Evening. The two Saturday matches of the ICL League had concluded.

After the interviews, the host introduced tomorrow’s schedule, and then the audience began to file out in an orderly fashion.

The two official commentators breathed a sigh of relief. Today’s work was finally complete, and they could go back and get some good rest.

It must be said that commentating is actually a physically demanding job. It seems simple—just moving your lips—but in reality, there are many intricacies.

Commentators must maintain high concentration throughout, can’t miss too many details, and can’t make too many verbal errors. Sometimes after work, they still need to brush up on game knowledge, surf the internet to understand the latest memes, and if they additionally have to shoot other programs for official channels, their working hours easily stretch to more than ten hours a day.

However, before the two commentators could remove their headsets, they heard the director say, “Don’t leave yet. Come to the break room for a moment. Mr. Zhao has something to say.”

The so-called Mr. Zhao was, of course, Zhao Xuming from Dragon Yu Group.

Both commentators were taken aback.

They knew Zhao Xuming, but they hadn’t actually met or dealt with him much. Zhao Xuming’s rank was too high—even if there were issues, he would speak with the ICL League project team’s director or producer, who would then relay the message to the commentators.

This time, Zhao Xuming personally wanted to meet with them. What did that mean?

With anxious hearts, they went to the backstage break room.

However, as soon as they entered, they were stunned.

There were so many people!

Not just the two of them, but all the other commentators who weren’t scheduled for today were also present.

In addition, all staff responsible for observing and backend data analysis were also there. The entire break room was filled with people.

Clearly, while the games were still in progress, Zhao Xuming had already summoned these people.

Such a grand setup made everyone a bit puzzled, not knowing what Mr. Zhao was planning, and they felt quite concerned.

Zhao Xuming didn’t look pleased. He pressed the remote control, and the large TV in the break room began playing a match recording.

The two commentators were confused—wasn’t this the match they had just finished commentating?

But upon listening carefully, they realized this wasn’t their version at all!

Obviously, this was the recording of Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentary of today’s match.

Zhao Xuming remained silent, and naturally, no one else dared to speak. The break room was very quiet, with only the voice of Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentary echoing throughout the meeting room.

“We see that the official screen shows a first tower rate as high as 74%, but in reality, this team has several early-game tactics, and we can’t generalize…”

At first, the commentators didn’t understand Zhao Xuming’s intention, but as they continued listening, they realized the issue.

Clearly, Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentary was much more professional than theirs!

For the same piece of data, their analysis was too superficial, while Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentators could always dig out more information through other data.

And the gap between the two sides wasn’t just this. From early tactical predictions to the ban-pick phase, to the explanation of details during the match process… today’s two commentators had been completely outclassed by Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentators!

The two commentators’ expressions became quite grim.

Zhao Xuming playing Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentary video in front of so many people was practically a public execution—who could withstand this?

How unfortunate!

What was even more frightening was that Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentary video had likely spread throughout the entire internet. Now all ICL League viewers had seen the comparison between the two commentaries!

The other commentators also lowered their heads, feeling both relieved and worried.

They were relieved that they weren’t scheduled for today, avoiding being the first to step into this trap and being publicly criticized. But they were worried because their own skill level was about the same as today’s two commentators—when it was their turn to commentate, they would be hung out to dry just the same!

Not just the commentators, but also the observers and backend data support team all understood Mr. Zhao’s intention.

Were all the problems solely with the commentators, with no issues on their end?

Of course not!

Rabbit Tail Streaming’s observers followed the commentators’ requests, showing the main camera on both jungles when the commentators wanted to see the jungle clearing.

So there was also a big difference between Rabbit Tail Streaming’s observers and the official ones.

Even when it came to selecting the MVP at the end, both sides chose different MVPs.

In short, Rabbit Tail Streaming really did much better than the official team, and this superiority was comprehensive—from commentary to observation to data support, they were basically in a state of complete dominance.

Only after the entire match had been played did Zhao Xuming press the pause button on the remote.

“Now do you understand why I called you all in for this meeting?”

“You are the official commentators. You should have the highest level of expertise, but instead, you got destroyed by an unofficial commentary from a streaming platform!”

“The public opinion online has exploded. A large number of viewers have left the official streaming rooms across various platforms. Isn’t this embarrassing?”

“You are all professionals with rich experience in this industry. How did it end up like this? Is it a problem with your abilities, your attitude, or both?”

Zhao Xuming’s series of rhetorical questions silenced everyone.

Several commentators silently protested in their hearts.

Is this our fault?

Asking us to compete with current professional players from FV Team’s second squad in terms of game understanding—isn’t that a joke? We’re only at platinum or diamond level!

Compared to those professional players’ game understanding, ours is oceans apart.

Besides, we’ve been commentating like this for other games as well, and there hasn’t been any problem, right? We diligently work every day, practicing our speaking skills, learning game knowledge—we’re already working very hard, okay?

Why does it now seem like we’re a bunch of useless parasites?

But while they thought this way, they didn’t dare to say it out loud.

They had also watched Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentary video and had to admit there was indeed an obvious gap between the two sides.

Now they couldn’t admit it was a problem with their ability, nor could they admit it was a problem with their attitude—admitting either would lead to major issues.

So what was the problem?

In the end, it was the director who spoke up more cleverly: “Mr. Zhao, please calm down.”

“We must admit that our commentators do have a certain gap in game understanding compared to the professional players brought in by Rabbit Tail Streaming.”

“Our commentators are, after all, professionally trained. They excel in professional commentary quality but are not as specialized in game understanding as professional players.”

“But this problem isn’t hard to solve. We just need to include some professional players in our regular commentary schedule.”

“Like Rabbit Tail Streaming, we can have official commentators controlling the rhythm, with professional players or former professional players as guest commentators providing professional analysis. With coordination between the two, we can achieve a similar effect.”

The best approach was certainly to placate Zhao Xuming and then improve the ICL League’s official commentary.

Although these commentators were somewhat lacking in game understanding and couldn’t compare with professional players, it wasn’t possible to fire them all, was it?

These commentators were all recruited through standard procedures, had professional training, and had commented on other competitions before the ICL League. They were all considered prominent figures in the industry and might have complex relationships behind the scenes. How could they be fired so easily?

Zhao Xuming clearly hadn’t planned to fire all these commentators either. What if the newly recruited batch wasn’t any better?

So, Zhao Xuming’s anger this time was just to give the ICL League directors and commentators a wake-up call, to make them more aware of the crisis and find ways to improve their own level.

It was too absurd and unacceptable that the ICL League’s official commentary was inferior to Rabbit Tail Streaming’s unofficial commentary.

Since the director had already spoken up, there was no need to be too harsh.

Zhao Xuming said, “All commentators, every day after work, watch and review Rabbit Tail Streaming’s commentary from start to finish, and improve your game understanding!”

“Additionally, the official real-time data APP will be completed soon and should be gradually launched on various platforms. Hopefully, this will help with the viewer drainage situation.”

“Also, quickly find some professional players from various clubs who have deep game understanding and decent speaking skills to serve as special guest commentators. This matter must be implemented as soon as possible.”

Then Zhao Xuming turned to his assistant and said, “Keep an eye on this matter and report to me regularly.”

The assistant nodded, “Yes, Mr. Zhao.”

…

Evening.

Ding Gan, the owner of SUG Esports Club, had just finished a dinner with several friends and was preparing to go back for a good night’s sleep.

But just as he got into the car and dozed off for a moment, his phone rang.

Looking at it, it was Manager Yang from his club calling.

“Mr. Ding, there’s something I need to report to you.”

“Just now, the ICL League director called and asked if our club has any professional players who want to transition to commentary, saying there’s a good opportunity now.”

Ding Gan was puzzled: “Didn’t we already recommend Old Zheng before?”

Manager Yang reminded him: “No, Mr. Ding, when we recommended Old Zheng, it was Mr. Pei’s side requesting people; it was for Rabbit Tail Streaming. Now it’s the ICL League’s official commentary team.”

Ding Gan said, “Then we probably don’t have anyone! Our main players are doing well, and the substitutes and trainees all need to train seriously. Old Zheng was the only one who was a bit older, so we let him try commentating. No one else is suitable.”

Manager Yang said, “Little Gao might be okay. He’s eloquent and quite lively.”

Ding Gan immediately objected: “That won’t work. Although Little Gao is a substitute now, he’s just turned eighteen and is in his prime. He’s about to be promoted to the first team—sending him to be a commentator would be a waste, wouldn’t it?”

Manager Yang said, “Yes, Mr. Ding, I feel the same way. So… should we just decline?”

Ding Gan thought for a moment: “We can only decline. Who told them not to come earlier? Rabbit Tail Streaming came first, and we’ve already given away our suitable candidates. Now Zhao Xuming comes, but we’re powerless to help.”

“…Surely he won’t be unable to find suitable people?”

Manager Yang said, “It shouldn’t be that bad. As far as I know, when Rabbit Tail Streaming was looking for people, they only asked at FV Team and our team, not approaching other teams.”

“After all, our two clubs have better relationships with Mr. Pei.”

“If the ICL League’s official commentary team approaches other clubs, they should still be able to find some suitable candidates.”

“It’s just that these people’s game understanding might be slightly lower. After all, FV Team’s strength and game understanding are in a league of their own. Our team is below their top tier, and there are several tiers of gap before reaching other teams.”

Ding Gan said, “That’s not our concern.”

“Alright, respond like this: we can’t help.”

Manager Yang: “Yes, Mr. Ding.”