According to reason, although Bunny Tail Livestream’s real data was different from other livestreaming platforms, it shouldn’t be exaggerated so repeatedly, right?
Most viewers only cared about the livestream content and probably wouldn’t pay much attention to things like the number of people in the livestream room.
And looking at the wording of these posts, as well as the replies beneath them…
There were obvious signs of deliberate trend manipulation!
So who exactly was behind this?
Without a doubt, it was most likely Zhao Xuming’s doing!
Because only a few companies had business relationships with Bunny Tail Livestream. Other livestreaming platforms wouldn’t hire internet trolls to smear themselves—their bosses weren’t Mr. Pei.
And Bunny Tail Livestream itself had never hired internet trolls to hype its real data.
So the answer was very clear: it was obviously Zhao Xuming deliberately manipulating public opinion by hyping Bunny Tail Livestream’s real data to create the impression among viewers that the ICL League was extremely popular, thereby offsetting the impression that there were too few people in the livestream rooms!
But this way, Bunny Tail Livestream was being dragged down too!
Pei Qian was absolutely furious.
Why did companies with business connections to him always inexplicably implicate him?
If you want to hype the ICL League, then just focus on hyping it properly. What does it have to do with my Bunny Tail Livestream?
Now look what’s happened—all the other livestreaming platforms have been hit with an AOE attack, and Bunny Tail Livestream has been highlighted again!
…
Meanwhile.
Yangcheng, ZZ Livestream Headquarters.
Liu Liang paced back and forth in his office, looking extremely anxious.
“It’s begun, it’s begun!”
“I knew it! After Mr. Pei teamed up with Zhao Xuming, they definitely wouldn’t just quietly livestream the ICL League—they were bound to stir things up!”
“This time they’ve completely exposed the unwritten rules of the livestreaming circle. It’s an indiscriminate AOE attack!”
“It seems Zhao Xuming is determined to be in the same boat as Mr. Pei, completely disregarding our attitudes as livestreaming platforms?”
Ever since Bunny Tail Livestream secured the exclusive broadcasting rights for the ICL League, Liu Liang had been keeping a close eye on developments. Naturally, he immediately noticed the recent online appearance of what seemed to be internet trolls manipulating trends and exposing data falsification by livestreaming platforms.
Liu Liang didn’t dare take this lightly because it directly affected the interests of platforms like ZZ Livestream, YY Livestream, Wolf Fang Livestream, and others!
Competition between livestreaming platforms had always been intense. To attract more attention and generate greater buzz to catch investors’ eyes, “fabricating data” had become an unwritten rule for all livestreaming platforms. Everyone did it—it was just a matter of who was more outrageous.
Previously, fabricating data was just something everyone did without anyone making a big deal about it.
Because all livestreaming platforms did it, some more, some less, and viewers had no way of distinguishing which one was more excessive.
All livestreaming platforms benefited from it, so no one would say much about it.
But now Bunny Tail Livestream had suddenly appeared as an anomaly, and people online with ulterior motives were manipulating public opinion. They instantly took the high ground and launched a merciless AOE attack against all livestreaming platforms!
In Liu Liang’s view, the mastermind behind this was definitely Mr. Pei!
Because Mr. Pei was the biggest beneficiary in this matter, and at the same time, Mr. Pei gave people the impression of being resourceful and calculating.
If Mr. Pei bought the exclusive broadcasting rights for the ICL League just to plainly broadcast the matches, he would definitely lose money.
How could Mr. Pei lose money? He must have had many follow-up moves after buying the exclusive broadcasting rights for the ICL League!
And launching a crazy AOE attack on all livestreaming platforms over “fabricating data” was clearly one of those follow-up moves.
As for Eric and Zhao Xuming, they were definitely aware of this too.
But what puzzled Liu Liang was why Zhao Xuming knew about it but didn’t try to stop it. Wasn’t he afraid of antagonizing these livestreaming platforms?
Liu Liang’s assistant said from the side: “Mr. Liu, I think Zhao Xuming is probably happy about this too!”
“The exclusive broadcasting rights for the ICL League have already been sold, so he won’t be dealing with us livestreaming platforms in the short term. Besides, when he was selling the ICL League broadcasting rights before, he had plenty of friction with us, so he’s probably just watching from the sidelines and taking pleasure in our misfortune.”
“Moreover, the more popular Bunny Tail Livestream becomes, the higher the popularity of the ICL League will be.”
“So even though Zhao Xuming has sided with Bunny Tail Livestream and stands in opposition to all other livestreaming platforms, it’s nothing compared to the benefits he’s currently receiving.”
“I think we’re the ones in a precarious situation now.”
“The ICL League is getting better and better—we have to admit that even if we’re unwilling. Are we really going to give up on this popularity?”
Liu Liang fell silent.
Indeed, his assistant made sense. Now it wasn’t Zhao Xuming begging everyone to buy broadcasting rights; instead, other livestreaming platforms needed the ICL League broadcasting rights.
No one dared doubt Mr. Pei’s abilities. As long as Mr. Pei wanted to promote Bunny Tail Livestream and the ICL League, he would definitely succeed—it was just a matter of time.
If initially everyone thought that since Mr. Pei already had GPL, he wouldn’t promote ICL again, then the events of the past few days proved that this was a completely wrong view.
Mr. Pei’s attitude was clearly: I want it all!
So, losing the popularity of the ICL League would be bad news for all major livestreaming platforms.
After considering for a moment, Liu Liang asked: “Do you think… is there any possibility that Mr. Pei might distribute the broadcasting rights for the ICL League?”
Distribution here meant selling the exclusive broadcasting rights to others. Who to sell to and for how much would be up to him. Of course, he would still retain broadcasting rights himself, but it would no longer be exclusive.
The assistant looked troubled: “I think… it’s unlikely!”
“Usually, distribution happens when someone secures exclusive rights but then realizes they can’t make money, or the expenses don’t match the popularity of the exclusive content. Only then would they choose to distribute to recoup costs.”
“But what kind of person is Mr. Pei?”
“Mr. Pei has always been a big player—either he doesn’t eat, or if he does eat, he usually eats alone. Now the ICL League is the only exclusive content on Bunny Tail Livestream and it’s on the rise. If he were going to sell, it definitely wouldn’t be now.”
“If Mr. Pei really intends to sell, the price will definitely not be low. We should be prepared to bleed a lot of money.”
Liu Liang nodded slightly: “Hmm… even if we have to bleed a lot, we still need to buy it!”
What he felt now was regret, extreme regret.
If only he had known, he would have directly bought the ICL League broadcasting rights from Zhao Xuming for 9 million. Now, even adding three or four million more to buy from Mr. Pei might not be enough!
But there was nothing he could do—no one could predict the future.
If we go back two weeks, even if someone had told Liu Liang that Mr. Pei was going to spend big money to buy the exclusive broadcasting rights for the ICL League, he simply wouldn’t have believed it!
Now it was no longer a question of whether other livestreaming platforms could afford it, but whether Mr. Pei was willing to sell.
Liu Liang didn’t have any better options; he could only continue to wait and see.
But his waiting was filled with anxiety because the higher the popularity of the ICL League, the lower the possibility that Mr. Pei would distribute its broadcasting rights, and the more expensive it would be for them to buy.
Liu Liang was speechless. Broadcasting rights that could have been easily secured for seven or eight million now would cost who knows how much!
…
…
March 9th, Friday.
Tengda Games.
Chen Yufeng arrived at the office area and saw the colleagues in the Tengda Games department busy working intensely.
Currently, Tengda Games was still divided into two parts: one responsible for the development of “Mission and Choice,” and the other for the daily maintenance and operation of GOG.
At present, the development of “Mission and Choice” was in its final stages, undergoing the last optimizations and bug fixes, mainly polishing details. They planned to start promotional warm-up next month.
The movie was scheduled for release during the May Day Golden Week holiday, and the game would be officially released simultaneously with the movie’s premiere.
As for GOG, they were carrying out routine updates and maintenance work, including the design of new heroes, version balancing, and so on.
Chen Yufeng couldn’t help but sigh in admiration—the gaming department was indeed worthy of being Tengda’s elite department. Everyone’s focus seemed very concentrated and their work efficiency was high!
Bunny Tail Livestream should really take Tengda Games department as a model and study hard.
He went straight to Min Jingchao, GOG’s current lead designer.
Min Jingchao was surprised to see Chen Yufeng: “Why did you come in person? Perfect timing—the feature you requested is ready. Let me show you.”
Min Jingchao opened a mini-program on his computer.
The screen played yesterday’s GPL match that had just finished, including the observer view, commentary, and various post-match segments—completely identical to the content broadcast on various livestreaming platforms.
What was different, however, was that the interface at the bottom of the screen was displaying real-time data from the current game.
For example: real-time economy of both sides, the amount of money they had, damage output and damage taken by team members in a particular teamfight, vision score, and so on.
Additionally, one could query these teams’ historical data, including first blood rate, first tower win rate, hero ban/pick rates and win rates, etc.
The real-time data from the current game, as well as the entire team’s historical data, were automatically generated and displayed in charts according to specific formats.
For instance, teamfight output was shown in bar graphs, economy distribution in pie charts, lane economy differences and equipment changes in line graphs, and so on.
Moreover, these charts also included player IDs, hero avatars, and equipment icons, making everything crystal clear at a glance.
This data had always been available in the backend but had never been released. The director would only show it when deemed necessary, mainly to avoid affecting the viewers’ watching experience.
Now, Min Jingchao had arranged for someone to create a simple data interface for Bunny Tail Livestream. This way, when Bunny Tail Livestream broadcast GPL matches, viewers could see this content in real-time.
Chen Yufeng was delighted: “That’s perfect! This is exactly what I wanted!”
“When Mr. Pei previously said to have Bunny Tail Livestream broadcast the GPL League, I kept wondering: other livestreaming platforms have been broadcasting for so long that viewers simply can’t be bothered to switch platforms—who would come to Bunny Tail Livestream to watch?”
“With this data, we should be able to attract a batch of relatively hardcore viewers.”
“This Saturday, the GPL League will premiere on Bunny Tail Livestream, and it’s also the opening ceremony for the ICL League. If the GPL League’s viewership gets completely overshadowed by the ICL League, that wouldn’t be appropriate.”
“With this mini-program, there should be no problem! Thank you so much!”
Min Jingchao smiled: “You’re welcome. This is all part of our job. If you have any requests in the future, just let us know. We’ll definitely be able to meet them!”