Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 473: Old Master Lin Changed His Mind
April 3rd, Sunday.
At the Handong University branch of Moyu Internet Café.
Pei Qian and Lin Chang silently drank their coffee, looking at each other without speaking.
The past two days had been the weekend, so Pei Qian had finally been able to rest peacefully without any psychological burden, tossing all his worries aside and enjoying a brief period of happiness.
But today, Lin Chang had come to Jingzhou, so they still had to meet.
Yet after exchanging greetings, the two of them both fell silent.
Thinking back to a few months ago, when the two of them had carefully planned and strategized everything, believing they were already halfway to success—only for both the game and the phone to explode in popularity in the end, while Lin Wan became more confident than ever, even boldly talking back in her family group chat and provoking everyone…
Both of them felt miserable.
But simply sitting there staring at each other in silence didn't seem appropriate either.
The problem still needed solving!
After a long silence, Lin Chang helplessly spoke first.
"President Pei, neither the game nor the phone went according to plan… Didn't we already make thorough preparations?"
The corner of Pei Qian's mouth twitched slightly.
Most of the "thorough planning" had been done by Pei Qian himself. It had more or less turned into one of those situations where "the planning looked fierce as a tiger, but the result was profits like a dog."
But Pei Qian also felt unconvinced deep down. Lin Chang, could you really say you bore none of the responsibility?
If you hadn't gone behind my back and heavily promoted A Better Tomorrow, the movie wouldn't have become so popular. If the movie hadn't become popular, people wouldn't have analyzed the advertisements inside it, and OTTO phones wouldn't have had such a strong start…
In short, you definitely shared part of the blame too!
You can't dump everything on me!
Pei Qian sighed and said, "You promoted A Better Tomorrow and arranged so many screenings. As a result, OTTO phones had already established a high-end image among consumers before release. That completely disrupted my plans too."
Lin Chang looked utterly unconvinced.
"How is that possible!"
"President Pei, didn't you write the movie script yourself? You definitely knew about the OTTO phone advertising inside the movie. The film's quality was outstanding and its themes were incredibly rich—you knew that better than anyone. Even without my promotion, do you really think it wouldn't have become popular? It still would have exploded!"
"If we're talking about other movies succeeding because of marketing, sure, I'd believe that. But A Better Tomorrow? Promotion merely added icing on the cake!"
Lin Chang instantly threw the blame right back at him.
Pei Qian: "…"
Emotionally, he absolutely could not accept this, but after thinking about it carefully, it also seemed difficult to refute.
At this point, A Better Tomorrow had already come to be regarded as a high-quality, deeply meaningful masterpiece. And most people believed that while marketing did contribute to a good work's success, true quality was still the key factor.
And regarding the matter of "high quality"…
Although the primary responsibility belonged to Zhu Xiaoce, Pei Qian himself seemed to bear a tiny bit of responsibility too.
Pei Qian even started doubting himself a little.
According to Lin Chang's logic, could it be that all of this had been destined from the very beginning?
The two fell into silence once again.
Lin Chang looked suspicious and lowered his voice.
"President Pei… you weren't doing this on purpose, were you?"
"On the surface, you let Lin Wan take charge of industries that looked doomed to fail, but in reality, you already knew both the game and the phone would become huge successes? Otherwise, why would you mobilize your other industries to fully support them?"
"As far as I know, the promotional campaign for BE QUIET was personally handled by you. And the phone's advertising and all its benefits also leveraged resources from your other businesses."
"Could it be… that you actually don't want Lin Wan to leave?"
Pei Qian's face darkened.
"Absolutely not!"
"Lin Wan is the director of two departments, and she's familiar with all the heads of the other departments. She naturally has the authority to request benefits from various divisions and coordinate resources overall."
"As for BE QUIET… that was an accident."
"President Lin, believe me: more than anyone else, I want Lin Wan to hurry up and go home."
Pei Qian's expression was incomparably sincere.
Lin Chang looked at Pei Qian without speaking, but there was a trace of suspicion in his eyes.
Which was perfectly normal. If someone repeatedly patted their chest and promised you something, only to fail again and again because of "objective circumstances" or "unexpected factors," you would naturally become suspicious too…
Yet at this moment, Pei Qian felt he was the truly wronged party.
But things had already reached this point. Any explanation probably wouldn't have much effect anyway…
All he could do was continue setting goals for the next phase. This time, he absolutely had to persuade Lin Wan to quit!
However, while Pei Qian was thinking about the next objective, Lin Chang suddenly said something completely beyond his expectations.
Lin Chang let out a soft sigh.
"Alright, President Pei. I didn't come this time just to shift blame. There's something else."
"To be honest, the situation has changed again."
"These past few days, Lin Wan has been flaunting herself all over our family group chat. Especially after the OTTO phone successfully entered the 8,000-yuan price bracket, a level even the flagship phones managed by my eldest sister never reached. Sure, the sales numbers are worlds apart, but Lin Wan has only been making phones for a few months, while my eldest sister has been doing it for years…"
"In short, the situation became extremely chaotic for a while."
Pei Qian thought for a moment. "Then… the old master just let her keep acting like that?"
Lin Chang chuckled dryly.
"President Pei really went straight to the core issue. That's exactly the key point behind this change in circumstances."
"Not only was the old master not angry, he was actually very pleased."
"To tell the truth, President Pei…"
"Back when Lin Wan angrily ran away to work outside the family business, my old man was very unhappy. He understood very clearly what most outside companies were like these days, and felt Lin Wan was simply wasting her time, which is why he kept insisting she come home and inherit the family business."
"Previously, Lin Wan had only been making games and hadn't accomplished anything especially remarkable. Sure, the mobile game made money, but games still weren't considered particularly prestigious, so the old man's attitude never changed."
"But this time, when Lin Wan bragged in the family chat about making an 8,000-yuan phone… my old man suddenly became interested!"
"So he had people thoroughly investigate the OTTO phone and Tengda Group. And guess what happened?"
The corner of Pei Qian's mouth twitched slightly. A very bad premonition arose in his heart.
"What happened?"
Lin Chang's expression became complicated.
"He carefully analyzed the entire process of how the phone became popular and managed to sell at the 8,000-yuan level. He was full of praise for you, President Pei!"
"Boldly putting Chang You in charge, establishing a high-end positioning right from the start, subtly promoting the brand through the movie, and using Tengda Group's other businesses to support the phone, allowing it to carve a path through a smartphone market where domestic brands had already divided up nearly every price segment…"
"If any one of those steps had gone wrong, OTTO phones could have failed completely!"
"Especially the launch event. Even my old man was extremely impressed, because no domestic manufacturer had ever done anything like that before. He said that launch event alone saved OTTO phones at least hundreds of thousands in marketing expenses!"
"He knows that most of the credit undoubtedly belongs to you and Chang You, President Pei. But since Lin Wan was the director, even if she only handled a small portion of the work, she still must have gained tremendous growth from the experience."
"After that, he also briefly looked into Tengda Group's other businesses, including Against the Wind Logistics, Moyu Internet Café, and so on…"
Pei Qian felt even more uneasy.
"Why don't you just tell me the final result…"
Lin Chang paused before saying:
"My old man changed his mind."
Pei Qian: "?"
"Changed his mind?"
"He's not making Lin Wan come home anymore?"
Lin Chang's expression was complicated.
"That's right."
"He originally wanted Lin Wan to return because he believed outside companies were unreliable, and thought working for them was a complete waste of time for her."
"But after seeing Lin Wan's outstanding achievements, my old man's prejudice against those companies disappeared… well, actually that's not quite accurate. More precisely, his prejudice against Tengda Group disappeared."
"In fact, my old man thinks very highly of you, President Pei. He believes that Lin Wan can definitely learn a great deal working under you. Letting her train here for a few more years before bringing her back to inherit the family business doesn't seem like a bad idea after all."
Pei Qian: "??"
Stay here for a few more years before going back?
How is that merely "not a bad idea"? This is clearly an absolutely terrible idea!
If she stays here as a department director for a few more years, who knows what my company will be turned into by then?!
What was going on here? Had the entire "Get Lin Wan to Go Home United Front" collapsed completely because of one tiny, insignificant success?
Old Master Lin, can't you be a little more firm in your convictions?!
Pei Qian hurriedly asked, "Then what did Lin Yu say?"
Lin Chang spread his hands helplessly. "What could she say? Once the old man speaks, everyone has to listen."
"His current attitude is that since Lin Wan can genuinely learn things here, there's no harm in letting her stay a while longer. And he also hinted that during this period, us siblings should cooperate properly and give her career a helping hand…"
Pei Qian: "???"
Brother, if a giant like Shenhua decides to "give a helping hand," that's no joke!
You might yank my whole arm off in the process!
Just think about the past:
Lin Yu helped promote the mobile version of Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition through the Shenhua app store; Lin Zhou waived rent for Shenhua Prestige; Lin Chang handled promotion for A Better Tomorrow.
And now think about the future…
The three of you respectively oversee phones, real estate, and entertainment. If you all work together, Lin Wan's career really will soar smoothly and rapidly, while his grand money-losing enterprise will die on the spot!
Pei Qian immediately rejected the idea without hesitation.
"No need!"
Lin Chang nodded. "Exactly. That's what I told him too!"
Pei Qian blinked. "Huh?"
Lin Chang wore an expression that practically said I am President Pei's confidant.
"I told the old man that you, President Pei, built everything from scratch through extraordinary talent, and have always disliked this sort of outside assistance. Since every one of your decisions is already carefully planned and backed by sufficient confidence, any random help from us would only create chaos and be completely unnecessary."
Pei Qian happily nodded repeatedly.
"Exactly!"
As expected of President Lin—you truly understand me! Hearing that made me feel so much better!
Although your understanding of "carefully planned" is somewhat flawed, as long as you people stop causing trouble, we can still remain good friends!
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian asked again:
"Then, President Lin, did the old master give any hints about when Lin Wan might finally go back home?"
Lin Chang considered this for a while.
"Judging from his current attitude… Lin Wan will probably be allowed to return once she's capable enough to stand on her own."
Pei Qian immediately said, "I think she's already capable enough to stand on her own!"
Lin Chang shook his head.
"Clearly, my old man doesn't think so. President Pei, from his perspective, Tengda Group's scale is still rather small. OTTO phones' current sales and profits aren't even comparable to an ordinary OEM phone under one of Shenhua's sub-brands. With results like these, she's still far from what the old man would consider 'able to stand independently.'"
"At the very least, the business Lin Wan manages would probably need to rank near the very top of its field before it could catch the old master's eye…"
Pei Qian's face darkened.
Rank near the very top?
For a phone business to rank "near the very top," the company's market value would have to be worth at least tens of billions!
"Are you kidding me?"
Pei Qian thought for a moment.
"What about other businesses? For example, if she managed to reach the top ranks worldwide in a certain gaming category, would that count?"
Lin Chang considered it briefly.
"It probably would. The old man doesn't have any prejudice against the gaming industry. But a mobile game like Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition definitely wouldn't be enough. Beyond profitability, it would also need to have sufficient influence."
Pei Qian nodded. He now had a plan.
Just put Lin Wan in charge of the Chinese server for IOI and call it a day!
The overall goal was still the same—get Lin Wan to return home and inherit the family business. Previously, the strategy had been to make projects fail. But now, the strategy would be to make a project achieve overwhelming success.
Of course, "overwhelming success" contradicted President Pei's ultimate goal. But success didn't necessarily have to mean high profits—it could also mean huge popularity and influence!
Coincidentally, Pei Qian had been worrying about who to assign to the IOI Chinese server project, a project that would probably succeed even if people just lay around doing nothing.
Now the answer was obvious: hand it over to Lin Wan and Shangyang Games!
Doing this would accomplish at least three goals at once.
First, it would stop Shangyang Games from producing another critically and commercially successful single-player game. They had already proven their abilities with BE QUIET.
Second, no matter what, the Chinese server for IOI would most likely become a massive success. Since that outcome was unavoidable anyway, he might as well throw Lin Wan into the project to earn some prestige, then have Old Master Lin come pick her up once the project succeeded.
Finally, the success of IOI's Chinese server could conveniently eliminate GOG, this major threat close to his heart. Tengda Group Games and Shangyang Games—his own two gaming departments—would end up fighting each other, with the "little brother" beating up the "big brother." The scene would surely be spectacular.
Thinking of this, Pei Qian nodded.
"Alright. I'll do my best to make sure the old master comes to take her home in half a year."
When it came to ensuring a project failed, President Pei truly had no confidence whatsoever.
But if the goal was making a project succeed, especially a reliable project like IOI…
President Pei still had a few degrees of confidence.
Seeing how quickly President Pei's expression changed, Lin Chang looked suspicious.
"Uh… President Pei, judging from how confident and strategic you suddenly look, it seems you've already got everything planned out."
"So… when you previously said you wanted Lin Wan to fail, you were just bluffing me all along, weren't you?"
"Could it be that you already predicted that as long as Lin Wan's career became successful enough, my old man would change his mind?"
Pei Qian: "…"
"President Lin, if you keep making wild guesses like this, sooner or later you're going to lose my friendship."
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Tn: I updated the story once a day, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 536: Still Going with the "Bare Walls" Style[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/losing-money-to-164800513?collection=1399284
[2] https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/losing-money-to-164800513?collection=1399284