548 Congratulations, You're Beginning to Think like Boss Pei

June 13th, Monday…

At Tengda Games…

Not long after he started work, Min Jingchao went looking for Li Yada and Bao Xu in a hurry.

"Big Sister Li, Brother Bao, something's wrong!

"Shang Yang Games has a new trick!

"They seemed to have entered into agreements with multiple internet cafes on behalf of IOI's local server. Anyone who plays IOI at those internet cafes for a certain period would get discounts on their per-hour rates!

"What's more, it looks like many famous gaming UP Masters have been publishing content about IOI: introduction of new heroes, tutorials for the game, and the like. The game is being publicized on multiple well-known gaming websites as well.

"It looks like they're giving out cash, just like us!"

Li Yada was stunned. As she ran a search on her own computer, she said, "Don't panic. When did you say this started?"

Min Jingchao pondered for a moment and said, "Things started looking very different from last Saturday."

Bao Xu, who had been silent the entire time, said, "They worked overtime over the weekend; can we report them to Boss Pei? Can he make them take two days off by force?"

Min Jingchao paused, and then his eyes lit up. "Eh? That's right. If Boss Pei forces them to take two days off, we will be able to catch up with them, won't we?"

Li Yada shook her head. "I don't think so. Shang Yang Games would not make low-class mistakes like that, which would be so easy for us to catch.

"They probably put all of those things in place last Friday and took a break over the weekend as per normal. On the other hand, the UP Masters and internet cafes were free to implement those new measures over the weekend.

"That allowed them to time their moves perfectly and get a headstart without breaking the company's regulations."

Min Jingchao: "…indeed, our greatest enemies are our own people."

That's right. Apart from others working in the same company, who else would think of getting a head start by taking advantage of their regulated breaks over the weekend?

Apart from Brother Bao, who else would think about catching up to the opponents by reporting them for working overtime?

One had to admit that, under Tengda's regulations, the competition between both departments had become so confusing…

Li Yada continued speaking. "Based on common sense, they probably put this plan into place before they ended work on Friday. Now, they must be reaching out to many more internet cafes and UP Masters to gain a fuller advantage.

"What's more… from what I just found out, they're going after the huge chain stores. That means they're using the most efficient method: partnering with large chain internet cafes and giving them generous benefits.

"As a result of that, the higher management of all those franchises would insist that their branches marketed IOI. After all, the more they marketed the game, the more benefits they would get!

"Although only one weekend has passed, we're already very behind in the competition."

Min Jingchao's expression hardened. He had only just found out about this, too. Hearing Li Yada analyze the situation like that made the problem sound more serious than he had imagined.

"Well… what should we do?" Min Jingchao asked.

Li Yada considered for a moment. "Don't panic. What did Boss Pei teach us? Don't keep thinking about working overtime and using time or manpower to solve any problem that we run into.

"Just as Boss Pei always says, there must be a better solution!"

Min Jingchao nodded and listened intently.

To him who had much less experience, this was an uphill battle. However, to Li Yada who had seen many ups and downs in her career, any problem could be solved by tapping into Boss Pei's unlimited wisdom.

Li Yada pondered for some time and then started speaking methodically. "First, money problems can only be solved using money.

"Tengda has gotten this far because it has not been afraid to spend money. There is now a really hot battle in the publicity field. Since our opponents are burning money, we have no choice but to follow suit.

"Set aside all the funds that we can afford to use! We have to compete with them and see who can burn more money! We can buy all the internet cafes, UP Masters, and websites back!

"If this is purely about money, we would have no choice but to use fifty percent of our profits. Tengda Games earns more profits than Shang Yang Games; we don't have to worry about funding at all."

The quiet Bao Xu spoke again. "Shang Yang Games cannot be that stupid. They probably know that they cannot afford to spend as much as we can. Perhaps they have a back-up plan."

Min Jingchao was stunned. "A back-up plan? What other back-up plan could they have? Could they keep asking Boss Pei for more money?"

Bao Xu said, "That's a very real possibility. What if Boss Pei wants to maintain the dog-eat-dog competition to the end? He wouldn't want us to defeat IOI so quickly, and so he would definitely offer them more support."

Shocked, Min Jingchao realized that it was indeed a very real possibility.

Li Yada nodded. "That was my second point.

"To make sure that we don't lose everything, we have to work on other aspects as well. We cannot mindlessly burn money.

"To simplify the marketing competition, we are now fighting for marketing resources. Whoever wins the most marketing resources would get the upper hand. Burning money is just one way to fight for marketing resources. On top of that, we can use other methods.

"For example… we could tell stories to those people."

Perplexed, Min Jingchao asked, "Stories? What stories?"

Li Yada explained, "Actually, it's as if we are in the investment industry. If we want investors to pay attention to us, we have to either show them the actual product and profits or depend on our powerful story-telling skills to make the investors believe in our potential.

"Similarly, to win the internet cafes and UP Masters over, on top of using money; we could tell them stories to help them better understand GOG and its potential.

"Once they believe our stories and are bought over by our long-term prospects—even if Shang Yang Games increases their prices in the short-term, they would not jump ship!

"If we are able to achieve that, the future that we promise them would become reality. It would be a self-fulfilling prophecy."

A realization dawned on Min Jingchao. "I understand! As long as we convince people that GOG would win in the end, they would believe that marketing GOG now would bring them greater benefits in the future.

"Since we don't have enough to offer them in the short-term, we can only write them a blank check by offering them future benefits. Then, they would be tempted to stand on our side!

"I'll send someone to contact those internet cafe franchises and UP Masters now…"

Li Yada raised her hand. "Don't rush. Learn from Boss Pei and do things slowly. We've already gotten the answer to our problem, and so we should not rush to resolve it. Instead, we should think about whether there is a better way to go about it or not.

"How do you think Boss Pei has been strategizing all this while? The key is to think as much as you can. This plan has obviously not been perfected yet."

Min Jingchao continued to listen intently.

Li Yada continued speaking. "Were you intending to expend all of your effort trying to convince them one by one? They've already gotten paid by Shang Yang Games. If you try to convince them now, how much would you have to do?

"In the time that you take to convince one of them, Shang Yang Games might have moved on to three more. Are you a turtle trying to race against the hare?

"You need to learn how to find the critical point: the leader of the pack. Focus all of your energy on the leaders of the pack before working on the others. Then, things would go smoothly."

Min Jingchao: "The leaders of the pack?"

Li Yada nodded. "Who is the leader of internet cafes?"

Min Jingchao frowned as he pondered hard. "It's hard to tell from how the market is split, but… GOG and IOI are both depending on Tengda Corporation as their stronghold. Obviously, this is an internal battle within Tengda. That means Tengda's true intentions are the most important.

"That's Fish-Catching Internet Cafe! Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's attitude is representative of Tengda's true attitude. Once Fish-Catching Internet Cafe leans towards GOG, the other franchises would be affected as well!"

Li Yada smiled. "Congratulations, you're beginning to think like Boss Pei. Make cautious assumptions and boldly seek verification. Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is likely the only resolution method that Boss Pei is leaving for us."

Min Jingchao nodded. "Alright, I'll go and look for Xiao Peng now!"

Li Yada raised her hand to stop him again. "You're the person-in-charge. You have to remain in the office to keep an eye on the big picture. Brother Bao, I think we need you to make the trip."

Bao Xu nodded silently. Obviously, he understood everything that Li Yada had analyzed.

Although Min Jingchao was in charge of GOG, he did not have enough say yet. Only the words of a veteran employee of Tengda Games would carry enough weight.

"Where should I look for him?" Bao Xu asked.

Min Jingchao searched his cell phone. "I think he's been busy with Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 these days. I'll send the address to you.

"That's right! Xiao Peng approached me before this, asking me to create a mini-program that would control the system units' RGB lighting so that it would reflect GOG's game data. This may be used as some kind of bargaining chip. You can consider it, Brother Bao."

…

At Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0…

At that moment, Xiao Peng's head was hurting. He had just boasted to Zhang Yuan last Friday. He had used all kinds of flowery language to say that he had predicted Boss Pei's next move and had shut Zhang Yuan up.

Now, everything was going wrong!

On Friday, Shang Yang Games had approached him with a very generous offer. They wanted Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to work together with IOI's local server.

In exchange, all gamers in the internet cafe would be allowed to use a portion of the skins for free, enjoy discounted per-hour charges after playing the game for a certain period, and so on.

Xiao Peng had not replied immediately. Instead, he had said he would consider the offer for a couple of days and reply to them on Monday.

That was because all of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 had been designed for GOG!

Take the RGB lights on the computers for example. They would only display cool effects when gamers were playing GOG. If the internet cafe ended up recommending IOI and IOI gamers became the majority, all the lights would be wasted, right?

What's more, he had already told Zhang Yuan that he had intentions to invite GOG's gamers to play an exhibition game. If he recommended IOI, what would become of the GOG exhibition game?

Of course, he could recommend both games.

However, Xiao Peng was now confused about how Boss Pei viewed all of this.

Whose side was Boss Pei on?

Boss Pei was very magnanimous. Even if he stood on the wrong team, he would not have to worry about the deck being stacked against him. However, if he stood on the wrong team and affected Boss Pei's long-term plan, he would be committing a grievous sin.

Thus, Xiao Peng's head was hurting. At that moment, he was at a loss as to what to do.

It was then that his cell phone vibrated. When he saw the message from Min Jingchao, his eyes lit up.

He's finally here!

The person who could represent Tengda Games and understand Boss Pei's true intentions was finally here!