grasp opportunities and to meet risks.
"Sometimes, the things you don't know are more meaningful than the things you do.
"I think it's that high awareness of risk that causes Boss Pei to attach great importance to avoiding it. That's what drove him to create the embryonic form of a special business empire like Tengda Corporation."
The host, Wang Zheping, nodded for the last time. "Alright. Thank you for giving us such an in-depth analysis of Tengda Corporation's business model, Professor Bai. Professor Bai, what kind of guidance do you think this episode of Financial Observation would provide for other businessmen out there?"
After some thought, Bai Qimiao said, "It's quite impossible to imitate Tengda's business model, but other businesses can try to work together with Tengda more.
"I think that, given Boss Pei's awareness of risk and Tengda's defense against risk, Tengda Corporation would make an excellent working partner!
"Working together with a businessman like that would be much better than working together with those who can only think about burning money and selling their companies!"
...
At that point, the people on the 11th and 12th stories of the Sloth Apartments in Dawn of Prosperous City fell silent.
While Pei Qian's mind was filled with question marks, Li Shi's was filled with exclamation marks.
Li Shi was only now realizing a very serious problem.
Soon, many companies would be rushing to work with Tengda. The benefits that would have belonged to him would soon be snatched away by them!
On the other hand, Pei Qian was also realizing a very serious problem.
He had originally thought about setting an empty pot over the fire. However, Boss Li had inexplicably arrived with a portion of ingredients, forced them into Pei Qian's mouth, and willingly drunk the soup.
Now, more and more people were going to bring their own ingredients and drink their share of soup!
Pei Qian could almost picture himself miserably choking on all the meat.
The only good news was that settlement would take place tomorrow. No matter how much meat he ate, he would only suffer the consequences in the next cycle.
On the night before settlement, Pei Qian had mixed feelings.
There was a hint of sadness as well.
Was it that hard to incur losses in secret?
Chapter 671: Settlement
September 30th, Friday...
Settlement was about to begin. Pei Qian was feeling both tired and apprehensive.
After trying as hard as he could to spend money for a week—especially after opening up as many branches as he could and investing more money into Otto Technologies, Pei Qian finally managed to deplete his System Funds until 8.74 million yuan remained. That was already quite a miracle.
The starting sum for this cycle had been twenty million yuan. At the moment, Pei Qian was still unsure exactly how much he had lost.
That was because he still had to add the value of his fixed assets.
The System's fixed assets value was not updated in real time. It would only be refreshed once at the time of purchase and then once more on each settlement date.
Still, Pei Qian guessed that there would not be too big of a problem.
Up to this point, Pei Qian had the villa in Ming Yun Villas that he had bought very early on, as well as four other buildings. Each had been valued at 8.61 million, 32 million, 20 million, and 8.1 million yuan x 2.
After some calculation, Pei Qian estimated that the total value of his fixed assets would come up to 76.81 million yuan this time. In other words, it would translate to about 7.68 million yuan more in the System Funds.
If all went well, he would probably be able to convert (874+768-2000) x 0.1 = 360 thousand yuan.
On top of that, he had been given a special mission. Even if he could not deduct the entire quota, he would still be able to deduct a portion of it. Then, he would not have worked in vain during this cycle.
The system screen automatically appeared in front of Pei Qian.
Pei Qian was stunned. His mind began to fill with question marks.
"???"
What the hell?
His Fixed Assets had only been worth 76 million yuan before this. How did it become 96 million yuan?
Pei Qian quickly looked closely at the details and realized that every building had appreciated to a certain extent!
The two buildings at Binhu District had appreciated from eight million yuan to twelve million yuan. The building in Dawn of Prosperous City where Pei Qian himself stayed had appreciated from 32 million yuan to 39 million yuan. Even the villa at Ming Yun Villas and the semi-commercial building at Shundong Gardens had appreciated.
All in all, there had been an increase in value of close to twenty million yuan. As a result, the expected losses for this settlement was reduced from 3.58 million yuan to 1.63 million yuan!
In other words, Pei Qian would only get a petty 195 thousand yuan in his Personal Wealth this time.
Pei Qian smacked his forehead as the color drained from his face.
This is bad!
Something has gone terribly wrong during this cycle!
The villa at Ming Yun Villas had appreciated because the nameless restaurant had become popular. Thus, the value of the entire area increased.
The other buildings went without saying. On one hand, they had been affected by Sloth Apartments' fame. On the other hand, it was because they had been renovated.
Pei Qian had bought the three buildings in Dawn of Prosperous City and Binhu District for an extremely low price. The one in Binhu District, especially, had remained vacant for several years and ended up dilapidated. Each building had only cost five hundred thousand yuan.
Yet, now, the buildings in Binhu District had been styled and renovated by a designer. That explained the significant improvement in the environment and the jump in their prices. Now, they were worth about as much as other buildings in the market and probably even more!
Pei Qian had originally thought that, even if the actual value at settlement differed from his expectations, it would not differ that much. However, from the looks of the current situation, he had been very wrong.
Two hundred thousand yuan of his Personal Wealth had disappeared just like that. Pei Qian wanted to vomit blood badly.
That was even more painful than being stabbed in the back ten thousand times!
Yet, he had no time to grieve. The screen continued to flash past in his vision.
Pei Qian was stunned, and then he became elated.
Full completion?
At first, he had not been hopeful about completing this mission. He had thought that it would be good enough to deduct about two or three million yuan. Never would he have thought that he would be able to deduct the full amount!
As for how he managed to achieve 'full completion', Pei Qian guessed that it could be attributed to several factors:
He had successfully spent 1.6 million yuan worth of course fees and that showed that the System recognized He An and Qiu Hong's true capabilities.
He An and Qiu Hong had not held back a single bit of knowledge when teaching Pei Qian. Instead, they had imparted every bit of valuable information to him.
Pei Qian's understanding of games—and his own games in particular—had improved by a whole tier. Now, he had a more holistic view of game design concepts, the development of domestically-produced games, and so on.
In other words, Pei Qian had been blindly producing games before this without any knowledge whatsoever; now, Pei Qian was still blindly producing games, but he knew much more.
The System judged the outcome of Pei Qian's learning by comparing his knowledge bank before and after the cycle.
In the past, Pei Qian could be likened to a child in elementary school, who had passed a university examination by guessing blindly. Now, his knowledge bank was comparable to that of a pupil in middle school. Although he was still blindly answering the university examination, the System could still recognize an improvement.
He could only say that life was full of surprises.
Without any hesitation, Pei Qian chose to deduct that amount from the System Funds. He had worked so hard to incur losses during this cycle to obtain this reward for the special mission!
If he added the 12.8 million yuan to the System Funds, he would only get ten thousand yuan more in his Personal Wealth. However, if he deducted it, he would get much more money!
At that point, Pei Qian patted his chest and heaved a long sigh of relief.
Life was filled with ups and downs, and it was terrifying!
At first, he had thought that he would only be able to get 160 thousand yuan. However, the special mission gave him 1.14 million yuan in the end.
Pei Qian had over nine hundred thousand yuan in his Personal Wealth earlier. Ordinarily, he did not spend much either, but he could not avoid spending altogether. To take advantage of the System, he had to link his expenses with the company and then report them to the finance department. It could be a tedious process, and saving a few hundred yuan was hardly worth it.
On top of that, he received about forty to fifty thousand yuan from the sale of Ruan's skins every month. At the moment, that sum was not increasing significantly.
That couldn't be helped. Pei Qian himself had been cheated by GOG's pricing model.
Since Ruan was a product of crowdsourcing, gamers could buy his skins at a huge discount whenever new ones were released. Although they would subsequently be sold at the original price, few people would buy them by then.
What's more, GOG was focused on the overseas market at the moment. New heroes were still consistently being released by Hurricane Comic Company, and each hero needed new skins. Naturally, the research and development team could not afford to keep producing new skins for Ruan.
Thus, even after three months, the money that Pei Qian earned from the sale of the skins had only come up to about a hundred thousand or so. It had not been as exciting as Pei Qian expected.
Still, he was satisfied. Why should he complain? That was not a small sum.
It was time to redeem his mysterious reward.
Ever since the System was upgraded to version 2.0, Pei Qian had been offered a benefit at the end of every cycle. If he could convert up to two hundred thousand yuan of funds, he would be able to claim a mysterious reward.
There were all types of mysterious rewards. For example, the mysterious reward for the previous cycle was the special mission for this cycle.
This time, the mysterious reward was an upgrade in benefits. If he could convert at least eight hundred thousand yuan at the end of a cycle, he would be able to claim a 'highly impactful' mysterious reward. Since he had exceeded that conversion minimum for this cycle, he could immediately claim one mysterious reward.
Pei Qian felt a little faint.
No repeats!
Still, the fact that he could claim the same reward twice was worth rejoicing over.
He mainly credited himself for refusing to give up on incurring losses during this cycle. Converting more than eight hundred thousand yuan meant having to earn more than eight hundred million yuan in profits. That would be far more difficult than incurring significant losses.
Once again, Pei Qian claimed his reward.
Pei Qian was stunned. Once again, he read the line of words.
Almost immediately, his mind filled with question marks.
???
Are you messing with me?
When Pei Qian read the words 'highly impactful' and 'mystery reward' earlier, he subconsciously assumed that the award would be much better than the previous mystery reward. Why else would it be described as 'highly impactful'?
Now, he finally realized that 'highly impactful' did not necessarily mean that the impact would be to himself; neither did it necessarily mean that the impact would be good!
Take this reward, for example. A random breakthrough in skills?
Would those skills have anything to do with the projects that Pei Qian had been working on?
What the h*ll...?
Pei Qian had been in a good mood just before, but now, he was feeling down again.
Indeed, the System was insistent in making a fool out of him.
After all the ups and downs, Pei Qian finally calmed down again.
The next cycle would last until January 31st. There were only four months, and it was a short cycle without any special missions.
Although Pei Qian had no idea how the next cycle would go, he was renewed with motivation.
He had ten million more yuan in the System Funds for the next cycle. That meant that he could buy more fixed assets now. In addition to the help that Teacher He had offered to Tengda Games...
Pei Qian's would set a preliminary goal: to lose twenty million yuan!
Chapter 672: Teacher He is the Guiding Lantern
Tengda naturally was on holiday during the seven-day National Day Holiday.
The last cycle just ended. Pei Qian's personal wealth had reached 2.2 million yuan, which was very touching. He could take his opportunity to have a good rest.
His parents had finally moved to the new house.
Pei Qian's plan went very well. He first got them to choose the furniture and household appliances and got them to stay there for a few days to bring some life to the house. The house was a gift to them naturally.
However, while Pei Qian came to the new house near the high-speed rail station prepared in advance, he was still shocked by the furnishing style within.
The full set of solid wood furniture was big and heavy; they were all dark brown, The TV wall was filled with lotus, large landscape paintings on the wall, and green plants that could be seen everywhere in the living room, bedroom, study—everywhere.
Yes, there was no need to consider anymore. This house would be given to them. He would not live in it no matter what they said, he thought silently.
However, Pei Qian really did not need this house anymore. The Sloth Apartments were so comfortable. There were cleaners and butlers; there was no need for him to tidy the house.
Pei Qian did not have any plans for the current two million personal wealth yet either.
He would save it first so that he could better resist the risk.
...
October 8th, Saturday, work as usual...
Pei Qian came to the office early because he had two things to do today.
First, arrange which department to receive shock therapy and the Tengda Cornerstone Award.
Next, to assign a new game development task to Tengda Games.
The departments for shock therapy and the Tengda Cornerstone Award for this cycle were really a little hard to decide.
The shock therapy was prepared for the department that made the most money but most departments seemed to be making money during the last cycle, but none of them made Pei Qian really anxious.
Obviously, the most profitable of all was IOI's 500 million shares. However, should this be counted towards Dream Realization Ventures or Shang Yang Games? None of them seemed very suitable.
It was a historical issue, strictly speaking.
Should he give Old Ma the shock? That seemed pointless as well.
Therefore, Pei Qian thought for a long time and decided that this cycle should be to shock Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Of course, the shock would only be for the management; the stores would continue their normal operations.
The management arranged the location and renovation of the new store before going into shock for three months. The store employees would be paid extra wages based on salary standards. The money would be spent without backstabbing this way, which was perfect.
Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games should also be shocked, but he was still counting on their normal operations to burn money for this cycle so he could only spare them.
The choice for Tengda Cornerstone Award gave Pei Qian a headache as well.
Fish-Catching Take-Out would have undoubtedly gotten the award if they had lost money up till now, but they had already betrayed him so they were not eligible for this award.
The other departments that Pei Qian had high hopes for include the Deposit Fitness gym, Sloth Apartments, etc. They all basically had problems now and could only kiss this 'last place reward' goodbye.
Upwind Logistics had gotten it once; it was impossible to give them repeatedly, right?
Pei Qian finally decided to give this prize to Otto Technologies after some thought.
Otto Technologies might not have done anything, but they had only spent money without production. That in itself was a merit.
It would be a waste not to give the reward. Find the best fitting one and make do with it.
Pei Qian handed over the commendation to Assistant Xin after he was arranged and then began to think about the new game.
This cycle only had four months, which was totally not enough for a well-made RTS game.
Not to mention CG, it was simply not enough.
Therefore, Pei Qian thought about dragging this game to the next cycle and spent more money.
However, he had no idea how to make this game.
Pei Qian did not want to decide for himself, let alone Hu Xianbin and the others. No matter which one it was, it seemed that there would be no good results.
Therefore, it was better to ask Teacher He for help!
Pei Qian made a video call to He An.
It was connected in no time.
He An had left Jingzhou and returned to his residence. Judging from the video, it seemed like he was reading a book while drinking tea quite leisurely.
"Boss Pei? What's up?" He An drank his tea leisurely.
"Teacher He, I would like to ask for your advice for the new game," Pei Qian asked very humbly.
"Pfft!"
He An nearly choked.
For some reason, people would always feel that Boss Pei was acting arrogant whenever he was being humble.
Fortunately, He An had gotten used to it. He coughed twice before saying: "Didn't I say everything clearly? What else is there to ask?"
"RTS game, spend 200 million yuan on the game itself, spend 300 million yuan on the CG, a total of 500 million yuan—it was absolutely challenging."
He An repeated what he said previously.
Pei Qian nodded. "I know, Teacher He. But there is still not enough.
"Do you want to consider the details?
"For example, what theme? What type of story background?
"Should the operations of the game be hardcore or simple?"
"You're also letting me choose this, too? The challenge is hard enough; you want to add more?" He An was slightly shocked on the other end of the video call.
Pei Qian nodded quickly. "Yes, add it up!"
He An became silent.
So confident?
The difficulty for the RTS game wasn't enough; you want to add on to the challenge?
Sure, I hope you don't regret it.
He An considered for a while before saying, "There are actually not many options for the theme. There are only science fiction, western fiction, and eastern fiction."
"Sci-fi theme would be 'Starcraft', Western fiction would be 'Fantasy Battle', Eastern fiction... no one has done it yet."
Pei Qian was delighted. "Then, should I make an Eastern fiction RTS?"
He An smiled. "Didn't you want it to be challenging? The Eastern fiction RTS has the lowest challenge!"
Pei Qian was stunned.
He An took a sip of his tea and continued. "There are almost no RTS games produced locally that could be regarded as successful. If you make an RTS game with the theme of the Three Kingdoms or Ancient mythology, it would become very popular even if the quality was average since it would be the only one!
"The chances of it becoming successful are still rather big if overseas players purchase it because they are interested in Eastern culture.
"If you want a challenge, you should choose western fantasy or sci-fi; how about going up directly against Fantasy Battle and Starcraft?"
Pei Qian was hit with a realization.
Indeed, a seasoned veteran was valuable for his experience and insights.
If he did not ask Teacher He and made an Eastern fiction RTS game, he might even make profits!
What He An said made sense after thinking carefully.
Competing on the wrong footing would on the contrary increase the substantiality.
On the contrary, RTS games already had jewels like Starcraft and Fantasy Battle previously. Wouldn't it become a head-on battle if he were to make a similar one?
Excellent!
Teacher He was really scheming; he felt like he could definitely win this time!
Pei Qian raised his eyebrows with joy and continued. "Okay, let's do it then! Teacher He, please continue, what about the difficulty of the game?"
He An frowned and looked carefully at Boss Pei's expression on the cell phone screen.
He seemed to be happy?
So confident?
I don't believe you dare to do as I say!
He An continued. "The operations of the game have to be simpler."
Pei Qian was stunned. "Huh?"
He An smiled. "What's with your "huh?" You don't dare to do it?"
Pei Qian scratched his head. "It's not that I don't dare to, Teacher He. Are you sure making something simple will give me a loss... oh, no, I mean be more challenging?"
He An frowned slightly, a little confused whether Boss Pei was speaking the truth or was he acting. "Of course, there was no doubt about this.
"RTS games are now on a decline, but there were so many old players so the most important thing is nostalgia!
"If you make the operations more cumbersome like Fantasy Battle and Starcraft 2, it would naturally be welcomed by hardcore players. That is the target group of players for RTS games."
"Starcraft 2 was released the year before the previous year, many people must have complained about it, but its sales are not low at all. The expansion pack released last year was also well-received.
"It might be impossible to reproduce the brilliance of Starcraft, but from a commercial standpoint, it is very successful!
"Making RTS games more difficult is the correct way to do it. The purchasing power of these hardcore players is very scary if you can meet their requirements.
"On the contrary, if the RTS game is simple, then it would be very embarrassing. For hardcore players, the game was too simple and boring to play; for normal players, it is an RTS game that can never be comparable to GOG no matter how simple it is. They wouldn't touch it."
Pei Qian was stunned again.
That's right! Teacher He made a lot of sense!
Pei Qian had learned about game design so what He An said made absolute sense to him.
"Alright, I understand, Teacher He! You are really my guiding lantern! I will definitely treat you to a good meal at a nameless restaurant when the game is done!"
Pei Qian thanked him profusely before hanging up.
He An looked at the 'video call ended' on the cell phone, baffled.
Boss Pei seemed to have said... guiding lantern?
...
Pei Qian knew in his heart that there was hope after he hung up.
Make a low-difficulty sci-fi or western fantasy RTS game for 500 million yuan, it would definitely lose money!
So the question was whether to make sci-fi or western fantasy?
He decided on sci-fi in the end.
On the one hand, Starcraft 2 was released more than a year ago but still had some popularity until now. The possibility of failure was greater if he were to go head-on with it.
Going head-on with Fantasy Battle that was released nine years ago might not have such a high probability of failure.
On the other hand, there were a lot of heroes in GOG that were suitable for western fantasy background, Pei Qian was afraid that—when the new game and GOG would be seen as one—all the GOG players would be attracted to that. It would be troublesome.
It was not impossible looking at his previous experience.
Therefore, it was better to work on a sci-fi theme. The possibility of failure was higher and would burn more money!
Chapter 673: The Shame of the Domestic Game Industry: 'Mission and Choice'
The next step would be to name the game after the theme was set.
Pei Qian did not consider it for too long.
"Mission and Choice"!
That was a reason for this specific name.
Pei Qian had been learning about games some time ago. He had also learned a lot about the past of the domestic game industry from He An and Qiu Hong.
In 1995, the U.S. Eastwood Company released a series of games called 'Command and Conquer'. This was the best-selling real-time strategy game in history. It established a model of RTS games and pioneered the creation of the structure of 'resource collection + production and construction + army combat'. It also defined the concept of 'fog of war'.
In short, it was popular all over the world just like Starcraft and Fantasy Battle; they were all regarded as classics of RTS games.
In 1997, the local scene had a game called 'Mission and Choice'.
When he first heard of this name, Pei Qian thought it was a parallel of 'Freedom and Glory'. He had a good impression at first but found himself to be wrong in no time.
The game was parallel to 'Blood Lion'.
As Qiu Hong once said, during this period, the domestic game industry was already in violent turmoil. Online games were rapidly emerging, piracy was gradually getting rampant, and domestic standalone games were forced to start a price war against piracy. It did not help no matter how much the price was reduced.
At this juncture, 'Mission and Choice' appeared.
The major game media began to publish colored advertisements for 'Mission and Choice' overwhelmingly. The cover was a Chinese soldier in a spacesuit. The background was a huge sandworm and a technologically-rich interstellar battleship. There are a few more below. The sentence contained inflammatory slogans.
"Your hometown, Blue Star, just suffered a devastating attack from the Zerg, and the interstellar fleet suffered heavy losses. The red sky was stained with blood, the flames tore the night, and the sky full of insects flooded the human fleet like a tide. I know your choice when faced with insects. It would be bleak, but we have no retreat.
"Destroy the swarm and save Blue Star with your comrades!"
"Millions of investment, dedicated production, grand screen, a domestic classic!"
"High-level avant-garde rock musicians produce music, a strong software creation group, and heavy artistic creativity. Everyone is looking forward to the 'Mission and Choice' debut!"
This publicity might look somewhat inexplicable now, but they were extremely exciting by then.
As a result, the enthusiasm of all standalone game players had been instigated. Players automatically ignored the ubiquitous copycat feeling in the game 'Mission and Choice' from the name to their publicity picture. They regarded it as a game that could surpass the masterpiece of Command and Conquer. They look forward to it being in the palace of RTS games forever.
However, the word 'disappointment' was inadequate to describe their feelings when they got the game.
Simple and crude graphics, program bugs everywhere, weird game mechanics...
In short, it was lousy as f*ck.
The players realized that this was just crazy!
The name was 'Command and Conquer', the background story was Starcraft, and a little fake patriotism was deliberately added in. It was huge deceit of the feelings of domestic players.
Many regarded the 'Mission and Choice' as the shame of domestically-produced games. It was the last straw that crushed the domestically-produced games. To this day, most players still only have two types of emotions when they hear the name 'Mission and Choice': mocking or angry.
Pei Qian had named his game 'Ocean Stronghold' to give it a good omen, but the people in this world did not understand it!
Only Pei Qian himself knew the butt of the joke; therefore, it did not trigger any resistance.
Similarly, people would have no idea if it was named the 'Blood Lion'.
However, naming it 'Mission and Choice' would ignite the anger of all domestic players in an instant!
Therefore, Pei Qian decided immediately to name it that way!
Come, players, swallow me with your anger!
Of course, there would be some copyright issues, but it was okay since the company that made this game had been bankrupt for several years. The copyrights of 'Mission and Choice' should belong with the creditors, but no one would want this stuff that was losing money. They might even be able to come directly when they found ESRO official games platform.
The background of the story should be used since the name was used.
At the same time, Pei Qian thought of a few other ways to greatly increase the probability of failure to ensure that nothing would go wrong. He was preparing to explain to Hu Xianbin for a while.
Pei Qian called for a meeting in the conference room with Hu Xianbin, Huang Sibo, and Zhu Xiaoce after he considered everything.
As to why he called for Huang Sibo...
Of course, it was because of the CG. It had to be done by Fei Huang Workspace.
Pei Qian was afraid that it would not be completed within the settlement period if it was left to others. That would be troublesome.
...
Everyone came to the conference room in no time.
Hu Xianbin was very clear that Boss Pei should be developing the next game soon after the huge success of Struggle.
Hu Xianbin and Huang Sibo were a little puzzled after seeing each other in the conference room.
Why did Boss Pei get us to come together?
Were they going to make a game or movie?
Time was precious so Pei Qian went straight to the point to distribute the tasks.
"I will need the two of you to cooperate for the next game.
"The development cycle is set to be about nine months. We will spend 200 million yuan making a sci-fi RTS game and then spend another 300 million yuan for its CG. I'm giving this mission to both of your departments."
The other three were stunned.
Spending 200 million yuan for the game and 300 million yuan for the CG?
The money for CG was even more than the money for the game?
Huang Sibo's expression became excited instantly. "Boss Pei is determined to make a boutique RTS game at the same level of Starcraft 2? If you use 300 million yuan to burn through more than 10 minutes of CG for the game, it would definitely not lose to the giant foreign companies!"
Hu Xianbin was a little hesitant. "Burning 300 million yuan for CG, can we really recoup it?"
Huang Sibo smiled. "Why not? Starcraft 2's development cost was not even 100 million US dollars. If you calculate the price of every game as 50 US dollars, you will be able to recoup it if you sold more than two million copies. 1.5 million copies were sold on the first day it hit the shelves. The entire life cycle sold four to five million copies easily. Wasn't it very profitable?
"Our game would not even reach this number. We are investing 60 million US dollars; it will still be profitable even if we sell more than Starcraft 2.
"The game CG is the business card of the game. It would definitely be spread like crazy across the internet if it was done well. Moreover, it would be better to open up overseas markets. Investing 300 million yuan in game CG for the brand value, to expand overseas, and to establish the makings of a brand factory!"
Pei Qian fell silent.
There was still such a huge chance of making profits on theory?
It was really possible, thinking about it. Put the entire 300 million yuan to make 10 minutes of CG. How good would that be?
Any part of it could make it popular.
Teacher He felt that it could not make any profits because he did not understand just how good Pei Qian was.
Pei Qian knew that what Huang Sibo said was very possible to happen!
My good brother Huang Sibo...
Pei Qian coughed lightly. "Not 10 minutes, we're going to make an hour long."
The quality of this CG would definitely not be so high if he were to extend it to an hour and would not be too outstanding, right?
Moreover, everyone should watch until they feel irked with such a long plot and would just press ESC to skip it, right?
Huang Sibo was shocked; he hesitated for a short while before saying: "Boss Pei, we can't do that!
"Quality is secondary when it comes to a half-hour CG, but there is no way to guarantee the development period can be within nine months.
"Our first choice is definitely to find a foreign company to do it, but that also means that we have to communicate across countries, languages, and time differences. It is okay for something around 10 minutes, but the cost of communication would be very unbearable for something about an hour long.
"If you are looking for domestic companies, then most of the reliable special effects teams are all in the movie sector. There are very few special effect companies that purely make game CGs, and their levels are not very promising."
"Could real-time calculation in time count towards it?" Hu Xianbin asked after some thought.
Huang Sibo nodded. "Yes, but the effect would not be good and would not be able to spend so much money."
The cinematic game of Struggle was equivalent to real-time calculation. It really did not cost 300 million yuan,
Huang Sibo continued. "If it had to be completed within the development period, then I feel... we can do it like a movie with real people.
"This way, we will not need to spend time on character movements, expressions, pores, hair, etc. Some props and scenery could also be shot in real life, which could save a lot of time and ensure quality and duration.
"The only problem is... it seemed like I have never heard of game companies doing this."
Pei Qian fell silent.
He did not think so much but realized that there were really huge problems listening to Huang Sibo!
He had three choices now:
The first was like 'Fantasy World', burn money to make a very short CG, make all the characters' movements, expressions, hairs, etc. highly realistic. However, the effect of it would definitely be very sensational. Starcraft 2 had proven there was room for profit.
Making this an extremely detailed long CG meant that the development period could not be guaranteed.
The second would be to make CG with real-time calculations in games, but that would not even cost 10 million yuan, let alone 300 million yuan.
There would be no difference between the first one if it was a mixture of real-time calculation and CG. It would still be a relatively safe approach.
The third was to use the method of filming so that there would be no need to do fine-tuning. Many special effects could be replaced with props and scenery so the development period could basically be guaranteed.
Pei Qian thought for a while. What should I do if I make a short CG and replicate the success of Starcraft 2? That was not without possibility.
Delayed settlement would be unacceptable if they were to take the risk to make a pure lengthy game CG.
Then, the third option—real shooting + movie CG—seemed to be a good way. Not only could it spend more money, but it could also guarantee the development period while lengthening the CG period.
Here's the problem:
What if it became a blockbuster again if Fei Huang Workspace were to bring this movie to the cinema?
Wouldn't Boss Pei have a heart attack if the game made a profit and the movie made another profit?
However, Pei Qian changed his mind since he had never heard of game companies doing it. It indicated that there must be big problems with this model.
Movies and game CGs were not the same things in essence after all.
Chapter 674: Make all the Mistakes You can Make
"Erm... I would like to express my opinion." Zhu Xiaoce, who had been silent until now, raised his hand to say.
"Brother Huang, your idea is too ideal.
"Make a game CG and screen it in the movies by-the-way to make profits on both sides seemed to be pretty perfect, but no game companies had ever done it.
"There is basically no precedent in the world, be it the games company releasing a game CG as a movie or to take the movie to make it into game CG.
"Why? Because it doesn't work!
"A movie wants us to tell a whole story within that time frame. There must be a coherent plot and rich elements. The same is true for sci-fi.
"The CG of a game must be divided into several sections. One chapter of the story will be shown after another. It shows the best essence of the game through fragments.
"And the battle part of the story is portrayed through its gameplay.
"That meant to say if we are to make a very good game CG and link it to a movie, it will miss a lot of information and make the viewers of the movie confused.
"If we are to disassemble a movie into CG, it would be too lengthy. A clear stage and a short plot would be played so that the original smooth plot becomes fragmented. It would make most players feel baffled. Most players were waiting to play the game; they would want to skip it instead of patiently watching the plot.
"So, we cannot do both sides; we have to choose one. If you are doing the CG type with the essence of the fragmented plot, then don't expect it to be released as a movie. If you make it into a movie, then it would be divided into many segments. It would not have a good reputation with the players."
Huang Sibo thought carefully about it. It seemed like it was indeed the case.
The idea that came to him did not work.
Everyone discussed it for a long time, but this question still seemed unsolvable so he had to look at Boss Pei, wanting to get more tips from Boss Pei.
Pei Qian was trying to suppress his joy at this time.
Very good, you all know how to answer for yourselves now!
Why should I not copy your standard answers?
Pei Qian had a plan in his heart. He thought about it and said. "Plan each chapter in the way of game CG and shoot in the way of sci-fi movies. It had to be completed within the development period and has to be more than an hour and a half."
Zhu Xiaoce nearly fainted.
Did Boss Pei not hear a single word they were saying?
Or could Boss Pei have another plan?
The three of them looked at each other, wanting to ask more; but Boss Pei's resolute attitude stopped them. They noted it down silently to figure it out slowly when they got back.
Pei Qian continued saying. "The name of our game is 'Mission and Choice' with a sci-fi theme."
Hu Xianbin almost thought that he heard something wrong. "Huh? Mission and Choice? Isn't that...?"
Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, think of a way to get the copyrights of this game. We'll make a high-definition version of it!"
Hu Xianbin was dumbfounded.
'Mission and Choice' was the shame of domestically-produced games! It was the nightmare of countless old players, the worst and most failed RTS game!
On top of having its own worldview as a copy of Starcraft, there was no plot while the art was a mess and had no merit at all!
People who engaged in IP were reproducing classics...
Why were we picking trash while engaging in IP?
Moreover, wasn't it poisonous, harmful, and worthless garbage?
Why bother? Tengda had so many good IPs. Couldn't we just use some of them? Or simply rewrite an entire world; wouldn't it be much better?!
Pei Qian saw Hu Xianbin's exaggerated expression and was secretly delighted. He did not intend to explain further.
Huang Sibo frowned.
However, he suddenly realized something, and his eyebrows smoothened out instantly.
"Boss Pei, I understand now!
"'Mission and Choice' is the pain in the hearts of all domestically-produced games. It represented the downturn of standalone games. It is also the shame of domestically-produced games.
"Boss Pei, you chose to remake this game to wash away the shame of this game and declare that the domestically-produced games are heading for glory!
"If it was successful, it would definitely reverse the players' impression of domestically-produced games and give the domestically-produced game producers a boost!"
Hu Xianbin suddenly realized it as well.
That's why Boss Pei made these games. It was not out of utilitarian considerations but a strong symbolic meaning!
He could not help but show his admiration on his face.
Sure enough, only heroes like Boss Pei could do it!
Pei Qian: "..."
Say whatever you want; I'm used to it.
Pei Qian sorted out his mood and continued, "This game must be innovative as compared to the traditional RTS game."
Everyone nodded. Obviously, Boss Pei could not stick to the rules.
Boss Pei was not the type to go for safe choices based on successful cases like Starcraft 2 and Fantasy Battle.
Pei Qian thought about it for a while before saying, "There should only be two races in the game, the humans and Zergs. You can do whatever you want for balance. It doesn't matter if you don't do it well.
"The operation of the game must be as simple as possible. It was best to not be able to play without APM.
"Hmm... the greatest difficulty should not come from the enemy but from his own people. Every soldier must have his own mind and often not listen to the commands and orders of the players.
"You need to hire actors for the real shots, but you can only hire one protagonist; the others would all be bit-role actors. It doesn't matter if you were to hire big stars for the protagonist, but you have to remember that he or she cannot show any emotions or acting.
"Another point is that it has to be completed within schedule, and the money has to be fully used up. I have no other requests."
Pei Qian was very confident.
I don't believe I can still make profits like that!
These requirements basically eliminated all the advantages of traditional RTS games.
Just like what He An said, if the current RTS game was done like Starcraft 2, it could still make money since there were still many die-hard RTS players around. They would still pay as long as they were good games.
The RTS game was simple, and there was no way to cater to these old players. Moreover, there was no way to compete for new players with games like GOG. The probability of failure was greatly increased!
Other than that, balance was very important to an RTS game.
'Command and Conquer' was ranked lower than Starcraft and Fantasy Battle in the hearts of many players because their balance was not done well. It was difficult for it to be pushed out as esports.
Therefore, Pei Qian would make an RTS game with a very lousy balance!
There would only be these two races: humans and Zergs. It would not be balanced, and veteran gamers of RTS games would definitely not be able to accept it; neither would it be possible to be made into esports.
As for 'little soldiers must have their own thoughts', Pei Qian based this on his personal experience. It was time for the players to feel their own pain!
Imagine that in an RTS, you command a small soldier to attack an enemy army, and then the small soldier saw a lot of enemies and ran away.
How sour! The players would definitely be pissed off.
The actors were just in case.
What if this thing could really be released to the big screens, become popular, and earned hundreds of millions of US dollars?
The possibility was small, but it was still something he should guard against.
Therefore, Pei Qian had to ensure that it would fail even if it were made into a movie.
There was only one protagonist who could absolutely not show any acting skills and not too many expressions.
That way, the possibility of Lu Zhiyao's rise to popularity in Tomorrow is Beautiful because of his acting would not happen again.
The three of them froze after listening to Boss Pei's words.
They were baffled by Boss Pei's requirements!
However, everyone had experience. They were not too shocked and did not ask too much.
They knew very well that Boss Pei must have given them a new quiz.
However, the problem was Boss Pei's quiz this time was too ridiculous!
How were they going to solve this?
The name of the game itself was outrageous, and the mechanics of the game were completely inconsistent with the basic concepts of RTS games. Even the CG was so different.
Those who did not know him would think that Boss Pei was stacking the deck against them and making things difficult for them on purpose!
Pei Qian could not help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, seeing the expressions of the three.
Very good, he knew that this game was almost finished when he saw everyone's expression!
He felt so happy thinking he would lose 500 million yuan at a time!
Pei Qian stood up. "Alright, do your best!"
...
Pei Qian returned to his residence while humming a song after arranging his work.
He arranged the work for Tengda Games and Fei Huang Workspace all at once; he was in a great mood.
However, Pei Qian calmed down and felt that he could not take it lightly.
He sent the plan to Teacher He to let his guiding lantern reconfirm to see if it could be compensated and how likely it was to make a loss.
What if Teacher He could find a suspicious point that he did not notice?
Pei Qian sorted out the main points of the meeting and sent them to He An.
"Teacher He, how high do you think is the success rate of 'Mission and Choice'?"
He An replied in less than two minutes.
"?"
"???"
Several question marks were sent in succession, followed by a video call.
"Boss Pei, are you really planning to do this?" He An asked in a humbled voice.
Pei Qian nodded. "That's right."
He An looked shocked. "That's 500 million yuan!"
Pei Qian could not help but be elated. "Yes, 500 million yuan!"
He An could not help but become silent. He observed Boss Pei's expression carefully but could not guess Boss Pei's true thoughts.
"I will definitely pray in advance if it was other games companies.
"The standard answer... 'Starcraft 2' is there. Not only did you not copy it, but you are making all the possible mistakes all at once. This 500 million yuan would be a total loss."
He An paused and said, "But...
"Boss Pei, you should have already figured out what to do and deliberately only released part of the one-sided news to deliberately confuse me, right?
"Are you showing off your skills again?
"I will definitely be shocked by you and would subvert many basic theories of game design after the game is successful.
"Isn't that what you think?"
Pei Qian: "..."
Sh*t, even Teacher He was starting to imagine things.
"Teacher He, how do you guess this game will profit?" Pei Qian tried asking.
"You're awesome! I can't guess it alright!" He An replied with a dark expression.
Pei Qian was a little speechless. Why did you suddenly become angry while we chat?
Alright, he was now reassured since Teacher He could not guess how to profit.
"Alright, thank you for your guidance, Teacher He. I'll definitely treat you to a meal after the game is published!"
Pei Qian hung up happily.