Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

After hearing Bao Xu’s explanation, Lu Mingliang felt very emotional and heavy. He was emotional because he felt he was taking part in a great undertaking, making a game with historic importance… that would leave a mark in developing the domestic game industry!

He was feeling heavy because he was even more worried about this game’s prospects. Such a game that did not appeal to the masses and did not curry favor with gamers; could it really be successful?

Just a little carelessness could lead to a huge whammy in the games market and to Tengda’s reputation; this was really too risky an experiment!

“I never imagined that Boss Pei could have decided on such a crucial strategy while appearing jovial about it! If this game made a loss, we would get millions of blisters on our feet; our reputation would suffer tremendously!

“If it was me, I would be so worried and won’t be able to sleep well, right? However, Boss Pei is as composed as usual; he indeed is someone who is set out for great things!”

Lu Mingliang carried a sense of utmost respect as he prepared to head back to his work station to continue trialing the game.

“Right, how are you guys planning to advertise this game?” Bao Xu suddenly thought about this issue. He wasn’t worried that Game Designer wouldn’t do well; he was just curious!

This time, what novel and special way would Boss Pei use to publicize his own game?

He was really expectant!

Lu Mingliang was stunned for a while, “Errr… as for this; I haven’t asked yet. I’ll go find out now.”

…

…

Pei Qian’s office…

Lu Mingliang sneaked a glance at Boss Pei’s expression. Boss Pei did not look anxious at all! Did he no longer have any regard for life and death? Or was he brimming with confidence and had a well-thought plan?

Regardless, Lu Mingliang was very impressed!

Pei Qian was thinking.

Lu Mingliang had come to ask how Game Designer should be publicized. Originally, Pei Qian had not thought much about it; he had even thought of not doing any publicity at all. However, after thinking about it deeper, he felt that this thinking was very wrong!

He had to look at things with a seasoned view; he couldn’t view it as a foolish undertaking!

Before The Lonely Desert Road and Ghost General had been produced, Tengda was a little-known small company. If he wanted it to lose money, not doing any publicity was a very good idea.

Now, things were different!

With Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold being so widely known and popular—even if Pei Qian did not actively publicize Game Designer, players would definitely find out about it.

He could not hide this release from them!

Since that was the case…

Why not do some publicity?

He could even spend more money! However, how exactly to go about this required careful consideration. If he used ordinary publicity methods—if the game became popular, that would be bad! Hence, the best option was to spend money on publicity but not having any positive effects.

If he could get negative publicity, that would be the best.

At present, the publicity methods Pei Qian could use were just those few. Buying endorsements, commercials, finding a spokesperson…

Pei Qian definitely would not do these.

The possibility of making money from these methods was just too high! They were very traditional publicity methods; although their effects varied, considering how refreshing Game Designer’s art style was, it would easily catch people’s attention.

Such as many scam advertisements on the internet that used stolen video material. Or spend plenty of money to hire celebrities to promote it with awkward sounding catchphrases. Although all of this cost plenty, these sucky ads have a significant impact.

Although one of such related advertisements had only been about rearing orcs with simple animation, a crude snapshot, and rough splicing—as long as the website traffic was sufficient; any game would be able to bring in many players!

If such a lame commercial for Game Designer lit a spark and the game became popular, Pei Qian would really cry.

He could not take this risk.

Hence, Pei Qian did not intend to use similar methods; the chances of making money were too high.

He considered for a moment and said, “Let’s go to a video website and ask a content creator to publicize for us.”

“A content creator?”

Lu Mingliang was stunned. He had not thought about this. Most importantly, compared to other ways of publicity, content creators and sponsored partnerships commanded the lowest rates; the resulting effects were also the worst. Lu Mingliang did not think that Boss Pei would think about this method.

This was the Year 2010, and many rather well-known content creators such as Qiao Liang were still finding it tough to eke out a living.

Huang Sibo’s Boss Pei’s Daily Life that had accumulated millions of views; in the end, they had at most gotten some trashy sponsored partnerships requests. No one bothered with ‘classy and custom-made’ videos.

It wasn’t that people didn’t know what was popular; the crux was content creators just did not generate the same buzz as other publicity methods just yet. If one really had money, he could go to the video website and directly buy commercials that would hit the mark.

When gamers clicked on a gaming video and saw an advertisement right at the start, many of them might actually go and click on it immediately; wouldn’t this achieve a better effect than sponsored partnerships?

Hence, Lu Mingliang did not manage to react for a moment.

However, he recovered and said, “I understand! Boss Pei, you mean to find Huang Sibo and Director Zhu Xiaoce to do a custom-made publicity video for our game; to use Boss Pei’s Daily Life’s popularity to aid in Game Designer’s publicity, right?”

Pei Qian, “???”

When did I say I wanted to look for Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce?! Don’t misrepresent my words!

I would definitely not ask Zhu Xiaoce and the rest to help with a custom-made video; definitely not!

That would be too much value for money.

Fei Huang Workspace was a subsidiary of Tengda. If Pei Qian gave them a hundred thousand to produce a custom-made video commercial for Game Designer, this hundred thousand would become Fei Huang Workspace’s profits. A portion of that still had to be returned to Tengda!

In from the left pocket and out from the right; it was a super value discount deal. How could Pei Qian allow that?

Furthermore, Zhu Xiaoce was a genius director. Game Designer and Boss Pei’s Daily Life’s themes actually complemented each other. What if the game gained in popularity because of this? Wouldn’t Pei Qian be losing big on two ends?

If Boss Pei’s Daily Life also became popular together with Game Designer, Pei Qian would really vomit blood!

Thinking of this, Pei Qian shook his head. “I’m not thinking of looking for Huang Sibo and the others. Boss Pei’s Daily Life is still at the crucial stage of building a reputation; I can’t disrupt their plans and reputation just for a commercial for this game.”

“I see.” Lu Mingliang nodded as he silently chided himself for not having a broader perspective.

Boss Pei was right. At present, Fei Huang Workspace needed to build up its reputation and popularity now; it shouldn’t go overboard with sponsored partnerships.

Especially since both companies’ relationship was so tight; tongues would waggle.

“In that case… shall I contact some more well-known people in the market, content creators with more fans? Lu Mingliang asked.

Pei Qian thought about it. “How about this? I’ll give you a list tomorrow as well as a wire copy and the price; you can act accordingly.”

Lu Mingliang nodded, “Alright, Boss Pei.”

Aye, Boss Pei still doesn’t believe in my abilities and is helping me as much as he can personally; I have to buck up!

Lu Mingliang was a little ashamed.