Two weeks later, Renren Farm's daily active users reached 25 million.
This number looked impressive, but in reality, it was still quite a ways off from "QQ Farm's" peak back then.
After all, "QQ Farm" at that time displayed as many as 120 million online users, which would be at least 200 million if converted to daily active users.
Bear in mind that the total number of internet users nationwide was only 420 million back then.
What's more, Renren Farm currently doesn't even need to compete with Tencent or Kaixin001.
But even so, this number repeatedly shattered the perceptions of people in the internet industry.
Every day, a new record was being set, a record that commanded awe.
Normally, a game's peak online users would arrive two or three months after its launch, exploding only when word-of-mouth had sufficiently spread and promotions reached all kinds of people.
How much would Renren Farm's DAU reach two or three months later?
Everyone didn't even dare to imagine.
Why would such a monster appear in this world!
The technical team in charge of Renren Farm had already started working two shifts, not daring to make any mistakes.
Any bugs that appeared had to be solved quickly, otherwise they would be drowned by a flood of complaints, and at the same time, their superiors would also lambast them.
On the online game company's side, Tian Hongrui, responsible for DNF operations, was practically drooling.
Only those who have worked on online games truly know how terrifying such data is; even if only 1% of the people are paying players, it would be an astronomical sum.
And the invisible benefits are even more immeasurable by money.
......
While Chen Pingjiang was busy, he received a call from Empress Dowager Xu, telling him he absolutely had to go back home.
The reason was that Old Chen was seriously ill!
Chen Pingjiang frowned and couldn't recall Old Chen ever suffering from any serious illness, but he still didn't dare to neglect it.
That very day, he drove alone and rushed back.
It had been 7-8 months since he last went home, and Chen Pingjiang was indeed feeling a bit homesick.
After arriving home, Chen Pingjiang saw his father, Chen Guangming, leisurely sitting at the table drinking old wine, and was even surprised to see Chen Pingjiang back.
Seeing this, Empress Dowager Xu also bluntly admitted that she had "sacrificed" Old Chen, just to trick Chen Pingjiang into coming back.
This made Chen Pingjiang not know whether to laugh or cry:
"Mom, you could have just told me directly to come back. Why use my dad as an excuse? It gave me quite a scare, and I sped all the way back."
Like mother, like son.
Empress Dowager Xu, without batting an eyelid, directly changed the subject:
"Is the news I saw in the newspaper true, that you're now worth a billion and are a big boss?"
"That's it?"
Chen Pingjiang was speechless:
"You called me back just for this?"
Empress Dowager Xu rolled her eyes:
"That's just incidental. Your old lady missed you; can't I ask you to come back and visit?"
If a tiger doesn't assert its power, Chen Pingjiang wouldn't dare treat Empress Dowager Xu as a Hello Kitty.
With an apologetic, awkward smile, Chen Pingjiang said:
"Yes, yes, of course! I wasn't trying to hide it from you; it's pretty much correct, but it's all in shares, not cash."
Renren.com's first round of financing was already a few months ago, but Empress Dowager Xu and Father Chen, living in the small county town at the time, were unaware, so Chen Pingjiang didn't say anything.
This time, as Renren.com became hugely popular again, Empress Dowager Xu also started playing the "steal vegetables" game, and by chance, she learned of Chen Pingjiang's true "identity."
Since her last trip to Dongjiang, Empress Dowager Xu had already accepted the fact that her son was a rich man, but no matter how much she prepared herself mentally, a net worth of a billion still somewhat frightened her.
Over the phone, it couldn't be explained clearly in a few words, so Empress Dowager Xu resorted to this trick, "sacrificing" Old Chen to trick Chen Pingjiang into coming back.
"The Old Chen family has really accumulated virtue from ancestors,"
Chen Guangming muttered, not putting down the wine glass in his hand for a long time.
He started calculating in his mind how much money a billion was.
Although she had already prepared herself mentally, hearing it directly from Chen Pingjiang, Xu Fangjuan still received a huge shock.
"You two old folks need to get used to it. To be precise, my net worth should be over ten billion now,"
Chen Pingjiang delivered another shock to the two elders.
But this time, Empress Dowager Xu wasn't as surprised.
A billion was already a lot for them; ten billion, on the other hand, didn't evoke as much feeling.
Like most ordinary people, going from 0 to a billion was shocking, but from a billion to ten billion was actually fine.
Currently, based on Renren.com's estimated valuation of approximately 15 billion, Chen Pingjiang, who holds 70% of the shares, already had a net worth of 10.5 billion.
This doesn't even include food delivery, group buying, catering, online games, etc.
If everything were added up, 20 billion would not be a problem.
Xu Fangjuan and Chen Guangming exchanged glances, the emotions in their eyes quite complex, including joy, shock, and relief.
"Right, just as your dad said, go back to your hometown and pay respects to the ancestors,"
Empress Dowager Xu suddenly made the decision.
Chen Pingjiang naturally was somewhat unwilling:
"It's not a holiday, is there a need?"
"Of course there is, so that the ancestors of your Old Chen family can bless you with smooth sailing."
Empress Dowager Xu's decree was not to be refuted.
After thinking about it, Chen Pingjiang finally understood.
Actually, ancestral worship and such was probably just incidental.
In the hearts of the older generation, they still felt that being rich and not returning to one's hometown was like parading in fine clothes at night.
Chen Pingjiang scoffed at this notion.
The ancestors also said,
"When poor, do not visit relatives; when rich, do not return home."
The arm cannot twist the thigh.
Although Chen Pingjiang's status in the family might be a bit higher than Old Chen's, with Empress Dowager Xu keeping him in check, it was still too early to turn things upside down.
In the following two days, Chen Pingjiang went back to his father's hometown and walked around.
He didn't particularly show off; instead, he paid for the revision of the family genealogy and again paid respects to the ancestors.
The Old Chen family's concept in this regard was still quite strong.
If ancestors don't revise the genealogy, modern people suffer in seeking their roots;
If our generation doesn't revise the genealogy, future generations will forget their ancestors.
Chen Guangming always believed that the family genealogy was the soul of the family, capable of passing down the family's spirit and educating future generations.
And the Chen family, as a prominent local clan, many clan members who had started businesses and become successful would donate money.
It was already the third day when he returned to Dongjiang.
As soon as he arrived at the company, before he even had time to drink a sip of water, Tian Hongrui came to report on the current work.
A game licensed from abroad wanted to launch domestically, and what they wanted to do was not just simply laying out channels as everyone thought, but also involved multiple aspects.
After obtaining the game version, it was necessary to localize the game.
This included translating game text, modifying the game interface, adjusting game content to suit the domestic market, and also optimizing servers to provide a better gaming experience.
After this, it was also necessary to carry out multi-level advertising and marketing work, including various methods such as online advertising, TV advertising, radio advertising, and internet advertising.
Furthermore, they also needed to participate in various game exhibitions and events to increase the game's popularity and influence.
Of course, all of this also had a compliance issue: DNF must obtain a domestic ID card—a publication license.
These days, publication licenses were actually not easy to obtain; this belonged to the wilderness era of Chinese games.
This is also why blood in "World of Warcraft" would be green, and why skeletons would have flesh.
"The online game anti-addiction system has been implemented, right?"
Chen Pingjiang asked casually, looking at the report in his hand.
Tian Hongrui nodded:
"This has definitely been implemented; without it, there's no way to apply for a publication license. Now, our game's localization has been completed. After getting the publication license, we still need to get it reviewed by the Ministry of Culture.
We'll take advantage of this time gap to prepare the initial promotional and ground-level marketing work. I estimate that, at the very earliest, it will only be able to launch in January next year."
The good thing is that DNF, unlike World of Warcraft, doesn't have much that needs to be modified, and it is inherently a 2D game, so the immersion will be a bit less.
"DNF, as a 2D fighting online game, currently has no competitors on the market, so grasp this point during promotion. But from another perspective, this is both an advantage and a disadvantage. We don't know how high players' acceptance of this type of game is, so we can conduct a small-scale closed beta test,"
Chen Pingjiang said.
As for whether DNF could succeed, Chen Pingjiang never doubted it.
But he also had to seriously take into account the various competitors on the market.
Currently, in the domestic online game market, "Fantasy Westward Journey" had taken the top spot among turn-based games.
"Zhengtu," on the other hand, was aggressively raking in money in the 2D market, truly pushing pay-to-win to the extreme.
In the MMORPG genre, "Warcraft" was in the top spot, and "Tian Long Ba Bu" also burst onto the scene.
In addition, games like "Audition," "KartRider," "Jade Dynasty," "Myth War Online," "Freestyle," "Wulin Gaiden," and "Scions of Fate" dominated their respective fields.
Of course, there were also "Guild Wars," "MU Online 2," and "Granado Espada."
In short, 2007 was a year when a hundred flowers bloomed for the domestic online gaming industry.
All types of online games swarmed in, with domestic and licensed online games emerging endlessly.
Many of these games are still remembered by many, even in 2024.
So, is DNF a sure win? Not necessarily.
Even good wine fears deep alleys.
Many people once said that if DNF wasn't operated by Tencent, it wouldn't have become popular at all, which is not unreasonable.
"For early-stage promotion and publicity, go all out; the company will give you enough resources. Additionally, you can recruit some online promoters, and Chinajoy can also be attended. After DNF launches, I will drive traffic from Renren.com and Renren Farm."
As soon as Tian Hongrui heard this, he grinned and smiled.
The resources from Renren.com and Renren Farm are priceless.
The former, Renren.com, currently has nearly 60 million registered users, the majority of whom are young people, and it even has online game discussion forums.
By then, if our own moderators just lift a finger, DNF can get its fill.
As for Renren Farm, it's even more awesome.
By then, the requirements won't be high; Renren Farm and DNF can do some co-branded products, leveraging the popularity of "steal vegetables," which is truly more awesome than attending exhibitions.
Holding traffic in one's own hands is indeed powerful.
Just like Tencent promoting a game versus other small companies promoting a game, can their promotional effects be compared?
For such a goose that lays golden eggs, allocating any amount of resources is not excessive.
Chen Pingjiang even used his connections, hoping the approval speed for the publication license could be accelerated.
He was really afraid that if it got stuck at this stage, it would be stuck for half a year, and if that happened, everything would be ruined.
(End of chapter)