Restart life

Chapter 428 0418 [Baidu Games: Doomed to Fail from the Start]

At this year's ChinaJoy electronics show, there was one company's booth that attracted a lot of people who came specifically to see what was going on.

Baidu Games!

Even Chen Guiliang took a moment to take a look.

It was his success in the gaming industry that inspired Robin Li to pursue it. Furthermore, the operational talent he cultivated has now officially become the Vice President of Baidu Games.

Poaching talent isn't something you can do immediately.

After submitting his resignation, He Zhichuan worked at Youke for more than two months to fully complete the handover of his work before going to Baidu.

Yu Jun did the same, taking three months to complete the handover before leaving Baidu to become an advisor at Zhihu.

Robin Li didn't come this time; instead, Shi Youcai, the president of Baidu Games, did.

Chen Guiliang smiled as soon as he saw the man; he was the kind of guy who would end up in jail operating a sewing machine.

Do you think the Wei Zexi incident represents the lowest point for Baidu?
Big mistake!

When Xiang Hailong was in charge of Baidu, although he collaborated with certain affiliated hospitals, resulting in the infamous Wei Zexi incident, he also established a rule prohibiting all illegal advertising activities, with a penalty of "ten times the profit" for any violation.

Although those hospitals are notorious for their fraudulent practices and disregard for human life, they are legally legitimate. Their advertisements are also considered legal.

Xiang Hailong stepped down due to the Wei Zexi incident, and Shi Youcai took over as the leader of Baidu.

The first thing Shi Youcai did upon taking office was to abolish the "earn one, be fine ten" rule for illegal advertising. Heh heh, I'll even accept illegal ads, like "beautiful dealers dealing cards online!"
Then, Baidu had a large number of people arrested for helping online gambling sites drive traffic to them...

Shi Youcai is a veteran of Baidu and one of the early builders of Baidu's sales system. He is now a vice president of Baidu, but he can't outmaneuver another vice president, Xiang Hailong.

Robin Li's high-pressure management suffocated him, and Xiang Hailong continued to exert pressure on him. When Baidu established its gaming subsidiary, Shi Youcai volunteered to become the president of Baidu Games, retaining his position as vice president of Baidu.

"Warhammer is a very classic old game, and World of Warcraft was initially modeled after it. Baidu Games' acquisition of Warhammer is aimed at allowing Chinese players to experience an authentic Western fantasy game..."

Shi Youcai stood in the center of the booth, speaking animatedly to the media and visitors.

After finishing, Shi Youcai introduced, "This is Mr. He Zhichuan, the former operations manager of 'Three Kingdoms Kill' and 'Future Era,' and also the former operations director of Game Science! Mr. He is now the vice president of operations at Baidu Games, and he and I are working together to bring you fun games. Now, please let Mr. He say a few words..."

Although He Zhichuan appeared calm, he was not actually feeling the joy of a promotion and a raise.

He had only been at Baidu Games for a week when he already regretted switching jobs from Youke.

But in public, he still had to put on a show: "I am very grateful to Chairman Li Yanhong for his high regard, and also to President Shi Youcai for his trust in entrusting me with the operation of Baidu Games. Regarding the game 'Warhammer'..."

After they finished speaking, answered a few questions from reporters, interacted with tourists, and then returned to the venue's lounge together.

Shi Youcai swaggered down and adopted the air of a seasoned veteran, saying, "Xiao He, I've done my best to mobilize the resources of the parent company to attract a large number of players to Warhammer. You must do a good job in operations, satisfying players while increasing game revenue."

He Zhichuan couldn't help but remind him: "President Shi, the most important thing right now isn't attracting new players, but cultivating the core community of Warhammer and ensuring its localization. We can't rush to make money. I even suggest not going straight to open beta, but first conducting closed beta to collect player feedback, and then communicating with the developers to adjust the content..."

Shi Youcai interrupted directly: "Xiao He, Baidu is a big company, not a small enterprise like Youke. Youke can take its time, but Baidu is already listed and needs to produce results to stabilize its stock price. The localization and technology handover of Warhammer has been going on for several months, which has already wasted a lot of time. We can't keep dragging this out."

He Zhichuan said, "President Shi, when I was still at Youke, I made suggestions for localization by sending emails, and I also suggested that Baidu Games first activate the Warhammer community. The Baidu Warhammer Bar is such a good platform, but it's now a complete mess, and the terrible localization is even more unbearable to watch."

“Those people are unreliable, that’s why Baidu poached you. Now you need to solve these problems properly!” Shi Youcai said.

He Zhichuan said, "Solving problems takes time. If localization isn't addressed, Warhammer will remain a half-finished product. Without cultivating a core community, Warhammer will be a castle in the air, a tree without roots. It might be popular in the early stages, but players will gradually lose interest and repeatedly compare Warhammer to Warcraft. The more traffic and players Shi attracts now, the louder the criticism of Warhammer will be in the future!"

Shi Youcai said, "What you've mentioned can be done simultaneously with the game's launch. We have to race against time! I know you're very capable and have excellent game operation skills; I believe you can handle things well."

He Zhichuan hesitated, feeling utterly powerless.

He learned a lot of skills from Chen Guiliang, and complained that the production department of Youke suppressed the operation department, believing that this phenomenon prevented him from fully utilizing his abilities.

I only realized how amazing Youke is after I joined Baidu!
Although Chen Guiliang has always been a man of his word, he is very willing to listen to the opinions of his subordinates on key issues.

But what about Shi Youcai, the president of Baidu Games?

He knows absolutely nothing about game operations, yet he insists on meddling and making decisions, and even tries to seize power and control everything.

Even before He Zhichuan left Youke, he had already written a proposal of over a hundred pages and sent it to Shi Youcai via email to do preliminary work.

He was afraid that Shi Youcai wouldn't understand, so he explained in great detail how to build a game community and how to do localization.

This behavior is incredibly naive; it's highly likely that someone will copy his work, steal all his ideas, and leave him with nothing to show for it. The most ridiculous thing is that Baidu Games isn't even bothered to copy his work, let alone steal his credit.

When he finished handing over his work at Youke and went to Baidu Games to officially take up his post, he discovered that his game design documents had become worthless.

Shi Youcai did not carry out those tasks himself, but instead handed the proposal to his assistant to assign work.

The assistant, who was transferred from Baidu Group, completely ignored He Zhichuan, the newly appointed vice president, and proceeded with the preliminary work for the game's launch according to his own ideas.

And what about Shi Youcai himself?
He went to Baidu's headquarters every day, not thinking about how to improve the game content, but only about getting more Baidu resources to drive traffic to Warhammer. This action is understandable, and it is indeed the right thing to do.

The problem is that when Shi Youcai discovered that his assistant was acting independently and not following He Zhichuan's plan, he immediately chose to protect his own!
He didn't punish his assistant, but simply asked He Zhichuan to fix the problem. He didn't even give He Zhichuan time, yet demanded that He Zhichuan resolve the issue perfectly.

Even more outrageous is that Baidu's game operations department has already been established, and it was actually established by Shi Youcai's assistant.

He Zhichuan found himself completely alone upon taking office; he couldn't command anyone. Even for the smallest task, he had to consult with Shi Youcai's assistant, who was always making things difficult for him.

How to do?
Before he could even settle in, He Zhichuan was already thinking of giving up.

The minor conflicts within Youke are utterly insignificant compared to the office politics at Baidu.

The essence of this matter is that Shi Youcai, president of Baidu Games, used his assistant to tightly control the operations department and sidelined the vice president of operations who was poached from outside!
He Zhichuan had to obey Shi Youcai's orders and cultivate a good relationship with Shi Youcai's assistant in order to carry out his duties to a limited extent.

He Zhichuan went to the bathroom without saying a word and splashed cold water on his face to clear his head.

He took out his phone, intending to call Chen Guiliang, but after hesitating for a long time, he gave up.

He was too ashamed to face Chen Guiliang.

"Snapped!"

He Zhichuan slapped himself across the face, feeling like a complete idiot.

He was too inexperienced. He went straight to the University of Science and Technology of China after graduating from Peking University. Chen Guiliang taught him step by step, and when problems arose, Chen Guiliang would clean up his messes.

Although my work skills have become incredibly impressive, I have absolutely no experience in internal power struggles.

And Baidu happens to be a large arena!

In the lounge of another venue, Chi Yufeng joked, "President Chen, I just went to the Baidu Games booth. That guy who jumped ship from Youke is highly valued. Baidu Games is using him for promotion, advertising him as the operations manager for 'Three Kingdoms Kill' and 'Future Era'."

Chen Guiliang complained, "I checked the Warhammer forum and the official website, and it's a complete mess. It definitely wasn't done by my old subordinate; he's probably been sidelined. Damn it, he's a disgrace to me!"

"Hahahaha!"

Zhang Chaoyang laughed and said, "That's just how Baidu is. Shi Youcai, the president of Baidu Games, went to take charge of the game subsidiary after losing the internal power struggle at Baidu headquarters. He definitely brought that internal power struggle gene from headquarters to the newly formed Baidu Games. Moreover, his management style is exactly the same as Li Yanhong's. He likes to control everything, doesn't allow people to have free rein, and demands that his subordinates do their best."

Chen Guiliang said, "You seem to know quite a bit about Baidu."

“My conflict with Baidu is much bigger than yours. I’m a Baidu expert who has specifically studied Baidu,” Zhang Chaoyang boasted.

Tao Chenggang laughed and said, "No need to guess, Baidu Games will definitely be half-dead, ending up like Baidu's e-commerce and portal businesses. Hehe, finally we don't have to worry about this behemoth Baidu disrupting the game market."

Shi Yuzhu said, "President Chen, I secretly played that gacha-themed web game you launched yesterday last night. It's fucking amazing! It's practically robbing people of their money."

"You want to do it too?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Shi Yuzhu said matter-of-factly, "Of course I'll do it. Why not make money? I'll make a gacha-style web game and incorporate the pay-to-win system from 'Conquer Online' into it."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "What's the point of making money off Chinese people? Just you wait and see, the gacha-style web game is about to launch overseas, and I'll make foreign players obediently send their money over!"

Zhang Chaoyang muttered, "This kind of low-level pay-to-win game probably won't be popular overseas, right?"

Chen Guiliang smiled but said nothing.

If silly short dramas can become popular overseas, why can't pay-to-win browser games?
At that time, the Chinese people still overestimated the intelligence of foreigners.

Everyone thinks that foreigners are more civilized, have higher IQs, are more educated, and are more sophisticated than ordinary Chinese people.

It can only be said that "Reader" and "Yilin" have become too deeply ingrained in people's minds.

(End of this chapter)