Chapter 16 Friday, December 16th

Magic City, Longyu Corporation.

Zhao Xuming was in his office, busy checking on the recent work of the IOI operations and cooperation department.

Although the IOI domestic qualifiers had come to an end, Zhao Xuming's work was far from over.

Longyu Corporation still needed to cooperate with Dayak Corporation and Finger Company to continue promoting the IOI World Championship and build momentum for the upcoming event.

Logically speaking, the World Championship was a global event, and the promotional videos for teams and players from various regions should be uniformly promoted and filmed by Finger Company to ensure the consistency of the promotional materials and maintain some connection in terms of content.

However, after discussing with Christian, Zhao Xuming decided that Longyu Corporation would first produce a promotional video for the domestic teams.

The purpose was clear: to further increase the popularity of the IOI World Championship in China.

Due to the current state of IOI's global operations, the Chinese server was essentially a low point, so Finger Company placed more importance on promotion within China.

Having Longyu Corporation produce a promotional video in advance could spark discussion and increase popularity domestically, while also demonstrating Finger Company's attention to Chinese players. It was a beneficial and harmless move from all perspectives.

Holding the World Finals was Finger Company's responsibility, while leveraging the World Finals to boost IOI's popularity in China through various means was Longyu Corporation's job.

"Knock, knock, knock." A knock came from outside the office, and the assistant entered.

"Mr. Zhao, the finished promotional video has been sent over. Would you like to take a look when you have time?"

Zhao Xuming nodded, took the mobile hard drive from the assistant, and started playing the "Chinese Server Special" promotional video for the IOI World Championship on his computer.

The entire video was not long, less than three minutes.

The Finger Company and Longyu Corporation logos appeared on the screen first, followed by cool and dynamic background music as the main content of the promotional video began to play.

This promotional video focused on the three teams that qualified for the World Championship, and almost all the members had screen time.

After all, there were only 15 people in total, and further reduction of screen time would leave nothing.

The filming location was in Magic City, with about 30% of the scenes being interior shots and 70% being exterior shots.

The interior shots were filmed in a small venue set up with an IOI theme, where the players stood or sat, each striking different poses and interacting with the IOI-themed elements in the venue.

The exterior shots were filmed at some of Magic City's famous attractions, highlighting the region's geographical and cultural features to the greatest extent possible.

The players' actions varied, and between scene transitions, there were voice-overs personally recorded by the players.

"Some people ask me, what is the meaning of the game?"

"I say, the meaning of the game lies in perseverance."

"The meaning of the game lies in giving your all to pursue victory."

"The meaning of the game lies in breaking through doubts and creating impossible miracles."

"We're coming to the top of the world!"

In the final scene, the fifteen members of the three teams advanced side by side, ascending the high platform inside the venue, with a supreme throne at the top.

Zhao Xuming watched the promotional video repeatedly, nodding slightly: "Well, not bad."

"To be able to complete it in such a short time, and with such a high degree of completion, is quite remarkable."

The assistant smiled and said, "That's for sure. This time, we spent a lot of money to hire the best filming team in China. You get what you pay for, and the effect is absolutely guaranteed."

The filming of this promotional video was time-sensitive and task-heavy.

From the end of the qualifiers to the completion of filming and editing, there was only a week. Fortunately, the filming team was strong enough, working overtime to scout locations, film, and edit in post-production, finally managing to complete it on schedule.

There was no other way, after all, promotional videos had to be completed as early as possible for early promotion. If the promotional video was only released after the World Championship had already started, it would be too late.

However, because the promotional video itself was short, many players only had two or three seconds of screen time, and two or three hours of filming was enough, so the effect was not bad.

Zhao Xuming said with emotion: "We have to thank Tenda Group. Their promotional video for the GOG Global Invitational gave us a lot of inspiration."

The assistant nodded: "This is the advantage of holding the competition later. We can learn from the experiences of our predecessors. Moreover, we used the same filming team as Tenda Group for the World Championship, so the quality will definitely not be inferior. We certainly won't lose face!"

Zhao Xuming asked, "Hasn't Tenda contacted this team to shoot a new promotional video? The GPL pre-season is almost over, and the spring season is about to start. Logically speaking, the promotional video should be coming out soon."

The assistant shook his head: "I also asked the person in charge of the filming team indirectly, and he said that he hasn't received any news yet."

"There are probably two possibilities. The first is that Tenda's spring season promotional video hasn't started filming yet, and they're not in a hurry, since there's still some time before the spring season starts. The second is that Tenda has found another filming team. However, it's unlikely that other filming teams are better than the one we've found."

Zhao Xuming nodded, feeling much more at ease: "That's good."

Since he started preparing for the IOI World Championship promotion, Zhao Xuming had unconsciously benchmarked all his work against Tenda.

Including this "Chinese Server Special" promotional video for the IOI World Championship, he also hired the same filming team as Tenda's GOG Global Invitational, used similar filming techniques, and even surpassed them in terms of clothing, makeup, interior decoration, and so on.

Zhao Xuming felt that he had one major advantage, which was the geographical location.

This filming was done in Magic City, and Magic City had far more landmarks and historical sites than Jingzhou. Once this video was filmed, it would have a strong local Chinese flavor, which would resonate even more with players.

Moreover, the promotional video for the GOG Global Invitational was well-made, so Zhao Xuming could learn from it.

Including the interior decoration, the interaction between players and game elements, the style of scene transitions, and so on, all provided great inspiration. Just by imitating, he could ensure that the quality of the promotional video would not be inferior to the GOG Global Invitational promotional video.

Zhao Xuming knew clearly that there was only one standard for filming the promotional video, and that was to win against Tenda.

As long as he could win against Tenda, then he would have given a satisfactory explanation to both Finger Company and IOI players.

This time, spending a huge sum of money to decorate the interior and hire the filming team had finally paid off.

Zhao Xuming was smug, and watched the promotional video repeatedly.

"It's a pity that the lines are a bit awkward," Zhao Xuming said.

The assistant nodded: "Yes, a little bit, but there's no way around it."

"The filming team doesn't know enough about IOI. In order to ensure that the theme of the promotional video doesn't deviate, we have to write the lines ourselves. The players aren't professional voice actors, and it's difficult to find suitable voices and tones among them. We can only pick the best of a bad bunch, so it's bound to be a little awkward."

"However, keeping the players' original voices has its advantages and disadvantages. For now, the effect is acceptable."

Zhao Xuming added: "Why are there so many shots of the FV Club members? And why do they look so handsome? The other two clubs feel much worse."

He instinctively felt a little unhappy.

Now the whole world knew that FV Club was an investment of CEO Pei, and was a complete competitor to GOG. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them undercover agents.

FV Club won the qualifier and obtained the number one seed spot for the World Championship, which was already embarrassing enough. But in the promotional video, they were still the absolute center, while the other two teams were completely just accompanying them. This made Zhao Xuming instinctively unhappy.

The assistant was also helpless: "Mr. Zhao, there's nothing we can do about it."

"The FV Club players have good images and good temperament. Compared with the internet-addicted youths of the other teams, they're like models. Of course, they look better in the shots than the other two teams. In order to ensure the best filming effect, the filming team had to give them more shots."

"Besides, FV is the number one seed in our region. If they don't stand in the center, others will definitely say that we're narrow-minded and suppressing FV Club. It's not good to say it."

Zhao Xuming nodded helplessly: "Alright."

He could only blame the other two teams for not being competitive enough. If they had been more competitive and grabbed the number one seed spot, wouldn't they have been in the center?

Zhao Xuming watched the promotional video two more times, and the more he looked at the members of FV Club, the more unpleasant they seemed.

But he had no better solution, so he reluctantly said: "Okay, then choose a suitable time to release this promotional video."

"After it's released, buy some hype on the whole internet, so that the publicity isn't too bad. At least, the popularity can't be lower than the promotional video for the GOG Global Invitational at that time."

The assistant nodded: "Don't worry, I'll take care of it!"

He was about to leave when Zhao Xuming stopped him again.

"Wait a minute. Also, what's the current situation with the World Championship preparations?" Zhao Xuming asked.

The assistant replied: "According to the previous arrangement, the World Server has been updated to the new version, and all the foreign clubs are training with the new version."

"As for our Chinese server, it may be a week later than the foreign servers, that is, around next Monday to update the version. However, the club players are currently playing ranked games and scrimmages on the World Server, so the impact is not very big."

Zhao Xuming was thoughtful.

Finger Company was going to use the new version for the World Championship, this was already confirmed, and all the major clubs knew it.

Christian wanted to use the World Championship to show the world players the new version of IOI, to improve the viewing experience of the IOI World Championship, which was understandable. But he also had to update the version in advance so that players could familiarize themselves with it, and let the teams train in the new version environment.

The teams were certainly more or less dissatisfied, after all, the new version had changed a lot. Adapting to these changes in such a short period of time greatly tested the teams' learning ability and adjustment ability, and also tested the players' ability to practice heroes.

But considering that all the teams had to practice and learn, and everyone was starting from scratch, it couldn't be said to be particularly unfair, so most of the teams just complained verbally, and didn't protest too fiercely.

Zhao Xuming considered for a moment and asked, "Are the foreign teams training better than the domestic teams?"

The assistant nodded: "Of course, Mr. Zhao."

"The foreign teams are all playing on the World Server, with no lag, and they can communicate with their teammates. The ranked environment is better than the Chinese server. Moreover, those old-fashioned esports clubs in Europe and America are all in contact with each other, and they can frequently arrange scrimmages. Many teams are practicing together, so the improvement is naturally fast."

"There are only three teams in our country, and those two clubs are not very friendly with FV Club, so it's difficult to achieve good results by practicing with each other."

Zhao Xuming nodded, considered for a moment, and said, "In this way, contact Finger Company, I'm going to arrange for the players to go to Los Angeles in advance!"

The assistant was stunned: "Go in advance?"

Zhao Xuming: "That's right, go in advance. On the one hand, it's to adapt to the living environment there in advance, so as to avoid acclimatization when they get there. On the other hand, they can train in the low-latency World Server environment, and they can also arrange scrimmages with those old-fashioned clubs in Europe and America, which can improve their results even more."

"Although it's unlikely that we can beat Europe and America and win the championship, sharpening the sword at the last minute is better than nothing. If we lose too badly, we'll lose face."

"As for the expenses, it's just a matter of spending more money on room and board. We'll reimburse the clubs for this money, so that they must practice hard and play well, and not embarrass our Longyu Corporation!"

The assistant nodded quickly: "Okay, Mr. Zhao, this is a good idea! I'll go and communicate with Finger Company, and book the air tickets and accommodation in advance!"