Back in his rental apartment, Pei Qian changed into comfortable home clothes and nestled into the sofa, basking in the afternoon sun. He felt indescribably comfortable.
Back when he was still employed, he had always dreamed of experiencing the joy of randomly giving himself a day off. Now he had finally gotten a taste of it!
Unfortunately, he couldn't indulge in this too often, as the system would deem it a violation.
Taking a chilled can of cola from the fridge, Pei Qian took a sip and began thinking about his next steps.
His recent spending plans had been executed quite smoothly.
Renting an office space, hiring employees, purchasing office equipment—these operations indeed helped him spend quite a bit of system funds.
Moreover, these fixed expenses would continue every month, offering him a constant and reassuring stream of expenditures.
This gave Pei Qian peace of mind!
From the perspective of accelerating spending, Pei Qian had definitely achieved his goal.
However, he still had to ensure the company's normal operation, as the system didn't permit passive or deliberate idleness.
With more employees joining, Pei Qian was now facing a new issue.
He had to carefully choose an inherently flawed project direction, one that would naturally lead to losses, yet without being obviously intentional in the eyes of his employees!
"This could be tricky..."
Pei Qian pondered carefully.
The key was selecting the right (or rather, wrong) game genre.
He absolutely wouldn't touch mobile games again—this was a huge pitfall!
Learning from the lesson of "Ghost General," Pei Qian deeply understood that due to the popularity boom of smartphones, the mobile gaming field was currently at its peak.
Even if he made a terrible game, it could accidentally catch the wind and soar!
So, he'd have to choose a PC game.
Currently, the PC game market was clearly on the decline, steadily going downhill.
Right now, the market had an immensely successful MMORPG game called "Fantasy World," akin to "World of Warcraft" in his previous life.
If he wanted guaranteed failure, directly competing with "Fantasy World" was an excellent choice.
But upon further thought, Pei Qian realized this wasn't foolproof. There was still risk.
What if he ended up creating another "JX Online 3"? That would be awkward!
The MMORPG genre had relatively fixed gameplay. Even with the existence of a perfect score game like "Fantasy World," a new MMORPG scoring just 90 points would still attract a significant player base.
Not completely safe!
Was there any game genre that, when competing directly, had a 99% chance of failure?
Competing with "Divine Revelation"? (Equivalent to DOTA)
Absolutely not!
What if he accidentally created another "League of Legends"? That would be catastrophic!
Pei Qian was uncertain which games would guarantee losses. All he could do was use his memories of his previous life as a guideline.
Any genre that had successful precedents was best avoided!
After thorough contemplation, he finally discovered an excellent choice.
This genre currently has one extremely successful game on the market.
No matter how hard his employees tried, the game he developed could never match the existing game's experience!
In his previous life, although this genre did have one successful example, that success was entirely due to external circumstances at the time.
In this parallel world, however, the environment has changed drastically!
Pei Qian felt this was a very solid choice!
Coupled with some guaranteed-to-fail modifications, losing money this time would undoubtedly be a sure bet!
The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more pleased he became, having taken every aspect into account.
The only remaining challenge was to subtly persuade (trick) the employees he had hired (his beloved slackers).
Of course, even if he didn't persuade them, it wouldn't matter much. Pei Qian was the boss; employees would do whatever he asked anyway. He definitely had that authority.
But Pei Qian was a reasonable person.
Forcing employees to develop a game they're not optimistic about has two risks: first, people might slack off, causing the game to fail approval. This would count as neglect of duty, triggering a violation;
Second, it could make employees suspect that Pei Qian is deliberately sabotaging the project, which could also trigger a violation.
Therefore, to be safe, Pei Qian had to unify everyone's thinking, ensuring they'd complete their tasks earnestly. His own role would then simply involve gently steering crucial decisions astray, causing the entire project's direction to veer off completely!
…
Tuesday.
Meeting room of Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Huang Sibo and the others sat neatly in their seats, eagerly watching Pei Qian.
Today was November 12th. Yesterday had been Monday, also Singles' Day, but President Pei had forced everyone to take a day off, making up a three-and-a-half-day break.
The extended holiday had been so comfortable that Huang Sibo practically felt he was living in heaven!
After such a relaxing break, Huang Sibo had solidified one belief even more strongly:
President Pei was a great boss! He had to work his absolute hardest for him!
The other employees felt exactly the same.
A boss like this was practically extinct!
Everyone had been given a holiday on Singles' Day—those with partners spent time with their partners; those without had the chance to find one. What kind of amazing spirit was this?
Where could anyone find a boss so caring about his employees' personal lives?
Thus, after the break, most people returned to work fully recharged and highly motivated.
Even Bao Xu's slightly thinning hair seemed to radiate a sense of optimism and positivity.
Pei Qian coughed lightly, glancing around the room. "The project we're starting next is an FPS game."
Everyone was slightly startled by the announcement.
Especially Huang Sibo.
He knew that Pei Qian's previous successful game was "Ghost General," a card-based mobile game.
Logically, their new project would likely have been another mobile game, possibly even another card game.
To suddenly jump to a PC-based FPS seemed way too big of a leap. Typically, no company would dare to take such a big risk!
The company had no prior experience in this area; the risk was huge.
Also, mobile games would still continue thriving in the near future—giving up on that gold mine seemed a great shame?
Guessing what Huang Sibo was thinking, Pei Qian continued: "We won't be doing mobile games this time."
"Tengda's goal is to become a gaming giant. We must not be blinded by small-scale mobile projects. Settling for small successes is not Tengda's character, nor is it mine!"
"We at Tengda don't make noise often—but when we do, we astonish everyone!"
As Pei Qian spoke, he looked righteous and dignified, exuding the air of a billionaire confidently controlling every aspect of his empire.
Huang Sibo immediately understood, nodding vigorously.
Ah, so that's how it was!
The vision was completely different!
Huang Sibo himself had only considered taking things step by step, ensuring steady profits.
But President Pei's vision and ambition were on a completely different scale!
When President Pei uttered the words "don't make noise often—but when we do, we astonish everyone," Huang Sibo felt his blood boiling with excitement.
Look, this was the difference!
His previous company had been obsessed every day with squeezing money out of players—petty, stingy, and disgraceful.
But Tengda was completely different!
Pei Qian glanced at everyone's reactions, extremely satisfied.
"Now, let me outline a few requirements for this new project. For this game... Huang Sibo, Bao Xu, you two will be in charge."
"Bao Xu, you'll be responsible for coming up with the core design concepts. Huang Sibo, you'll serve as the Lead Executive Designer, ensuring the smooth realization of the project."
Both Bao Xu and Huang Sibo were shocked, almost thinking they'd misheard.
Holy crap, such important roles?!
Concept design could be described as the soul of a game.
And the Lead Executive Designer would be responsible for managing the project's progress and ensuring the game could be completed smoothly.
Pei Qian had casually assigned the two most crucial roles in the design team just like that!
Bao Xu was still somewhat okay—he didn't have a deep understanding of how a game company operated, so he didn't fully grasp the heavy responsibility he was about to bear.
But Huang Sibo was completely astonished.
He was promoted from an ordinary Execution Designer directly to Lead Executive Designer, skipping five or six years' worth of a career ladder in an instant!
- - - - - -
If you want to see more chapter of this fic for free, please go to my Scribblehub Account[1], I cross-poted this fic in there too.
Link: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/[2]
[1] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/
[2] https://www.scribblehub.com/series/1589938/losing-money-to-become-a-tycoon-starting-with-games/