April 12th, Friday.
Qiao Liang watched as the popularity of this episode of “Managers Speak” continued to rise, and a sense of pride welled up within him.
Was this what invincibility felt like?
This was his first time serving as acting manager for a Tenda Group department, and also his first time participating in a business war, directly confronting other companies.
Initially, Qiao Liang had been in a state of righteous indignation mixed with anxiety. After all, those were two enormous streaming platform giants. By standing up and publicly slapping their faces, would he invite retaliation? Would there be serious consequences?
But after doing it, he discovered there were no consequences—instead, it felt great!
As soon as the video was released, it immediately provoked a strong response. Many streamers posted videos in support or shared their own experiences, dissecting the tricks these streaming platforms used to trap streamers.
On the surface, the two platforms competed fiercely, but in reality, one poached the other’s streamers and vice versa, and then both happily profited from streamers’ breach penalties.
Streamers thought they were fleecing the streaming platforms, receiving astronomical salaries, but how much of that money would actually end up in their hands? Even if it did reach them, it might all be lost in a lawsuit the next moment!
Qiao Liang’s video could be said to have come at the perfect time, directly exposing the systems of the other two streaming platforms.
If he had released this video a year ago, it wouldn’t have had much impact. Back then, streaming platforms were still in their infancy, with more than a dozen large and small platforms in China engaged in chaotic competition. Because of the intense competition, top streamers had strong bargaining power.
Even if streamers switched platforms and faced lawsuits, the breach penalty issues wouldn’t have escalated.
On one hand, streamers’ compensation was relatively low back then, so breach penalties were also lower. When switching platforms, a streamer’s salary might increase tenfold, making it financially viable to pay the penalty without causing major waves.
Under those circumstances, what effect would educating streamers about the streaming platforms’ behind-the-scenes tricks have? Most streamers wouldn’t have listened.
But now, a year later, Crooked Live and Wolf Fang Live had achieved initial monopoly over streaming platforms and were ready to reap the benefits.
At this point, dissecting their tricks, combined with cases of top streamers facing hundred-million-yuan breach penalty claims, had a powerful impact, making many streamers suddenly realize the truth!
Qiao Liang wanted to applaud himself, maybe even strike a pose.
I’m so amazing!
Although “Managers Speak” had been ongoing, Qiao Liang felt he was the first acting manager to appear on screen! This was different from regular participants like Lü Mingliang, Guo Licheng, and Rui Yuchen.
As the first acting manager to win a victory, surely Mr. Pei would look at him with new respect?
Moreover, Qiao Liang had taken this opportunity to show his face to his fans.
Didn’t everyone previously doubt that I had become Rabbit Tail Live’s acting manager?
What can you say now? Hurry up and worship Old Qiao!
Seeing the flood of compliments from fans, Qiao Liang felt happier than he would have been uploading ten consecutive videos or receiving numerous likes!
“Even so, I can’t become arrogant or complacent. I must continue to remember my mission as an acting manager!”
Qiao Liang felt he had completely grasped the joy of being an acting manager and was filled with motivation!
But just then, his phone vibrated, and he received a notification.
“Huh? Mr. Pei has requested that the ‘Managers Speak’ program be temporarily suspended???”
……
A few minutes earlier.
Pei Qian stared at the new episode of “Managers Speak” with a blank expression.
“What’s going on?”
“How did Qiao Liang personally roll up his sleeves and get involved? And he spoke so well, at a completely different level from the previous episodes of ‘Managers Speak’?”
“Does that mean all my hard work creating the grassroots activity was completely meaningless?”
“Could you please stop using these dishonorable tactics?”
Pei Qian felt extremely confused and speechless.
He had created the grassroots activity precisely because he saw “Managers Speak” gaining momentum, so he wanted the managers to pause and give the anti-Tenda alliance companies some breathing room.
Unexpectedly, with a new batch of acting managers taking over, it was the same approach with different people, leading to the same result!
Moreover, Qiao Liang’s action essentially set a terrible precedent for other departments’ acting managers!
With Qiao Liang taking the lead, wouldn’t acting managers from other departments also start appearing on “Managers Speak”?
Would people like Li Shi, Ruan Guangjian, Yao Bo, and Xue Zhebin pass up such an opportunity to show their faces? Would they let Qiao Liang perform alone?
This was a big problem!
Pei Qian had just completed his thesis not long ago and hadn’t fully transitioned back into work mode, instinctively wanting to slack off a bit longer.
But this matter quickly put him on alert.
“No, this trend must be nipped in the bud. We can’t continue with these table-flipping tactics! If you keep doing this, what will happen to the anti-Tenda alliance?”
Thinking of this, Pei Qian immediately issued a notice, copying all department managers, especially Meng Chang.
“Starting this week, ‘Managers Speak’ will enter a temporary hiatus. No department is permitted to release ‘Managers Speak’ related content without authorization!”
Of course, the program wasn’t being suspended indefinitely.
Pei Qian felt that “Managers Speak” was generally quite meaningful, and netizens were indeed interested in such a program that dissected capital’s tricks.
But couldn’t they do it later?
After this cycle ended, the anti-Tenda alliance would basically be finished. Then they could freely create “Managers Speak” episodes and analyze these business tricks.
Currently, the anti-Tenda alliance was still in a spirited phase. Wouldn’t it be better to let them be active and help burn some money?
Therefore, Pei Qian only called for a temporary halt rather than permanently canceling the program, as it might still be useful in the future.
……
While all departments received this notice, the independent game incubator remained unaffected.
After all, they weren’t an internal Tenda department, had no grassroots activities, and had no need to appear on the “Managers Speak” program.
All the independent game developers were seriously considering how to design Tenda’s first console escort game.
Seeing these developers full of spirit and enthusiasm, Qiu Hong knew they had found the right direction.
“How are the preparations for the game’s framework coming along? Wu Zhicheng, share your thoughts first.”
Wu Zhicheng nodded and said, “I’ve thought of a name for this game: ‘Dimensional Game Adventure’! In the game, we can connect all of Tenda’s games, especially the classic ones, and turn them into individual levels.”
“In other words, this is a brand-new world full of imagination, born from the Tenda game universe.”
“Since Tenda’s games have already been hugely successful and beloved by players, they’re essentially proven successful gameplay with extremely high IP value. So our approach is the safest and most likely to be accepted by players.”
“This way, we further strengthen Tenda’s game IP. For Tenda’s core players, this game will also have special cultural significance, making it very valuable for purchase and collection.”
Qiu Hong nodded slightly; this idea was within his expectations.
After all, this was Tenda’s console, so the game content naturally needed to be associated with Tenda games as much as possible.
Tenda had so many excellent games, each one widely acclaimed. Wouldn’t it be a waste not to utilize such good IP resources?
Qiu Hong continued, “However, there’s still an issue with this approach.”
“Tenda has so many classic games, but each has different gameplay and art styles. For example, ‘Game Developer’ and ‘Struggle’ have different art styles. How to integrate them is a significant challenge.”
“If the integration isn’t good or natural, it might end up feeling like a patchwork monster.”
“This was one of our initial concerns.”
Wu Zhicheng confidently said, “Of course I’ve considered this point!”
“We definitely can’t completely copy the art styles of various Tenda games, as these styles all have strong characteristics. When Mr. Pei designed games, he considered each game’s unique qualities, matching the art style with the gameplay.”
“But to merge all these games together as organic parts forming a whole, we must unify their styles to some extent. Yet they can’t be completely identical, as this would destroy the original games’ essence and wouldn’t be easily accepted by players.”
“I’ve noticed that most Tenda games’ art styles were designed by Master Ruan Guangjian.”
“I think as long as Master Ruan Guangjian redesigns these art styles and integrates them, it should work. As the original creator, he naturally understands them well.”
“This way, we can both recreate these Tenda games, allowing players to relive their wonderful moments, and merge them together, letting players’ characters freely traverse between them!”
“We can divide these games into different chapters. When entering a new chapter, we’ll display not only the chapter title but also the name of the original game and the name of the new independent game developer. This is a tribute to Tenda’s games.”
“Moreover, releasing this game for Tenda’s first game console has a special significance.”
“It means this console will be a paradise and home for all game developers, where everyone can collectively create a joyful game world, with Tenda providing the platform, soil, and sufficient centripetal force!”
Qiu Hong nodded with satisfaction: “Very good, this is exactly the perfect solution we expected!”
He then looked at the other independent game developers: “How are your gameplay designs coming along?”
The game developers began raising their hands one by one to discuss their designs.
All these gameplay designs were derived from Tenda games. Some broadly followed the original design, only making modifications to specific gameplay details, while others underwent major overhauls from scratch, retaining only the game’s original story background.
This was because these gameplay styles needed to align with independent games, family games, and multiplayer games.
For instance, “Mission and Choice” was originally a real-time strategy game, but RTS games were somewhat outdated. Mr. Pei’s approach was to reduce the operational complexity of RTS gameplay and focus on the game’s storyline, trying to achieve a breakthrough effect.
That was a good approach, but it was only suitable for single-player games, and could only be used once.
So the independent game developer responsible for “Mission and Choice” decided to transform this story module into a flight simulation and shooting game. The protagonists accidentally enter the world of “Mission and Choice” and face swarms of bugs flying toward them. They pilot human ships under Commander Qin Yi’s command to attack the Zerg.
If two players were playing, one could control the ship’s direction while the other controlled its firepower.
If four or more players were playing, they could control two ships.
“Game Developer” was transformed into an action platformer game. Players would climb and jump in a huge sandbox, triggering various mechanisms that would influence the game developer’s path.
Players would need to guide the game developer to a specific ending to complete the level.
As for “Turn Back to Shore,” although there were some changes in art style, it remained a high-difficulty action game, requiring close cooperation between players, certain skills, and memorization to complete.
In addition, the independent game developers creatively added various functions that complemented the gameplay.
For example, in “Game Developer,” players needed to constantly climb, jump, and trigger various mechanisms.
They could use map mechanisms as well as their own superpowers to interfere with the game developer’s choices, thereby achieving completion conditions more quickly.
Everyone took turns introducing their ideas, while Qiu Hong carefully recorded them.
After this meeting, all independent game developers would send their good ideas to an email inbox, and Qiu Hong would organize a development team to sort through these ideas and select the best ones.
After selection, specific game developers would be assigned to develop them.
As for the incubator’s supporting staff, they would prioritize the development of “Dimensional Game Adventure” to the highest level, ensuring it could be completed simultaneously with Tenda’s first game console!
Imperial Capital, Magic City, Sheep City… developers in all independent game incubators were buzzing with excitement, eagerly contributing ideas for this game.
For them, Mr. Pei and Tenda Group’s kindness was immense. Now that they had found a stage to both repay Mr. Pei’s kindness and prove their game design abilities, they naturally wanted to perform well!
Even if it meant working themselves to the bone, they would complete this game for Mr. Pei!