Chapter 1272 Was the Scapegoat Pilfered?

Afternoon, Shanghai.

Just after getting off the plane, Kretian turned on his phone and was immediately bombarded with messages.

Looking at the strings of English and Chinese, Kretian, who had been pulling his suitcase towards the exit, stopped and frowned.

All bad news!

His expression turned ugly in an instant, and his mood plummeted.

"Mr. Kretian! Hello, good to see you again."

"Welcome back!"

Someone was already waiting at the pick-up point.

Kretian looked up; he remembered this person. His name was Jin Yong, and he used to be Zhao Xuming's right-hand man in the IOI Operations Cooperation Department.

Since the IOI Operations Cooperation Department was a key department within the Longyu Group, Jin Yong's position was actually not low. Although he hadn't reached Zhao Xuming's level, he was still a senior manager.

As early as when Finger Company and Longyu Group had just reached a cooperation agreement on the domestic operation of IOI, Kretian was the head of the Greater China region, so he had dealt with this group of people a long time ago.

"Let's get in the car first and talk on the way. A lot has happened in the past six months..." Jin Yong's tone was obviously quite emotional.

Kretian nodded and followed Jin Yong and the accompanying driver to the parking lot, getting into the business car.

He had just been reappointed as the head of the Greater China region a few days ago.

But Kretian couldn't be happy at all.

Because the situation this time was even worse than when he was first appointed!

When he first took over from Eric as the head of the Greater China region, he was at least ambitious. Cooperating with Longyu Group to hold the first IOI Global Finals, and a series of measures promoted as a result, were all because he firmly believed that his successful experience in the European market could revive IOI in the domestic market.

But now?

He had completely abandoned this fantasy.

Since the IOI Finals had a poor effect and he was replaced by Eric, Kretian returned to Finger Company to continue his old job, responsible for the game's subsequent development work.

For him, this result was not unacceptable, after all, fighting with GOG in the domestic server had left him a little physically and mentally exhausted.

Of course, in his eyes, it was a fight, but in the eyes of the higher-ups, it might just be a one-sided beating.

So for Kretian, going back to quietly design games was actually a more comfortable thing.

But gradually, he realized that something was wrong.

He began to frequently receive development requests directly from the high-level of Dayak Corporation, such as new paid content, operational activities, etc.

Then, came the bad news from IOI one after another.

Although Kretian and Eric had different ideas, he was very clear that Eric was definitely a capable person.

If Eric had studied Tenda so intently for so long, but still couldn't turn things around, then it was unlikely that there would be any turning point in the future...

And Dayak Corporation's increasingly frequent intervention, revealing a stronger and stronger desire for profit, also made Kretian uneasy.

This time he took over as head, it was not a promotion at all. It was entirely because everyone knew that IOI in the domestic market had become a mess, and the head of the Greater China region had become the position of scapegoat, so no one wanted to come.

Kretian was very clear that even if he became the head of the Greater China region, he would probably not have any say. He would definitely just execute whatever tasks were assigned by the higher-ups of Dayak Corporation.

Just like this event.

Tenda's 1024 Digital Festival-related game promotion activities were carried out globally. Dayak Corporation, Finger Company, and Longyu Group all had people watching, so they got the news as soon as possible.

Since the position of head of the Greater China region was temporarily vacant, and Kretian had not yet taken office, this decision was jointly made by the senior management of the three parties.

After remote communication between the three parties, it was immediately decided to take this opportunity to launch a new skin that had been in preparation for a long time, and take the opportunity to raise the price.

Of course, the opinions of the senior management of Dayak Corporation may have accounted for more than 70% of this decision.

Kretian instinctively felt that there might be something wrong, after all, he had dealt with President Pei before, and President Pei's style of not playing according to the rules but making deadly moves had left a very deep impression on him.

But after all, he had been away from the operations position for a while, and he was not clear about the current situation, nor could he guess what Tenda was specifically planning.

What's more, even if he expressed his concerns, the suggestion was dispensable to the senior management of Dayak Corporation. It was impossible to give up the rare opportunity to raise prices just because of Kretian's concerns.

As a result, it became like this.

Kretian found that he hadn't even gotten off the plane yet, and this black pot was already hanging over his head, which couldn't help but make him a little崩溃 (collapsed).

Sitting in the business car, Kretian sighed softly.

In any case, what's done is done.

If his fate was to be a scapegoat, then he would have to carry this pot and move forward with a heavy burden.

He looked at Jin Yong; he was quite satisfied with this person.

Judging from his previous work experience, Zhao Xuming was obviously a slippery old fox. Although he had a good brain, he was good at shirking responsibility.

Kretian was a designer by origin, and his ideas were naturally incompatible with Zhao Xuming's. After working together, he had a lot of opinions about him.

Jin Yong was more pragmatic and did things efficiently. Kretian had a good impression of him during their previous cooperation.

Thinking of this, Kretian said, "There's something I'm hesitating about whether to say."

Jin Yong was stunned for a moment: "Just say it, we're all old acquaintances, you don't have to be so polite."

After thinking for a moment, Kretian said: "I want to talk to the higher-ups of your Longyu Group and let you take over as the head of the IOI Operations Cooperation Department. To be honest, my cooperation with President Zhao doesn't seem to be very tacit. Continuing to cooperate may be a drag on both of us and will not be conducive to the development of our work."

He said it relatively euphemistically; in fact, he just disliked Zhao Xuming for not being effective.

Although Zhao Xuming was good at shirking responsibility, that was all for the people above him to see.

In the eyes of the management, Zhao Xuming's pot had indeed been thrown out, and he was clean and problem-free; but for his partner Kretian, the pot had been thrown on himself!

Therefore, Kretian had a lot of opinions about Zhao Xuming, and the first thing he wanted to do was to replace him.

This was not a very excessive request.

Previously, Longyu Group had a very good attitude towards Finger Company and basically responded to every request. After all, IOI was a project that Longyu Group valued very much, and Finger Company had a lot of say in this game.

Kretian didn't want to demote Zhao Xuming to the end; he simply hoped that he would change to a position that was more suitable for him.

The higher-ups of Longyu Group should be able to satisfy this request.

After hearing this, Jin Yong was silent.

He hesitated for a moment and then said: "Mr. Kretian, there is something I am also hesitating about whether to say."

Kretian couldn't help but smile: "Didn't you just say that we are all old acquaintances and don't have to be so polite? Just say it."

After thinking it over, Jin Yong said: "I am now the head of the IOI Operations Cooperation Department."

Kretian showed a slightly surprised expression: "Really? Then what about President Zhao? Was he transferred to another department?"

In his opinion, this result was not very unexpected.

How many defeats had Zhao Xuming suffered?

He had made so many mistakes, but he was still sitting in the position of head without being replaced, which was outrageous.

He didn't know what the higher-ups of Longyu Group saw in him, and why they were protecting him so much.

But now it was good, Longyu Group had finally figured it out.

Replacing Zhao Xuming, although it could not fundamentally change the situation, Kretian felt very happy when he thought that the person in charge had been replaced by Jin Yong, which not only allowed him to cooperate with peace of mind, but also saved him the trouble of going to the higher-ups of Longyu Group.

This was also considered the only good news recently.

Jin Yong's expression was slightly awkward: "Uh... let me just say it directly, President Zhao was poached by Tenda and is now the head of GOG's domestic operations..."

Kretian's eyes widened incredulously, and his whole body stiffened.

He even doubted his ears.

What the hell?!

Zhao Xuming was poached by Tenda and became the head of GOG?

Does Tenda even want this kind of person?

Why did President Pei want to poach his defeated opponent? And one who had been defeated more than once and had never won?

If Jin Yong's expression hadn't been very serious, he would have almost thought that Jin Yong was joking with him.

In order to prevent further misunderstandings, Jin Yong quickly finished his words in one breath: "It seems that Eric was also poached by President Pei."

Kretian fell into a long silence, seemingly digesting the information.

It was so unreasonable that he would subconsciously resist and find it difficult to accept.

After a long time, he weakly asked: "Don't they have non-compete agreements..."

Jin Yong explained: "I only know that President Zhao's non-compete agreement was properly resolved. President Pei would definitely not poach people forcibly, and he would not ignore such things as non-compete agreements."

Kretian fell silent again, his expression complex.

He was still complaining about Zhao Xuming, but as a result, Zhao Xuming went to GOG to be the head!

What, does that mean that I was actually reaching too high?

I held Zhao Xuming back?

The clown is actually me?

Otherwise, why am I forced to come here to be the successor, while Zhao Xuming is steadily rising, and even went to be the head of GOG?

Anyone with eyes can see that being the head of GOG in the domestic server is much more promising than IOI in the domestic server.

After all, one is rising and winning victories, has entered a perfect virtuous cycle, and its user base is constantly expanding; while the other is dying.

Kretian was silent for a while, and decided to change the subject and stop discussing this.

After all, the more he discussed it, the more frustrated he felt.

"Actually, there is not much that can be done as the head of the Greater China region now, but the tasks that should be completed must still be completed. Let's cooperate well and do our job responsibly."

"Of course, to be honest, it may be a little difficult to fundamentally reverse the situation, so we can only hope that the higher-ups will take some action."

Kretian knew that if he wanted to reverse the current situation, it was not only necessary for the game quality to keep up, but more importantly, Dayak Corporation must be willing to give resources and continue to invest money.

Otherwise, with GOG's investment, this tragedy might happen more than once.

This is like marching and fighting a war. In addition to the combat capabilities of the army, the key is to compare logistics. Tenda has always had huge resources tilted towards GOG, willing to give up huge profits in order to seize the market, which is simply a natural enemy to Dayak Corporation, which is eager to make profits.

"Wait a minute."

"Could it be that this event was done by Eric and Zhao Xuming?"

Thinking of this event, and combining it with the fact that Zhao Xuming had been poached, Kretian suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of this possibility.

He didn't know the specific details of this event, after all, he was on the plane when it happened.

But after briefly looking at the information, he also understood the cause and effect.

He felt very desperate to clean up this mess just after taking office.

The key is that there is no way to clean it up at all. What can be done now? Apologizing and lowering prices is absolutely impossible, because the damaged reputation is difficult to recover, and after lowering prices, it will be absolutely impossible to raise prices again in the future.

What if the players get a taste of sweetness, and then they madly scold you every time the price of a skin increases?

If he really did this, he would definitely not be able to explain it to the higher-ups of Dayak Corporation.

Moreover, he has no say in things like lowering prices.

The final result of this matter will probably be to pretend that nothing happened. There will be no apology or price change, and they can only shrink their heads and take the blame.

At least the price of the skin has gone up.

At most, Kretian can do some activities to compensate the players, but there is nothing else he can do.

To think that such a fatal blow came from Eric... Kretian's mood was very complicated, and even a little sour.

Jin Yong thought for a while and said: "I don't know about that, but President Zhao only just arrived a week ago, so he shouldn't have taken over the work so quickly."

Kretian felt a little more balanced.

If he knew that President Zhao was wreaking havoc, he would have collapsed!

Jin Yong also said: "As for our side, don't worry, I am very clear about the current situation and will definitely cooperate with your work with all my strength."

In fact, both of them are very clear about the current situation of IOI, but some things cannot be said even if they are true.

Although Jin Yong could not feel the change in the attitude of Dayak Corporation's higher-ups from Finger Company's side like Kretian, he could feel the change in the attitude of the higher-ups of Longyu Group.

The IOI Operations Cooperation Department is actually not so valued anymore.

Because IOI in the domestic server is really failing, and it is meaningless to invest more resources and energy!

This time, GOG can be said to have launched a heavy attack on IOI, and IOI in the domestic server has been greatly affected.

Logically speaking, Longyu Group is the party whose interests have been damaged and should hate this matter with a vengeance, after all, the income of IOI in the domestic server is probably going to be severely hit again.

But the higher-ups of Longyu Group were indifferent to this.

Even if they are angry, what can they do? In the current state, IOI in the domestic server is hopeless.

Since this is the case, it is better to keep the resources and prepare to give them to the new game jointly developed by Skyfire Studio and Tenda.

Therefore, exchanging Zhao Xuming for a new game is a good deal as long as the new game is successful and can replace the position of IOI in the domestic server within Longyu Group.

As long as the data of this new game is not bad, Longyu Group will transfer most of the resources from IOI to it.

Jin Yong also knows this, so he and Kretian are both working on the principle of "do your job for as long as you can" and completing their work tasks step by step.

Kretian nodded: "Okay, let's go to the company first, I have to familiarize myself with the work here."