Pei Qian felt the pressure on his body increase sharply, seeing this message.
He did not think that the money would reach his accounts so rapidly!
Pei Qian even felt that it wasn't realistic.
Other film and television companies were praying to the stars and the moon every day to get their money back. However, Pei Qian was the exact opposite. He could not wait for the money to be paid in the next cycle.
However, there was no other way, right? He could not possibly send the money back and tell them to send it to him at a later date, right?
That would be too shameful.
If that was the case, he had to quickly put the matter of buying buildings onto the agenda again.
With this sum of money, 50 million yuan would be used to buy a building, and the remaining 50 million yuan would go to games and movies first. This would be relatively safe.
Pei Qian had been procrastinating a little just like most people. However, his procrastination has been completely cured in terms of spending money.
Especially with such a large sum of money in the account, Pei Qian didn't dare to delay it for a minute and had to spend it quickly.
Delays would likely cause major events, and Pei Qian dare not take such a risk.
Wouldn't it be the end if it was delayed because of procrastination, and the final wave couldn't be spent?
He had decided to go with Sloth Apartments 2.0 previously so, this time, he would buy a building directly for storage space.
Because of the special calculation method of the system, fixed assets would be converted to system funds at 10%, so Pei Qian's buying building model was actually a very stable way of spending money.
Everything was good except for some side effects.
This cycle only had four months, and the initial system funds had 10 million yuan more. Pei Qian wanted to set aside the advance amount, and can use 5 million yuan of them as the 'fixed asset occupation quota'. The conversion was equivalent to buying a building for about 50 million yuan.
Pei Qian decided to go to the office of the Sloth Apartment to learn about the current status of the Sloth Apartment project and, at the same time, finalize the plan to buy a house.
He might no longer consider the loss of rent, but he couldn't possibly allow Liang Qingfan free play.
...
Pei Qian reached the office of Sloth Apartments after 20 minutes.
After the success of Sloth Apartments, the core team expanded and also rented dedicated office space.
The location was a high-end office building in the CBD of downtown Jingzhou, far away from other departments of Tengda.
As to why rent this place...
Very simple. There were two reasons: the first was that the place is more expensive and the rent is higher; the second was to stay away from other departments of Tengda, especially those departments of Tengda Life.
Pei Qian was very afraid that these departments would launch some combined event without sound and would stab him hard in the back.
It was not necessarily useful if they were far away from each other since they could use chat software to communicate, but it would be better than just being close and coming up with combined events out of nowhere.
Pei Qian took the elevator to the 27th floor of the building. He couldn't help but smile and nod when he saw the layout of the office area of Sloth Apartment.
Good, suits the Tengda spirit very well!
The huge space was extremely empty. There were just a few lonely desks in total, and people were far away from each other. They could probably only hear each other by shouting.
Pei Qian had no doubt that there would be echoes when he shouted since this place was so empty.
Close observation would reveal that this place obviously had a different layout of Tengda headquarters.
The Tengda headquarters might be very spacious as well, but it was still more serious. The large desks were equipped with dual-screen monitors, keyboards and mouses, etc. Compared with the conventional company, it had only become a high-end office environment.
However, the office space of the Sloth Apartments had a strong artistic atmosphere.
The tables and chairs were not the serious kind of office desks and chairs. They were all kinds of tables and chairs in the art area and leisure area. They looked artsy.
The employees are not working on heavy desktop computers. They are all looking at light notebooks. There was also a coffee bar next to them. There was a dedicated person responsible for supplying coffee and beverages to the entire company.
In addition, some artworks were also arranged in the company, which was very stylish.
Pei Qian felt like giving Liang Qingfan a compliment, seeing this more exaggerated per capita area than Tengda headquarters.
"Boss Pei!"
Liang Qingfan was originally designing on the computer, but he quickly stood up and greeted Boss Pei when he arrived.
Pei Qian looked around: "Well, this office area is well-arranged."
Liang Qingfan smiled and nodded: "Of course, Boss Pei, these are also designed in accordance with the minimalist style, which also helps to enhance the concentration and attention of the designers.
"Now, the minimalist style has become the representative style of our Sloth Apartments. It is especially suitable for architects and designers that require concentration, imagination, and creativity. That's why I decorate this office space in this way.
"Also, these artworks are specially purchased. The quantity is not large, but it is definitely just right and will not overwhelm you.
"Unfortunately, this place is rented. We should be able to do better if we build our own building."
Pei Qian's eyes lit up.
Build their own building?
That's a great idea!
Tengda Group building its own buildings for its own use would never generate any profit. It seemed to be a good way to spend money.
Pei Qian hadn't had this idea before mainly because the company's financial conditions did not allow it.
However, this could really be considered now.
However, he must choose a suitable time to build his own building. On the one hand, he could not settle with a card. On the other hand, he must ensure that there was still room for loss after the fixed assets were converted into initial funds.
If one billion was spent on building an establishment and the system funds are converted into 100 million, wouldn't that be the end and leaving it impossible for him to lose money?
Pei Qian nodded: "Well, I also have this intention. It is indeed time to build a Tengda Group headquarters.
"But this matter is not in a hurry, we still have to think about it long-term. When you are not busy at work, you can start with a simple design and estimate the price. I will consider it."
Liang Qingfan was taken aback but quickly nodded. "Okay, Boss Pei!"
As expected, Boss Pei would make it big.
Other bosses may not put the construction of the company's headquarters building on the agenda so quickly. After all, building a building would put a lot of pressure on the company's cash flow. There was no lack of companies that were not careful and built a building until it went bankrupt.
Many bosses try to make do with the office location as much as possible. Anyway, the office environment would not affect the boss who lived in the villa.
Liang Qingfan mentioned it in the passing and didn't expect Boss Pei to actually consider it seriously!
Obviously, President Pei was completely different from other bosses.
Boss Pei only headed to the company for one or two days a week, but he had been working hard to create a better office environment for employees.
Boss Pei was still not satisfied when Tengda's office environment had far surpassed most companies.
Tengda's office conditions were much better than those of many companies whose assets were much higher than Tengda.
This kind of employee-oriented spirit was really touching!
Liang Qingfan and Pei Qian casually found a place by the window to sit down. They were on a high floor, and the entire CBD scenery was unobstructed.
Someone next to him brought coffee; Pei Qian tasted it, and it was good. It should be the same brand used by Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
"How's the situation in Sloth's Apartment recently?" Pei Qian asked.
Liang Qingfan smiled and said, "Everything is going well, Boss Pei.
"Many architects and designers took the initiative to find us after the success of the sloth apartment model. Of course, I also took the initiative to dig a few talents to prepare for future business expansion.
"Sloth Apartment has three main business areas now.
"The first is to do high-end customization for clients."
"The extreme simplicity style is very popular so many customers are coming to us for the ultimate simplicity style. Therefore, in addition to the general plan on our own website, we are half-selling and half-gifting to everyone, and we will also make special decoration customization for some customers.
"All of these newly recruited designers can be on their own. Each is responsible for a project. I am responsible for checking and ensuring that every plan is made in line with the style of the Sloth Apartments.
"This is not very profitable, but no matter how small the mosquito is, it is meat. Moreover, this customized business is also good for continuing to expand the popularity of Sloth Apartments.
"Secondly, as Mr. Pei, you said before... set up a 'Sloth Apartments Brand Cooperation Investigation Group'.
"We have arranged regular anonymous spot checks by the inspection team to ensure that these companies—including various brands such as furniture, decoration, and housing companies that we cooperate with—are not engaging in small actions that will adversely affect the brand of Sloth Apartments.
"Of course, some cooperating brands do not want to accept our supervision, and they are basically big brands. However, we will never compromise like what Boss Pei said.
"Anyway, there are so many brands to cooperate with anyway. We can always find a brand with good quality, as long as we put in the effort.
"Moreover, the inspection team can also cooperate with our high-end decoration customization business to ensure quality and reputation.
"Finally, it is the main business of Sloth Apartments, which is the rental business."
"We are already preparing for the Sloth Apartment 2.0 model according to your previous instructions. We added some storage space to make the 2.0 model more practical for ordinary people while maintaining the minimalist style."
Pei Qian nodded slightly after listening to Liang Qingfan's report.
Well, it was similar to what he estimated before.
The Sloth Apartment model had been successful, and it would be impossible to make it fail again. The only way was to stop the loss.
"I'll give you another 50 million yuan to buy a new building to make it the model of Sloth Apartment 2.0.
"Well... this time, you buy a slightly more popular real estate. You can choose where to buy it. It's best to buy a place with little appreciation potential."
The wild appreciation of the Sloth Apartments scared Pei Qian very much. If it hadn't been for the completion of the last special task of the last cycle, Pei Qian might have suffered a lot.
Pei Qian was originally inclined to buy houses located in a biased position, with strange layouts and poorly decorated houses picking up garbage. However, he forgot that once these places became popular, the appreciation potential would be the greatest!
Take this for example: the two buildings in Binhu District were originally leaky and cracked. The house prices were too low. As a result, when the Sloth Apartments was renovated, the house prices instantly shot up.
Therefore, Pei Qian didn't have any particularly big requirements this time. He hoped that the value of the house he bought would have less appreciation potential. It would be best if the Sloth Apartment did not appreciate at all after the renovation—that would be the most perfect.
As for what kind of house has little appreciation potential...
Pei Qian did not know either and, therefore, allowed Liang Qingfan to decide for himself.
Chapter 696: Investing in Cherry Workspace
Liang Qingfan was taken aback.
Who would pick houses without appreciation potential to buy?
Could it be...?
Boss Pei actually meant to buy a popular property in the city center?
Popular real estate had been speculated at very high prices so the room for growth was relatively small. To say that the appreciation potential was lower seemed to be right.
Liang Qingfan instantly understood and nodded quickly: "No problem, Boss Pei!"
He obviously also noticed that Boss Pei's attitude towards 'buying building' had changed dramatically.
Before, he kept picking up rubbish. Buildings with bad layouts, remotely located buildings—buying all types of commercial and residential buildings.
However, now, they have to buy buildings with little potential for appreciation; that was some popular properties in the city center.
Why was that?
Liang Qingfan combined this with the Sloth Apartments 2.0 model to speculate that this should be a strategic transformation.
He started to pick up rubbish mainly to highlight the core concept of the Sloth Apartments.
For example, in the promotional video of Sloth Apartment, the two buildings in Binhu District were completely renovated from garbage buildings that no one cared about... became livable. This created a huge topic and attracted a lot of attention.
Now that the Sloth Apartments has gained attention, they must continue to explore and establish a higher brand value.
Therefore, Liang Qingfan supported Boss Pei's idea with all his heart.
Pei Qian suddenly felt guilty for no reason, seeing Liang Qingfan's face of 'great minds think alike' expression.
However, after thinking about it, it was useless to keep picking up trash. When the time comes, the value would rise wildly, and he would be back again when it came to settlement.
It was the lesser of the two evils. Pei Qian thought for a long time and decided to stick to his current idea.
Let's try the Sloth Apartments 2.0 model first; he would think of other ways if it didn't work.
...
...
October 21st, Friday...
Beijing, Cherry Workspace...
"Quickly, quickly, everyone clean up your work stations; don't leave a bad impression."
A tall and thin young man, who looked less than 30 years old, was cleaning up his messy desk full of books while instructing the other three people sitting next to him.
The other three people looked younger than him. One boy was round and looked a bit naive, the other boy was slightly fat, and there was a girl with glasses and a single ponytail.
There were many such small independent game studios in Beijing.
Three or four people could develop an independent game by finding an incubation space.
The tall and thin young man was the owner and producer of Cherry Studio, named Jiang Fan.
The guy who looks a bit naive was Yang Liang, the main designer of the game; the fat boy and the girl with a single ponytail were the chief systems designer and the art designer of the game, respectively.
Moreover, everyone was actually a part-time function designer, and everyone knew how to use the game editor to make games.
The girl was in charge of art, but she drew a few art resources by herself. Most of the time, she would be communicating with people on the resource station, give her demands, and accept art resources.
Such a small team of four was the current standard team of independent game studios in China.
Any smaller, and the development cycle would be longer. Moreover, it would be difficult to guarantee the quality of the games made, and it would be based on pure luck. However, the company might not survive if there were more people.
Independent game companies must be stretched in terms of funding. Every dime was precious.
Even if there were an official editor and an official platform to match the search for art resources, costs still existed in developing an independent games platform.
Rent had to be settled, staff salaries had to be paid, and art resources had to be bought.
The official games platform might have preferential policies for independent game producers, but all that would amount to nothing if the games could not be sold. The investments would have been lost.
The naïve chief designer Yang Liang cleaned up a little reluctantly: "Brother Fan, let's not clean up; I think it's useless. Several investors came to ask questions before. No one really wants to invest in a risk like us.
"The probability of failure in independent games is too high after all so they are not willing to invest.
"We should fix one or two more bugs during this time."
Jiang Fan was also a little helpless: "There is no other way, Old Liang. The financial situation of the studio is too bad now. We will last a month at most if no one invests in us. We won't even be able to pay the salary then. I can't let it all work for nothing. Let's try again.
"I asked a few friends in the industry and verified that Boss Qiu, who is coming today, is indeed a well-known figure in the industry. While he has not invested in any company, he did get in touch with a few of them, showing that he has this intention."
Yang Liang continued to pack things up: "Really? Brother Fan, do you think we have a chance to get the investment?"
Jiang Fan shook his head. "I can't tell either.
"This Boss Qiu used to make games with paywalls, but I don't know why he suddenly contacted domestic standalone game companies since last week, especially independent game studios like ours. I know that he had spoken to three in Beijing alone.
"They said that he seems to be investing in domestic standalone games and independent games. For us, the probability of being invested is much higher than that of other investment companies.
"However, none of the three companies I heard received any investment.
"It is understandable that the first two did not pass. They seemed to be too unreliable, but the third one is very reliable. The framework of the game has been completed, and the game content is quite good. They needed one last spur before the final release. However, Boss Qiu did not invest in them either.
"I don't know exactly what his requirements are.
"But anyway, this is a good opportunity for us. Try to seize it."
The four people in the studio took the time to tidy up the workstations a bit while waiting for the arrival of Boss Qiu.
Jiang Fan looked anxiously at the time on the phone.
Jiang Fan's cell phone rang two minutes before 2 pm.
Jiang Fan hurriedly picked it up: "Boss Qiu, are you here? Wait a moment, I will bring you up right now!"
Jiang Fan gave everyone a look before he left. Everyone immediately sat upright at the workstations and began to work seriously, waiting for Boss Qiu's arrival.
Jiang Fan brought Qiu Hong to the workspace several minutes later.
Ever since Qiu Hong accepted the mission of the 'Destitution Plan' from Boss Pei, Qiu Hong settled his personal affairs and rushed straight to Beijing.
Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were places where game companies gathered so Qiu Hong chose Beijing as his first stop.
Qiu Hong's mission was to invest in standalone game companies and independent game studios across the country, but he did not need to fly between cities every day.
The most efficient way would be to stay in Beijing for a month, inspect one company every day, and choose the companies in Beijing before changing to another city.
Qiu Hong had visited five companies but only invested in one.
Three companies looked like very unreliable small workshops. The bosses themselves don't know the game very well, and they are a bit of an insider guiding the insider. Qiu Hong felt that they might have the tendency to defraud investors.
Boss Pei said no investment if they were not reliable.
There was a company that was good in all aspects and had a high degree of completion of the game. Qiu Hong tried it and felt that the probability of success was high.
However, Boss Pei also said no investment if the company seemed too reliable.
Therefore, there was only one that was well-regulated and obtained the investment of Qiu Hong's 'Destitution Plan'.
Today, Qiu Hong came to Cherry Workspace to continue his inspection.
In fact, his job was the easiest and least stressful. When he was a game producer, he had to rack his brains to think about the gameplay. He was afraid that one wrong decision would ruin the whole project, but now, he doesn't need to do that anymore. He could just look at the company's situation and decide whether to invest or not.
Moreover, the bonus now has nothing to do with whether the investment was profitable. The more he invested, the more bonus he could get. Where else could he obtain such a good deal?
Without stress, he needed not to worry about gains and losses, and he was more rational and clear-headed when making decisions.
Jiang Fan moved a chair to Qiu Hong from the side and took a cup of hot water from the water dispenser next to him. He then began to introduce the basic situation of Cherry Workspace.
Qiu Hong listened while drinking his water.
According to Jiang Fan, Cherry Workspace was basically a standard 'doing something from the heart' story.
Jiang Fan originally worked in a law firm, and his profession has nothing to do with games. Starting to make games was only because of the existence of official platforms and editors, which greatly lowered the barriers to game production and gave him the idea of trying out making a game after work.
Jiang Fan usually worked very slowly and could only spare one hour a day to make games with the official game editor.
In this way, he spent two full years on his own making an Interactive Fiction based on a Defense Lawyer, and it turned out to be quite well-received after it went live.
The sales volume was not very high; after all, indie games did not cost too much. It sold nearly 200,000 copies for five yuan each. After taking into account various preferential policies of the official platform for indie games, he made about 600,000 yuan.
Therefore, Jiang Fan made a very important decision in his life. He gave up his job as a lawyer and decided to set up Cherry Workspace to make independent games full-time.
The other three employees were also found by Jiang Fan through his own player group. They went through simple interviews. These three also voluntarily gave up their previous jobs and came to Cherry Workspace to receive wages that could only guarantee basic living standards.
It was not that Jiang Fan was stingy. The key was that there was only 600,000 yuan in total, and he had to pay for the rent of the office space and the purchase of art resources. There is really no way to pay more salary.
The game they were developing now was called 'Survival Guide for Working Adults'. It was much bigger than the game that Jiang Fan developed before, but it was precisely because the size exceeded Jiang Fan's ability to control that Cherry Workspace had not enough money to sustain.
In a little more than a month, he might not be able to pay wages, and the game had yet to reach the level to be launched.
Chapter 697: A Friend in Need
"How much of the game have you completed so far? Can I try it out?" Qiu Hong asked.
Jiang Fan hesitated for a moment but then nodded in the end. "Of course, you can."
After that, he opened the half-complete 'Survival Guide for Working Adults' game on his laptop and handed it to Qiu Hong for testing.
Jiang Fan was still slightly conflicted.
Until now, very little of the Survival Guide for Working Adults had been completed. It was an educational game, which meant that one would not be able to understand the core gameplay or experience any fun with such little content being available.
With the amount of content that the game had now, it would not be nearly as fun as it was meant to be. After all, the game was meant to be one whole piece.
However, since Qiu Hong wanted to give it a shot, Jiang Fan could not turn him down.
Simply describing the game would leave many gaps unfilled. Qiu Hong had to play the game himself to visualize how fun it was meant to be.
Preparing a slideshow would triumph a pure verbal explanation, and having a demo would triumph preparing a slideshow.
That was why Jiang Fan gritted his teeth and allowed Qiu Hong to try the game out. He sat by the side and watched, so that he could fix the game whenever bugs or gaps appeared.
Qiu Hong began to play the game intently.
This was an educational game that targeted ordinary working adults. Its art resources were mainly made up of 2D images, and it had interesting gameplay, along with proper character and plot development.
The only problems were that there were indeed many bugs, temporary art resources, incomplete storylines and gameplay, and so on. That affected the game experience to some extent.
Jiang Fan, who remained at the side to explain the game, could not help but offer reasons for the hiccups while perspiring profusely.
He had no other choice. Qiu Hong was supplying him with funds, and so he was the boss!
Jiang Fan could not afford to be careless. What if Boss Qiu became unhappy with something and decided not to invest in the game anymore? Wouldn't Jiang Fan have a huge problem on his hands then?
The funds they had left in the workspace could only last them over a month at most. From the looks of the current situation, they would not have enough funds to see the game to completion.
If Boss Pei decided not to invest in it, the workspace would have to sit around and do nothing for a period. What's more, if the game could not sell because it was incomplete, the workspace would lose everything, and all of its resources would have gone to waste.
The sale of games was considered a one-off sale for most game developers.
If the game was popular among customers, the workspace would only have to avoid messing up and continue to update content to make more and more money.
However, if the game was not popular, customers would not purchase the game no matter what improvements and edits followed subsequently.
It was rare for games to build a good reputation from constant improvement and editing alone.
After all, no one would be able to tell whether the game failed merely because it was incomplete or problematic at its core.
Continuing to invest resources in a failed project was far too risky, and few game developers would dare to make such a wager.
That was what people meant when they said that a penny stumped heroes.
Thus, on a certain level, the amount of money that Qiu Hong would provide today would determine the fate of the Survival Guide for Working Adults and Cherry Workspace.
As Qiu Hong played the game, he pondered very seriously.
He had been working hard on developing games with paywalls earlier, but he still had the ability to appreciate standalone games.
To him, this game had a chance of succeeding, but the chances were not high.
That was because a game mechanism like that was never before seen.
The game itself was an educational game, but it was different from other educational games in the market. Mini-games had also been thrown into the mix to make it more interesting.
What moved Qiu Hong even more was that the game's description of' 'societal slaves' was extremely apt. On one hand, the gamer would feel like it was a joke; yet, at the same time, they would feel a sense of bitterness.
Obviously, Jiang Fan had injected his own experience while working into the game as well. Otherwise, Qiu Hong would not have found it so easy to empathize with the depiction of societal slaves in the game.
The project completely fulfilled Boss Pei's requirements!
To say that the game was unreliable... it was quite interesting and novel. Moreover, while it was largely incomplete, the general framework was already in place. The developer, Jiang Fan, had once succeeded in creating standalone games as well.
Yet, to say that it was reliable... Jiang Fan was a lawyer who had moved into developing games. His three other colleagues had illegitimate backgrounds in planning and strategizing as well. Leaving the innovation of the game to them was extremely risky, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to appeal to current gamers' tastes.
What's more, the project was short of funds. One could say that they were nearly at the end of the road.
Weren't all the conditions for the 'Destitution Plan' satisfied?
At that thought, Qiu Hong decided not to carry on playing. He immediately said, "Not bad! This project fits the bill for the Destitution Plan. We have decided to invest!
"How much more funds do you think you would need to complete this project and maintain its quality?"
Jiang Fan was stunned. At that moment, he had no idea how to react.
You've decided to invest just like that?
That's too rash, isn't it?
Not even thirty minutes have passed since we began chatting!
When other investors considered investing, they always beat about the bush and refused to broach the main subject for a long time. When it was time to negotiate the contract, there would also be many additional clauses and a lot of bargaining, which often tired Jiang Fan out.
Yet, Boss Qiu had only exchanged a couple of pleasantries and experienced the game for ten minutes before deciding to invest. During those ten minutes, many lags and bugs occurred in the game as well.
Jiang Fan could not help but feel emotional. After serious consideration, he said, "Boss Qiu, based on the current progress, I think we will need about four hundred thousand yuan more!"
Qiu Hong nodded. "Alright. We will invest five hundred thousand yuan. Make sure that the game is produced perfectly!
"However, I have two requests.
"First, the game must be buy-to-play, and there must not be any in-game purchases available.
"Second, once the game is put up for sale, you hit the minimum quantity to recover your capital, and start generating profits; we will split the profits according to our investment. Based on the proportion of our investment... we'll take thirty percent."
Jiang Fan was dumbfounded. "That's it?"
Qiu Hong nodded. "That's it. What else could there be?"
Confused, Jiang Fan asked, "What if the game fails? What if we can't even recover the initial six hundred thousand yuan?"
Qiu Hong answered, "We will only accept split profits after you recover the initial six hundred thousand yuan. If you don't generate profits, we will not get a single cent."
Jiang Fan was speechless.
That sounded too good. It was as good as giving him money.
Other investment companies that Jiang Fan had met with in the past wanted more than just shared profits. Many wanted shares in Cherry Workspace, and others were even bold enough to ask Jiang Fan to be jointly and severally liable.
Compared to those companies, Boss Qiu seemed like a charitable philanthropist!
Cherry Workspace would not stand to lose out at all if they took the five hundred thousand yuan, would it?
If the game failed to recover its capital, Boss Qiu would not ask the workspace for a single cent. That would be as good as giving the workspace five hundred thousand yuan for nothing. If the game generated profits, Boss Qiu would only get thirty percent of the profits. That meant Cherry Workspace would earn much more.
The conditions were so good that Jiang Fan found it difficult to believe.
Qiu Hong grinned. "All in all, you can take some time to consider the terms and raise any questions."
Jiang Fan quickly nodded. "Of course, there are no questions! But Boss Qiu... your terms are so good that I'm finding it hard to believe this is true...
"Are you sure you're not doing charity?"
Qiu Hong smiled. "Those are not my terms, but my boss's.
"He had set all of those prerequisites in advance. He also told us what kind of company to invest in, how much profits to take, and so on.
"I'm just following his orders.
"Strictly speaking, he's the initiator of the Destitution Plan, and he's the one paying for it as well.
"Your workspace just so happened to fit his criteria perfectly. If you want to thank someone, thank my boss."
For some reason, after hearing Qiu Hong's words, Jiang Fan's heart grew warm, and he felt like a spring breeze had just lightened his mood.
He felt like he had been walking in snow for a long time... when he was suddenly given a down jacket.
Developing independent games could be extremely lonely. With limited manpower, the workspace had to fix the endless number of bugs that kept appearing in the game, and they seemed perpetually far away from the finish line. They found it extremely difficult to get help from people in the same industry, games channels, or investors alike.
Once they started working on independent games, they could not turn back.
Most workspaces that developed independent games quietly disbanded without anyone knowing. It was rare for companies to succeed, generate profits, and achieve their goals.
Yet, now, the Destitution Plan made Jiang Fan feel like he was not alone.
Someone was willing to lend him a helping hand and help him quietly!
Deeply moved, Jiang Fan asked, "Boss Qiu, can I please ask who your boss is?"
Qiu Hong smiled. "I'm sorry, I cannot tell you that. I must keep it a secret. However, my boss is very famous in the game industry. You have probably heard of him before."
Once again, Jiang Fan was stunned.
He was doing a good deed without leaving a name? Did such an ideal person really exist?
The 'Destitution Plan' was termed an investment project, but it was probably offering more help than anything else. More likely than not, it would end up incurring losses.
If its purpose was not profits, it was probably a reputation.
Yet, this big boss was doing it neither for profits nor for reputation. Was he really intent on doing good deeds? Did he really just want to assist in the development of domestically-produced independent games?
How noble and generous must he be?!
There were many big bosses in the local game industry, and so Jiang Fan could not figure out who this one was. Still, he only had respect for him.
Qiu Hong stood up. "If you have no other questions, I'll go back and prepare the contract. Once it's signed, we'll transfer the funds at once."
Everyone at Cherry Workspace stood up. "Alright, Boss Qiu. We'll do a good job of the Survival Guide for Working Adults!"
Qiu Hong smiled and nodded... and then left Cherry Workspace.
For some reason, he had an amazing feeling.
What he was doing now seemed much more meaningful than everything that he had been doing for the past few years combined.
Seeing those young people in Cherry Workspace reminded Qiu Hong of himself many years ago.
He had also been filled with drive and dreams.
Yet, those young people were much luckier than he had been.
If he had had the help of something like the Destitution Plan back then, would he have persisted in the field of standalone games?
Feeling emotional, Qiu Hong headed towards the next game workspace that he had to inspect.
Chapter 698: The Regulation of an Esports Environment
October 24th, Monday...
The Manage Loss Trainees meeting was held as scheduled last Saturday.
However, there was nothing worth talking about.
That was because the cycle had just started, and the various departments were just getting started on their projects. What's more, everyone was sticking quite closely to Boss Pei's instructions, and so they could not find any signs of generating profits.
Even if there were or if various departments worked together for a combined event, Pei Qian would only see them in the last month of the cycle.
Thus, Pei Qian could relax considerably for now.
Of course, even then, the Manage Loss Trainees meeting proceeded as usual. He could not afford to be careless.
Today was Monday, and so Pei Qian prepared to head to DGE Club for a visit.
Before this, Old Ma had done averagely in distributing cash through Weibo. However, the livestream had achieved considerable success. The old members of the DGE Club directed huge amounts of traffic to him, thus forming a virtuous cycle. Until now, Old Ma was still getting tens of thousands of new followers on his Weibo every day. It was very ridiculous.
Fortunately, online trends passed as quickly as they came. Old Ma's popularity from appearing on the livestreams of DGE's old members was slowly dissipating.
As for Old Ma's current followers... most of them were only showing up for the money. For now, Pei Qian could not sense any threat.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to cut off Ma Yang and the DGE Club's link for once and for all!
Once Old Ma noticed that he was gaining new followers at a slower rate, he might make an appearance as 'Coach Ma' on the livestreams of the DGE Club's older members once again. Then, his number of followers might balloon once again. It was a significant hidden threat.
Pei Qian had to think of a way to dissipate the popularity that Old Ma was not meant to gain in the first place.
Thus, he headed towards the DGE Club to take extreme measures against Old Ma.
...
In the DGE Club, the ten new members finished their breakfast and prepared to commence their independent training.
The DGE Club retained that part of the training schedule because it had proven effective. Although it was boring, everyone took it very seriously.
When he saw Boss Pei appear, Zhang Yuan quickly stood up. "Boss Pei!"
Boss Pei nodded and walked into the conference room, with Zhang Yuan following closely behind him. Neither of them wanted to interrupt the members' training.
"Boss Pei, do you have any instructions for me this time?" Zhang Yuan sounded slightly excited.
More than a month had already passed since the international invitational tournament ended. All the clubs had become relatively confused by now.
All of them had been burning money to poach people for the sake of the competition earlier. They had also been negotiating partnerships with Xing Le Livestream Platform, and the entire industry seemed to be buzzing.
The international invitational tournament had indeed put most of the teams in the spotlight. However, once the tournament ended, their popularity dissipated as well.
The next international invitational tournament would probably be a matter for the following year.
Thus, for now, members and clubs alike would have too little of a drive.
Zhang Yuan was no longer only in charge of DGE Club's daily training schedule. He was also the communication line between various clubs and Tengda and had been put in charge of scheduling mock competitions for all teams.
It was obvious that no one was as keen. They played in a slipshod manner at mock competitions, and star players invested more energy in their live-streams instead.
The various clubs turned a blind eye to it and did not bother too much.
Zhang Yuan thought that it was only natural for everyone to relax after the competition. However, slacking off and wasting time like that was quite inappropriate.
Still, he did not have any solution to the problem.
Could Boss Pei be coming today... to fix this problem on his behalf?
Pei Qian sipped his tea and said, "I've already spoken to Boss Ma. He's not allowed to continue live-streaming with DGE's members anymore. He shouldn't be interrupting their daily training."
Zhang Yuan was stunned. "Huh?
"Er... Boss Pei, that isn't a big deal. The clubs don't have any particularly urgent training plans, and the team members have to live-stream either way. Inviting Boss Ma along would balance out the skills..."
Pei Qian: "?"
Zhang Yuan, whose side are you on?!
Pei Qian's expression became stern. "How can you allow that? Our club is formal, and the members are as important as we are. Their task is to do well in competitions and not to play games with their boss.
"That's why we have to be strict with ourselves and get our roles right. We can be managers, but we cannot be owners. There's a crucial difference between the two, understand?"
Zhang Yuan instinctively straightened his back.
Was Boss Pei... just going by the books?
Was he this critical even with Boss Ma, his trusted right-hand man and best friend?
Strictly speaking, Boss Ma was acting inappropriately and using work resources to boost his personal fame by seeking to play games with DGE's members.
However, on further thought, it was not that serious. Even the members didn't think much of it.
Yet, Boss Pei had told Boss Ma not to come and interrupt everyone's daily training. Personal relationships were one matter, but work was another.
He had to separate the two very clearly!
Zhang Yuan suddenly understood that Boss Pei was setting the standard and an example for the DGE Club and the entire professional circle of GOG!
The local esports industry had just taken off, and many clubs were filled with rich second-generation heirs. In terms of management, they did poorly. A few members played games with their bosses and forged good relationships to hold tightly onto their positions. Obviously, this was not desirable for formal clubs.
By being an example and refusing to make an exception even for Boss Ma, Boss Pei was undoubtedly sending a clear signal to the rest of the industry.
Obviously, Boss Pei was determined to legitimize the industry and other clubs!
Zhang Yuan could not help but feel immense respect towards Boss Pei. "Alright, Boss Pei! I'll supervise the club's training closely and make sure that they become legitimate. I will not let them get distracted by irrelevant matters!"
Pei Qian was stunned and momentarily speechless.
I only said that the team's not allowed to play games with Old Ma and make him more popular than he already is.
I didn't say anything else!
How the h*ll did you arrive at that?!
Forget it, forget it. The outcome will be the same either way.
Pei Qian quietly sipped his tea.
He had only come today to deal with Old Ma's matter, and he had had no other plans.
However, since he was already here, he decided to check on the club's status anyway.
At that thought, Pei Qian casually asked, "How have the DGE Club and the other clubs been recently?"
Pei Qian only asked this casually because the DGE Club and the other clubs could possibly backstab him.
Zhang Yuan perked up at once.
There it was!
Boss Pei is indeed here to offer me some guidance!
Zhang Yuan knew that Boss Pei had a bigger plan for GOG and the entire esports industry. He had only allowed them some free time in the past month so that they could relax after the international invitational tournament.
Was there a new plan now?
Zhang Yuan quickly organized his thoughts and began reporting to Boss Pei.
"Boss Pei, the DGE Club is still following the daily training schedule set earlier.
"The ten new members that we accepted are quite good. Although they haven't fully adapted to the rhythm of the competitions, they're getting much better under Huang Wang, Jiang Huan, and the others' guidance.
"However, it's only been a while. The DGE Club is one of the poorest in skill among the local clubs.
"As for the other clubs... they've already fully accepted DGE Club's working hours and training methodology. Ever since they added physical training, their members' physical health had shown marked improvements.
"Still... the clubs' managing teams vary greatly. We can only guarantee that the DGE Club's old members don't get bullied, but we can't interfere in other clubs' internal affairs.
"Of course, the clubs have been showing me enough respect to avoid bullying our old members.
"The champions and core players would be given much more attention after the international invitational tournament. Now, all the clubs have resumed their mock competitions. In their spare time, the team members are allowed to host their own livestreams.
"However... since there are no competitions in the near future, the mock competitions have not been very effective. Everyone has been slacking off a little bit.
"Livestream platforms are developing at a rapid pace and offering higher prices to celebrity players who have not been signed.
"At the same time, livestream platforms and clubs have been working together more and more. Thus, while clubs generally get along well with one another, competition for outstanding players has been getting more intense."
Pei Qian immediately became cautious.
Livestream platforms were offering higher prices?
Competition for outstanding players has been getting more intense?
That was not positive news!
Pei Qian knew very well that livestream platforms would only get increasingly popular, and the number of users would only increase. Once that happened, live streamers would see a surge in their own income as well.
What's more, players in esports clubs were obviously of a higher tier than ordinary gamers.
Apart from live streamers with an obvious style of playing and a knack for putting on a good show, the majority still favored those with good skills.
That was because skills were the most important in esports. The lousy ones do not deserve any applause.
This meant that the clubs would be very valuable for business. There was room to generate profits through sponsorships and income from livestream platforms.
For now, the DGE Club was already standing at the peak of all the other clubs. That was the most ridiculous thing.
Based on that trajectory, would livestream platforms offer DGE's members more expensive contracts? Would the club end up earning more money?
Would more sponsors come knocking?
When other clubs bought players from DGE, would they offer a higher price?
What if the transfer of membership fees went into the millions or tens of millions when the time came? What would Pei Qian do?
The DGE Club was already looking like paradise for many young internet addicts. Each time another club bought one member from DGE, everyone would fight one another to get accepted into the club. Each time the club sold a member, they would earn a significant sum of money. There would be no end to the madness.
What's more, as the club became more popular, the environment would only get messier. Pumping in more funds in would create a bigger bubble, and the bigger bubble would only increase the DGE Club's chances of generating profits.
For most clubs, popularity was a good thing. However, for Pei Qian, it was worth avoiding as much as possible.
Although it did not look that dangerous in the short-term, it was extremely risky in the long-term.
Pei Qian could not care less how much the other clubs were earning as long as DGE earned as little as possible.
Yet... how could he minimize DGE Club's income?
He could not go overboard and reject all forms of income. He had to find reasons for every action.
Otherwise, he could go down another path. He could think of more ways to spend money, which would be equivalent to earning less over all.
Pei Qian fell into deep thought.
Zhang Yuan rejoiced inside. He was here—the thinking Boss Pei!
He did not dare to interrupt but quietly waited for the latter to finish thinking.
After some consideration, Pei Qian said, "Livestream platforms are offering higher prices, and competition between the clubs for outstanding members has been getting more intense. On a certain level, those are good signs... because they show that GOG's esports circle is getting more and more attention.
"However, we have to be cautious of the risks that might come with it.
"Would players become obsessed with earning money if livestream platforms offer more remuneration than clubs do? Would they lose interest in taking part in competitions?
"Would there be unfair competition and tampering of contracts if competition between various clubs for outstanding members gets too intense?
"We have to guard against those things. If we fail that, all of GOG's esports environment would be affected.
"I think that we should set up another department to simultaneously regulate all of GOG's esports environment!"
Chapter 699: Esports Division
Zhang Yuan's eyes lit up at once. "Boss Pei, please give me more details!"
Pei Qian sipped his tea and organized his thoughts.
"First of all, we have to provide a standard form contract for all clubs and esports athletes. At the same time, we should strictly prohibit dual contracts.
"A standard form contract can be a short-term or a long-term one, but the parties would only be allowed to edit basic content like the duration of the contract, the damages for breach of contract, the transfer fees, and remuneration. They would not be allowed to impose strange restrictions or conditions upon the members.
"Unclear terms like 'members must cooperate unconditionally with the club for business operations' must be specially prohibited, and we will have to make it clear.
"The clubs may conduct business but only under our supervision. They cannot operate without boundaries or attempt to bully the esports athletes.
"On top of that, during the transfer season each year, clubs and free candidates may be allowed to interact and make promises without any restrictions. However, they would be prohibited from entering contracts in private. Before signing any contracts, we will arrange for the various clubs to bid for free players through a unified bidding system.
"During bidding, clubs would be allowed to express their intentions and clarify their preferred duration of the contract, damages for breach of contract, remuneration, additional welfare benefits, and so on. For example, they could stipulate the amount of time that the members would be on stage for.
"Upon understanding the clubs' intentions during bidding, we will allow athletes to decide which team they want to join. Both parties can only formalize and sign a contract if they choose each other. The clubs must not back out on any of the promises made during the bidding period. I will personally supervise this.
"Lastly, when a conflict arises, both parties must allow us to mediate between them. We will be mediators and ensure that both clubs and athletes compromise. A solution that satisfies all three parties would be agreed upon.
"The DGE Club will attract freelance players on the basis of these principles. If the members leave during the contractual period, they would only have to pay the lowest transfer fee or damages based on current standards."
Zhang Yuan was stunned. "Boss Pei, isn't that a bit idealistic? It doesn't sound very practical, does it?
"What if the clubs don't accept our standard form contract? What if they create dual contracts in private?
"What if the clubs go back on their word after expressing their intentions?
"The contracts signed between players and clubs would be legally binding. Once conflicts arise, the clubs would have full power to bypass us and go to the courts to settle their disputes. We won't be able to do anything if that happens."
Pei Qian smiled. "That's easy to handle.
"We can enter an agreement with clubs from the beginning, stipulating that if they break any of our regulations, they would have to pay a fine and be suspended from joining competitions.
"If the clubs do not accept our supervisory powers, they would not be eligible to join the GOG league. They can withdraw if they want, but we would act as intermediaries to buy their GOG teams and sell them to other clubs that are interested in entering the GOG league."
In other words, clubs would be free not to accept DGE's supervisory role, but DGE would then leave them out of the league altogether.
Clubs would be free to participate in other esports events, but their GOG teams would be bought over and sold to other clubs. They would be prevented from suffering any material loss, but they could forget about entering the inner circle unless they submitted to the supervision of DGE.
As for why Pei Qian was putting such rules in place, there were three main factors.
First, insisting on standard form contracts and forbidding dual contracts or additional terms was aimed to prevent the clubs from resorting to small tricks.
Many clubs offered sky-high prices, not because they thought the athletes were worth sky-high prices, but because many traps had been set.
For example, one of the most common phenomena was clubs and livestream platforms splitting the payment with athletes. In actual fact, the athletes would be forced to stick to certain requirements for their livestreams. That was akin to clubs and livestream platforms overdrawing on the athletes' future commercial value.
It may seem like the athletes are earning profits, but it would not be true.
Still, the transfer fee would be raised, and the DGE Club would still earn much more money selling each athlete than it had before. That would be too unbearable.
Thus, if everyone resorted to fewer tricks and acted more sincerely, the high transfer fee would only sound pleasing to the ears. In reality, it would achieve no effect.
In addition, the DGE Club would only agree on the minimum transfer fee payable, which would minimize any income generated by DGE.
Second, establishing a regulatory authority like that required a lot of manpower and daily expenses. At the same time, the plethora of rules and regulations would serve to dissuade certain clubs from taking part for sure.
It would be easy for any club that refused to accept the rules and regulations to withdraw. Pei Qian would pay for their GOG teams to prevent them from suffering losses. All of their investments would be covered by him.
However, it would not be as easy for them to re-join the league.
Pei Qian could not ask for anything more than to be able to spend a huge sum of money on buying those GOG teams over.
Last, Pei Qian did indeed have intentions to regulate the industry and protect the athletes' rights.
Without proper supervision from the higher authorities, athletes would never have equal bargaining rights as the clubs. That was because they would not have the same amount of say.
This could be likened to ordinary workers and companies. Most of the time, they would only be able to vote using their bodies. They could choose to work in what seemed to be the best company, but they would not have any actual bargaining power against the company as well.
Only rare, talented, outstanding, and irreplaceable people would have such power.
Since both parties have unequal bargaining power, the balance would inevitably tilt towards the one with a bigger say—unless the authorities would do something to maintain neutrality.
Think about a fight between a boxing king and an ordinary person. Assuming that neither party was at fault, the absence of a neutral third party regulating the fight would be akin to sending the ordinary person to his death.
Thus, Pei Qian had to step in as the regulatory authority and protect athletes' rights objectively. Still, that did not mean that he could exploit the clubs. Instead, it only meant that he had to remind the clubs not to be insatiable and squeeze athletes dry in the process.
Transfer fees and damages that belonged to clubs should be fully paid. Clubs should also be awarded the necessary commercial contracts, popularity, and influence. The only catch was that they could not take advantage of loopholes and do whatever they pleased.
Of course, Pei Qian could recognize the spirit of contracts. However, there would be two preconditions: First, the contracts had to be fair. They could not be slave contracts containing unfair terms, and they could not be a means of exploitation of the other party. Second, recognizing the spirit of the contract did not mean that contracts could not be violated. Instead, it meant that the consequences of breaching the contracts had to be followed through with.
In short, Pei Qian's rules and regulations would earn DGE less in transfer fees and dissuade clubs from investing resources and capital. If clubs withdrew, Pei Qian would even be able to spend a sum of money buying their GOG teams over. Didn't that sound perfect?
What's more, he would have to spend money on the daily operations of the regulatory authority as well. It did not sound like a bad thing to hire more people and support them. That would allow Pei Qian to distribute more salary after all.
Zhang Yuan had already recorded everything that Boss Pei had just said on two pieces of paper.
After scanning the rules and regulations once more, he still felt uncertain.
Was it feasible?
None of the major leagues in the world had done something like that before.
The reason was simple. They either did not dare to or were unwilling to fall out with major clubs.
Major clubs brought in fans, attention, and funds for the league. To be fair, certain competitions were popular because of the joint efforts of organizers, sponsors, clubs, professional players, and audience. The lack of any one of those stakeholders could cause everything to go awry.
That was why, many times, even though organizers had the means to; they would not dare to offend major clubs. Even if certain clubs exploited their players and as long as they would not ignite too much public anger or resentment, the organizers would likely punish both parties equally without considering guilt.
After all, in most cases, players could be replaced and sacrificed. On the other hand, the loss caused by the departure of a major club would be difficult to make up for.
On the other hand, the rules and regulations that Boss Pei was setting were skewed against the clubs. Certain clubs would be unhappy for sure.
The result of that would be to break up and part ways because Boss Pei was not one to compromise or be threatened.
Zhang Yuan could vaguely guess from Boss Pei's attitude that he really did not care for the resources that the major clubs had!
After a moment of silence, Zhang Yuan said, "Boss Pei, on an emotional level, I support your suggestion to supervise the league. After all, nothing can be accomplished without proper rules. Good competition can only take place after the league has been legitimized and regulated.
"However, imposing such strict and controlling measures would drive many clubs away. Weighing the pros and cons... would it really be worth it?
"If the clubs are driven away, the entire league's funds, popularity, and attention could be affected. If half the veteran clubs leave, we could lose far more than we gain. What would we do then?"
Pei Qian sniggered. "Of course, it's worth it."
Zhang Yuan remained silent for a moment and then nodded. "Alright."
Since Boss Pei sounded so sure, he must have had a goal for the longer term. Thus, Zhang Yuan decided to stop questioning him.
"Boss Pei, what would we call the new regulatory authority?" Zhang Yuan asked.
After some thought, Pei Qian said, "Let's call it the Esports Division. We can take this chance to set up GOG's Professional League, GPL, as well.
"The few clubs that we have now can have priority to enter for now, but they must be willing to accept our rules and regulations and submit to our supervision.
"As for the scheduling for the clubs... we can think about that once the new division has been set up."
Zhang Yuan nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei."
After sending Boss Pei off, Zhang Yuan returned to the conference room and read his notes from beginning to end once again. He wanted to guess Boss Pei's intentions.
For now, what confused Zhang Yuan the most was Boss Pei's reply: 'Of course, it's worth it.'
The first priority for the esports industry was to expand as much as possible.
Although GOG's international invitational tournament had garnered a lot of attention, anyone with discerning eyes would be able to tell that there was still much room for improvement.
There was much more to be done in the future.
Boss Pei had already said that he wanted to set up GOG's Professional League, GPL. Obviously, he had intentions to increase the scale of that esports event.
However, the problem was that the strict rules and regulations he was going to impose on clubs would directly contradict that goal to a certain extent.
How exactly was Boss Pei calculating his moves?
Zhang Yuan began to analyze each one of Boss Pei's rules carefully.