116: Chapter 116 If you can't beat them, then conquer CrossFire!

As this number was spoken, several gasps of shock echoed through the conference room.

Six million concurrent users.

This number isn't Daily Active Users; it's concurrent users! It's the number of players logged into the game at the same time!

Although league of legends has over forty million Daily Active Users, it has never reached such a high number of concurrent users.

Of course, this doesn't mean crossfire has more players than league of legends; it just shows that the appeal of this scheduled online event was truly astonishing.

The Daily Active Users figure that crossfire announced at the same time was only a little over seven million.

Seven million players and six million concurrent users—before this, not only Tencent, but every game company in the world wouldn't have dared to even imagine such a ratio.

Sun Qiang swallowed hard and placed his phone on the table.

"This number is enough to show how successful yesterday's event was."

Pony remained silent as he picked up the phone, staring at the battle report posted on the official crossfire Weibo account.

He stared at it for a long time.

Then, he put the phone down, leaned back in his chair, and suddenly let out a self-deprecating laugh.

Before this, they had actually thought that alliance of valiant arms could easily crush crossfire, could crush this game with six million concurrent users.

After laughing a few times, Pony finally spoke.

"Is Smilegate really not doing this to us on purpose?"

He looked around at everyone in the conference room.

"crossfire is a rejected product of alliance of valiant arms, heh."

Pony stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

"I can already imagine it: for as many years as crossfire lives, Tencent will be mocked for just as long."

"The game we spent a high price to license can't even compare to the add-on we rejected back then."

Everyone in the conference room lowered their heads.

No one dared to respond to that statement.

Because they all knew that Pony was absolutely right.

Back then, Tencent had spent a huge amount of money to license alliance of valiant arms, and they had even felt lucky that another buyer had proactively taken crossfire as a separate license, saving them the trouble of a bundled sale.

As a result, now, the game they kicked away like trash was beating the game they had spent a fortune to license into the ground.

This matter... from now on, every time crossfire held an update event, and every time alliance of valiant arms was mentioned, this would likely be brought up and mocked all over again.

Vice President Chen Yongnian let out a long sigh, speaking up to break the silence.

"Smilegate definitely didn't do it on purpose. After all, judging by appearances, crossfire was far inferior to alliance of valiant arms."

His voice carried a sense of helplessness.

"One had crude graphics, an old engine, and no innovative modes; the other had maxed-out graphics and the original Escort Mode."

"No matter how you looked at it, the latter was more fun."

"Even our internal estimates at Tencent were like this; everyone felt that alliance of valiant arms would win steadily, and that crossfire was just cannon fodder."

He leaned back in his chair, his face also wearing a hint of self-deprecation.

"But who could have imagined that alliance of valiant arms would actually lose to crossfire, lose to this rejected product."

"I'm afraid if we were made to choose ten more times, we would still choose alliance of valiant arms."

"It was just too hard to imagine that crossfire could become a hit."

Listening to Vice President Chen Yongnian's words, Pony turned his head and glanced at him.

"Do you still remember what you said to me at the Global Game Influence Conference?"

Vice President Chen Yongnian's expression changed instantly.

At that time, he had made a military pledge, saying that alliance of valiant arms would not disappoint Pony again.

Now it seemed he had spoken too soon.

Afterward, Pony also let out a long sigh.

"The Gaming Department is not suitable for you; I will select a new person in charge."

His voice was very calm, without much emotional fluctuation.

"You will go and be in charge of business cooperation."

Vice President Chen Yongnian's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just nodded and slowly sat back down in his chair.

It looked like his position was still Vice President, still a department head. It was just that he had moved from the Gaming Department to the Business Cooperation Department.

But everyone present understood. The Gaming Department was Tencent's core industry, the foundation upon which Tencent was built, while the Business Cooperation Department, to put it bluntly, was a peripheral department for negotiating external partnerships.

This seemingly lateral personnel move had completely kicked Vice President Chen Yongnian out of Tencent's inner circle.

Sun Qiang sat not far away, subconsciously wiping the sweat seeping from his forehead.

He also thought of himself. The Weikan project he had led had similarly suffered a crushing defeat against Langchao Group's Douyin.

But because he had made so many contributions previously and had enough seniority, he had ultimately managed to keep his position as a Tencent Vice President.

If he hadn't had those years of accumulation, he feared his fate would be exactly the same as Vice President Chen Yongnian's.

Pony didn't spare another glance at Vice President Chen Yongnian. He turned to the secretary beside him.

"Check my schedule for this month and see if there is any time to go abroad."

The secretary opened the tablet and quickly checked. "No, the earliest would be next month."

Pony nodded. "Add a schedule for me to go to South Korea to visit Smilegate."

Hearing Pony's words, others in the office looked over, not knowing what Pony intended to do.

Feeling the gaze of the others, Pony spoke to explain.

"crossfire has huge potential. Although it can't beat league of legends, I'm afraid it could reach ten million Daily Active Users, and that's just in a single domestic market."

He turned around, looking at everyone in the conference room.

"As long as it is managed reasonably, this game can bring huge influence and revenue."

"And you all need to know, for this game, Langchao Group is only the agent!"

Hearing this, Sun Qiang immediately understood something. "Mr. Ma, are you thinking..."

Pony nodded. "That's right, I plan to acquire Smilegate, and thereby take over crossfire."

"Although it will cost a lot of capital, it is definitely worth it."

He walked back to the conference table and sat down, instructing the group.

"During this time, secretly acquire Smilegate shares; do not use Tencent's identity. Find out clearly from Smilegate how long Langchao Group's agency term is and what the penalty for breach of contract is."

He paused. "But don't make it too obvious. Don't let the people at Smilegate know our true goal, and even more so, don't let Langchao Group know."

"Now that alliance of valiant arms is underperforming and crossfire is exploding in popularity, Smilegate must be closer to Langchao Group. If Smilegate guesses our actions, Langchao Group will know about it too."

"After everything is prepared, I will personally go to the South Korea Smilegate headquarters to talk with them."

He leaned back in his chair. "To see if we can snatch this game over before Langchao Group reacts."

Everyone nodded one after another. "That's all we can do."

Meanwhile, after crossfire announced the data of six million concurrent users, the reward collection officially began.

All players who were online yesterday at 3:30 PM and played one round of Zombie Mode could claim a gold melee weapon.

Of course, the probability of getting the Dragon Scale, which is the Golden Kukri, was far lower than that of the green steel, the gold knife.

For a time, in the comments of the trending topic "crossfire Six Million Concurrent Users" which had rushed to number one on the hot search, there were countless screenshots of players' rewards. Most were green steel—the blade was golden and engraved with dragon patterns; although it was good-looking, it was, after all, just a small knife.

Screenshots of the Dragon Scale were few and far between, and every one posted was instantly drowned out by envious replies.

It was a curved blade that was golden all over. The blade was a full size larger than a standard dagger, making it quite conspicuous when held in the character's hand, and the key point was that it was incredibly cool.

Every time it was equipped, a streak of golden light would flash across the blade.

In the internet café behind Shenzhen University, Old Chu stared at the green steel he had just claimed on the screen, swung it a few times to test the feel, and then glanced at Chen Yang next to him, who hadn't opened his box yet.

"You haven't claimed yours yet?"

Chen Yang took a deep breath and clicked the claim button.

A treasure chest popped up on the screen and spun a few times. It stopped.

A golden light, even more blinding than that of the green steel, exploded from the treasure chest.

The blade. The curved edge. The golden light. Dragon Scale.

Chen Yang instantly sprang up from his chair, raising both hands over his head. "I got it! Dragon Scale!"