Pei Qian answered, “It’s simple—because there can only be one MOBA game that holds a dominant position in this world. This is a ‘winner-takes-all’ competition.”

“For me, it’s not a question of whether I dare to do it, but rather that I have no other choice. It’s not about daring to burn money, but about having to burn money. If we can’t persist, then all the money we’ve burned before would be wasted.”

“My question is: for Dayark Group, what’s the upper limit of money they’re willing to burn for IOI?”

Eric took a sip of tea and, after considering for a moment, said, “For this question, I don’t have a very precise answer, nor can I guarantee its accuracy.”

“The opinions of our company’s senior management on similar issues are not unified. Before they meet and decide, no one knows what the outcome will be.”

“Moreover, our company has a department specifically responsible for data analysis, providing a basis for senior management’s decisions. This department’s data is also very important.”

“If I were to make a judgment, this number would fluctuate depending on the situation. If a large amount of resources is invested without seeing results and market share grows slowly, then giving up is not entirely impossible.”

“If I had to estimate a number… I guess it would be 100 million dollars.”

“Our company only spent about 250 million dollars to acquire Finger Company, which has already created some pressure. It’s impossible to continue burning money indefinitely, especially under conditions where there’s no clear prospect.”

“My second question is the same as yours: for Tenda Group, what’s the upper limit of money you’re willing to burn for GOG?”

Pei Qian smiled slightly: “The upper limit is all funds that Tenda can mobilize.”

“My third question: 100 million dollars is not the limit of Dayark Company’s capability, so… do you think there’s a possibility that Dayark Company would burn more than 100 million dollars?”

Eric considered for a moment: “In my judgment, such a possibility certainly exists, but it wouldn’t be very high.”

“Everyone knows that our company has always been relatively focused on short-term interests and immediate benefits. This has nothing to do with whether the philosophy is right or wrong; it’s merely our company’s thinking habit.”

Hearing this, Lin Wan unconsciously nodded slightly.

The reason Dayark Group was so notorious in the gaming circle was that it demonstrated the coldness of capital to the extreme.

They acquired game companies with potential and quickly exhausted and squeezed out all their potential, destroying many excellent game companies.

This indicated that Dayark Group was indeed a capital group that only valued immediate benefits and didn’t particularly care about long-term interests. Therefore, if Finger Company’s market share continued to decline, burning money like a bottomless pit without results, Dayark Group abandoning it and cutting losses was indeed a highly possible option.

Eric said, “My final question is: Mr. Pei, you say you would mobilize all funds for GOG’s marketing, but the issue is, given Tenda’s current scale, this would inevitably put enormous pressure on your cash flow. Once any slight uncertainty arises, it could cause huge losses and ultimately drag down the entire group.”

“Mr. Pei, where does your courage come from?”

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment, then sighed softly: “My luck has always been good.”

This seemed like an extremely hollow answer, but Eric didn’t feel dissatisfied. Instead, he fell into deep thought.

A moment later, he smiled and raised his glass: “Mr. Pei, I think we’ve both obtained the information we wanted. I toast to you.”

Pei Qian also raised his glass, smiling: “Mr. Eric, I hope we have the chance to meet again.”

…

After the meal, at the entrance of Yuanda Paradise.

The Tenda group watched as Eric left.

Pei Qian couldn’t quite tell what information Eric would extract from his words, but he was certain of one thing: their conversation had consistently focused on “burning money.”

As long as Eric could influence Dayark Group’s senior management to continue happily burning money after his return, that would be enough—nothing else mattered.

Lin Wan tentatively asked, “Mr. Pei, does Shangyang Games need to coordinate anything?”

Pei Qian shook his head: “No need. We’ve been out all day; everyone is tired. Go back and rest.”

Xiao Sun was already waiting in the car. Since Pei Qian had drunk some alcohol at the table, he naturally felt drowsy in the afternoon. So after saying goodbye to everyone, he went straight back by car to rest.

After watching Mr. Pei leave, Lin Wan, Zhang Yuan, and Min Jingchao gathered to discuss what had happened at the dining table.

Zhang Yuan looked puzzled: “What exactly was the meaning behind the three questions Mr. Pei and Eric asked each other?”

“The three questions they asked don’t seem to be very critical questions.”

“And when answering, they both mixed truth with falsehood, reality with pretense;”

“Yet both men seemed very satisfied with the answers to the questions, which…”

“It’s like a riddle I can’t figure out.”

Zhang Yuan was genuinely confused.

Min Jingchao also nodded in agreement: “Yes, the two of them seemed to say many things, but it’s also like they said nothing.”

“Some information seems very important, but with both parties’ intelligence-gathering capabilities, this information should be obtainable sooner or later.”

“Moreover, at the dining table, everyone was actually in a chain of suspicion. Even if Eric shared real information, we wouldn’t believe it was real and would instead consider the opposite direction…”

“Anyway, I didn’t understand at all.”

Lin Wan also shook her head: “I’m not sure either, but I guess the focus of both parties’ questions also hid some information, but we can’t grasp it and can’t interpret it.”

“Indeed, Eric is still an extraordinary person. Those who can rise to high positions in multinational companies are not ordinary.”

“The reason we could beat him before ultimately comes down to Mr. Pei. Our level is still too low.”

“In any case, let’s trust Mr. Pei. I believe Dayark Group definitely won’t let this go.”

…

On the plane, Eric pulled down the window shade and closed his eyes to rest.

During the long flight, he had plenty of time to slowly organize the intelligence he had gathered in his mind and carefully extract useful information from those three questions.

At the dining table, he and Mr. Pei had each asked three questions and answered three questions.

Eric knew clearly that they were both old foxes, and neither would completely take the other’s words at face value.

But Eric also knew that both his and Mr. Pei’s purpose was to dig out information useful to themselves from the mix of truth and falsehood in each other’s answers.

“The three questions Mr. Pei asked me were about IOI’s new domestic server manager, Dayark’s upper limit for burning money, and the possibility of exceeding this limit.”

“He has some curiosity about his new opponent, but isn’t extremely concerned. What he cares more about is how much money Dayark Group will ultimately burn.”

“This indicates that… ‘burning money’ is the crux of this business war.”

“The three questions I asked were all related to Tenda’s marketing strategy. Although Mr. Pei’s answers mixed truth and falsehood, if analyzed carefully…”

Eric pondered seriously.

Over the past few months, he had conducted extensive investigations. Apart from some detailed content at the execution level, he had figured out GOG’s operational methods.

It was nothing more than burning money frantically at all costs!

Originally, Eric thought that Tenda was just willing to spend money on marketing, but later he discovered that making less profit was a form of burning money.

All of GOG’s heroes were free, all skins were dirt cheap, and the first skin for player-designed heroes was directly 90% off… With such a series of discounts, it was practically no different from giving everything away.

And a very important reason why IOI had always been unable to beat GOG was in the pricing of heroes and skins.

Although price wars were low, they were indeed remarkably effective.

Eric knew this point but couldn’t change it because it was difficult to convince Dayark and Finger Company’s senior management to change skin prices to be as cheap as GOG’s—the profit involved was simply too substantial.

So, what Eric wanted to ask was: How could Tenda dare to burn money like this?

It’s worth noting that Tenda hadn’t gone public, so the option of burning investors’ and shareholders’ money didn’t exist—they were burning the company’s money. Or more accurately, they were burning Mr. Pei’s money.

That’s why Eric was confused: didn’t Mr. Pei feel the pain of burning money like this?

Mr. Pei’s answers to the three questions could be summed up in one point.

Because MOBA games are winner-takes-all, they must continue burning money, otherwise, all previous efforts would be wasted.

They would use all the funds that Tenda could mobilize to burn money and promote GOG;

As for the risk of breaking the capital chain, Mr. Pei’s answer was simply “believing in his luck.”

This was a gambler’s mentality!

Eric rubbed his temples.

“Based on the available information, Mr. Pei’s actual behavior is indeed consistent with what he said. Calling him a gambler is not an exaggeration.”

“If this information is true, then Mr. Pei saying these words might have two purposes:”

“The first possibility is to scare off Dayark Company, telling them that this war is a bottomless pit. If they don’t dare to follow through to the end, then they should give up early.”

“It’s like going all-in with your chips at a poker table, creating enormous psychological pressure on your opponent, betting they won’t call, and eating up the chips currently on the table.”

“The second possibility is to use reverse psychology, getting Dayark Company to burn money along with them, including reducing skin prices. This way, both parties would enter a dangerous close-quarters combat, but the entire MOBA game community would rapidly expand further.”

“Once the pie gets bigger, the winner takes all and can gain even greater benefits.”

“But the latter is too risky and doesn’t seem like rational behavior.”

“What if this is false information deliberately released by Mr. Pei?”

“That would mean Mr. Pei is not a gambler but is bluffing, which would still serve the purpose of ‘intimidation’—in plain words, he still wants to scare Dayark Company away.”

“Indeed, trying to guess Mr. Pei’s psychology is too difficult.”

“However, I can also bypass this issue and start from realistic conditions.”

“Mr. Pei’s answers to these three questions inadvertently verified one of my guesses, which is…”

“Although Tenda burns money fiercely, their cash flow isn’t particularly healthy, or rather, Tenda Group is actually in a state of dancing on the edge of a knife.”

Eric had already analyzed that, given Tenda company’s investment and returns, it was highly likely that they were constantly maintaining a state of minimal profit or even small losses. In other words, Mr. Pei seemed to place too much emphasis on the turnover speed of funds, resulting in the company’s risk resistance not being strong.

Tenda was indeed willing to spend money, but this spending also had its limits.

Once the speed of spending exceeded Tenda’s profitability, Tenda’s capital chain would become very dangerous.

And when Eric asked about the capital chain issue, Mr. Pei’s answer was “relying on luck.”

Eric had already vaguely found an answer: “That is to say, I don’t need to dwell on what Mr. Pei’s mentality is. Regardless of whether he’s a gambler or not, Tenda Group’s capital chain is in fact in a relatively tense state.”

“In other words, Dayark Group’s money burning will have a ‘limit value,’ and this limit value is the profitability of all of Tenda Group’s industries combined, plus the upper limit of funds that Tenda Group can obtain through various means.”

“Before exceeding this limit value, no matter how much money is burned, it’s useless—GOG’s first-mover advantage cannot be shaken. But once this limit value is exceeded, it’s possible to drag down the entire Tenda Group!”

Eric couldn’t help but smile.

When he previously answered Mr. Pei’s question, he had mentioned a number: 100 million dollars. He said this was his estimate of the upper limit of money Dayark Group could bear to burn.

If burning money didn’t achieve obvious results, then Dayark Group would burn at most this much money.

This statement was a mix of truth and falsehood, difficult to discern. But regardless of whether Mr. Pei believed it or not, it would establish an anchor point in Mr. Pei’s mind, having a certain suggestive effect.

Moreover, Eric’s assumed premise was that Dayark Group wasn’t particularly clear about Tenda Group’s situation and would only burn money up to their psychological bottom line before conceding.

But what if Eric shared this intelligence with Dayark Group’s senior management?

Christian would adopt operational strategies different from Eric’s, possibly making certain modifications to the IOI game itself, and possibly partnering with Chinese domestic game companies for operations.

But Eric judged that the effects of Christian’s series of measures wouldn’t be much better than his own.

When Christian also failed, Eric could take the opportunity to report these materials to Dayark Group’s senior management, and would be highly likely to get a chance to make a comeback.

At that time, Dayark Group would either give up the money-burning war with Tenda Group or would follow Eric’s suggestion and continue burning until Tenda reached its limit!

If it were the former, there would be nothing to say; but if it were the latter, then Eric would have a chance to turn things around!