December 2nd, Friday.

In Slackin’ Internet Café, Pei Qian sipped coffee while reviewing the weekly work reports submitted by various departments.

For some reason, he had a strange feeling of reviewing imperial memorials.

Now Pei Qian could somewhat understand why those incompetent emperors in ancient times disliked attending court and reviewing memorials. It was indeed a troublesome matter—how could it compare to the pleasure of being a hands-off boss who enjoyed eating, drinking, and having fun all day!

Currently, Tenda has many industries, and it would be overwhelming if department heads all came to report their work in person. Besides, Pei Qian didn’t want that, as he valued his freedom.

Therefore, Pei Qian’s supervision of Tenda’s various departments was mainly conducted through two methods:

The first was through regular weekly reports submitted by each department, summarizing the week’s work in just a few dozen characters. This way, Pei Qian could roughly know what these departments were planning and take preventive measures in advance.

The second was through Manager Guan’s biweekly meetings, where reports would be more detailed. These reports could also cross-reference with the departmental weekly reports to ensure information accuracy.

As Pei Qian flipped through the reports from various departments, he paused at Shangyang Games’ report.

“Hmm? The new DLCs for ‘Lonely Desert Highway’ and ‘Game Developer’ were officially launched yesterday?”

“That’s good news.”

“…Am I the last one to know about this?”

Over the past few days, besides attending classes, Pei Qian had spent considerable time cramming for exams.

The exam period was next month, and the junior-year courses were relatively more difficult than those in freshman and sophomore years, with more subjects to test.

Previously failing to outperform Ma Yang, that slacker, in exams had been humiliating for Pei Qian.

Could he finally redeem himself this time?

It was worth noting that Ma Yang was extremely busy these days. He had to livestream to “sell products,” give away money on Weibo, and had become a celebrity at school. He might even be recognized walking on campus, with many students respectfully addressing him as “Mr. Ma” upon seeing his long face.

Despite all this, Old Ma still found time to study seriously and prepare for exams.

As for Pei Qian, although everyone at Tenda Group believed that Mr. Pei was ten times busier than Mr. Ma, Pei Qian himself knew that his actual daily work time might only be about two hours.

Only during the month before the settlement period was he truly busy.

Therefore, Pei Qian felt that if he couldn’t outperform Old Ma under these circumstances, it would be truly unreasonable.

Moreover, Pei Qian had specially obtained notes from several academically excellent female classmates through various channels. He could say that he was fully prepared.

Reflecting on his previous failures to outperform Old Ma, Pei Qian realized that his main issue had been an incorrect study approach.

Using Ma Yang’s notes to study meant he could at best score the same as him—how could he possibly surpass him?

If Ma Yang’s notes had a ceiling of 70 points, then no matter how much he studied, he couldn’t break through that 70-point barrier!

So this time, Pei Qian shrewdly borrowed someone else’s notes, hoping to overtake Ma Yang on the inside lane and finally beat him in grades.

Otherwise, consistently performing worse than Old Ma, that slacker, in every exam would be too embarrassing! It would make it seem like Pei Qian couldn’t even slack off properly.

Focusing on studying these past few days, Pei Qian hadn’t paid attention to the launch of these two old game DLCs. That’s why he only found out belatedly, learning about it from Shangyang Games’ weekly report the day after the DLCs went online.

“Let me check the sales…”

“These two outdated games have been around for so long, everyone must be tired of them. There’s no way people would still buy their DLCs, right? No way, right?”

“Damn! What’s going on?”

Pei Qian opened the backend system to check and instantly lost his composure.

Of the two DLCs launched yesterday, “Lonely Desert Highway” DLC had already reached 250,000 copies sold, while “Game Developer” DLC had reached 130,000 copies!

Calculating roughly based on the pricing of 5 yuan and 18 yuan, after deducting commissions, taxes, and other expenses, these two DLCs had brought Tenda Games a net income of over 2 million yuan in just one day!

And this was only one day’s income.

In the coming week or even month, these DLCs would continue to generate revenue. In the next few days, as their influence spread, sales might even show signs of increasing!

Pei Qian was bewildered.

What the hell was going on?!

He truly couldn’t understand the current situation. How long had these two games been out? Shouldn’t they be gathering dust in players’ game libraries by now?

Why were people still clinging to these outdated games? And why were they still eagerly buying DLCs for them? Were they sick in the head?

Pei Qian had decided to make DLCs for these old games with two intentions:

First, to divert manpower from Shangyang Games by having Wang Xiaobin, who wasn’t skilled in gameplay design, work on these DLCs. This would slow down GOG’s overseas operations slightly, giving IOI a chance to catch its breath.

Second, he thought that since few people played these old games anymore, quietly updating DLCs would spend money without generating sales—a win-win situation.

But now, looking at the results, he realized he had been completely delusional!

These sales figures were absurd!

Pei Qian’s predominant feelings were confusion and bewilderment.

What happened to Wang Xiaobin not being skilled in game design? What happened to old games having no players?

What was going on now?

Confused, Pei Qian browsed the forums and came across an enthusiastic long comment from a player.

“Tenda Games: A Perfect Example of Sincerity Creating a Win-Win Situation!”

“Yesterday, when I heard that ‘Lonely Desert Highway’ and ‘Game Developer’ had updated DLCs, my first reaction was disbelief. These two games had been out of fashion for a long time, and the base games were already free. Was there any need to release DLCs? Could they make money?”

“I was confused. Tenda has GOG and is developing new large-scale game projects. Why bother allocating time to develop DLCs for these old games that had already fulfilled their historical mission?”

“But now I understand. Tenda’s operation is full of strategy!”

“Everyone knows that ‘Lonely Desert Highway’ and ‘Game Developer’ have been free for a long time, so most people have claimed them and added them to their collections, right?”

“Originally, I thought this kind of free offering was a common promotional strategy. After all, the games’ lifespans were ending, and sales were dwindling. Sacrificing those remaining sales to expand the games’ influence was a good choice.”

“But now I realize that offering the base game for free and selling DLCs is also a great option! This is a complete trap!”

“It’s precisely because the base games are free that the player base has been greatly expanded, leading to such good sales when new DLCs are released!”

“What’s more commendable is that in addition to the original single-player gameplay, this DLC has added online gameplay, instantly activating the potential of these two games and giving veteran players new enjoyment! Moreover, this time the games have planted Easter eggs for Tenda’s new game, giving players even more reason to purchase!”

“That’s why I say Tenda Games is an example of sincerity creating a win-win situation.”

“If it were other companies, they would surely let old games fend for themselves, and players would have no choice but to let them gather dust in their game libraries.”

“But Tenda is different. They are willing to update old games periodically. On one hand, this demonstrates a strong sense of responsibility, making players feel that Tenda doesn’t abandon any game; on the other hand, they use interesting gameplay and Easter eggs to connect all the old games, making them part of the Tenda Games empire. The approach of offering games for free first and then selling DLCs has also achieved decent sales and revenue.”

“To be honest, this kind of sincerity isn’t difficult to achieve, but most companies are unwilling to do it because they think there’s no profit. Yet Tenda goes against the grain, showing just how uniquely independent this company is!”

“I’ll stop here. I’m buying these two DLCs right away as a sign of respect!”

Reading this long comment, Pei Qian’s expression froze.

Making games free to sell more DLCs?

Don’t mess with me, I never had that intention!

If the system didn’t require new products to have a price, would you believe that I would make all DLCs free?

Pei Qian had thought that in the worst-case scenario, he’d simply gain some goodwill, but he never expected that so many players would be willing to pay!

The proportion of players buying the DLCs compared to the total sales of the base games wasn’t high. But precisely because both base games were free, so many people had claimed and played them, that selling a DLC that activated new gameplay features would attract so many buyers!

“Time is of the essence. This money must be spent as soon as possible.”

“Should I visit Dreams Venture?”

Just thinking about making money again made Pei Qian feel uncomfortable all over.

Although there were still nearly two months until the settlement, these two DLCs would continue to generate revenue.

What to do with this money? He had to plan.

After some thought, Pei Qian decided he should visit Dreams Venture.

By now, it should be possible to see whether the earliest batch of invested companies were profitable. Sell off the profitable ones quickly, reinvest in the unprofitable ones—that should be enough to use up this unexpected windfall.

…

Dreams Venture, meeting room.

He Desheng began reporting the first round of investments to Mr. Pei.

“Mr. Pei, we’ve invested in a total of 11 companies. Two companies have shown clear signs of profitability, one company shows a clear trend toward profitability, three companies have decent attention and have attracted interest from other investors, and the remaining five companies have shown no movement. However, they still have significant funds in their company accounts and don’t lack money at present.”

Here are the detailed materials for each company. Please take a look.”

Pei Qian reached out to take the materials but found them full of complex financial statements, which gave him a headache.

He set the materials aside. “I don’t look at these things. Just follow my previous instructions. Those that are already profitable, sell immediately; those showing trends towards profitability, don’t invest more money and sell them once they become profitable; those that aren’t profitable, continue to observe; those that have spent all their money, continue to provide additional investment.”

“After selling, use the money earned to invest in the next companies in sequence. Our dispatched financial officers can also be recalled and reassigned to other companies.”