FV Esports Club.
Wu Yue, who had just received the news, was utterly speechless and felt his anger rising.
“Does the official organization have to be like this? Our FV Club’s participation slot was given by the officials, and we earned the first seed position through our abilities. Yet out of three teams, the other two are arranged to train in Los Angeles, while we get no information?”
“They’re not treating us like their own team, are they?”
“Just because they have some grudge with Mr. Pei, they have to mess with our mindset like this?”
These esports clubs all had very efficient information networks. FV Esports Club quickly learned that Dragon Universe Group was organizing the other two teams to go to Los Angeles early for training. Expedited visas were already being processed, and reportedly, Dragon Universe Group would cover all accommodation expenses in Los Angeles, even helping to arrange practice matches with European and American teams.
However, all this information came through other channels—Dragon Universe Group hadn’t planned to notify FV Club at all, not even bothering with a perfunctory explanation!
This could only mean one thing: Dragon Universe Group deliberately excluded FV Club from the Los Angeles trip.
Manager Lu quickly tried to calm him down: “Please calm down, Mr. Wu. This situation is indeed outrageous, but we don’t have any good options.”
“This early training trip to Los Angeles is probably an initiative organized by Dragon Universe Group itself, not part of the official World Championship procedures hosted by Fingertip Company.”
“So Dragon Universe Group could argue that taking us would be a favor, not taking us is their prerogative, and they can spend their money taking whoever they want. Many teams from other regions don’t get this kind of treatment either.”
Wu Yue said: “This is discrimination! Differential treatment! We should file a complaint, or just post about it on Weibo to make it public, let everyone see the true face of these people at Dragon Universe Group!”
Manager Lu quickly shook his head: “Mr. Wu, that wouldn’t be appropriate!”
“Dragon Universe Group hasn’t officially publicized this matter. If we expose it, they could immediately change their story and say this was just club-initiated behavior, with Dragon Universe Group only facilitating connections and playing a minor role. Since the truth of this matter is easily obscured, if we rashly start a campaign and Dragon Universe Group plays tai chi with us, they could easily cover it up. We’d end up looking petty and suspicious of their good intentions.”
“As for filing a complaint, that’s even more useless. Wouldn’t that be like ‘a commoner accusing the official in his court’?”
“Moreover, in esports, results ultimately speak louder than words. If we make a big scene about this online now, stirring up drama, what if we don’t perform well at the World Championship? The public opinion would backfire, and at that point, even if we’re in the right, we won’t be perceived as such.”
“It’s not hard to imagine what netizens would say if we fail at the World Championship: ‘A team this lousy still has the nerve to demand money from officials to go train in Los Angeles? You should have just given your slot to SUG!”
“As long as we lose, the criticisms will fly everywhere. We can’t ignore the potential consequences.”
Wu Yue nodded with a dark expression: “I see. It seems Zhao Xuming is counting on exactly this point, believing that even if we expose this, we won’t gain anything from it. That’s why he’s being so blatant—to make an example of us, warning others while taking a shot at Tenda.”
“So… are we just supposed to swallow this bitter pill? Dragon Universe Group does something this disgusting, and we can’t even speak up?”
Manager Lu thought for a moment: “We can certainly speak up, but not right now.”
“Jumping out to start a controversy before match results are known is something only fools would do. On one hand, it adds tremendous public pressure on your players, affecting their performance; on the other hand, if we lose the match, the opposition will seize the opportunity to kick us while we’re down. The public won’t take our side either, and we’d be completely buried.”
“The best approach is actually to settle scores after the fall harvest—if we win the matches, we can use our victorious momentum to reveal everything. Attacking with the wind at our back is the best choice.”
“So for us now, the best option is to endure the humiliation, try not to let this affect our players’ mindset, and actively prepare for battle. After we achieve good results at the World Championship, we can use public opinion to counterattack Dragon Universe Group.”
“As long as our results are better than the other two clubs, regardless of whether we win the championship or runner-up, even if we only make the top four or eight, we’ll have a case to make.”
“At that point, we can say that the officials’ differential treatment led to subpar results for the entire region, and if we had received the same treatment, perhaps our results could have been even better, and so on.”
“In the end, it all comes down to results—without results, everything else is pointless.”
Wu Yue remained silent for a moment, then let out a soft sigh: “It’s difficult!”
“Our current lineup looks good on paper, but judging from the qualification matches, our strength is just about on par with the other two teams, and we benefited somewhat from the schedule. If we played another non-bladder-testing series, we might not even beat them.”
“The benefits of training in Los Angeles are obvious—low latency on European and American servers, better adaptation to the game version, practice matches with currently stronger European and American teams. Their improvement will be faster than ours.”
“We can’t just rely on wishful thinking to beat them.”
Manager Lu nodded, also feeling that the situation was indeed grim.
Esports isn’t just about determination and perseverance; it also requires scientific training methods and good supporting facilities.
Many players have exceptional talent but can’t achieve results in certain clubs, often due to poor management, inappropriate training methods, and inadequate supporting facilities.
Wu Yue said, “What if we go to Los Angeles ourselves?”
Manager Lu was silent for a moment: “Dragon Universe Group is organizing their trip to Los Angeles because they can connect with Fingertip Company, get high-ranked accounts on European and American servers when they arrive, and arrange practice matches with established European and American teams using their official status. Considering Dragon Universe Group’s attitude toward us, even if we pay out of our own pockets to go, we definitely won’t have access to these resources!”
“We can’t travel to Los Angeles only to have our players play ranked games in low divisions on European and American servers every day, can we? That would make them worse, not better.”
“Moreover, with our large group, the expenses would be substantial. If we go early with all accommodation costs on us, and we want to feed the players well, plus accompanying staff… even with just 8 people, it would cost at least 200,000 yuan. If we consider the training situation and bring our second team as well, that figure would double.”
“Of course, our club can afford this money, but the problem is that spending the money doesn’t guarantee training effectiveness—the cost-performance ratio is too poor.”
Wu Yue thought about it and realized this was indeed the case.
Dragon Universe Group was organizing the other two teams to train in Los Angeles because they had high-ranked accounts and could arrange practice matches with European and American teams. Without those resources, spending several hundred thousand yuan just to adapt to the environment early really wasn’t necessary.
After careful consideration, Wu Yue said: “This small matter probably isn’t worth bothering Mr. Pei about. Let me call Mr. Zhang from Tenda’s Esports Division and ask for his advice.”
“If it’s not worth it, we won’t go. We’ll stay in China and play practice matches with domestic teams, and arrange other practice matches during the World Championship period.”
…
December 17, Saturday.
Today was the regular Loss Manager meeting.
Spring Festival came early this year, on January 23rd, so the exam week had also been moved up a bit. The Loss Managers were all spending a lot of time reviewing for exams alongside their work.
This Loss Manager meeting didn’t have much noteworthy information, as most products were still in the final stages of development. Products like the Fully Automated Intelligent Argument Machine hadn’t shown any signs of backstabbing yet, so naturally, there wasn’t much useful information here.
Pei Qian knew that next month would begin the real battle.
The fact that the settlement period coincided with exam week was quite a sour experience.
Whether he could defeat Old Ma in this exam would depend on his final push before the test.
The Loss Managers reported on their respective departments as usual, and soon it was the Esports Division Loss Manager’s turn.
This Loss Manager had been following Zhang Yuan all along, originally responsible for the DGE Club. After the Esports Division and GPL League were established, he naturally infiltrated the inner circle. Currently, whether it was DGE or other clubs, or even the entire esports operation, nothing escaped his eyes.
“The GPL pre-season is about to enter its second half. The matches have been going smoothly so far. Occasional in-game bugs and equipment issues have all been properly resolved, which should accumulate valuable experience for the spring season.”
Currently, the main lineups for all GPL clubs have been finalized. Those teams not participating in the GPL pre-season are also playing practice matches and actively preparing for the spring season.”
“DGE Club’s new batch of players has again been completely bought out. Although their strength is somewhat inferior to the earliest batch of players, these people have good talent and have been specially trained by the veteran players, so they’ve still secured starting positions in various new teams…”
Pei Qian’s hand holding the teacup involuntarily trembled.
Although he had mentally prepared for this, when he heard the news, he still felt his heart skip a beat.
Another ten players—how much money would that bring in!
This batch of players was the second batch after Huang Wang, Jiang Huan, and the others were collectively bought out. They still sold well, and this back-and-forth of transfer fees was enough to give Mr. Pei a headache.
There were good reasons why DGE’s players sold so well.
First, DGE Club had a strong reputation, so promising newcomers tended to join DGE Club to increase their value, while other clubs believed buying players from DGE Club would not be a loss, so they bought decisively.
Truly capable, promising newcomers were willing to come to the DGE Club because once they performed well, they could immediately jump to other clubs for big contracts. DGE never engaged in contract locking or benching tactics, so newcomers felt more secure. For other clubs, DGE Club didn’t directly compete with them, posed no threat to their standings, and helped train players, so they were happy to buy from DGE.
The veteran players who had left DGE would occasionally return to give pointers to DGE’s newcomers. Over time, “players from DGE can all stand on their own” became the fixed impression among the entire league’s audience and clubs, putting DGE’s operations into a virtuous cycle.
As a result, DGE’s new players were like crops of leeks, harvested and sold off entirely every so often, bringing in a considerable sum of transfer fees.
Regarding this, Pei Qian was helpless.
He pretended to calmly take a sip of tea and asked: “So, how much are the transfer fees in total?”
The Loss Manager said, “Ten players, their performances varied. Some C-position players with strong mechanics or leadership abilities fetched higher prices, with transfer fees exceeding 1.5 million. Those with average performances might only get 700,000 to 800,000, around 1 million. Together, these players’ transfer fees totaled about 13 million.”
Pei Qian: “…”
He almost blurted out a curse.
This number seriously exceeded his mental expectations!
The previous transfer fees for Huang Wang, Jiang Huan, and others were around 2 million, so Pei Qian had assumed these young players’ transfer fees would top out at 1 million.
But that wasn’t the case!
In the earliest days, the transfer fees for star players like Huang Wang and Jiang Huan contained some inflated elements, as the major clubs were making a push for the GOG Global Invitational results, aiming for high prize money and exposure.
But with GOG’s gradually increasing global market share, the success of the GOG Global Invitational, and the rising popularity of the GPL League…
After this series of operations, the market value of star players like Huang Wang and Jiang Huan was also rapidly inflating as more capital entered the scene!
Now their transfer fees were far beyond 2 million.
With the value of top players rising, the value of DGE Club’s second batch of promising newcomers naturally increased as well.
Ten people might not seem like many, but their transfer fees added up to 13 million.
What made Pei Qian feel somewhat sick wasn’t this number, but the timing!
Mr. Pei was, after all, someone who had seen the big picture. He had experienced the flow of hundreds of millions several times, let alone a mere ten million.
Since it wouldn’t reach his pocket anyway, it was just a number.
The key was how much time it took to earn this ten-plus million!
These players were brought in during September, and now it was December—after just three months of training, they were sold for 13 million!
Calculating this way, DGE Club earned over 4 million per month, easily.
Not to mention DGE Club’s commercial sponsorships and streaming contracts!
And DGE Club’s daily expenses weren’t much. The training base was rented from Mr. Li, and Manager Cui of Mingcloud Mountain Villa treated Mr. Pei almost like a father figure, so rent, utilities, and other daily expenses hardly cost anything.
The only expenses might be food and fitness-related daily costs.
But with Slackin’ Takeout and Tuoguan Fitness, how much could these players spend even if they ate and exercised without restraint?
Pei Qian felt mentally exhausted.
Others opened clubs to burn money, and his original intention in opening a club was also to burn money, but somehow, along the way, it turned into a money-making venture!
A club specializing in buying and selling players for profit, a club that couldn’t compete in matches, yet had a bigger reputation than championship teams—it was absurd.
People said DGE Club trained players well, so they deserved to earn these 10+ million in transfer fees, but the problem was that these players were already good seeds to begin with!
Because promising newcomers were all desperately trying to get into the DGE Club, making it their first choice, just randomly selecting a few during tryouts would yield promising newcomers.
It was like many super schools that cherry-picked the best students from surrounding areas—how could their results not be good?
Pei Qian silently took a sip of tea to adjust his mindset: “Continue.”
The Loss Manager continued: “Currently, many clubs have already received sponsorships. Although the amounts vary, and it’s not yet possible to maintain club operations solely on these sponsorships, it’s a good start.”
“Before the spring season begins, some teams will likely have sponsor logos on their uniforms. While too many sponsors aren’t good, having none isn’t good either—it would make audiences feel the league lacks popularity.”
Pei Qian nodded slightly. Sponsors stuffing money into clubs could do as they pleased; it had nothing to do with him.
The Loss Manager shifted topics: “Additionally, many sponsors have expressed strong interest in exclusive naming rights for GPL, including computer manufacturers, peripheral manufacturers, as well as sportswear, digital products, and automobile manufacturers.”
“However, the specific prices haven’t been finalized yet; negotiations are still ongoing.”
Currently, exclusive cooperation with single-type merchants is priced at around 5 million per year, while exclusive naming rights are priced at around 20 million per year. Due to some details in the sponsorship, negotiations are still ongoing.”
“As for streaming platforms, GPL spring and summer season broadcast rights will be considered for authorization to three streaming platforms, with a base price of 10 million. Currently, it looks like the bidding prices should all reach above 12 million…”
“These are all still being discussed. Mr. Zhang is also compiling information from various sources and should report back soon.”
Listening to these numbers, Pei Qian felt his hands and feet turning cold, his mind going blank.
He had thought DGE Club’s crazy player sales were already bad news, but now he discovered the real bad news was yet to come!
Recently, Pei Qian’s attention had been completely drawn to the IOI qualifiers and the Cold Noodle Girl, and he hadn’t paid much attention to the GPL side. He had no idea the situation was already so serious!
He should have anticipated this—with so many sponsors approaching teams for cooperation, there would be more seeking cooperation with the official organization!
Currently, GPL League’s sponsorship pricing is tiered.
Single-type exclusive cooperation meant that after a certain brand sponsored the league, they monopolized that category of goods. For instance, if a sportswear brand signed an exclusive deal with GPL, GPL would not negotiate cooperation with other sportswear brands in the future.
Of course, this wouldn’t affect officials from seeking cooperation with computer, automobile, digital product manufacturers, and so on.
As for exclusive naming rights, which could be considered the chief sponsorship, this would receive the official’s best promotional resources, so naturally, the price was the highest.
The competition among streaming platforms was even more intense. After all, the major streaming platforms were all in a phase of burning money and directing traffic. Not securing GPL broadcast rights would give users the impression that “this platform isn’t very good,” so the bidding prices were being pushed very high.
That said, these amounts couldn’t compare to the sponsorship fees in Pei Qian’s memory, which often reached hundreds of millions.
But the problem was, this was just the beginning!
The GOG game had existed for less than a year, and domestic recognition of esports wasn’t that high, yet it could already command such high sponsorship fees—in Pei Qian’s view, this was already extremely outrageous!
But thinking carefully, there was some rationality to it.
The immense popularity of the GOG World Finals had already demonstrated the huge potential of esports events, and GPL was run too well, with almost no competitors at present.
Moreover, news of giants like Shenhua entering the scene and GPL’s sky-high slot prices continuously stimulated the audience’s nerves. Sponsors, seeing the advertising effect brought by this huge popularity, compared the pricing with traditional sports and found it to be a bargain, so they naturally entered the scene one after another.
Pei Qian mentally calculated that GPL was very likely to earn hundreds of millions in funding through various sponsorships and broadcast rights for the spring and summer seasons.
The good news was that these hundreds of millions would be earned throughout the year, making it slightly more acceptable when spread across each month.
The bad news was that sponsorship fees might be even higher next year.
Pei Qian considered that this money probably couldn’t be pushed away.
Since that was the case, he needed to tell Zhang Yuan to have these sponsors pay in installments, spreading the money evenly across each month. They absolutely must not transfer it all at once, especially not right at critical junctures like before settlement.
Otherwise, Mr. Pei would ascend to heaven on the spot.
“Is there anything else?” Pei Qian asked, feeling somewhat tired.
The Loss Manager thought for a moment: “Oh, there’s one small matter regarding FV Club. Dragon Universe Group is arranging for domestic teams to train in Los Angeles, but specifically left out FV Team…”
Wu Yue had called Zhang Yuan to discuss this matter, and since there was no need for secrecy, the Loss Manager knew about it too.
After hearing this, Pei Qian’s eyes lit up.
How could this be called a small matter?
There’s no such thing as a small expense!
These Wu Yue this Zhang Yuan both deserved a stern reprimand! How could they not report such matters to me immediately? What were they thinking?
Dragon Universe Group was taking two teams to Los Angeles, specifically leaving out the FV Club?
This was great news!
This was a precious opportunity to spend money!
Considering the expenses in Los Angeles, if they brought more people and set the highest food and accommodation standards allowed by the system, that could cost quite a bit!
After hearing so much bad news, finally some good news.
After the Loss Manager meeting ended, Pei Qian immediately called Wu Yue.
…
At FV Club, Wu Yue was still struggling with the team’s training issues when he saw it was Mr. Pei calling, and quickly answered.
“Hello? Mr. Pei, is there something I can help with?” Wu Yue asked.
Mr. Pei on the other end seemed somewhat displeased: “Why didn’t you tell me about the other clubs going to Los Angeles?”
Wu Yue was taken aback and quickly explained: “Oh, Mr. Pei, I didn’t want to trouble you with such a small matter. I can handle it.”
Pei Qian: “What can you handle? Can you approve first-class flight tickets and five-star hotels for all team members, or can you find training opponents for the team?”
Wu Yue: “I…”
He thought about it and realized he really couldn’t. Although FV Club had enough money on paper, it was genuinely difficult for him to make the decision to spend several hundred thousand yuan to go to Los Angeles early.
Pei Qian said, “There’s no need to struggle with this anymore. Get expedited visas for everyone immediately! How many people are currently in the FV Club?”
Wu Yue thought about it: “The first team has 5 players, the second team also has 5 players. Additionally, there’s me, Manager Lu, and other team staff…”
“Ah, but we don’t need that many people. Just the first team players and Manager Lu would be enough—six people, three standard rooms would suffice.”
After hearing this, Pei Qian was very displeased: “How can six people be enough?”
“As the saying goes, ‘Before troops move, supplies go first.’ For military campaigns, if logistics can’t keep up, how can you fight at all?”
“In an unfamiliar place like Los Angeles, we need an interpreter, then a local guide familiar with the situation. Daily meals and accommodation all need dedicated staff to arrange.”
“Food absolutely cannot be neglected. We need to scout for good Chinese restaurants to ensure the players’ daily diet doesn’t cause problems or affect their physical condition.”
“Then hire four bodyguards. I’ve heard security isn’t great over there in America; we need to ensure the players’ safety.”
“Also, bring a practice team… SUG seems good. Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll pay to bring SUG’s players along with you all.”
“Let’s say a total of 30 people, with a food and accommodation standard of 3,000 yuan per person per day, staying until the end of the competition—about five weeks in total?”
“Just for food and accommodation standards, that’s 3.15 million. Hmm, once you’re in Los Angeles, you might need to shop, buy some local specialties, bring back some cheaper digital products, plus the previously mentioned costs for guides, bodyguards, and considering some potential unexpected situations…”
“Let’s round it up to 4 million.”
Wu Yue listened in astonishment.
Spending 4 million on one trip to Los Angeles?
The entire FV Club wasn’t worth that much!
Wu Yue quickly said, “Mr. Pei, that’s not necessary! Fingertip Company will cover food and accommodation after the official competition begins, so we only need to pay for round-trip tickets.”
“Even if we go a week early and cover our food and accommodation for that week, we certainly don’t need a standard of 3,000 yuan per person. A decent hotel near the venue with standard rooms for two people can be secured for under 1,000 yuan.”
“The accommodation arranged by Fingertip Company is a bit better, but a standard room for two people is only about 200 dollars per night, around 1,400 yuan…”
Pei Qian immediately disliked what he was hearing.
What did this mean? Didn’t want me to spend money?
At your minimum standard, six people going, staying in 1,000-yuan standard rooms for one night, and only paying out of pocket for the first week?
You’d be lucky to spend a hundred thousand or so!
Pei Qian immediately interrupted Wu Yue: “Just because Fingertip Company arranged food and accommodation for us, do we have to go with that? What if their arrangements don’t meet our requirements?”
“The players are traveling thousands of miles to a foreign country to compete. If something goes wrong, can you take that responsibility? As the saying goes, ‘Prepare for rainy days.’ If spending some money can eliminate these hidden risks, it’s quite worth it!”
“Do as I said. The money will be sent over soon.”
Pei Qian hung up after saying this.
Wu Yue looked at the already disconnected phone screen, feeling bewildered.
Thirty spots?
FV Club’s first team, second team, plus SUG’s five main players—that was only fifteen people.
Where would they find thirty people to go?