October 25th, Thursday.

Pei Qian ordered takeout from Slackin’ and considered the recent situations of various departments while eating.

“I wonder how things are going with the Suffering Travel?”

After helping Yu Fei complete the design for “Ghost General 2,” Bao Xu had already set off for the Shennongjia area. Calculating the time, the suffering of those managers should be reaching its most exciting part now.

Since Bao Xu had stayed behind for a week, this suffering travel’s itinerary was arranged for a total of five weeks: the first week was wilderness survival led by Sa Ziran, the second week was wilderness survival led by Bao Xu, the third and fourth weeks were sightseeing at nearby attractions, and the fifth week was another round of wilderness survival led by Bao Xu.

Currently, they should be in the late stages of the second week. Compared to the “darkness before dawn” of the fifth week, this should be when the managers were feeling most desperate.

Pei Qian suddenly wanted to see how things were going over there, so he sent a message to Bao Xu.

“I wonder if the signal is good enough there to receive messages.”

After a while, Pei Qian realized his concern was unnecessary, as Bao Xu replied and even sent a video clip.

After all, signal coverage in China was now quite extensive, and the places Bao Xu and his team were visiting weren’t particularly remote. Safety considerations had been taken into account when selecting locations, ensuring that in case of emergencies, medical help could be quickly accessed nearby.

Pei Qian opened the video to check.

The video showed a natural rock face which, compared to the specially made simulated rock wall at the training base, was clearly much more complex in shape, though its slope wasn’t as steep.

The rock wall at the training base was basically vertical, while this one was approximately 70-80 degrees.

Even so, the difficulty of outdoor rock climbing and rappelling was certainly much higher than indoors.

At that moment, several managers were climbing up the rock face one by one under Sa Ziran’s care and protection. After everyone reached the top, they would rappel back down.

All the managers were lined up, trembling.

Bao Xu stood at the foot of the mountain in the best position for filming, recording this video for Pei Qian.

Considering how quickly he had replied, Pei Qian highly suspected that this wasn’t a video shot in response to his message.

It was possible that Bao Xu had already recorded such a video and just sent it when he saw Mr. Pei’s inquiry; or perhaps Bao Xu had already chosen an excellent vantage point to watch these managers suffer, and happened to record this clip after seeing Mr. Pei’s message.

But regardless of which scenario was true, it indicated that Bao Xu had chosen an excellent viewing position for himself and was clearly enjoying it.

Seeing Bao Xu so happy, Pei Qian felt relieved.

What could make a boss happier than bringing joy to his employees?

Pei Qian couldn’t help but silently marvel: Ah, I truly am a kind person, a good boss!

He immediately replied: “Well done, keep it up!”

Looking at the date and counting on his fingers, Pei Qian realized that Meng Chang should be returning soon.

Meng Chang had previously gone to Shennongjia with the Suffering Travel group to develop a marketing plan for the project. With nearly two weeks of time, given Meng Chang’s efficiency, he should have already edited the promotional video.

There was still a week left until the end of the month, and Meng Chang would definitely release this promotional video, otherwise he would miss out on his commission.

There weren’t particularly detailed regulations about the release timing of Meng Chang’s promotional plan, but generally speaking, releasing it earlier or later each had its advantages.

An early release could accumulate momentum, while a late release might trigger instantaneous heat. Either way, the difficulty of earning commission remained about the same.

“I wonder if Meng Chang will get his commission this time. I wish him luck.”

Pei Qian wasn’t in a hurry; with Meng Chang’s efficiency, it would likely happen within the next day or two anyway.

Then, Pei Qian opened the forum again to check the situation with GOG and ioi’s activities.

Yesterday, after GOG launched the 1024 Digital Festival activity “The Arrival of Light,” it triggered huge controversy online.

The skin price increase provoked player dissatisfaction, combined with the influence of ioi’s activities and some people fanning the flames, it had now become a moderately hot topic.

Although some people directed their criticism at Tenda, most players still believed that Eric should take the blame, which made Pei Qian feel slightly regretful.

This indicated that the storm would hardly affect other industries.

But he couldn’t be too greedy; this was still a good start after all.

However, just as Pei Qian was happily scrolling through posts criticizing Eric, he suddenly saw a new post.

The title was: “Holy crap! The reward for the ‘Arrival of Light’ activity actually includes another skin!”

Pei Qian was stunned.

He instantly realized what was happening!

In the internal documents that the GOG project team had shown him, the theme of the activity was written as “Light and Darkness,” but when it actually went live in the game, the name had changed to “The Arrival of Light.”

Pei Qian had originally thought the name change was because “Light and Darkness” didn’t sound imposing enough, but now it was clearly not that simple!

This “Arrival of Light” activity wasn’t actually that complicated. Special skin products were added to the game store, with each hero having a light-themed skin. Regardless of which one you purchased, you could unlock an exclusive activity page.

This activity page would refresh some daily tasks with a progress bar above.

The tasks were all very simple, such as playing one or two matches with the skin, or getting a certain number of kills or assists.

The progress bar growth was divided into stages, unlocking day by day, meaning that after completing each day’s daily tasks, you would unlock that day’s reward.

The rewards were divided into seven stages, meaning that this activity would take at least seven days to complete.

But the specifics of each day’s reward weren’t clearly stated, instead marked with a question mark icon.

On the description page, it noted that this activity included rewards such as avatars, avatar frames, expressions, recall animations, kill effects, and more.

The first day only gave a very ordinary avatar, so it didn’t trigger much discussion.

After all, players had seen similar activities many times. For promotion purposes, game companies would sell the skin as the main product, while the other rewards were at most just add-ons.

In fact, most players didn’t care about this activity at all; their attention was entirely focused on the skin price.

Although many players were calling for a boycott, given GOG’s massive player base and its many loyal fans, many players still chose to buy the skin despite the price increase.

But today, after completing the daily tasks, many discovered that today’s unlocked reward was actually another skin!

It was the dark version of the original light version skin they had purchased!

Many players couldn’t believe it at first, until they entered a game match.

Both skins turned out to be top-tier!

Although the light and dark versions had certain similarities in design, their overall styles were vastly different, especially highlighted by the contrast between light and dark effects.

Take the classic hero Modister as an example: in his light form, he wore silver-white armor with a halo like an angel’s above his head, radiant with golden light; in his dark form, he wore demonic armor with devil horns on his head, with black smoke rising from his body.

This level of change was definitely not achievable by simply changing textures—it was like a completely new skin created from scratch!

Many players hadn’t been looking forward to the second day’s activity reward, assuming it would just be an avatar or recall animation or some other small reward. When they discovered it was actually a skin, they could hardly believe their eyes.

Looking at the evaluations on the forums, there was an instant 180-degree turn!

“Damn, buy one get one free? And the free dark version skin is identical to the light version in quality and effects, also at the top tier level!”

“Now I understand why the price was so high—because these are actually two skins!”

“If it were a regular event skin, the price would be 45, and considering the first-week discount, it would be 36. Two skins together would be 72, but now it’s only 68, which is actually cheaper!”

“There was a misunderstanding! I thought the skin price had increased, but it actually hasn’t—it’s still the same price as before.”

“Damn, the activity reward description was ridiculous. What do you mean ‘this activity includes rewards such as avatars, avatar frames, expressions, recall animations, kill effects, etc.’? You dropped the most important skin reward with that ‘etc.’? Seriously?”

“This is practically fishing by the officials. Who could have imagined that this kind of activity would include another skin?”

“How strange. Why not just write it out clearly? Why hide it so thoroughly? Wouldn’t announcing it from the beginning have created a better promotional effect?”

“You just don’t understand. This is the romance of Tenda Games, always bringing new surprises to players!”

“Could it be targeting ioi? There have been many paid commenters focusing their fire on GOG these past two days, justifying ioi’s price increase.”

“How could that be? GOG’s activity came first, and look at these two skin types—one light, one dark—with similar designs. Obviously, they were developed together, and this activity must have been planned in advance.”

“So you’re saying ioi took the initiative to create conflict, but ended up being the one knocked down?”

“All I can say is they deserve it! If ioi hadn’t raised prices or even offered discounts, even with GOG’s reversal, it wouldn’t have caused them any substantial damage. The initial reputation they gained could have been preserved a bit. But now, having raised prices and created conflict, they’ve completely become a joke!”

Players were clearly shocked by Tenda’s operations.

Two top-tier skins packaged together, but only one advertised, with the other hidden in the activity—who could have guessed!

The key was that it violated many players’ intuitions; previous game companies hadn’t done this.

Other game companies would definitely promote both skins together, eager for the whole world to know, how could they possibly show one and hide one, letting players discover it themselves?

The activity reward icon was a question mark, and the reward description only emphasized common rewards like avatars and avatar frames, even dropping the “skin” with that “etc.”—it was undeniably deceptive.

Some players suspected this might be targeting ioi, but they were quickly refuted.

Because this activity was released by GOG first, and the skins were made well in advance. If it were targeting ioi, they would have needed to coordinate with someone inside ioi to pull it off.

How could they possibly collaborate so well?

But these players didn’t know the real situation within Tenda.

Pei Qian thought about it briefly and quickly understood the cause and effect.

Eric was targeting ioi!

Clearly, Eric and Zhao Xuming were very familiar with ioi’s research and operations. This activity was a preemptive move.

They deliberately separated the two skins, hiding the dark skin in the activity rewards—baiting the hook!

The time limit for this bait was one week, or 7 days.

If ioi took no action within these 7 days, the activity would proceed as normal. Besides facing some criticism, there wouldn’t be any substantial loss, as players would definitely come around once the skin was released.

Or if ioi launched an activity but discounted their new skins, then GOG’s activity reversal wouldn’t cause them substantial harm.

But now ioi not only raised their skin prices but also hired paid commenters to steer the narrative online. This was awkward!

They were instantly countered, and the more enthusiastically they had jumped in, the harder they would be slapped in the face!

As for why the timing was so perfect… it was clearly all calculated.

All reward icons in the activity were question marks, meaning that which reward was given each day could be adjusted.

They could give whatever they wanted first.

If ioi discovered it on the first day and took action, GOG would change the second day’s reward to the skin;

If ioi discovered it on the fifth day, GOG would change the sixth day’s reward to the skin.

In short, whenever ioi took the bait, GOG would release the skin!

The success of this activity ultimately came down to Eric perfectly pinpointing ioi’s weakness: price!

Dayak Group’s upper management had been eager to raise prices and make money but couldn’t find a good opportunity, so Eric cleverly handed this opportunity to them.

Dayak Group’s management didn’t have a god’s perspective. Seeing that GOG had already released their activity without any anomalies, they assumed that GOG’s market share was already high enough that they were planning to raise prices to cash in, so they happily followed suit.

But this follow-up created problems!

Online public opinion instantly reversed. Previously, many people were praising ioi for being more conscientious, with improved skin quality, many small rewards, and a smaller price increase.

But now GOG was directly offering buy one get one free, leaving these people speechless.

Because anyone could see that GOG’s offer was clearly better! Crazily better, incomprehensibly better!

Many players instantly changed their tune, declaring they would buy this set of skins like crazy.

As for ioi… those who had been hoping for its rise would once again be disappointed.

As for Pei Qian, he had only one thought at this moment.

I was fooled too!

He had originally thought Eric would be quite reassuring, given that he and Zhao Xuming together had rich experience in failure.

But unexpectedly, they were even more ruthless than Min Jingchao!