Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 503: Can Teacher He Share Some Lessons from Failure?
Ye Zhizhou answered, "President Pei, the reward is 5% of the net revenue from all skins for that hero, plus the corresponding in-game title.'"
Pei Qian fell silent.
He couldn't care less about the other rewards, but that 5% share of skin profits...
Anyone with common sense knew that wouldn't be a small amount of money.
More importantly, it was a lifetime, permanent reward. As long as GOG continued operating, that share of skin revenue would keep flowing into his account indefinitely.
Most people might still worry about the game's lifespan.
After all, looking at the industry, games that could remain successful and vibrant for more than ten years were incredibly rare.
The gaming industry changed at a breathtaking pace. A successful game wasn't only competing against titles of the same genre—it also had to compete with entirely different genres.
People had once believed MMORPGs were the ultimate form of online games, yet the emergence of MOBA games had completely shattered that assumption.
Likewise, how could anyone today be certain that MOBAs would enjoy the same long-term dominance MMORPGs once had, instead of flaring brightly for a few years before disappearing like so many other hit games?
But Pei Qian knew the truth.
GOG would definitely continue operating for a very, very long time.
If GOG were fortunate enough to lose its competition with IOI and nobody played it anymore, it would enter a prolonged period of losses. Pei Qian would be overjoyed and naturally keep it running, happily burning money forever.
As long as it still had a legitimate revenue model, the system wouldn't stop him.
On the other hand, if GOG was unfortunate enough to defeat IOI, then as a profitable project he would have no reasonable excuse to shut it down. It would continue operating just the same.
In other words, that 5% revenue share would most likely continue for the rest of his life.
Pei Qian was tempted.
Earlier, in order to reduce the game's revenue, he had deliberately priced GOG's skins very cheaply. Later, Min Jingchao had further discounted them to encourage player participation.
But no matter how much those prices were reduced, that only seemed insignificant from the perspective of a highly profitable game company.
For Pei Qian personally...
No matter how he looked at it, it would still be a considerable amount of money.
A series of wildly popular heroes immediately flashed through his mind—
Yasuo, Zed, Lee Sin...
If he simply recreated all of them here, wouldn't he become rich on the spot?
But almost immediately, another thought occurred to him.
'Wait. Calm down. Don't let a mere 5% cloud your judgment…'
'If I really import all of these heroes, could IOI end up getting completely crushed?'
'Creating heroes takes a long time. At best, we can finish two heroes per month, and it'll only get slower as time goes on.'
'Once the roster reaches a certain size, every new hero has to interact with every existing one. Balancing becomes increasingly difficult, and development inevitably slows down.'
'That means the number of people who can receive this reward is limited.'
'If I monopolize all the classic hero designs for myself, what about everyone else?'
'This event is supposed to encourage player participation and reward the community. If I take all the opportunities for myself, that doesn't seem right.'
Pei Qian realized that if he truly started copying heroes from memory, he could easily recreate seventy or eighty of them—if not every single one.
If that happened, there would be nothing left for other players.
That felt... a little excessive.
'Besides, IOI is already in a precarious position. What if my intervention is the final blow that finishes it off?'
'Sure, that 5% skin revenue sounds incredibly attractive. But if I turn GOG into an unstoppable money-printing machine, I can forget about losing money ever again. I'll be stuck living off that miserable one-thousandth conversion rate for the rest of my life.'
'And what if the system decides to adjust the conversion rate based on the Matthew Effect? It's probably unlikely, but it's still something I have to consider…'
'Yeah... I need to think about the long-term consequences.'
After weighing everything carefully, Pei Qian concluded that if he became a "hero porter," endlessly copying classic champions, he had at least three major concerns.
First, in the foreseeable future, the total number of heroes would always be limited, and the pace of hero development would also be limited. That meant the number of rewards available was likewise limited. If Pei Qian monopolized them all, he would effectively be taking benefits away from the players, and he simply couldn't feel good about doing that.
After all, he owned so many businesses that he could earn money simply by throwing money around and deliberately taking losses. Most ordinary players didn't have that luxury.
And besides, he had his pride. He couldn't bring himself to grab benefits that were meant for the players.
Secondly, if he copied too many classic heroes, GOG could very well become an uncontrollable phenomenon—a game that generated enormous profits. If that happened, there would be virtually no chance of losing money in the future.
Right now, Pei Qian still had a choice. Losing money was obviously more profitable for him, but whether he chose to make or lose money, he still had some control over the outcome.
If GOG became too successful, however, he might lose that freedom altogether. He would have no choice but to make money. From a long-term perspective, giving up the possibility of taking losses was an extremely bad deal.
Finally...
What about Lin Wan?
This time, Lin Wan was in charge of operating the Chinese servers for IOI. If she gave it everything she had and still failed, she would undoubtedly conclude that her abilities were still far from adequate. She would insist on staying at Tengda Group to continue learning instead of returning home.
And at that point, who knew what terrifying things her sister, her brother, and the old patriarch might do in order to "fully support her career"?
After considering everything, Pei Qian decided he couldn't allow himself to be lured in by the GOG team's little bait for attracting players. He needed to stay calm, think about the bigger picture, and make his decision only after careful consideration.
He'd give himself a week to think about it.
Even if he ultimately decided to copy some heroes, he couldn't shamelessly monopolize all the player rewards. Copying just one or two heroes to supplement his own income should be enough.
'I'll only copy one. Just one. That shouldn't have much impact on the overall situation... right?'
...
...
Thursday, April 28
A café near Handong University.
He An's first lesson for "Ma Yang" officially began.
Pei Qian checked the time. It was one o'clock in the afternoon. Including breaks and casual conversation, the lesson would last until five—four hours in total.
After all, each session cost 200,000 yuan, so He An probably felt it shouldn't be too short.
He An was holding two printed sets of course materials and handed one to Pei Qian.
Pei Qian accepted it and casually flipped through the pages.
To his surprise, President He had actually prepared the class seriously. Everything he intended to teach had been carefully organized into written materials and professionally printed.
A true master was a true master.
Once He An agreed to teach, he prepared meticulously. There wasn't the slightest hint of a "just take the money and wing it" attitude.
Pei Qian was delighted.
After all, the system would later evaluate how much he had improved through his studies. Only if he truly "learned something" would he receive the reward.
The more seriously He An taught, the higher the chance that Pei Qian would pass the system's evaluation.
However...
His happiness lasted less than two minutes.
His expression gradually froze.
Because he saw the title on the course materials.
"Successful Case Studies – Lesson One: The Marketing Strategies Behind Tengda Group's Games."
The corner of Pei Qian's mouth twitched.
It's over.
That bad feeling I had... actually came true.
Last week, He An had given him several test questions, all of which were about Tengda Group's games.
At the time, Pei Qian hadn't paid much attention. He had optimistically assumed that the entrance test and the actual course would be different.
After all, He An had worked on so many successful projects. If he was going to teach anything, surely it would be lessons drawn from his own successful experiences.
But what was this course title supposed to mean?
The entire class was about Tengda Group's games?
I'm paying 200,000 yuan per lesson... just to learn my own marketing strategy?
More importantly, I don't even have any damn marketing strategy!
Somewhat awkwardly, Pei Qian asked,
"Teacher He... we're really studying this?"
"Hm?" He An seemed surprised that "Ma Yang" would ask such a question. "Is there something wrong with studying this?"
Pei Qian cleared his throat.
"Teacher He, don't you have any failed projects? Maybe you could share some lessons from your failures instead? As the saying goes, 'Failure is the mother of success.' I'd like to learn from... the mother."
He An chuckled.
"President Ma, that's exactly the kind of thinking you'd expect from an outsider."
Pei Qian: "..."
He An explained, "I've certainly taken a few detours in my career. But when people say 'failure is the mother of success,' what they mean is that through trial and error, you eventually discover the correct path."
"If the correct path is already right in front of you, why would you deliberately walk down the wrong road first?"
"You're confusing cause and effect."
"You think many people succeed because they learned valuable lessons from failure. But in reality, they simply found the right path."
"President Ma, whatever you do, don't deliberately go looking for those so-called 'lessons from failure.'"
"If you don't know about those failed cases, you won't even think about heading in those directions."
"But once you know too many failure stories, they can actually interfere with your thinking and shake your resolve."
Pei Qian: "..."
Interfere with my thinking? Shake my resolve?
Now that you've put it that way... I want to learn them even more...
Still unwilling to give up, Pei Qian asked,
"President He, even so, do we really have to study Tengda Group's cases?"
He An smiled slightly.
"If you're going to learn, then you should study the newest and most cutting-edge design philosophies. Why would anyone study outdated ideas?"
"Besides, you're already an employee of Tengda Group. Learning Tengda Group's design principles should be much easier for you to understand and master."
Pei Qian hesitated.
"But..."
He An's expression darkened.
"President Ma, don't aim too high before you've mastered the basics!"
"You invited me here to teach. If that's the case, then study what I'm teaching seriously."
"Otherwise, you'd be better off finding someone else."
Pei Qian had nothing to say.
It seemed President He had completely made up his mind to teach nothing but Tengda Group-related material.
Then again, thinking about it, that was only natural.
He An had spent so much effort organizing and preparing the teaching materials for the first lesson. If his student refused to learn them, of course he'd lose his temper.
Forget it.
I'll give the senior expert some face.
Besides, maybe there really is something useful hidden in all this.
And anyway... this is only the first lesson.
Surely the later classes will cover other topics... right?