Volume 3: Taking Roots 2016 Chapter 649: Life Has Dreams
The real world is never black and white. There is no clear dividing line. Apart from the red line of the law, everything is exquisitely gray, neither black nor white.
Just like although Zhuchang Games is also a major shareholder of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, it does not prevent it from continuing its good cooperative relationship with Blizzard as the domestic agent of Overwatch.
Even though both are, to some extent, sub-types of traditional FPS games and can be considered competing products of the same type, this is not a black-and-white choice after all.
Whether it is Blizzard or PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, there is no reason for them to let QQ Games make this choice, and for QQ Games, it is just a classic "I want it all" drama.
Anyway, considering , it is no problem for it to take both games into consideration and treat them equally.
Therefore, Zhuchang Games still maintains its unreserved support for the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Professional League that Banana Game Media is about to host.
They even directly demonstrated their support through actions. Under the leadership of Zhuchang Games, the scale of the A round of financing for Banana Games Media was directly set at 200 million yuan.
Not only was the investment led by Zhuchang Capital, but two veteran capital institutions also provided support. Of course, Dongsheng Investment also symbolically pledged 20 million yuan, becoming an insignificant small shareholder.
Zhou Dongsheng did not have any expectations for how much return this investment could bring, and he even knew very little about the final outcome of the Banana Game.
Therefore, such an investment is more out of human relations, but also to allow oneself to have some say so as not to completely ignore the PUBG professional league.
No matter what the final outcome of the Banana Game was in the previous life, in this life, with the existence of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, a huge variable factor, it is obvious that nothing counts.
At the same time, the news about the upcoming PUBG Pro League began to spread rapidly through various channels, whether it was Zhuchang Games, the two major media companies controlled by Zhou Dongsheng, or the publicity resources in the hands of Principal Wang...
It is not an exaggeration to describe the publicity campaign formed by the joint efforts of these three parties as overwhelming. After all, a mature professional league system cannot be without audiences.
The audience is undoubtedly the most important cornerstone of the professional league. Without the audience as the foundation, everything else is just castles in the air. No matter how much money is spent, it is just like building a stage in the wilderness and performing for ghosts.
Therefore, now that the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds professional league is about to start, publicity work is undoubtedly the top priority. If we fail to get off to a good start and retain the first batch of audience groups as the cornerstone of the league...
Then this league will definitely not last long, just like the League of Legends Goddess Invitational held by the Longzhu platform. Although it launched the slogan of creating a domestic women's e-sports stage, it attracted some curious viewers.
However, the lackluster results and returns that were not proportional to the investment soon caused this event to disappear quietly from the public eye.
When it comes to publicity, most of the time the emphasis is on "saturation publicity", which means that no matter what, you just invest money in advertising and use carpet bombing-style intensity to crudely find your own audience.
However, e-sports is not like traditional competitive sports after all. Its audience is relatively narrow. Except for young people, it is not recognized by the mainstream society, especially in China.
The stereotype that playing games is a waste of time is a huge obstacle that is almost impossible for e-sports to overcome, so even if saturation publicity is used, the effect that can be achieved is relatively limited.
However, the necessary publicity still needs to be done, and Zhou Dongsheng is naturally prepared to do his best and make his own small contribution.
Saturated publicity must be done, and precise publicity is equally necessary. We must grasp it with both hands and both hands must be strong. Only in this way can we achieve the greatest possible success in the start.
Zhou Dongsheng was well prepared for this. At this time, Zhou Dongsheng finally had a deep understanding of a saying, that is, a problem that can be solved with money is not a problem.
…
On the other hand, Awei's career was not ideal.
After last year's league's top seed LGD returned home with a failure in the World Championship, they learned from their mistakes and made drastic reforms, spending a huge amount of money to buy in Ma Datou, the biggest contributor to their World Championship victory.
They say you get what you pay for. Spending so much money to supplement the team with such strong combat power will definitely help the team take off immediately and it will be no problem for them to make another attempt to compete in the World Championship.
Who would have thought that with each new version, there would be a new god. The new version of the LGD team would dive straight into the A-League, with the intention of making a reverse impact on the world stage.
The world champion and FMVP top laner has actually become the emperor of relegation. It can be said that he spent the most money and suffered the most severe beating.
The ups and downs of life came so quickly that not only the LGD team experienced it deeply, even the boss behind the scenes was in tears and the only thing left was to sing a song of "What a painful realization".
As if things weren't bad enough, Wei Zhen, the mid laner who the team has high hopes for, may face the risk of not being able to play in the summer season due to high-intensity training.
In this regard, the management of the LGD team was extremely anxious. They looked for substitutes everywhere before the transfer period ended. Fortunately, they actually found a genius.
According to rumors, the LGD team's training room was filled with smoke and accompanied by bursts of exclamations, another talented mid laner emerged, whose strong laning ability even made GODV feel ashamed of himself.
He even left a defiant remark, "Give me a Hibiscus King, and I can kill Faker alone!", which made the entire LGD management team excited and felt that they had found the coveted championship puzzle piece.
At this point, the LGD team has finally gathered the bond of the double king combination. As the saying goes, when the two kings go to battle, they will not be able to survive. "If you can do it, you carry. If you can't, I'll be funny"!
How can the LGD team be considered an optimistic team without the King of Magic? However, the King of Magic had not changed his name to funny at that time and was still using the ID of Apollo, which was a bit imperfect.
Just when the LGD team was overjoyed, an uninvited guest came to the door. It turned out to be the IM team management, who wanted to negotiate GODV's contract...
The LGD management was very surprised about this. After all, the current mid laner of the IM team is the powerful Korean aid rookie who was poached from the IG team. His performance in the league is definitely unique among mid laners.
Why are they interested in GODV's contract? Are they buying him to be a substitute? That would be too inhumane.
Even though the LGD team has high hopes for Wei Shen, due to injuries and the setback in the World Championship, how much fuel is left in the tank of this talented young man...
Obviously, there needs to be a question mark, and now that the season is over, Wei Shen's contract is also a considerable amount of money for the LGD team that has just bought a world champion.
If he can't play in the summer season, it will obviously be a big burden.
As long as the price is right, obviously nothing is off limits. The LGD team was very happy to have this conversation, and even the players themselves showed great willingness.
This made the team management very confused. Is the arrogant Wei Shen really willing to be a substitute for others?
However, when the three parties sat down to discuss the matter, they discovered that this matter was going in a direction they had never imagined...
"Retire?" When this word came out of Wei Shen's mouth, it was indeed beyond the expectations of the management.
"To be precise, I'm not retiring. I just won't be a professional League of Legends player anymore..." After saying this, Wei Zhen suddenly felt like a psychological burden had been lifted and he felt relaxed all over.
At the same time, there is a sense of pleasure as if a broken jar has been thrown into the air from the bottom of my heart. I wonder if those viewers who have been scolding me for half a year will be satisfied with this result?
After all, Weizhen is only 19 years old today, so it is not surprising that he has such thoughts.
At this time, the LGD management suddenly realized that the IM team was not buying a substitute mid laner, but was starting a new team?
"So, IM wants to buy godv not as a player of the League of Legends project, but as a player of the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds project?" LGD management said in disbelief.
"That's right. This is not only to respect the players' personal wishes, but also the intention of our boss. Ever since PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds was launched, Wei Zhen has shown extraordinary gaming talent on the live streaming platform..."
"Therefore, our boss suddenly came up with an interesting idea. Maybe Wei Zhen's greatest talent is not in League of Legends, but in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds?"
"In order to verify this idea, our boss is willing to offer a suitable price to buy out Wei Shen's contract!" said the IM team leader with a strange look on his face.
At first glance, it seems to be quite inhumane, but when you think about who the boss of the IM team is, it seems to be reasonable.
After all, Zhou Dongsheng’s fame on the Internet is now on par with that of Principal Wang. Even in terms of wealth, if Principal Wang did not have the status of the prince of Yida, he might not be able to surpass Zhou Dongsheng.
A show called "Zhou Dongsheng's Boring Life" swept the entire Internet. Although it was a joke and self-deprecation, it was precisely because Zhou Dongsheng really had the ability that the drama of this show was taken to a new level.
Just like the “small goal” of the richest man and Mr. Ma’s “no interest in money”, without the support of strength, it is not self-mockery, but sensationalism.
After both parties have made their intentions clear, the only thing left is naturally one word: "talk".
Under the premise that the man is in love and the woman is willing, unless the LGD team wants to be the villain who breaks up the couple, there is a lot of room for maneuver in this transaction.
In particular, Wei Zhen repeatedly stressed that he had lost confidence in League of Legends and could no longer maintain high-intensity training. It would be difficult for him to return to last year's peak level...
Even the players themselves said so. The LGD management is somewhat cautious. Considering the team's current predicament, it seems that there is no need to bet on this aspect.
Even if we force a bet that Wei Shen can return to the top, without the ambition, he will no longer be the talented young man with outstanding talent last year.
Moreover, as one of the oldest electronic clubs in China, LGD is also very interested in the emerging e-sports project PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. However, due to limited energy, it did not choose to organize a branch at the first time.
By then, if the league's development trend is promising, they will definitely choose to move in. From this perspective, it is not a bad thing to have a good relationship with Zhou Dongsheng.
What's more, buying out Wei Zhen's contract is not a direct conflict of interest with the club as he is not a player in the League of Legends project. In addition, the player himself is willing...
Everyone got what they needed, so the matter was naturally discussed.
As the instigator, Zhou Dongsheng naturally knew about this matter first. Buying out Wei Shen’s contract is not a small amount of money.
However, this money is not only for Wei Shen's gaming talent, but also for Wei Shen's huge popularity and controversy. No matter whether he is red or black, it is all good traffic.
Such a controversial star professional player, crossing over to join the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds League, will naturally bring a massive audience base to the league.
The audience who likes him will want to see Wei Shen prove himself again, while the audience who criticizes him will be more looking forward to seeing him fall flat on his face on the new stage!
For those who love to watch the fun, no matter which show it is, it is well worth watching.
The addition of such a topical and controversial star player is equivalent to injecting crucial content into the PUBG professional league.
With something interesting to watch, why worry about not having an audience?
Therefore, even if he was regarded as a "sucker" by others, this money was definitely worth it for Zhou Dongsheng.
What's more, the audience that Wei Shen can bring has a very high acceptance of e-sports events, so it is undoubtedly the easiest to convert them into audiences for the chicken-eating events.
In order to make full use of this wave of high-quality traffic, Zhou Dongsheng not only spends money. Wouldn't it be a shame not to make an episode of "Zhou Dongsheng's Boring Life" with such good material?
Spending money on material, doesn’t that fit perfectly with the theme of this show?
Thinking of this, Zhou Dongsheng couldn't help but snap his fingers, "I am really a business genius!"
At this time, Zhou Dongsheng couldn't help but wonder if there really was a hidden talent for business in the blood of Chaoshan people. He didn't activate it in his previous life, but he didn't expect it to come in handy in this life...
Of course, it was just a joke. Zhou Dongsheng turned around and threw his ideas and creativity to the screenwriter team, and he just had to wait and see.
At the same time, Zhou Dongsheng also told Principal Wang about his idea and asked if they wanted to shoot a short video together.
After all, the last time "Drinking and Meat Friends" came out, the effect was remarkable. Principal Wang couldn't help but sigh, "No wonder everyone says you are a marketing genius. Now it seems that it is not an exaggeration at all."
"After all these combined efforts, if the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Professional League, which has the right timing, location and people, still fails to become a hit, then I'd better disband my Banana Game!"
…
The next day, on a calm and sunny day, a piece of news came like a bolt from the blue, directly appearing on Weibo's hot searches and detonating the entire e-sports circle!
"GODV retires"!
…
