Volume 3: Taking Roots 2016 Chapter 611 Pandora's Box
The world is bustling with people seeking profit, and the world is bustling with people seeking profit.
The word "interest" almost explains the essence of everything in the world, just as all human relationships are basically maintained by interests.
Interests are almost the main driving force for human progress, if not the only one. Anything that involves personal interests is often a matter of vital importance.
As the old saying goes, "To cut off a person's wealth is like killing his parents", wealth is just a manifestation of interest.
The game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds suddenly appeared and swept across the country, setting off a new gaming craze, prompting countless players to call their friends again and go to Internet cafes to start a satisfying chicken-eating feast.
"Good luck, chicken dinner tonight" is a very representative game line that has become popular on the Internet unknowingly. Even people who have never played this game have heard it many times.
Although the year is not even halfway through, this sentence has already secured its place as the annual Internet buzzword. You can imagine how popular this game is.
And as the popularity continues to grow, the influence of this game is no longer limited to the player group. It has begun to show signs of breaking out of the circle and spreading on the Internet, and has become a rising trend.
The two words "eat chicken" then became the symbol of leading this trend.
Although the emergence of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds can be regarded as a "savior" for many Internet cafes, it has invisibly brought countless people to many offline Internet cafes.
In addition, the successful hosting of a national Internet cafe chicken-eating league indirectly brought a large amount of traffic to Internet cafes across the country.
For Internet cafes, what is the difference between traffic and money? Faced with the temptation of real benefits, it naturally inspires countless Internet cafe owners to support this treasure pot and put it at the core of the Internet cafe.
The most intuitive manifestation is that more and more Internet cafes are hanging posters about PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in their Internet cafes, and have also launched Internet cafe activities related to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, etc.
With interests as the basis, the culture of eating chicken has quietly emerged among Internet cafes across the country, and has gradually grown, becoming the favorite of many Internet cafe owners.
After all, for Internet cafe owners, their demands are very simple. They will naturally support whoever can help them make money.
However, the market size of Internet cafes across the country is limited after all. As the size of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds gradually expanded, it naturally reached into the bowl of the original overlord here.
Obviously, this game is called League of Legends. No matter from which dimension, it has long become an insurmountable mountain in the gaming industry, and has gradually formed its own unique cultural symbol worldwide.
There are only a handful of games in the world that can reach this level. Apart from Dota, there are perhaps only game masterpieces such as World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike.
It’s just that the wheel of time rolls forward, and although the stage is always there, no one can always dominate the scene, and there will always be a time when the old will be replaced by the new.
Just like when League of Legends first came out and was still an unknown player at the game exhibition, no one would have thought that this game in the corner of the exhibition would quickly defeat a number of big players, usher in a new era, and become the new dominant force on the stage.
Although there have been an endless stream of games around the world in recent years, none of them can shake the dominant position of League of Legends. There is even a saying among many players that "online games come and go, but the League of Legends remains."
However, things change. When PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds came out, it failed to attract the attention of Riot Games, and even Tenda, which was behind it, did not take it too seriously.
Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, the development speed of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has far exceeded imagination, and has begun to actually affect the interests of League of Legends.
Especially when PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds reached out to the e-sports pie, they obviously could no longer sit idly by.
At the Magic City Riot branch, a serious meeting was being held internally, and the company 's management was studying this direct competitor very seriously.
"The national Internet cafe league held by PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was very successful and was warmly welcomed by all players. At the finals, the company's shareholders, Principal Wang and Zhou Dongsheng, also announced that they would officially organize a formal league..."
"I'm sure you all are very familiar with this. This is the road to success that we have taken step by step. Judging from their current progress, they have completed the journey that we have worked so hard on for several years in just a few months..."
"We must take this opponent seriously. Maybe this game will replace us next!"
This evaluation is quite high, which is enough to show that the rapid rise of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has indeed made the people in Riot's branch feel threatened to a certain extent.
Another person provided solid data as evidence, "Since the game was launched in China, the number of players in our League of Legends has shown an overall downward trend. It is conservatively estimated that the number of players has decreased by about 20%..."
"It directly led to a serious decline in the number of players on some servers. The ranking and matching time for a single game exceeded 2 minutes. Only the popular servers were not affected..."
"Although there is no overseas data for reference, the game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has also set off a craze overseas. Its free strategy has directly led to a sharp drop in the popularity of H1Z1, which was originally a representative battle royale game, and a serious loss of players..."
Of course, since it is a meeting, there are naturally people who hold different opinions, and not everyone thinks that this game can be compared with League of Legends.
"I think this kind of statement is a bit exaggerated. After all, the two games target different audiences. FPS players and MOBA players are two different groups. There may be some overlap between the two, but they are clearly separated..."
Someone raised the opposite opinion, "MOBA and FPS are essentially two different types of games. There is no such big conflict between them. Only new MOBA games can replace old MOBA games, just like we replaced Dota..."
"No matter how popular an FPS is, its market positioning is always for FPS players, and it will not directly shake our base. The natural gap between these two types of games and the essential difference in operation are the strongest barriers that hinder players..."
"Perhaps driven by the temporary novelty, many players will choose to try it out, but over time, most MOBA players will return to this familiar territory. In terms of protracted warfare, this is exactly what we are best at..."
This confident statement won the approval of many people at the meeting. After all, competition exists all the time. The reason why the League of Legends can always stand firm is not that they deliberately avoid competition...
Instead, they are always able to be the final winner in all competitions.
"What's more, the decline in the number of PC game players is an overall trend. The shift of a large number of players to mobile devices is an inevitable result of history. It's just that our size is large, so the impact is naturally large. It's not necessarily because of the influence of a new game..."
"In comparison, I think developing a League of Legends mobile game is our most important strategy for the next step!"
The two different viewpoints set the tone for the meeting, and the two groups began to engage in fierce confrontation and discussion around the two viewpoints.
Of course, the final decision still has to be made by the head of the branch, and many players are familiar with the two people sitting at the top. They have attended the annual ceremony and presented awards to the annual champions.
One of them is Jin Yibo, also known as "Poppy", and the other is Ye Qiangsheng, the leader of Riot in China.
Jin Yibo pondered for a moment and said, "I think it makes sense. Even though PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has achieved great success in e-sports events, there are clear distinctions between players, spectators, and professional players, and there are essential differences between them..."
"Just like basketball and football, there won't be much conflict of interest between the two different sports. I don't think there's a need to pay too much attention to e-sports events."
Jin Yibo's tone was very relaxed. As the person in charge of e-sports events, he obviously did not think that the LPL league, which has been developed for several years and has a complete commercial operation system, would be impacted and threatened much.
The difference between the two may really be like the difference between football and basketball. No matter how well basketball develops, it cannot shake the dominant position of football as the world's number one sport.
In Jin Yibo's mind, League of Legends is obviously the football, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is not even a ball. Comparing it to basketball is an insult to basketball.
Jin Yibo's words still carried some weight, and once they were spoken, the conference room fell into a brief silence.
As the person in charge of Huaxia, Ye Qiangsheng naturally couldn't just focus on e-sports events, although he didn't think it was necessary to make a big move against the game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds...
However, as direct competitors, due respect should still be given.
"Mr. Jin is right, but we still need to pay attention to the operation of the game. Putting aside the premise that the overall environment of the terminal game is not good, we still need to pay attention to maintaining our own player base..."
"Next, we will launch more activities to reward players, encourage them to return, and stimulate their desire to spend."
"There is another issue that I found no one mentioned, that is, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has become the biggest competitor of League of Legends on the live streaming platform."
"Live streaming has become one of the most important channels for attracting players. The rapid rise of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is inseparable from the importance of live streaming channels!"
"If we can cut off the other party's live broadcast channel, it would undoubtedly be equivalent to breaking one of their legs!"
As soon as Ye Qiangsheng finished speaking, everyone at the meeting couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts . After all, he was the person in charge. How could he be so cruel?
"That's great. Mr. Ye's idea is really to the point. But now PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is also a major traffic pillar for the live streaming platform..." Jin Yi Bo analyzed seriously.
“No matter how big the traffic pillar is, it is not as big as our League of Legends. What’s more, we also have the mature e-sports event broadcasting rights. The current live broadcast platform can have the current scale, which is inseparable from us…”
Ye Qiangsheng finished speaking confidently, then suddenly changed the subject and said pointedly: "Moreover, isn't the game mechanism of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds a bit too cruel, just like the ancient arena? For underage players, isn't it..."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the office looked at each other in silence. It was true that the barking dog never bites, and this attack was a fatal one!
This move is not only ruthless, but also something that ordinary people could never think of.
"This is indeed a killer move, but once used, it will be like opening Pandora's box. Even we can't remain immune to it!" Jin Yi Bo sighed.
"Even if we don't use it, someone else will use it sooner or later. It's always better to have the initiative than to be passive, don't you think?" Ye Qiangsheng smiled slightly, his dark face full of a confident expression.
For those in high positions, the sense of accomplishment brought by controlling the overall situation, or even playing with opponents, is even greater than money.
As for spiritual needs, it is a matter of personal opinion.
…
Zhou Dongsheng was naturally completely unaware of this, but it was only a matter of time before a big tree attracted the wind. After all, the cake is sometimes only so big, and if one more person gets it, the others will naturally have one less piece.
As Zhou Dongsheng climbs higher and higher, the conflicts of interest involved will naturally increase. The saying that the business world is like a battlefield has never been a joke.
Of course, even if Zhou Dongsheng knew about it, he probably wouldn't take it to heart. After all, in the face of the historical trend, individual power is always like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. No matter how high one stands, he cannot change this iron law.
After all, One Punch Man is a specialist in curing all kinds of dissatisfaction.
On the other hand, the LPL League's spring playoffs are still in full swing, although the IM team has successfully replaced the original LGD team and advanced to the playoffs.
But they still couldn't escape the fate of being eliminated in the first round, even though Zhou Dongsheng had nothing better to do and personally supervised the game, giving these players all kinds of buffs before the game.
However, this time, Zhou Dongsheng's influence as a butterfly has come to an end.
After all, both the team's hard power and running-in status are not ideal enough. It is obviously difficult to rely solely on a Schrödinger's mid-lane thigh.
Zhou Dongsheng was not surprised by this. As long as he could keep the seat, he would consider it a success. The rest would be left to time. Only time could unleash the potential of this team.
The same is true for the IG team. The two brothers IGIM bid farewell to the playoffs hand in hand after one round.
On the contrary, I am very interested in the promotion and relegation match of the LGD team's life and death. Although the chance of an upset is very small, cases of underdogs defeating the stronger ones are low-probability events in any competitive game.
What's more, LGD has two world champions, so how could they not even be able to stay in the LPL? Just think about it and you know it's impossible... right?
(VG:?)
However, the LGD team struggled mightily, and even when they were pushed to the edge of the cliff, their style remained weird.
In the end, they relied on their hard power to win 3-1, defending their LPL league seat and ending their spring league.
From a team with the potential to win the world championship to now being reduced to the relegation match, they have fought back and forth...
Whether it is fans or players, the psychological gap is quite large, not to mention the club management and owners.
However, for Zhou Dongsheng, it was really good news. The hoe in his hand had been thirsty for a long time!
This is the moment I’ve been waiting for!
