Chapter 112 Woe to IOI

November 27th, Sunday.

Pei Qian didn't set an alarm this morning. He originally wanted to sleep happily until noon, but he woke up at seven in the morning, completely unable to fall back asleep.

He felt inexplicably anxious and uneasy.

"Which department is causing trouble for me again..."

Pei Qian was speechless. After tossing and turning, unable to fall back asleep, he grabbed his phone from the bedside and started browsing aimlessly.

Then, he habitually clicked into the IOI forum.

Recently, Pei Qian had been paying close attention to IOI, hoping that the game would improve quickly so that he could justifiably burn money on GOG.

The online criticism of IOI and Finger Company a few days ago had been worrying Pei Qian.

After two days, Long Yu Group should have taken some action, right? The players' anger should have subsided, right?

He hoped IOI was okay.

However, as soon as Pei Qian entered the IOI forum, he saw a post that made his heart skip a beat.

《Forwarding Foreign Comments: See How Finger Company’s Ultimate Blunder Offends Everyone!》

"I thought the old players on the Chinese server were furious about the changes to IOI, but I didn't expect the foreign players to be even angrier! Because IOI is making the Chinese server a low-price region, with foreign server prices being two or even three times higher!"

"The old players on the Chinese server only lost out on previous purchases and can enjoy discounts in the future, but foreign players can only buy at full price all the time. So real…"

"Is the low-price region really that bad? Many game platforms implement low-price region strategies, right? Besides, the GOG Chinese server skins seem to be much cheaper than those abroad, right? I haven't seen any foreign players revolt?"

"The situation with GOG is completely different. In terms of pricing, domestic and foreign prices are the same. Epic and legendary skins in China cost 18 and 45 yuan respectively, while abroad they cost $2.49 and $6.99, basically no difference."

"The reason why GOG is cheaper in China, with those almost-free skins, is because of the Creative Community! This is a perk we have exclusively. Any hero with player-provided ideas will have a super discount when the new skin is first released."

"So foreigners have no complaints?"

"Very few complaints, because not every foreign player knows about the Creative Community. Just looking at the original prices, all regions are the same. Besides, $2.49 and $6.99 are already low prices, what more could you want?"

"I think another reason is that GOG skins have been cheap from the start, everyone is used to it, and there isn't much room for price cuts. But IOI skins were very expensive at first, and many old players have already bought a lot of skins. Now suddenly halving the price, no one can accept it."

"That's true, it's like buying a house or a car. The price is halved shortly after buying it, and there's no price protection. Although it's a business decision, most people will be devastated..."

"Aren't they going to release commemorative skins and commemorative avatars for old players?"

"At first, they were only for Chinese server players, but the old players on the foreign servers objected. So now Finger Company has changed its tune and said that all old players will get them, but that basically hasn't done much to appease people..."

Reading the comments below the post, Pei Qian became more and more anxious. He did a salty-fish flop and sat up in bed.

"Crap, IOI seems to be entering some kind of vicious cycle."

"Damn it, so envious..."

Pei Qian thought Finger Company could quickly quell the players' anger, but now it seemed it wouldn't be that easy!

Because the player base that IOI was targeting was clearly divided, and divided into three groups.

Chinese server new players, Chinese server old players, and international server players. IOI couldn't bear to give up any of these groups, wanting to please them all, but the interests of these three groups were too different.

Finger Company pleasing any one group would trigger a strong backlash from the other two.

This had fallen into a "luxury car dilemma." When a luxury car brand has problems, its brand value drops, and sales decline. To stop the bleeding, many luxury car brands can only choose to lower prices.

But once the price is lowered, loyal old car owners are unhappy, and it gives the impression that "this car doesn't hold its value," further damaging the brand value, and fewer people buy the car.

Raising the price won't work, lowering the price won't work, everything is wrong.

Pei Qian was a little panicked.

Brothers, I didn't do anything.

You can't just kill yourselves and hand the market over to GOG, right?

I've already split Shang Yang Games in half and fought you with only one hand, and you're just crippling yourselves? You can't be this helpless, right?

No way, no way?

Pei Qian felt inexplicably irritable, brushing his teeth while continuing to browse the forum.

Finally, as the saying goes, "Heaven does not disappoint those who try," he successfully found a relatively optimistic piece of news.

"Inside scoop: IOI World Finals are happening! Rumor has it they're sparing no expense. The prize pool will exceed the GOG competition, and it will be held in Los Angeles. The presentation will be absolutely top-notch!"

"Sounds good. IOI's competitive aspect should be stronger than GOG's. If the competition is well-organized, it will definitely increase its popularity. And this whole mess will probably be successfully diverted."

Pei Qian had heard rumors about this news many times, and it seemed like it was finally happening.

It could only be said that the first IOI World Finals were extremely ill-fated.

The competition should have been held a long time ago, but at that time, the Dayak Group spent a lot of money to acquire Finger Company, and funds were not sufficient. GOG directly raised the prize pool to a new height, and the IOI finals could only be put on hold.

After all, holding it later and with a lower prize pool would sound bad.

Now that the Dayak Group and Finger Company had freed up their hands, they should have prepared the funds and venue, confidently believing that they could hold a better global invitational tournament than GOG, so they released the news to appease the players.

Pei Qian couldn't help but sigh that, by a twist of fate, the course of history seemed to have been greatly accelerated by him.

In his memory, the LOL S1 finals were held quite poorly. A year later, with the rapid development of LOL, S2 was moved to Los Angeles, generating a huge impact.

Although IOI and LOL were two extremely different games, and Finger Company and Riot Games were completely different, there were certain similarities in this matter.

Finger Company originally just wanted to hold S1 casually and test the waters.

As a result, they were forced to increase the amount of investment to the level of two years later.

"Speaking of esports...should I go visit the various clubs?"

"Ever since the auction for the GPL slots, I haven't paid much attention to these clubs. I don't know how their teams are doing."

Pei Qian finished washing up and prepared to go out for breakfast, then head to Ming Yun Villa to take a look.

It was said that the new clubs joining the GPL had basically chosen Ming Yun Villa's villas as their training bases, but he didn't know the specific situation.

...

After breakfast, Pei Qian took a car to Ming Yun Villa.

As they approached Ming Yun Villa, Pei Qian noticed that the driver, Xiao Sun, deliberately made a turn, not following the previous route, but changing to a different one.

"President Pei, today is Sunday, that road might be very congested, so I'm taking a different route. It's a bit longer, but it should save some time."

Pei Qian didn't mind and nodded, "Okay."

But after Xiao Sun turned onto the side road, Pei Qian suddenly felt something was wrong.

He had always taken that road to Ming Yun Villa before, and it didn't seem that congested, right?

Ming Yun Villa was located in the southeast of Jingzhou City, backed by mountains and near the water, with beautiful scenery. But in the beginning, because the supporting facilities were poor, the occupancy rate was low, and no one cared about it.

Later, Moyu Internet Cafe opened a branch here, and then Wu Ming Restaurant also opened here. With Wu Ming Restaurant's overnight success, it gradually became a gathering place for many wealthy businessmen and celebrities in Jingzhou, and the surrounding blocks were also driven to become a small commercial center and food street.

But even so, Pei Qian didn't often encounter traffic jams when he came before.

After all, Wu Ming Restaurant could only accommodate so few guests, even if the restaurant was full every day, how many cars could there be?

Was it necessary to take a detour?

"Maybe it's because...it's Sunday? Everyone just happened to go out at the same time? Yes, that must be it."

"Huh?"

Pei Qian was comforting himself when he suddenly realized that the situation outside the car window seemed a little off.

Because he saw an internet cafe, and the business was very booming. He didn't seem to have any impression of it before.

"Oh? Who's so smart? Opening an internet cafe to divert traffic from Moyu Internet Cafe?"

Pei Qian was quite surprised to see that the internet cafe was doing well, but then he took a closer look and realized that it was Moyu Internet Cafe.

And this wasn't the original Moyu Internet Cafe Ming Yun Villa branch, but was located just a few hundred meters away from the original Moyu Internet Cafe.

He didn't usually take this road, so Pei Qian had no impression of it.

Pei Qian was shocked and asked the driver, Xiao Sun, "How come there's a Moyu Internet Cafe here?"

Xiao Sun said, "Ah, President Pei, it just opened recently. And a Managed Fitness also opened a branch. Didn't you know?"

Pei Qian: "?"

Xiao Sun continued, "Because major clubs have moved in recently, and teams have been formed. People from all over the country are coming to try out. CEO Xiao and CEO Guo felt that one internet cafe and one fitness center wouldn't be enough, so they prepared to open branches here in advance."

"Sure enough, they were immediately packed when they opened! It is said that all the members of the various clubs have to go to Managed Fitness to exercise, and there are many hidden masters in these two internet cafes. You can see many experts just by organizing an internet cafe competition."

"CEO Xiao and CEO Guo discussed it and felt that they could open one or two more in a while, depending on the situation. They should still be able to earn money."

"Of course, making money is not the main purpose. The main purpose is to fulfill their duties and cooperate with the esports environment here."

Pei Qian: "..."

Damn it!

Although the two popular branches wouldn't make Pei Qian much money, it wasn't a good sign.

Was this remote villa area that no one cared about really going to be transformed into a new business district and esports capital of Jingzhou?

Don't mess with me!

Pei Qian instantly felt a little uninterested and leaned back in his seat, feeling somewhat hopeless.

Soon, they arrived at Ming Yun Villa. Xiao Li stopped the car in front of the DGE club.

Pei Qian opened the door and got out of the car, just in time to see Zhang Yuan and Manager Cui, the project marketing manager of Ming Yun Villa, walking out of the club, talking and laughing.

"President Pei?" Zhang Yuan didn't know that President Pei was coming, so he was slightly surprised.

"President Pei!!" Manager Cui was overjoyed and instantly beamed.

He went straight ahead, grabbed Pei Qian's hand, even more affectionately than meeting his closest relative.

Pei Qian was stunned, and for a moment, he didn't realize why Manager Cui was so happy.

Manager Cui said happily, "President Pei, you've come at the right time. I brought some small gifts to visit President Zhang, and I originally wanted to visit you, but President Zhang said you were too busy, so I was embarrassed to go to Tengda headquarters to find you. I didn't expect to run into you here. What a coincidence!"

Pei Qian looked at Zhang Yuan somewhat blankly, "What's going on?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and said lightly, "Oh, it's nothing big, President Pei."

"Recently, all the GOG clubs have been moving to Jingzhou, and the villas here are very suitable as club training bases. And all the clubs are together, so it's convenient to arrange training matches or daily exchanges."

"Then these properties have all appreciated, including the supporting shops and parking spaces, so Manager Cui is of course happy."

Zhang Yuan turned to look at Manager Cui, "But Manager Cui, you don't have to take it to heart. These are just small things for President Pei, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."

Manager Cui hurriedly said, "Hey, you can't say that. It's true that it's a small matter for President Pei, but it's a huge matter for our Ming Yun Villa!"

"President Pei, if you need any help from us in the future, just say the word, and we will definitely arrange it for you properly!"

Manager Cui's face was full of a happy smile, and he didn't know how much bonus he had received from the boss.

Pei Qian's expression was a little stiff, and he barely squeezed out a smile, "You're too kind..."

Manager Cui said with a smile, "Okay, then I won't disturb you. President Pei, President Zhang, you can chat slowly. I'll leave first."

"If you have anything, feel free to find me! Don't be polite!"

Manager Cui left with profuse thanks.

Zhang Yuan smiled, "This Manager Cui is a bit too polite. It's just a small matter."

"But when you think about it, President Pei, just one of your decisions has brought so much benefit to their Ming Yun Villa. If I were Manager Cui, I'd be laughing in my dreams."

"Uh...President Pei?" Zhang Yuan noticed that President Pei seemed a little absent-minded.

Pei Qian shook his head, "It's nothing."

He said it was nothing, but his heart was actually bleeding.

The villas in Ming Yun Villa had increased in price again?

Didn't that mean his fixed assets had increased again?

Of course, the happiest person should be CEO Li, after all, Pei Qian only had one house in Ming Yun Villa, while CEO Li had several.

But for Pei Qian, it was a small but not insignificant disaster.

However, Pei Qian had seen all kinds of storms after all, and he quickly overcame this little setback, saying, "I'm here today for nothing special, just to see the situation of the various clubs."

Zhang Yuan nodded immediately, "Okay, then I'll take you around."

Although a few clubs had chosen training bases in other parts of Jingzhou, most of the clubs had chosen to be near Ming Yun Villa.

Five or six young people were wandering around on the side of the road. When they saw Pei Qian, their eyes lit up instantly and they approached him.

"Oh, isn't this President Pei's actor? Hello, hello, can we take a photo together?"

"Sure." This wasn't the first time Pei Qian had encountered this situation. He often encountered people asking for photos when he was drinking coffee at Moyu Internet Cafe, so he showed a very signature fake smile and took a picture with this group of people.

After the photo was taken, these young people thanked him profusely and left.

Zhang Yuan pretended to be an irrelevant passerby throughout the whole process. After watching President Pei finish taking photos with these enthusiastic young people, he continued to lead President Pei towards the club.

Pei Qian felt a little strange, "What are these people here for? Why does it seem like they're sightseeing?"

Zhang Yuan smiled, "President Pei, they are sightseeing. Now all the esports clubs are clustered here, and many players who like to play GOG will come to take a look. Although they can't enter the club, they might meet team members who come out to eat or exercise."

"So it's pretty good to eat something here, play games at the internet cafe, and take a look at the bases of the various clubs."

Pei Qian frowned, "Are Manager Cui and the others happy about that?"

Zhang Yuan said, "Why wouldn't they be happy? These buildings in Wu Ming Restaurant were originally designed for both commercial and residential use, and there are shops there. Now that the traffic has increased, Manager Cui is too happy to handle it!"

"As for the training in the club, there's no need to worry. There are more people here on weekends. Besides, the clubs are all under closed management, so the team members won't be affected."

Pei Qian was silent for a moment, "Okay then."

For some reason, Pei Qian always had a feeling that everyone was happy and got what they wanted, except that he was bearing it all.

"President Pei, this building and that building are SHG, Shen Hua's club."

Zhang Yuan pointed to the villa in front of him, then pointed to the next one.

Pei Qian was stunned, "Which building specifically?"

Zhang Yuan said, "Both of them. CEO Lin looked at them and thought they were both good. He also said that the club should have more reserve players. A GPL team has ten players, and a GDL team also has ten players. Wouldn't it take two villas to start with twenty players?"

Pei Qian, "Don't you think it's a waste?"

Zhang Yuan smiled, "I also asked CEO Lin this question. CEO Lin said it's not expensive. Shen Hua Football Club's field and building were all built by themselves, and the star players are living in townhouses as dormitories. Now buying two villas, how much does that cost?"

"CEO Lin was still worried that living in this kind of villa wouldn't be imposing enough. After all, they have to shoot some club promotional videos during the competition, right? If the training base in the promotional video isn't impressive enough, it would be a loss to Shen Hua's corporate image."

"What if the training base is too poor and people think Shen Hua is going bankrupt? That won't do."

Pei Qian was silent for a moment, "Yes, what he said makes sense. I can't refute it for a moment."

Shen Hua's annual investment in football can easily be used for esports. Compared with other clubs, it's simply a dimensional strike, even with the feeling that they have so much money that they don't know how to spend it.

Buildings, buy two!

Players, buy twenty!

Emphasis on being unreasonable.

These clubs were under closed management, mainly because they didn't want the audience to be too enthusiastic and run into the club, affecting the players' training, so the doors were tightly closed.

Zhang Yuan made a call. After a moment, Lin Chang quickly came out of the villa to open the door.

"CEO Zhang! Oh, and President Pei, a rare guest!"

Zhang Yuan was stunned, "Oh, CEO Lin? Didn't you leave Jingzhou a few days ago? When did you come back?"

Lin Chang nodded with a smile, "Oh, I went to Shanghai with other club owners to buy a few players in bulk. I just got back yesterday."

Zhang Yuan was stunned, "Ah? Buying again?"

Lin Chang nodded, "That's right, buy a few more good seeds with potential. Anyway, if they can't play in the GPL, they can play in the GDL. If they can't play in the GDL, they can go to the youth training or watch the water cooler. If all else fails, they can sell them to other teams."

"Our team started late and has a weak foundation, so we have to work harder. In the long run, talent is the most important thing. It's always right to buy more talent."

"Besides, these are all newcomers with no market value. It doesn't cost much to buy them now."

Lin Chang said it lightly.