47: Chapter 47 The Calm Before the Storm

After launching Livestream E-commerce, Douyin indeed gained extremely high attention.

A large number of merchants flooded in, the threshold for influencer-led sales was fully opened, and new livestreaming rooms were starting on Douyin every day.

But beyond that, Inspur Technology did not launch any new features.

No new events, no new promotional campaigns, even the official Weibo account only periodically updated some data reports.

Douyin finally entered a stable development period.

A full month passed, and Douyin didn't even update a single time.

...

Douyu Headquarters.

Old Xu placed the data report in his hand on the table and let out a long sigh.

This month, the growth rate of Douyin's daily active users for livestreaming finally began to stabilize, no longer showing explosive growth.

Conversely, Douyu and Huya, relying on the launch of the cross-platform PK feature, even saw a slight recovery in total user volume.

Of course, this recovery was trivial compared to the soaring Douyin, but compared to the previous decline, it was already quite good.

Although the revenue from PK was no longer as exaggerated as those first few days, the income of top streamers had basically returned to previous levels.

Upon seeing that Douyin had finally settled down, they also finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems they have truly entered a period of stable development."

Old Xu leaned back in his chair and picked up the teacup on the table.

The data analyst beside him turned a page of the report.

"No matter how impressive Douyin is, it's impossible to keep launching features that set the whole internet on fire."

"After all, from Short Video to livestream PK, and then to Livestream E-commerce, they have already had several consecutive hits."

Old Xu nodded.

"It's about time they rested."

It wasn't just Douyu and Huya.

Inside Tencent, they also breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone felt that Inspur Technology's wave after wave of offensives had finally reached a point where they needed to take a break.

However, although Inspur Technology hadn't made any updates to Douyin, during this month, Douyin itself had sprouted some new things.

Group Streaming.

A group of small streamers spontaneously created it.

Seven or eight streamers squeezed into the same livestream room, like a small variety show set; some were singing, some were dancing, and some were just clowning around on the side.

The screen was full of people, lively as if it were a party.

At first, only a few scattered livestreaming rooms were doing it.

But soon, more and more streamers discovered that this format could attract popularity; with the fans of several small streamers gathered together, the number of online viewers naturally went up.

In less than a week, Group Streaming blossomed across Douyin.

The barrage was full of spectators watching the fun.

"This is so noisy but so funny."

"More interesting than solo streaming; it has that variety show vibe."

"Why don't Douyu and Huya have this? You can't even see a few people in their streams."

When Old Xu received this news, he was drinking coffee in his office.

He glanced at the screen recording sent by his subordinate and was silent for a few seconds.

"This is something the streamers came up with themselves?"

The subordinate nodded.

"Douyin hasn't interfered at all; the algorithm discovered that Group Streaming has a high retention rate, so it started automatically pushing the traffic."

"And then it turned into the whole internet following the trend."

Old Xu closed the recording and leaned back in his chair.

"At least it's just Group Streaming."

"Continue to follow up and observe for a few days. If the popularity is still decent, we can try it too."

As long as it wasn't an idea from Inspur Technology, it didn't pose much of a threat in his eyes.

And Group Streaming was the only term from Douyin to hit the Weibo trending list within this month: "How outrageous is Douyin Group Streaming."

Clicking into the entry, there were screenshots and recordings of various Group Streaming rooms; some people were playing group games, some were singing off-key duets, and the laughter in the comment section seemed to spill out from the screen.

As if inadvertently, Douyin had attracted another wave of attention.

However, at the current moment, the other thing that internet users across the whole web were truly looking forward to was something else.

league of legends.

More than a month ago, the trailer for league of legends had already exploded across the internet, relying on the name of IceFrog and a promotional strategy that went head-to-head with dota 2.

Moreover, the league of legends official website initially indicated that the closed beta would be in one month.

However, just when players thought the closed beta was coming, the Riot Games official website posted a brief announcement.

"Dear Summoners, the closed beta is postponed; see you next month."

Because of some technical issues, the closed beta was delayed.

The players' appetites were whetted.

During this month, the number of registrations and reservations on the league of legends official website had silently exceeded two million.

Although most players were just there to watch the show, one had to know that for a new game without any actual gameplay footage leaked, having two million registrations and reservations was enough to demonstrate the weight of the name IceFrog.

However, everyone also understood that out of these two million reservations, how many would ultimately stay would depend on the quality of the game itself.

Everything would only be known after the closed beta started and they saw what this game was actually like.

At the same time, dota 2, due to Tencent's full-scale promotion, had already exceeded twenty million reservations globally.

Five months later, it would even directly start its open beta!

...

Time moved forward another twenty-plus days.

At this point, there was only one week left until the league of legends closed beta.

This morning, a text message was sent to thousands of mobile phones across hundreds of cities nationwide.

"Dear Summoner, congratulations on obtaining the qualification for the first league of legends closed beta."

In Shucheng, Yangqing District, Wang An was sitting on the edge of his bed in his rented apartment, clutching his phone.

On the screen was the text message he had been waiting for for over a month.

He stared at those words several times, then leaped up from the bed, not even caring about the pain when his knee hit the bed frame.

"I got it!"

He picked up his phone and called Lao Li.

"Lao Li! I received the closed beta qualification!"

"Holy crap, are we that lucky? I got one too!"

Lao Li's voice was even more excited than his.

Not long after, posts seeking to buy closed beta accounts began to appear on several gaming forums.

The price of a closed beta account was driven up to several hundred yuan.

On a certain second-hand trading platform, some people even listed them at a high price of nearly one thousand yuan.

And these players seeking to buy accounts were all old fans of IceFrog, wanting to be the first to try this new game developed by IceFrog.

...

In Hangzhou, in a certain high-end residential complex, Old C was setting up his livestreaming equipment.

His livestreaming room was one of the largest in the Douyu gaming section, with hundreds of thousands of viewers online for every stream.

As one of the most popular streamers on the whole internet, he was an old player who started with dota, had an aggressive playstyle, picked up every game extremely quickly, and had a very direct personality.

Cursing teammates was a common occurrence.

Cursing games was even more common.

In his view, in the MOBA category, dota was the ceiling, and all other games were just garbage trying to ride the hype.

After the equipment was adjusted and he started streaming, Old C immediately picked up his phone and shook the screen with the closed beta notification text message toward the camera.

"Brothers, look at what this is."

The barrage instantly exploded.

"Holy crap, league of legends closed beta! Old C, you got an account?"

"Awesome! Start streaming when it opens!"

"What does this game actually look like? Previously it was all CG, not a single piece of actual gameplay footage."

Old C smiled.

"I am an old dota player, I have tried every MOBA on the market, and this time I will also let you try league of legends first."

"I will stream as soon as the closed beta opens, to let everyone see what kind of thing IceFrog has actually made."

"But I'll say this first."

"I'm the type of person who says what's on my mind; I'll praise what's good and curse what's bad."

"If this game is made like garbage, don't come cursing me, IceFrog fans."

The barrage was full of expectant comments.

But no one knew that Old C's account was given by Tencent.

Tencent had gone to great lengths, obtaining dozens of closed beta accounts through various channels, and in addition to keeping most for internal personnel to test the game, they also distributed them to several of their top streamers, among whom was Old C.

By having Old C stream league of legends, Tencent had only one goal.

To prepare smear material in advance.

They did not allow any other MOBA game to have such great momentum.

During this period, all players should only focus on dota 2.

No matter how well league of legends was made, they would smear and step on it.

After all, the previous league of legends trailer had tried to ride the coattails of dota 2, which had already made the Tencent gaming department very uncomfortable.

But the trailer was indeed well-made, and there was no way to nitpick it.

However, the game itself was different.

As long as Old C took the lead in nitpicking during his stream, once the rhythm was set, public opinion would naturally follow.

Riot Games did not forbid closed beta players from streaming, which was an excellent window for Tencent.

Although neither game had been released, the commercial war had already begun.

After ending the stream, Old C received a message on his phone.

"Pick more faults when you stream."

"If the operation threshold is too low, say it's for idiots; if the art style is too cartoonish, say it's for children; if the hero skills are too simple, say it lacks depth."

"You handle how to set the rhythm yourself."

Old C replied with an OK emoji and threw his phone on the nightstand.

He didn't feel there was anything wrong with this.

dota players bashing other MOBA games was a daily routine anyway.

And to be honest, deep down, he didn't believe that a simplified MOBA could have any substance.

On the league of legends official website, he already roughly knew what this game had simplified.

No denying, no losing money on death, one-click equipment recommendations, heroes only have four skills—wasn't this game for elementary school students?

Furthermore, the price Tencent paid this time was not low, and Tencent was his old employer; he couldn't find any reason to refuse.

He leaned back in his chair, already having thought of the lines he would say during his closed beta stream.

"Brothers, I wanted to delete this game after playing one round."

"The operation is too simple; it has absolutely no depth."

He rehearsed it to the air once and nodded with satisfaction.

...

One week later, the league of legends closed beta finally officially opened.