Since we are both reborn, of course I would choose the rich woman!

Chapter 237 We Have Money (6k views, please subscribe)

ByteDance's products were able to quickly gain a foothold in 2015 thanks to the "UGC" model.

Lowering the barrier to creation allows more ordinary people to join the internet's "knowledge + skills + experience + life" sharing model, thereby breaking down the inherent thinking and perceptions of different people. Then, through advertising traffic monetization and platform subsidies, revenue is shared with the users who join.

This model is more favorable to creators in the gaming industry, especially before 2022.

Games like League of Legends, PUBG, Overwatch, and Apex Legends have made countless skilled players famous, and many have even achieved financial freedom through this model.

Before 2020, streamers on live streaming platforms such as Huya and Douyu, who were either skilled or good-looking, had a higher status on the internet than many first- or second-tier celebrities. This was the peak and most glorious moment in the lives of gamers.

Unfortunately, during this most glorious and peak moment, ByteDance's products had a very strained relationship with Tencent.

At the time, all the most popular Tencent games were prohibited from appearing in ByteDance products, which led to many unfair terms and conditions—for example, players only had the right to use Tencent game accounts, not ownership, so the content generated by the games could not be displayed outside of Tencent products.

Otherwise, it would be an infringement.

So, when both Chinese online games and short videos were booming, the two sides, who should have joined forces to create a legend in the online gaming industry, were unable to cooperate due to their differing views on their respective platforms.

It wasn't until several years later, when Tencent's internet influence had declined across the board and even League of Legends and Honor of Kings were on the verge of extinction, that Tencent began to cooperate with Douyin in an attempt to leverage Douyin to recover its internet business performance.

Unfortunately, once the disease has progressed to a critical stage, seeking medical treatment is no longer effective.

Just like Shanda, which was defeated by Penguin in the past, Penguin has become the Shanda that they once defeated when they were in high spirits.

Ten years is too short for a company aspiring to be a century-old enterprise.

But ten years seems too long for the fall of an internet giant.

After his rebirth, Lü Yao entered this industry and found an excellent team, excellent operations, and excellent allies. With the management skills he learned from the wealthy women around him, the project progressed very smoothly.

The increasing reach of mobile game content and UGC platforms will gradually solidify the technology of "Guangan Networks" and form a powerful system of "self-content + UGC (user-generated content) + self-propagation + esports".

It remains to be seen whether the system established by Lü Yao can accelerate Tencent's decline in the internet business.

However, it's also possible that this could provoke the penguins to initiate a reverse correction, actually helping them clear out the remaining toxins from their bodies—after all, large corporations are "born in hardship and die in comfort."

With Lü Yao as a potential threat, the penguin might actually be able to undergo a rebirth.

Either way, it's a scenario that Lü Yao would be happy to see.

It's not that he's so great, it's just that having penguins in front of him shields him from many external risks.

Just like TikTok later, after its market value officially caught up with Tencent and it achieved great success in overseas markets, it immediately attracted a series of crises. Even ByteDance's CEO Zhang had to restructure the equity structure to avoid risks, and he himself directly took charge behind the scenes.

But Lü Yao will not slow down his offensive against the penguins just because he thinks someone will help him.

After a month of preparation, Lü Yao decided to hold a press conference to announce the establishment of the e-sports league in late June. So, shortly after the beginning of June, Lü Yao started contacting Liang Yilan and ByteDance to spread the news.

In an instant, news about the establishment of the "Guangan Networks" MOBA mobile game e-sports alliance spread across various platforms, including Neihan Duanzi, Toutiao, the gates of many primary and secondary schools, Weibo, Douyu, Huya, and other live streaming platforms.

At the same time, Lü Yao also announced the selection of civilian teams.

This plan, which Lü Yao calls the "100 Cities, 1000 Schools Esports Plan," includes an incentive reward offered by Lü Yao.

Any non-professional player who can reach the top 100 in the national server during the peak competition will receive an official reward of 100,000 yuan; in subsequent competitions, any team that can enter the amateur league and reach the top 16 will receive a cash reward of 200,000 yuan.

Make it to the quarterfinals and you'll get an additional 300,000 yuan reward.

Then the amateur teams will compete against the top eight professional teams in a points-based battle to qualify for the semifinals and the finals.

This marketing campaign has indeed ignited the enthusiasm of a huge number of amateur players. Mobile games are inherently games with a very low skill floor, so even players with average skill levels can play them with ease.

But this is, after all, a MOBA game, where the control of resources, laning, small skirmishes, and team fights all require a lot of skill.

But most gamers don't think that way; when it comes to playing games, who's going to submit to whom?
Just like many skilled players in League of Legends, these skilled players have their own signature heroes, and they dare to try their hand at using even professional players with their signature heroes.

In fact, many entertainment bloggers did try this later on. They invited famous professional players to solo against the expert, and the result was that quite a few professional players were indeed defeated by the expert in solo laning.

But professional players excel at hero synergy and resource management.

A skilled player might have an advantage in a one-on-one match, but in a 5v5 match, they'd be completely outmatched.

A couple of years ago, League of Legends had a strategy of nurturing an "absolute carry" and then pushing the game in one wave, which could work even with a one-trick pony. However, with each version update, this 1v5 strategy has been continuously nerfed.

The official League of Legends game team strives for "multiple aspects" to create a better viewing experience.

Therefore, small group and solo lane battles have become more sophisticated, and teams are also paying more attention to strategy.

This adjustment strategy was indeed very good. When the "Reckless Team" won the championship, the reputation and influence of League of Legends were at their highest. Unfortunately, after the peak, it went downhill. The heroes became increasingly strange, and there were more and more game bugs. When the Mythic equipment came out, countless veteran players were completely confused.

So these veteran players either retire in ARAM (All Random All Mid) or cultivate their character in Teamfight Tactics.

In short, the game itself gradually came back to life.

With the complete paths of rise and fall of "League of Legends" and "Honor of Kings" paving the way for him, Lü Yao was able to avoid many unnecessary risks in the operation of the game.

Therefore, this is a disadvantage for amateur teams, because they must ensure the control and reasonable allocation of map resources. Otherwise, even if a strong player gets ahead, they cannot achieve a 1v5, unless someone develops a resource acquisition speed that far exceeds that of the other nine players.

When both sides are roughly equal in skill, it's unrealistic to expect to acquire all the resources on both sides of the map.

Although it was very challenging, the news and the straightforward cash reward made many expert players extremely excited, and they began to practice hard day and night.

Among these hard-working ordinary people who have become masters, college students make up the largest group, especially freshmen.

They are young, energetic, and love to have fun. If they have fun, they can not only make money, but also brag to their brothers!
You can get 100,000 if you make it into the top 100 in the Chinese server!
Do you know what the average salary was in 2015? It was only around three thousand!
Although the price will remain the same ten years from now, many people who have just graduated and worked for a year will find it difficult to save 100,000 yuan, let alone earn 100,000 yuan.

If I could actually earn that money, it would definitely be my first pot of gold.

Moreover, once they receive this prize money, they will also gain a boost in fame. For college students from ordinary universities, becoming an e-sports streamer through online live streaming seems to be a good life option.

In fact, this path is not bad even for students from 211 universities, but it may be more cruel, even brutal and bloody than many people think.

While the internet was buzzing with activity, many people were also raising questions:

"Is it really true? A lot of games are using this cash giveaway gimmick these days. They say it's real, but when it comes time to pay, they'll probably just use in-game currency instead, right?"

"Domestic game companies, those who know, know."

"What gives Guang'an, a newly established game company, the confidence to do something like this?"

"Is this really true or not? I'm seriously planning to give it a shot. Anyway, I have a lot of free time in college, and I might as well make some money while I'm at it. [crying][crying]"

"Make a little money? Dude, your family raises pigs? You call 100,000 yuan 'little money'?"

"This is how netizens are these days. They think 100,000 yuan is nothing online, but they don't even have five figures in real-world manuscripts."

“[Crying][Crying] That’s heartbreaking, bro. I’ve been out of school for a year and I’ve only saved up 4,751.41 yuan.”

"Holy crap, it has both whole and odd numbers, this time I have to believe it."

That's how netizens are; they always veer off-topic when chatting online.

However, some netizens also responded to this question in a normal way:
"If you say Tencent and NetEase would do this, I'd wholeheartedly agree. But if you say Alibaba would do this, I don't believe it. They give out so much money as bonuses to their employees at their annual meetings, and they're clearly advertising it online. Do you think they'd cheat on them? That's ridiculous."

"What does a donkey farm have? A donkey farm has money."

"VIP 8 of Honor of Kings passing by [sunglasses][sunglasses]"

The current VIP level cap in the MOBA mobile game "Guangan" is 10, but even with all the skins and other miscellaneous items in the game, it's still not enough to reach VIP 9. Therefore, VIP 8 is the highest VIP level player in the game.

It wasn't that they couldn't get up there, but that there was nothing left to charge against.

This wave of support comes from wealthy gamers. It's not easy to find a game that offers both competitive fun and the ability to buy skins and show off without affecting game balance, allowing players to crush their opponents with skill. These "more virtuous" wealthy gamers are extremely fond of this game.

These wealthy gamers even leave messages on the game's message board every day: "Can you release some even more awesome skins?"

If I don't wear this robe, how will the world know that I have severed my worldly ties and dried up the golden sea?

Amidst such heated discussions and questions from all sectors of society, neither Lü Yao nor the entire Guang'an organization responded.

Whether it's questioning or supporting, as long as there's online discussion, it generates buzz. As long as the buzz continues, they, as the initiators of this matter, don't need to come forward to prove anything.

A key aspect of marketing is the timing of your efforts. A series of controversies, one after another, are crucial to keeping your company constantly in the public eye. This is exemplified by the launch of Xiaomi's car.

Before Xiaomi's car launch, domestic emerging car manufacturers began to exert their efforts, offering discounts and price reductions on unreleased new models, and further drastically reducing prices on older models. Cars that were originally priced at just over 100,000 yuan were reduced to as low as 79,800 yuan, and even later to 59,800 yuan.

So much so that a very famous saying on the internet at that time was: "Stop it, there are XXs everywhere outside."

Later, Xiaomi discovered that those surrounding him were indeed XX.

At the Xiaomi car launch event, Lei Jun first used emotional marketing tactics, followed by a strategy that addressed the pain points of the female user market, which received positive market feedback, resulting in a surge in Xiaomi car sales—this is the first point of discussion.

Then, seeing Xiaomi's orders were so overwhelming, competitors started to cause trouble, spending money to negatively expose Xiaomi – this is the second point of discussion.

Then Xiaomi revealed that there was a backup power supply in the car, which directly reversed the situation – this is the third point of discussion.

Just when everyone had almost forgotten about it, Xiaomi's legal department sent the car reviewer who made the malicious review to jail, making it trending again – this is topic point 4.

This was immediately followed by Xiaomi's Ultra marketing campaign...

Lei Jun's marketing strategy for Xiaomi's car project is almost a series of interconnected steps. Although many of these steps were assisted by competitors, the scary thing is that Lei Jun had already anticipated the involvement of these competitors.

Lu Yao wasn't as powerful as Lei Zong, but he had at least learned a lot of tricks from the future, so he wasn't in a hurry to make a move this time.

It took a week for public opinion to spread and another week for discussion. By the third week of June, the level of discussion about this matter began to decline.

then.

On June 18, 2015.

Lü Yao then convened the long-awaited e-sports league press conference.

On that day, the online press conference was bustling with activity, with a large number of people from local media outlets, gaming circles, and the internet industry all coming to attend.

Those with invitations can enter directly, but those without invitations will check in outside the press conference venue, take photos, conduct street interviews, and then post them to their personal social media accounts.

After all the invited parties had entered, in the dimly lit venue, in front of the huge screen, as the soft lights on the stage slowly lit up, Lü Yao, dressed in a casual but proper suit and jeans, came onto the stage.

He was dressed in a very refreshing style today. Having only graduated two years ago, Lü Yao still retained the air of his college days. In the gaming industry, which is dominated by young people, Lü Yao's youthful and refreshing appearance resonated with many viewers watching the live stream.

Many girls even screamed in the live stream:

"Ahhh! Holy crap, how can someone who makes games be so handsome!"

"He's so handsome, I'm drooling!"

"@cool and aloof, is this a young lady? Excuse me, where are you drooling from?"

"@CrazyBigBigBig, I'm a guy [smile]"

Other netizens flooded the screen with ellipses after seeing these two interactive comments.

Luckily, Lü Yao can't see the comments right now, otherwise he would definitely have burst out laughing and felt that the prejudice in people's hearts was a huge Sichuan.

After arriving on stage, Lü Yao humbly bowed to the audience and the camera, then stood up straight and said, "Welcome everyone, welcome to our e-sports league press conference."

"Actually, we announced the formation of our e-sports league on the internet a long time ago, but many details of the e-sports league are still unknown to the outside world. So we held this press conference to share more details and plans with everyone."

Then Lü Yao announced the specific time, schedule, and format for their alliance and league.

Because esports leagues already have very mature mechanisms, this part is pretty much the same.

Nobody seemed to care much.

What many netizens are more concerned about is the "100 Cities, 1000 Schools Esports Plan". Because of the large number of participants, the selection of amateur players requires a wider range of competitions and additional system support to continuously select teams.

Therefore, the selection of amateur players involves a large-scale registration process, followed by a preliminary selection using the selection system developed by Lü Yao and his team.

The preliminary rounds will only be broadcast in segments on the official tournament league's live stream account. Only after the top 64 teams are determined will the organizers arrange a special trip to bring the players to Shangnan for the subsequent live streams.

In other words.

The top 64 contestants will have the opportunity to watch the official TV show on Guang'an.

The top 64 amateur teams will receive a full-service trip to Guang'an to participate in the competition, and even if they lose, they will receive official souvenirs; while the final 16 amateur teams will each receive a cash prize of 200,000.

After introducing the selection mechanism for the amateur teams, Lü Yao smiled and said to the camera, "After we released the announcement of the e-sports league, we noticed that many players on the Internet were questioning whether the promises that Guang'an made to the outside world were true."

"Some netizens also asked, 'What gives us the confidence to do something like this?'"

Lü Yao also seemed to agree, saying, "Yes, compared to established domestic internet companies, Guangan is still too immature. So after seeing this question, I was also thinking, what do we have?"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "We have money."

As he spoke, Lü Yao pressed a button on the remote control in his hand, and a number immediately appeared on the huge display screen behind him:
1086000000.

Lu Yao pointed to a series of numbers and said, "This is the cash that our Guang'an Networks currently has in its accounts. Although the e-sports league has given out a lot of rewards this time, it is still within our means."

As he spoke, Lü Yao waved to the left side of the stage again, and then saw two beautiful women in fitted cheongsams pushing a huge cart over. On the huge cart was a glass cabinet that was taller than a person and two meters wide, and inside the glass cabinet were stacks of cash.

Lu Yao said, "I know that no matter how much money our company has, it's not enough to convince our users. That's why I specially prepared this pile of cash and invited people from the notary office to help with the notarization."

Then, a beautiful woman carrying a tray walked up from the right side of the podium.

Standing in front of the gleaming cash truck, Lü Yao took a certificate from the tray in the beautiful woman's hand, opened it to the camera, and said, "The 30 million in cash here will be used to fulfill the promises made by Guang'an Network Company. It is fair and valid."

The final shot focuses on the bright red notary seal on the certificate.

Players who witnessed this scene went wild:
"Holy crap! Mr. Lü, are you serious?"

"Wow!! This is even more exciting than Naruto! You really went all out for our gaming boss, Mr. Lü!"

"Waaaaah, Daddy, do you need another son?"

Faced with Lü Yaohao's outrageous display of wealth, netizens were utterly awestruck, tears welling up in their eyes.

They were so eager to get their hands on those stacks of cash.

Six months ago, during the company's annual meeting, they learned from "secretly filming the event" how incredibly extravagant Guangan Networks was, showering its employees with money. Unfortunately, they weren't Guangan employees and couldn't share in that much money.

But this time it's different. As long as they play the game well, they can get rewards from Guang'an Network!

One hundred thousand yuan!

If you can make it into the top 16, the total reward will be 300,000! If you can make it into the top 80, the reward will be 600,000!
Damn, they never imagined that ordinary people could make so much money playing games.

Many of the shady operators who watched this live stream actually had ulterior motives, wanting to privately form teams to earn bonuses. Lü Yao also mentioned this, saying that he would conduct background checks on the top 100 players in the national server and those who made it to the top 16. If any of them were found to be smurfing, they would not only not receive the rewards, but he would also sue them.

This action has also received the full support of many amateur players.

Damn it, what they hate most about playing games are those smurfs. They can't climb to higher ranks, so they come to lower ranks to seek attention and ruin other players' gaming experience. It's really despicable.

However, some netizens began to disagree, making sarcastic remarks in the live streams of various media platforms:

"Damn! How can a lousy game developer make so much money? Every one of you here is responsible for all the game companies making so much money."

"In the end, isn't this just a perk for expert players and pro gamers? What does it have to do with us ordinary players?"

"Heartbreaking! Utterly heartbreaking!"

For these players, many sober viewers in the live stream also joined in with sarcastic remarks:
"Hehehe, buddy, you're making a big fuss over a few dollars in games? Anyone who didn't know better would think you'd spent hundreds of thousands."

"If this isn't a reward for expert or top-tier players, are you suggesting we give all players cash? You shouldn't be this drunk if you even had a peanut shell in your mouth."

"They earn money through legitimate game development, and it's all accumulated from small pocket money earned from tens of millions of users. Why don't you look at how much money they spent developing the games when you're watching them make money?"

"Being poor isn't a big deal, but this kind of sourness is just disgusting. These people are poor in both material and ambition. They're a game company, not a charity. Aren't they better than Tencent and NetEase in achieving this level?"

"Good universities have high admission standards, and good jobs have high hiring standards—if you're not good enough, practice more and talk less, understand?"

(End of this chapter)