Chapter 89 The Third Wave

August 19th, Friday.

Pei Qian went to Shang Yang Games to supervise the progress of spending money.

Other things could wait, but spending money couldn't.

With such a large sum of money, it was impossible to spend it all at once. For example, organizing a competition required time to determine the schedule, venue, send invitations to various clubs, and arrange visas in advance.

If things weren't handled quickly enough, and some money wasn't spent before the deadline, it would be awkward.

It had been two weeks since the spending plan was finalized, and much of the work should have progressed considerably. It was time to inquire.

Everyone from Shang Yang Games was present in the conference room.

Compared to the last meeting, everyone's expressions were much more relaxed.

With President Pei taking action, everyone felt a sense of certainty that things were moving in a better direction!

Lin Wan organized the materials in her hand and began to report on recent work.

"First, let me talk about the current situation in the domestic server."

"Although our focus for the next period will be on the global server, I am also paying attention to the domestic server because it is the foundation of GoG and cannot be lost."

"It is worth mentioning that Eric's second wave of attacks has also failed."

Huh?

Pei Qian felt a little baffled.

This time, he remembered who Eric was—the executive who had been parachuted in to be in charge of the IoI domestic server.

But, the second wave of attacks had failed?

Was it that efficient?

Pei Qian didn't even know when the second wave of attacks had started...

It was a bit embarrassing. The news of victory even reached President Pei's ears earlier than the news of the war beginning. It was absurd.

Lin Wan continued, "After the initial failure of the on-the-ground strategy, Eric switched to a new strategy, focusing on the game's peripheral industries."

"He approached several domestic streaming platforms, popular streamers, and some veteran esports clubs, hoping to cooperate and promote IoI. The result, as expected, was the same as before. He was either politely refused or given the runaround."

"It can only be said that GoG in China is currently a monolith. While maintaining an extremely high market share, internet cafes, streaming platforms, clubs, and so on have all been built into a monolith, sharing a vast common interest with GoG."

"Moreover, this common interest includes not only short-term, immediate benefits but also long-term, future benefits. Internet cafes, streaming platforms, and clubs all believe that IoI has no chance of winning, so from a long-term perspective, it is obviously more appropriate to stand on GoG's side."

"Eric can provide some short-term, immediate benefits, but he can't guarantee long-term benefits because he can't instill enough confidence in these people."

"And confidence is the most crucial thing."

"Eric even approached several clubs, wanting to sponsor them to establish IoI divisions, but was rejected. On the one hand, Eric's offer wasn't high enough; on the other hand, these clubs were also afraid of causing our dissatisfaction, which would prevent them from getting a spot in the upcoming World Invitational Tournament."

Pei Qian sighed silently, Eric was so miserable.

He had originally come to the domestic server with great ambition, wanting to fight GoG to the death, but he was directly stuck at the first step, unable to even spend money.

Of course, if Eric was really willing to spend big, he could definitely spend it. Ultimately, the offer wasn't high enough.

Internet cafes, clubs, and streaming platforms weighed the pros and cons and were not tempted at all, so they naturally gave him the cold shoulder.

Pei Qian couldn't help but sigh. This Eric was a genius!

Not to mention launching two waves of attacks, he hadn't even succeeded in recruiting troops. He was still at the stage of giving speeches before raising the banner.

He was truly a little envious.

Wang Xiaobin clicked his tongue in wonder, "This Eric is really something. When he first came to China, he was so arrogant and conceited. In the end, is that all he's got?"

Ye Zhizhou also said, "Although it seems a little unkind to say this, I really want to know what his expression is like now."

Lin Wan smiled, "To be honest, these things are not entirely his responsibility."

"After all, Eric is just the head of IoI's domestic operations. His money comes from Dayak Corporation and Finger Corporation, and he can't spend it recklessly."

"If he could really throw money around without restrictions, as long as the price was high enough, someone would defect. But the problem is, he can't."

"Although Dayak Corporation is very rich, that doesn't contradict their stinginess."

"Dayak Corporation is all about money. They have to see real benefits before spending any money. Just like they spent an amount of money we couldn't afford to acquire Finger Corporation, it was because they had already seen IoI's success overseas and believed that Finger Corporation would create a value higher than the acquisition price in the future."

"However, it's difficult for Eric to convince Dayak Corporation's executives to spend excessive amounts of money on domestic promotion. Moreover, even if the money is spent, it might not be effective. Eric would have to take the blame, and he doesn't dare to take that risk."

"There's also a rumor that can be used as proof."

"It is said that Finger Corporation was already preparing to organize an international IoI competition, but the budget was limited to only $100,000."

"The acquisition by Dayak Corporation happened in the middle of this, so the matter was temporarily shelved."

"When Finger Corporation considered the idea again, we took the lead in announcing that we would hold a global invitational tournament and directly increased the prize pool by dozens of times. The champion prize alone reached one million dollars!"

"This put Finger Corporation in an awkward position."

"GoG is launching an offensive against IoI worldwide. If they also hold a competition, but the prize pool is only $100,000, it would be too embarrassing. It would be better not to hold it at all."

"If they didn't want to be embarrassed, their prize pool would have to be close to ours."

"But there doesn't seem to be a consensus within Dayak Corporation. The previous acquisition had already consumed a lot of cash flow from Dayak Corporation's media company, and many executives were reluctant to spend another few million dollars on organizing the competition, believing that it was not cost-effective."

"It's not that they don't have money, it's that they don't want to spend it."

"So, this matter can only be shelved."

Pei Qian nodded silently. Well, he originally thought that this Eric seemed to be a talent, but now it seems that he is not.

The main responsibility for Eric's beating in the domestic server should be placed on the shoulders of the executives at Dayak who truly manage the money.

Pei Qian's money power lies not in how much money he has, but in how much money he dares to spend.

I have 100 yuan, and you have 1000 yuan. It seems that you have ten times more than me, but I don't feel bad about spending all 100 yuan, while you have to think twice before spending 20 yuan. In terms of money power, I am still a little bit stronger.

Pei Qian quickly lost interest in Eric's affairs.

Heh, I thought he could put some pressure on GoG in China, so that I could justifiably throw another wave of money and earn less.

What a waste of expectations.

Pei Qian felt a little bored.

Lin Wan continued, "However, his third wave of attacks has already begun."

"In the first two attempts, he seemed to realize that GoG's foundation is very solid, including internet cafes, streaming platforms, and clubs, all of which are deeply tied to us."

"GoG's related industries are already a monolith, impervious to needles and water. He has no way to break through."

"So, Eric probably wants to change his approach, digging up players of other types of games and getting players who have never played GoG to try IoI. He seems to be planning to cooperate with some manufacturers of, for example, beverages, men's skincare products, mice, and esports chairs, shifting the main focus to winning over third parties."

"President Pei, do you think it's necessary to follow up?"

Pei Qian's eyes lit up.

This Eric is capable. He found a breakthrough even in such a passive situation?

Cooperate with third-party manufacturers? Why didn't we think of that before?

Very good, this Eric has provided me with new ideas for spending money!

Thank him!

Pei Qian nodded, "It's necessary, very necessary!"

"Keep an eye on him. Whichever company Eric cooperates with, we will cooperate with the same company. No matter what he chooses, we will follow up immediately!"

"No need to use your brains, just spend money. How simple!"

Everyone couldn't help but show expressions of sympathy.

Back then, when Shang Yang Games was promoting the domestic server of IoI, Tengda Games did the same thing.

No matter what kind of promotion method IoI's domestic server came up with, GoG would blindly follow!

The word "leech" drove everyone at Shang Yang Games to the point of ecstasy.

Because GoG's user base in China was already crushing IoI, as long as they blindly followed, IoI would have no way to compete.

At the same time, everyone was even more certain that Tengda Games had learned this trick from President Pei.

These rogue tactics were all the same!

They could only watch from the sidelines and mourn for Eric.

Pei Qian was immersed in the joy of finding a new way to spend money and didn't care about Eric's fate.

"Okay, that's settled. Let's continue." Pei Qian waved his hand, signaling the meeting to continue.

Lin Wan continued, "The overseas promotion of GoG has also achieved good results."

"President Pei, with the last remaining twenty million dollars, we acquired a comic book company in the US with a market share of less than 5%, called Hurricane Comics. We decided to promote their biggest IP, Multi-Face, as the featured hero."

"After the groundwork and build-up in the past few days, Multi-Face and GoG's advertisements have been fully rolled out in Times Square, subways, bus stations, major websites, and other areas. The number of overseas users of GoG is growing rapidly every day."

"GoG's conscientious pricing has been well-received among overseas players. Heroes with interesting mechanisms, such as Ruang the Wind Painter and Modeste, have also won the love of overseas players."

"Tengda Games has already completed the production of Multi-Face and will be launched this weekend. There should be a surge in traffic at that time!"

Pei Qian frowned slightly, "Wait, this Hurricane Comics company you just mentioned... They didn't happen to make a movie called Iron Man, did they?"

Lin Wan shook her head blankly, "Iron Man? What's that? Hurricane Comics doesn't have any ability to make movies. They're on the verge of bankruptcy. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sold themselves for just over twenty million dollars."

Pei Qian was relieved.

Well, he thought, he couldn't be so unlucky every time.

It was impossible for him to buy a seriously undervalued company every time. That would be too unscientific.

He was worried about how to spend those twenty million dollars before, but now it had been spent smoothly. He could rest assured.

Moreover, he bought a comic book company that was about to go bankrupt with a market share of less than 5%. It wouldn't directly crush IoI overseas. That was good.

The offensive shouldn't be too fierce. Let GoG gradually erode IoI's market share, so that Dayak Corporation would fight back, and GoG could continue to spend money on promotion with justification.

You expand your market share, and I grab your market share. This cycle would continue indefinitely.

In the future, GoG and IoI would continue to play happily on the overseas server, and everyone would happily burn money together. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Dayak, you bought my money tree for the domestic server of IoI, making it impossible for us to burn money mindlessly. Well, I have no choice but to let you become my new money tree!