489 Crowdfund to Make a Game

April 18th, Monday…

The matter of the Secret Service had been handed over to Little Tang. He had no idea what kind of people she would find.

There were many departments in Tengda now. They would need at least a dozen people even if each department were to have one Manage Loss Trainee. It was impossible to get so many of them in a hurry.

Pei Qian's request was to gather everyone before next Saturday. That was so that he could hold a secret meeting on Saturday, when no one else was there, to arrange their work. There was a slight sense of mystery to it.

Pei Qian slept until he woke up naturally today. He came to the office after eating to show his face.

A knock from outside the door happened before he could open the Aili Island website to watch his drama.

"Eh?"

Pei Qian could not help but frown. What was so urgent?

This person had obviously been waiting outside for quite some time since he knocked two minutes after he entered the office.

"Enter."

Hu Xianbin pushed the door open.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the development of Struggle?" Pei Qian could not help but harbor some expectations in his heart.

Hu Xianbin shook his head. "No, the development of Struggle has been rather smooth. It's regarding GOG!"

Pei Qian could not help but feel bothered.

On the one hand, it was because Struggle was developing well. On the other hand, Hu Xianbin was still worried about GOG. That was rather inconsistent with the Tengda spirit.

Pei Qian coughed lightly. "There is no need to tell me about GOG. There is something wrong with your thinking about work.

"The energy of a human is limited. You can only do one thing at one time. How can you manage the development of Struggle and operate GOG at the same time?

"Hurry relinquish GOG's operations."

Hu Xianbin was an R&D staff member in the second half of GOG. He was responsible for the launch of the mobile game version. He was very familiar with the GOG project.

Pei Qian got Hu Xianbin to be responsible for Struggle, so that he would no longer be bothered about the operations of GOG. As a result, he was trying to do both jobs together. That was simply too much.

Hu Xianbin was slightly shocked. "Uh, Okay Boss Pei, I'll delegate the entire work to Min Jingchao. However… I do have something urgent to report regarding the GOG project!"

Pei Qian nodded. "Um, continue."

Hu Xianbin seemed very urgent. "Boss Pei, I hope you can make an exception to urgently recruit some people for Tengda Games' gaming department!"

Pei Qian frowned.

Make an exception? Urgently recruit some people? Bro, that's a very dangerous thought!

Tengda had a bi-annual recruitment drive in May and November. It was set at such timing to avoid the peak recruitment season.

The recruitment process was relatively cumbersome, and so it required enough time for new employees to go through resignation procedures and handover work. The actual entry would only be one month later.

However, Pei Qian looked at the date and realized that it was already April 18th. What was so urgent at GOG that they could not hold out for a month?

There was definitely something wrong here!

Pei Qian attached great importance to it in his heart, but he still asked calmly on the surface. "What is the rush for recruitment?"

"Boss Pei, IOI wants to engage in an 'arms race' with us. GOG's project is now in urgent need of manpower expansion. Otherwise, our first-mover advantage would be lost!"

Pei Qian could not help but be delighted. He did not know what an 'arms race' meant here, but he was very clear on one point: Lin Wan made her move!

The domestic server for IOI should be almost ready by now. A series of publicity strategies should be formulated, and they're ready to start from the GOG market.

He did not know how Hu Xianbin obtained the news. However, considering that Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games were brother divisions, it was not surprising that they would obtain information from certain channels.

Pei Qian smiled with anticipation. "Really? Tell me about it."

Hu Xianbin hurriedly replied, "The strategy at IOI is to win by volume. They are desperately updating with two new heroes every month according to the current plan. That is too fast!

"We have slightly fewer heroes in GOG than in IOI. However, it is still within an acceptable range.

"We will definitely be left behind if we were to update a new hero once every two months. GOG will be able to obtain the advantage, and we will be gone!"

Pei Qian nodded his head at the criticisms.

Great, both Finger Games and Lin Wan were very reliable, eh! The scenario still panned out like how it should in my imagination. I really have no other qualms.

Pei Qian's expression became calmer and lighter. "Therefore, you want to recruit more people to compete in speed?"

Hu Xianbin nodded. "Yes, we have no reason to lose to them in speed! Whoever can update faster would be able to better maintain the stickiness of the players and the overall popularity of the game. The advantage in this respect is too great!

"Whoever can prevail now shall win. GOG will absolutely not give in!"

Pei Qian was silent for a moment. "I don't agree with your views.

"It's definitely not possible to recruit in advance. I do not recommend for the gaming department to recruit too many people even in the recruitment drive next month."

Hu Xianbin was stunned. "W-why?"

Pei Qian leaned back in his big boss chair and said seriously. "Manpower should be of quality, not quantity.

"With more manpower, the speed of generating ideas would increase, and you would have more ideas. This seems like a good thing.

"However, having more people might be either a treasure chest or shackles. Don't just try to use clumsy overwhelming tactics once you run into problems. That will limit your thinking and obliterate your inspiration.

"In short, don't hire too many people."

Hu Xianbin was a little anxious. "But Boss Pei…"

Pei Qian emphasized again. "Don't hire too many people."

Hu Xianbin had nothing else to say. He did not dare to let Boss Pei repeat a third time. He could only sigh and quietly exit the office.

Pei Qian gave a satisfied smile.

Lin Wan, I can only help you to this point. You have to hurry to accomplish your mission!

…

Hu Xianbin returned to his desk and sat down dejectedly upstairs.

Min Jingchao quickly came over, seeing Hu Xianbin return. "How did it go? Did Boss Pei agree?"

Hu Xianbin shook his head. "No, Boss Pei rejected."

Min Jingchao was taken aback. "Rejected? Impossible! Boss Pei had always been generous to the various expenses of the company. How could he reject the recruitment of a few new designers? This is really strange."

Hu Xianbin sighed. "Sigh. I don't know what Boss Pei is thinking either, but he had a really firm attitude. He said that not only can we not make an exception for early recruitment, but we will also not be able to recruit too many people a month later."

Min Jingchao frowned, obviously at a loss. "How could Boss Pei say something like this for no reason? Did he say anything else? Usually, there would be some hidden clues in Boss Pei's words."

Hu Xianbin tried his best to recall. "Let me think…

"He seemed to say something like having more people might be either a treasure chest or a shackle. But this sentence does not seem to have any profound meaning to it…

"Should we seek Brother Bao and Big Sister Li's advice?"

Min Jingchao shook his head. "I think it is better not to push all the questions that require analysis to Brother Bao. It is a necessary skill to read and understand Boss Pei in Tengda. We have to train in it as well."

Hu Xianbin gave it some thought. "That's true, but what Boss Pei said this time really does not seem to have any meaning to it. I don't have a clue at all."

Min Jingchao frowned, lost in thoughts. His brows relaxed slightly after a short while.

"From the original point of view, this sentence means that every designer would have different ideas. More people can indeed provide different perspectives and ideas, but having so many angles and ideas would trap us and become shackled.

"Others' perspectives and ideas would conversely limit your thinking. Your ideas will limit others' thinking in the same way. If everyone were to do their own thing, it would drag each other down and reduce efficiency.

"Therefore, creating new heroes for GOG is a tiring job, but it is also a technical job that requires continuous creative production. The key here is not how many people we have, but if the main designer can accurately control the direction of the game.

"No matter the number of designers we hire, only one person should be calling the shots and unifying the style. At the same time, that person should be making the overall planning balance. Otherwise, the game would become a stitched-up monster."

Hu Xianbin was no stranger to this way of interpretation, and he immediately understood it. "Yes, it makes sense! However, that does not solve the problem.

"The ability of everyone to generate the idea is limited. If there are too few people, then there will not be enough ideas. You can do the overall planning, but you still need people to provide inspiration and design new heroes."

Min Jingchao pondered for a slightly longer time. He only slowly opened his mouth after some time. "It seemed like it wasn't necessarily the case.

"Everyone has limited inspiration and ideas. That is true, but not only designers can provide inspiration and design new heroes.

"Boss Pei expressed a type of dialectical thinking. He did not deny the power of a large number of people. His words were 'could either be a treasure chest or shackles'. We have only analyzed the shackles part but not the treasure part.

"How can the wisdom of designers be matched up to the wisdom of the majority of the players?

"Designers are only a small treasure chest; players make up the large chest!

"Boss Pei did not allow us to recruit more designers because it was inefficient and would not solve the fundamental problem.

"In other words, we can also let the players participate in GOG's hero design!

"So what if IOI could develop the heroes in no time? Inspiration and ideas would be inexhaustible if players' enthusiasm could be fully mobilized!"

Hu Xianbin suddenly realized. "That makes sense! Boss Pei actually had such a meaning?

"Indeed, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of the players and letting them provide the ideas and contents. Our designers will only need to be responsible for screening, modification, and balancing. It would solve this problem perfectly!"

Min Jingchao stood up suddenly. "I'm going to make an activity plan!"

…

Pei Qian watched some drama for a while after Hu Xianbin left. He looked at the time. It was already three in the afternoon.

"I haven't seen Old Ma for a while. I'll head to Dream Realization Ventures for a while."

Pei Qian just remembered about it. He wanted to go to Dream Realization Ventures to ask Old Ma about the projects that he was optimistic about, but he was so busy that it slipped his mind.

The weather today was just fine to head out. He would also be able to understand the current situation with Old Ma and Dream Realization Ventures.

Pei Qian told Old Ma previously to let him know immediately once he found a suitable project. However, Old Ma seemed to have made no movement even after so long.

Pei Qian could not help but feel bothered. What the hell was the b*stard Ma Yang busy with?

He was not worried about Ma Yang lazing around and spending money in secret. That was because Pei Qian had requested that all investments in Dream Realization Ventures had to be approved by him after the previous venture into Finger Games.

Dream Realization Ventures must not have spent a single cent if no one had asked for instructions.

Here was the question then. What was he doing if Ma Yang was not spending any money?