Shortly after Meng Chang left, Pei Qian received a phone call.
It was from Chang You.
“Mr. Pei, um… we’ve encountered a slight problem.”
“I’ve relayed your requirements regarding the shop and lottery system for ‘Fitness Battle Royale’ to the team, but the development group’s response is that while these features can be implemented, they require some changes from the original design.”
“So the game might need to be delayed by a few days, since once the features are developed, they’ll need repeated testing to avoid serious bugs when the game launches.”
“But this means the game’s launch time won’t align with the press conference. Originally, both the game launch and press conference were scheduled for this Sunday to coincide, but now the game launch will be several days after the press conference.”
“We now have two options: either delay both the press conference and the game launch until the game is completed, or mention at the press conference that the game will launch in the near future, which might be a bit awkward.”
After a moment of silence, Pei Qian asked, “Isn’t there a third option? Like… not mentioning the game at all during the press conference?”
Chang You was taken aback: “Huh?”
This was completely unexpected.
‘Fitness Battle Royale’ was a game custom-made to complement the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack, and could be considered its greatest advantage compared to other fitness equipment. In fact, about one-third of Chang You’s original PowerPoint presentation was dedicated to introducing this game.
With this game, many people would have a reason to buy the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack. Without mentioning the game, people might think the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack was just a joke product.
Chang You confirmed again: “Mr. Pei, are you sure we shouldn’t mention the game at all?”
Pei Qian said with a straight face: “Of course!”
“The press conference definitely can’t be delayed. All the preliminary work has been prepared, and invitations have been sent to various tech media outlets. Changing plans at the last minute would be inappropriate and make us appear unreliable.”
“But since the game isn’t completely finished and there’s still the possibility of modifications, we shouldn’t make promises we can’t keep. If the final product doesn’t meet people’s expectations, wouldn’t that disappoint customers?”
“At Tenda, we’ve always valued integrity above all. We don’t make promises we can’t keep or fight battles we can’t win.”
“So let’s not mention this during the press conference. There will always be opportunities later for customers to learn about it!”
Despite Pei Qian’s attempt to persuade him, it didn’t have much effect.
Not very convincing at all!
Chang You hesitated before saying, “Um… Mr. Pei, consumers aren’t that fragile, and we’ve already established the game’s basic framework, so major changes are unlikely…”
“Of course, if you think it’s better not to mention the game at the press conference, then we won’t.”
Pei Qian: “Don’t mention it.”
Chang You nodded: “Alright, Mr. Pei, we’ll do as you say.”
After hanging up, a smile reappeared on Pei Qian’s face.
Good news just kept coming one after another!
If the game wasn’t mentioned at all during the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack press conference, then this fitness equipment would have very little appeal to average consumers.
After the press conference, as the hype for the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack died down, most people wouldn’t remember such a fitness device. By the time news about ‘Fitness Battle Royale’ was released, its impact would be greatly reduced.
Of course, it was impossible that no one would buy it. There would always be a few curious guinea pigs, but when it came to hype, the less the better!
Pei Qian was delighted, fantasizing about the wonderful scenario of the Smart Fitness Clothes Rack not selling and inventory piling up in warehouses…
…
May 10th, Thursday.
Shanghai, Longyu Group.
Eric had just finished a phone call. He seemed to have had a rather heated argument with the person on the other end about certain issues, but ultimately it appeared he failed to convince them and somewhat reluctantly nodded, agreeing to their proposal.
Zhao Xuming was also nearby. Although his English was decent, Eric spoke too quickly, and Zhao couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end of the line. So from the fragments he could hear, he couldn’t ascertain the full content of the call—he could only vaguely gather that it had something to do with the mobile version of IOI.
This made Zhao Xuming slightly worried.
According to Eric’s arrangements, Longyu Group and Finger Company were jointly holding a press conference today.
At this press conference, both parties would jointly announce a series of initiatives regarding the Chinese version of IOI, including news about the IOI mobile game launch, a new hero called “Cloud Auspicious Dragon” designed for the Chinese market, a complete set of Chinese-style skins, as well as a series of subsidies and money-burning policies.
In essence, today’s press conference marked the formal beginning of a large-scale declaration of war by Longyu Group and Finger Company against Tenda Group.
Eric had actually been planning for this day for a long time.
From the day Eric was dismissed, he had been meticulously preparing for today’s plan, aiming to defeat Mr. Pei in one fell swoop through aggressive spending.
After Eric regained control of IOI’s Chinese operations, he had been making preliminary preparations while patiently observing the timing.
Now the time had finally come.
Eric had been carefully observing Tenda’s various businesses and believed this was an excellent opportunity.
The movie and game versions of “Mission and Choice” had invested enormously. Although they had succeeded in terms of reputation, it would take a long time for them to recoup costs.
The G1 phone had good initial sales, which meant they would certainly stock up heavily, tying up a large sum of capital.
And according to insider information, Outou Technology had a new tech product launching. Given Mr. Pei’s personality, this product would undoubtedly be heavily stocked as well.
All of this meant that Tenda’s already tight cash flow would face even greater pressure.
Initiating a money-burning war at this crucial moment, when Mr. Pei had limited funds at his disposal, would be highly advantageous for Eric!
Although money-burning wars could be conducted quietly, to achieve the best effect, a press conference was necessary to “announce to the world” as loudly as possible.
Because only by publicizing it would most players learn about this news, attracting fresh blood into the game.
This move would draw Tenda’s attention and might even prompt Tenda to counterattack quickly, but that was exactly what Eric hoped to achieve.
Because the outcome of a money-burning war wasn’t related to the speed of response, but to the number of bullets in hand. And bullets were essentially about whose cash flow was healthier and whose financial foundation was more solid.
If Tenda recognized the threat early and started burning money to counter, although they might easily withstand the pressure from Finger Company in the early stages, they would inevitably lack staying power.
So today’s press conference had been meticulously prepared for a long time. Its impact would directly determine whether this money-burning war would get off to a smooth start.
Seeing that Eric had hung up the phone, Zhao Xuming tentatively asked, “Is there any new situation? It won’t affect today’s press conference, will it?”
Eric shook his head slightly: “There’s a small issue with the mobile game, but it shouldn’t affect today’s press conference.”
“Previously, the mobile game was designed without cross-platform compatibility with the PC version. After I protested to upper management, this approach was rejected.”
“But just now, the head of the mobile game project called to say that although the mobile game has been redesigned to sync data with the PC version, they’ve added some monetization points in the mobile game that differ from the PC version.”
“For example, the mobile game has some exclusive skins, exclusive gift packs, special icons and emoticons, etc.”
Zhao Xuming was surprised: “This… doesn’t seem appropriate either, does it? If we’re doing data synchronization, shouldn’t we do it thoroughly? Wouldn’t it be better to make them identical? Otherwise, we’ll face criticism.”
Eric shook his head helplessly: “You’re right, that would be better.”
“But the mobile game project team also has profit pressures. If the mobile game’s content is exactly the same as the PC version, then the mobile game’s revenue potential would be too weak.”
“The mobile game has its own dedicated project team for maintenance and development. With so much investment, upper management also needs to consider the return on investment. Data synchronization is already a major concession in terms of profit. If we don’t find other ways to recoup some costs, the mobile game project team would never agree.”
“However, the person in charge there also offered a compromise solution.”
“Although the mobile game has some exclusive skins, gift packs, and other monetization points, at launch we’ll give players some tokens allowing them to obtain most of the exclusive skins and gift packs for free.”
“Later, once the mobile game player base stabilizes, they’ll gradually release new exclusive skins and gift packs to slowly recoup costs.”
“This is a compromise solution that we can barely accept.”
Zhao Xuming nodded slightly: “Hmm… I suppose that’s all we can do.”
Clearly, as the person in charge of IOI’s Chinese operations, Eric had some influence with Finger Company’s upper management, but his influence wasn’t absolute.
The team responsible for developing the IOI mobile game was another project group within Finger Company. Eric wanted the IOI mobile game to completely synchronize data with the PC version without any additional monetization, but some in Finger Company’s upper management disagreed with this idea, believing that after working hard to develop a mobile game, why shouldn’t they be allowed to make money?
The result after the power struggle between different factions was a compromise: the mobile game would have some exclusive gift packs to make money, but they would be somewhat subtle. Initially, they would give out more tokens, pretending that these exclusive contents could all be obtained for free, and then gradually sell exclusive content to recoup costs after a period of time.
This approach would be more emotionally acceptable to players, while the IOI mobile game project team could also earn more money.
Although Eric was still somewhat dissatisfied with this approach, he was a smart person and knew it was unrealistic to expect the IOI mobile game to completely follow his vision, so he wisely didn’t insist further.
Zhao Xuming suddenly thought of an issue and said, “Then… what about this afternoon’s press conference?”
“The press conference includes content about the mobile game, and our slogan is ‘Mobile and PC versions have synchronized data and identical content.’ In the current situation, it can hardly be called ‘identical,’ can it?”
After considering for a moment, Eric said, “We don’t need to be so clear. We can introduce it more ambiguously.”
“If we were to be completely honest at the press conference and truthfully explain the exclusive gift packs for the mobile game, we might immediately put ourselves in a disadvantageous position in terms of public opinion.”
“We’ll hint at the press conference that the game is still in development and doesn’t represent the final product. Once the game is released, we’ll give out more tokens, and players probably won’t fixate on this point.”
Zhao Xuming nodded: “That’s true. As long as we give out enough tokens, players will collectively have amnesia and act as if nothing happened.”
“It shouldn’t be a big problem.”
Eric stood up: “Good, then this matter is settled. The press conference is this afternoon, so let’s hurry up and prepare. We’re about to declare war on Tenda!”