The chaos and success of the internal Alpha test were like a shot in the arm, immersing all employees of Riot Games in a state of excited agony.
The technical team began a second round of intense debugging based on the long list of bugs, while the art and design departments continuously refined existing heroes and started designing new characters.
However, beneath this feverish technical assault, a hidden worry began to spread within the company, especially in the heart of Assistant Zhang, who had been sent by the family group to oversee financial and business directions.
Finally, during a weekly project progress meeting, as Qin Feng enthusiastically elaborated on the next steps to add a "Rune System" and "Summoner Spells" to deepen game strategy, Assistant Zhang couldn't help but push up his glasses and interrupt.
"President Qin, colleagues," his voice carried a hint of imperceptible tension, "Please forgive my bluntness. Our project's current progress, from a technical perspective, is indeed exciting. However, there's a core issue we seem to have been avoiding."
The conference room instantly fell silent, all eyes focusing on Assistant Zhang.
Li Ming, Wang Qi, and others frowned slightly; they were immersed in the world of technology and felt an instinctive aversion to such a "mundane" interruption.
Qin Feng, however, remained calm; he probably guessed what Assistant Zhang was going to say and gestured for him to continue.
"Funding." Assistant Zhang took a deep breath, spread out the financial report in his hand, "Since the company's inception, we have had no revenue.
All expenditures—office rent, top-tier hardware, the salaries of everyone present, which are far above the industry average, high costs for outsourced art and audio, and the even higher projected future costs for servers and bandwidth... all depend on President Qin's personal capital injection."
He paused, looked around, and emphasized, "In other words, we have been 'burning money.' And, according to President Qin's plans for the number of heroes, map complexity, and the future vision of global servers, this 'burning money' speed and scale will only increase exponentially.
We must face a realistic question: How will League of Legends generate profit in the future?"
This question, like a giant rock thrown into a calm lake, created ripples.
The technical staff exchanged glances; they were accustomed to solving problems but rarely thought about the ultimate commercial fate of a product.
"Profit? By selling the game, of course!" a newly hired designer instinctively blurted out, "It's so much fun; if we price it at 99 or 199 yuan, people will definitely buy it!"
His words immediately drew several agreements.
"Exactly, for such a good game, it should be charged."
"A one-time purchase, clear and simple."
However, Qin Feng slowly shook his head, a profound smile appearing on his face.
He looked at Assistant Zhang, then at everyone present, and threw out a groundbreaking idea:
"No, League of Legends must be free."
"Free?!"
The conference room instantly erupted.
Even Sun Ce, the most composed, showed a stunned expression.
Assistant Zhang was so anxious he almost stood up: "President Qin! This is impossible! We have invested such huge sunk costs; if it's free, how will we recoup our investment? Let alone profit!
This doesn't conform to the most basic business logic!"
"The free ones are the most expensive." Qin Feng quoted a classic internet adage from his previous life, but he knew that in this era, this saying had not yet permeated people's minds.
He pressed his hands down, signaling everyone to be quiet.
"Everyone, please set aside traditional software sales thinking for a moment.
I have a few questions for you." Qin Feng stood up and walked to the whiteboard.
"First, if we price it at 199 yuan, do you think a potential player who has never encountered this type of game and knows nothing about it would be willing to spend this 'huge sum' to try a game that might not suit them at all, or that they might not even understand?"
"Second, suppose there are ten friends; five buy it, and five don't.
Can they still happily play together? Will this barrier split our player community in its infancy?"
"Third, and most importantly," Qin Feng's gaze sharpened, "Our ultimate goal is not just to sell copies of the game, but to build a massive, active, and sticky player ecosystem, and on that foundation, create an unprecedented esports empire!
A paid barrier would greatly hinder the rapid expansion and viral spread of this ecosystem."
His words made everyone ponder.
Li Ming nodded thoughtfully: "President Qin means to lower the barrier so everyone can play without burden, to first expand the user base?"
"Exactly!" Qin Feng looked at Li Ming approvingly, "When our player base reaches millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, the ways to make money will become diverse, and far more sustainable and profitable than selling one-time copies."
He turned and wrote two large characters on the whiteboard: "In-App Purchases."
"In-app purchases?" Assistant Zhang frowned, "Is it like some online games, selling enhanced equipment, selling experience boosts? Leading to paying players crushing free players?
Wouldn't that go against our pursuit of fair competition?"
"Certainly not!" Qin Feng emphatically denied, his voice firm, "Remember our iron rule: any attribute that directly affects game balance is absolutely forbidden to be sold!
This is the cornerstone of League of Legends' business model; once shaken, the game will surely die!"
He then drew three boxes on the whiteboard:
"These will be our main sources of income in the future." Qin Feng explained, "Every week, we will provide a batch of free-rotation heroes for all players to experience, but if a player wants to permanently own a hero, or play it whenever they want, they will need to acquire it in two ways: one is to purchase it using 'Blue Essence' obtained through battles in the game, and the other is to directly purchase 'Riot Points' to unlock it."
"This gives players a choice: either spend time or spend money." Chen Ran's eyes lit up, seemingly understanding the significance of this artwork's design.
"As for'skins,'" Qin Feng continued, "they are purely cosmetic items.
They can change a hero's splash art, model, skill effects, sound effects, and even recall animations and voice lines.
But they will not provide even the slightest attribute bonus.
Players buy skins to show off their individuality, to look cool, beautiful, or to express their love for a particular hero.
This is an emotional and aesthetic consumption."
He looked at Chen Ran: "So, art team, your task is heavy.
In the future, we need to create a large number of high-quality, creative, and story-rich skins, from simple recolors to 'Epic' skins with brand new effects and voice lines, and even 'Legendary' skins that completely change a hero's theme and style."
Chen Ran took a deep breath, feeling both a huge challenge and excitement.
"The 'Rune System' I just mentioned, it can provide players with customizable attribute bonuses before the game starts, and it's part of the strategy." Qin Feng said, "Basic runes can be purchased with in-game currency.
But rune pages—which are 'configuration pages' where multiple different rune setups can be preset—we will initially give away two pages, and additional pages will need to be unlocked with payment.
This falls under'strategic convenience' payment; it doesn't affect balance but provides convenience for hardcore players."
"Additionally, we can consider introducing items like 'Double XP Cards' and 'Double Essence Cards' to accelerate player progression, but they won't make them stronger.
This primarily serves players with limited time but who are willing to pay."
"When our tournament system is established and the esports ecosystem thrives," Qin Feng described a more distant blueprint, "this will be a vast blue ocean.
Tournament tickets, broadcast rights, team sponsorships, player endorsements, champion skin revenue sharing (in the future, we can customize exclusive skins for teams that win the World Championship, with a portion of sales shared with the team)... these are all huge sources of income."
"Furthermore, physical merchandise outside the game, such as figures, apparel, keyboards, mice, and other peripherals, can further expand our brand value and revenue channels."
Qin Feng put down his pen and surveyed the room: "This is my envisioned 'free-to-play, in-app monetization' business model.
Its barrier to entry is extremely low, attracting a massive user base; it upholds fairness, ensuring the vitality of competition; it taps into emotional and convenience needs, creating continuous and stable income; and it looks towards esports and the ecosystem, bringing infinite imaginative space."
The conference room was silent; everyone was digesting this completely different, highly forward-looking, and even somewhat risky business logic compared to the traditional buy-to-own model.
Assistant Zhang's doubts had not completely dissipated, but he had to admit that Qin Feng's vision was logically self-consistent and extremely ambitious.
He pondered for a moment and asked, "President Qin, the key to this model lies in the user base.
How do we ensure that, by being free, we attract enough users and make them willing to pay for heroes and skins?
If user growth is below expectations, or the payment conversion rate is too low, our capital chain..."
"Therefore, we need a sufficiently impactful 'open beta'." Qin Feng took over, his eyes gleaming with confidence, "We will ignite the market with impeccable game quality (most critical bugs must be resolved by open beta), highly attractive marketing, and generous initial login and event rewards.
As long as the first batch of seed users comes in and truly falls in love with the game, word-of-mouth and community effects will snowball, bringing us a continuous stream of players."
He looked at the technical team: "Therefore, gentlemen, optimizing server performance and ensuring a stable and smooth network during open beta is the absolute top priority right now.
A poor open beta experience is enough to ruin all our plans."
Li Ming, Wang Qi, and others nodded solemnly, feeling the heavy weight of responsibility on their shoulders.
"And regarding the design of payment points," Qin Feng concluded, "we need to find the right balance.
We need to make paying players feel that they are getting value for their money and feel happy, without alienating free players or creating a negative impression of 'pay-to-win'.
This balance will require continuous exploration and adjustment in the future."
The meeting ended.
Although the preliminary framework of the business model was established, everyone knew that this was just a blueprint.
Whether it could take root in reality and grow into a towering tree depended on the quality of the product itself, market acceptance, and every detail of its future execution.
"A free game?" Assistant Zhang mumbled to himself as he walked out last, his face still showing a hint of worry, but his eyes now held a few more traces of impressed shock, "President Qin, this is truly a huge gamble."
Qin Feng stood by the window of the empty conference room, watching the traffic below, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Gamble? No, this is just a dimensionality reduction strike."
He seemed to already see how, while other game developers were still racking their brains over how to increase software prices, League of Legends, this behemoth sailing under the banner of "free," would crush the seas of the old era with overwhelming force and usher in a new era of esports.