Pei Qian greatly admired Eric’s “achievements” over the past few months.
Despite constantly burning money, not only had he failed to make a profit or capture market share, he hadn’t even made a splash. His spending had been completely silent and unremarkable.
This level of achievement was something Pei Qian could only dream of.
Pei Qian had briefly considered poaching Eric, but quickly abandoned the idea.
Could someone who had risen to a high position in a multinational company be completely incompetent?
That possibility was quite low.
So why had Eric suffered such a crushing defeat after taking charge of IOI’s domestic server?
Pei Qian believed this had little to do with Eric’s abilities, but was mainly determined by the current market situation.
IOI’s domestic server was already in a state that seemed beyond salvation.
When Shangyang Games was operating IOI’s domestic server, weren’t they also beaten badly by GOG? Even Pei Qian himself had rolled up his sleeves and gotten involved. Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou had racked their brains and put forth their best efforts, launching a series of marketing activities, but in the end, it was still useless.
The root of the failure was that IOI, as a game, had already fallen behind GOG, which had already captured the vast majority of the domestic market share. Under such circumstances, even the best marketing strategies couldn’t reverse the situation.
This couldn’t be crudely attributed to Eric’s incompetence.
What if, after poaching him, Eric’s suppressed energy was fully released and became unstoppable?
Moreover, as a high-level executive in a multinational company, in terms of salary, stock options, non-compete agreements, cultural background, and various other aspects, Dayark Company held an absolute advantage, making the possibility of poaching him extremely low.
So, Pei Qian had no intention of poaching him, but had other plans.
Eric was no longer responsible for IOI’s domestic server. With his experience and position, he couldn’t be completely demoted upon his return; he would still be a high-level executive at Dayark Company with significant authority on IOI’s operational issues.
Upon his return, he would certainly report to Dayark Company’s senior management and might also be held accountable.
In any case, Eric would report all the information from his time in charge of IOI’s domestic server, including the intelligence he had gathered about GOG and Tenda Group.
This way, wouldn’t Eric essentially become a messenger between Pei Qian and Dayark Company’s senior management?
Before leaving, Eric had specifically come to Jingzhou and frantically taken photos at the GPL League venue, clearly collecting information to use as leverage for his comeback.
The more information he gathered about Tenda Group and GOG’s promotion, and the more complete the details, the more he could reduce his responsibility and even influence Dayark Company’s senior management’s decisions.
Pei Qian thought, since that was the case, why not use Eric to help transmit some information to Dayark’s senior management?
He was currently concerned about Dayark Company’s slow response.
The domestic market was already in dire straits—IOI’s domestic server was almost dead, with the few remaining players leaving every day. In the overseas market, GOG was also advancing rapidly. If Pei Qian hadn’t deliberately diverted half of Shangyang Games’ personnel to slow down the expansion speed, the situation for IOI overseas would probably not be looking good either.
From Pei Qian’s perspective, IOI’s situation was already very dangerous, which deeply worried him.
But even so, Dayark Company still responded sluggishly, without providing any reliable solutions.
Ultimately, this was because Dayark Company was too arrogant, looking down on Tenda, this Chinese “small company,” just like Eric did when he first arrived in Jingzhou.
The difference was that Eric had been beaten into awareness, while Dayark Company’s senior management had not.
Therefore, Pei Qian hoped to use this dinner to make Eric his mouthpiece, influencing Dayark Group’s senior management’s policies to some extent.
Eric appeared calm on the surface, but his mind was racing.
Mr. Pei’s behavior seemed somewhat unnecessary. If it were for the sake of goodwill, that was impossible.
There was no room for sentiment in business dealings.
Or perhaps it was simply to gloat at the dinner table, to mock and gain verbal satisfaction?
Eric didn’t believe Mr. Pei would be that childish.
So, the only possibility was that Mr. Pei also wanted to use this opportunity to obtain some intelligence from him!
Now that the person in charge of IOI’s domestic server had changed, it meant Tenda Group would face a new opponent. Mr. Pei probably wanted to gain some intelligence about this, which is why he had invited him to this meal.
Currently, although Tenda Group was advancing steadily, the company’s size was relatively small, and the overall situation with Dayark Company was still one where the outcome wasn’t clear.
Therefore, it made sense that Mr. Pei was preparing in advance, wanting to obtain information about Dayark Group’s next moves from him.
Both parties had the desire to gather intelligence from each other, but who would get real intelligence and who would get false intelligence? That remained to be seen.
Eric hesitated for a few seconds, then immediately put on a smile and nodded: “Of course, it’s my honor to dine with Mr. Pei.”
…
Ten minutes later, everyone arrived at an upscale restaurant in the mall.
Although Yuanda Paradise was a large shopping mall in Jingzhou’s core district, the overall price level of its restaurants was still quite different from places like Nameless Restaurant or Mingfu Family Banquet, with the more expensive restaurants averaging around two hundred yuan per person.
After all, it was 2011, and the overall price level hadn’t inflated that severely yet.
They didn’t go to the Mingfu Family Banquet because Eric had to catch a flight in the afternoon and didn’t have much time, so they decided to have the meal at a restaurant in the mall.
They casually ordered a few expensive dishes and a bottle of the most expensive XO, but still couldn’t spend much money, which slightly disappointed Pei Qian.
However, their purpose wasn’t really about the meal.
After some casual conversation and a few toasts, Eric decided to get to the point.
He understood clearly that when dealing with someone as clever as Mr. Pei, trying to get close or hoping for “loose talk after drinking” would be meaningless.
To obtain information from Mr. Pei, he would have to actively release some information first—this was a game that could only be played with a more formidable opponent.
So, Eric gently swirled the wine glass in his hand: “Mr. Pei, we’re all smart people, so I won’t beat around the bush.”
“We both know that the other has information we want, otherwise, we wouldn’t be sitting at the same table eating right now.”
“Since that’s the case, let’s be direct, which can save us both time.”
“After I return, I’ll have to report to Dayark Group’s senior management. In the worst-case scenario, I might be demoted or marginalized. Once I’m transferred to a peripheral department, it would be almost impossible for me to climb back up to handle important business.”
“So, I must save myself. And the method of self-rescue is to obtain more information.”
“Let’s take turns asking each other three questions, taking turns to answer, and exchanging information that both of us are interested in. If the person being questioned feels the question is difficult to answer, then the questioner can change to a different question. What do you think, Mr. Pei?”
Pei Qian had originally intended to use Eric as a messenger between himself and Dayark Group, but was worried that starting the topic too abruptly would make Eric suspicious.
Now that Eric had taken the initiative to propose this, Pei Qian was naturally delighted and immediately nodded, saying: “That works.”
Seeing Mr. Pei agree so readily, Eric became more certain of his deduction.
He didn’t emphasize that both parties should provide true answers, because even if he emphasized this point, it wouldn’t be binding on either party, saying it would be pointless.
But since both parties would take turns asking questions, if one side didn’t give an answer that satisfied the questioner, this game couldn’t continue.
Therefore, the optimal solution was to release some true information that wouldn’t have much impact, and mix in some incorrect information to mislead the other party.
This would test each party’s ability to discern information.
Even false information had value for Eric. Because false information could be examined and filtered, and correct information could be deduced from it.
Eric felt that Mr. Pei must also be well aware of this point, which is why he agreed so readily.
Zhang Yuan, Lin Wan, and others all perked up their ears, feeling somewhat tense.
Indeed, Mr. Pei’s inviting Eric to dinner had a special purpose!
When experts faced off, there weren’t many flourishes—they were all smart people, and the efficiency of communication was extremely high.
Each asking three questions was essentially a form of intelligence warfare. But Eric seemed cunning and experienced—could Mr. Pei win?
Although they had full confidence in Mr. Pei, they couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Meanwhile, Pei Qian wasn’t nervous at all.
Because he did not need to be.
Pei Qian didn’t expect to get any useful information from Eric anyway. Regardless of how Dayark Company acted afterward, Pei Qian would continue spending money as usual, remaining unchanged amidst any changes.
Moreover, Pei Qian wasn’t afraid of leaking real intelligence to Eric, because apart from the system itself, he had virtually no secrets to speak of.
Pei Qian himself almost wanted to fully reveal some inside information, which could stimulate Dayark Company to continue burning money.
If Dayark Company engaged in a price war with Tenda, Pei Qian would be overjoyed!
However, to avoid arousing Eric’s suspicion, Pei Qian still had to put on a very serious expression.
Eric said, “To show my sincerity, Mr. Pei, you can ask first.”
Pei Qian thought for a moment. He didn’t have great questions, so he casually asked: “What’s the name of the person Dayark Group sent to replace you? Tell me a bit about him.”
Eric didn’t consider for too long: “Christian, originally a senior executive at Finger Company, has been responsible for the promotion and marketing business in the European market, has relatively high authority within Finger Company, can make certain changes to game content, and is more professional than me.”
“His personality tends to be conservative; he values the localization of games, and this time, in charge of IOI’s domestic server, he may collaborate with local game companies for promotion.”
Eric knew very well that this information was all something Mr. Pei could collect, so there was no need to conceal it. Sharing it would show sincerity.
Pei Qian nodded: “It’s your turn to ask.”
Eric thought for a moment and said, “I’ve already collected some information about Tenda. I know that a key reason GOG can maintain its leading position is that you, Mr. Pei, are willing to spend money on it.”
“Even now, when GOG has already captured such a huge market share, due to its low pricing strategy and large marketing expenses, the game still fluctuates between minimal profit and loss.”
“I roughly understand how much money you’ve specifically burned on GOG, but what puzzles me is, why are you so willing to burn money?”