86: Chapter 86 Old Ma's Reminder

Tencent Group Headquarters.

Inside the conference room, Vice President Chen Yongnian flipped through a report in his hands repeatedly. Although it was something created by their rival, there was still a hint of admiration in his eyes.

"This battle pass is quite interesting."

He raised his head and looked at Xiao Ma, who was sitting at the head of the table.

"I've studied it carefully, and the design of this battle pass is quite genius."

"The threshold of 89 yuan isn't high. Players feel like they're getting a good deal, the developer makes money, and at the same time, it boosts user activity and time spent online. It truly is a genius idea."

Vice President Chen Yongnian became more excited as he spoke.

"Killing three birds with one stone."

"We've been making games for so many years, why have we never thought of this model?"

Xiao Ma leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers on the table twice.

"It doesn't matter who came up with it."

He scanned everyone present, his gaze finally resting on Vice President Chen Yongnian.

"What matters is which game can carry it forward and make it successful."

Vice President Chen Yongnian immediately closed the report, instantly understanding Xiao Ma's meaning; he had even anticipated it.

"We are already copying it."

"If everything goes quickly, within a few days, dota 2 and other games under Tencent Group will simultaneously launch the battle pass system."

Xiao Ma nodded.

"This thing should be able to significantly increase our revenue."

The atmosphere in the conference room was quite lively; after all, the revenue increase this battle pass could bring to Tencent Group was almost visible to the naked eye.

Almost no one cared about the recent movements of league of legends.

However, among everyone, one person was slightly frowning.

Sun Qiang looked toward Xiao Ma at the head of the table and spoke, his tone filled with some worry.

"Mr. Ma."

"The momentum of league of legends has been quite high these past two days."

He took out his phone and flipped to a few pages of data.

"Many streamers are pulling for that dragon fist skin, and the related video view counts are very high, with plenty of comments as well."

"The key isn't just the skin."

"The new hero Yasuo that league of legends just released also has quite high discussion levels. Videos about the new hero related to A-Sao on Bilibili easily get millions of views."

He paused.

"I also noticed a detail: many players are praising dragon fist, saying this is the first commemorative skin for Great Xia players, which carries significant meaning."

"They say that for all these years, Tencent Group has never released an exclusive commemorative skin for Great Xia."

"This point might also drive up the sales of this skin."

The conference room went quiet for a moment.

Xiao Ma, however, waved his hand dismissively.

"I had already anticipated all of this."

"With 20 million daily active users for league of legends, any commotion they make won't be quiet. After all, with that many daily active users, there are too many players, so it's easy to get quite a bit of attention."

"But loud noise is just loud noise; revenue is the final standard of measurement."

He leaned back in his chair, his tone firm.

"These casual players have limited desire to pay."

"The skin might be interesting, but with a price tag of two thousand to five thousand, how many will actually pay for it?"

"The spending habits of dota 2 players were cultivated by us over so many years, so it's understandable to release skins at this price point."

"league of legends barely breaks ten million in monthly revenue; on what grounds do they dare release such expensive skins?"

"No one will buy them."

Although Xiao Ma said this, Sun Qiang still hesitated for a moment.

"Mr. Ma, should we contact Lao Ma and ask?"

"He has Alipay in his hands, so he must know the recharge data for league of legends first-hand."

Xiao Ma frowned.

"Why contact him?"

"We already owe him a favor from before; no need to trouble him again."

He picked up his teacup and took a sip, not taking Sun Qiang's suggestion to heart at all.

"league of legends' revenue will definitely increase a bit this month, but the probability of it surpassing dota 2 is zero."

"No need to discuss this matter any further."

Everyone in the conference room exchanged glances, and no one spoke again.

But just at this moment, Xiao Ma put down his teacup, suddenly remembering something.

"Right."

"Speaking of Lao Ma."

"Yesterday, Lao Ma did send me a message."

"He said something about us not targeting league of legends anymore; just that one sentence."

A few sounds of surprise immediately rang out in the conference room.

"Did Mr. Lao Ma really say that?"

Xiao Ma nodded, took out his phone, flipped through it, and found the message Lao Ma sent him yesterday.

There was only one sentence on it.

"Listen to me, stop targeting league of legends."

Xiao Ma repeated this sentence word for word, though his tone seemed quite indifferent.

He just looked at it for a few seconds before closing his phone again.

Then he explained.

"You don't need to find it strange; this kind of thing is as normal as it gets."

"In the business world, there are never any absolute allies or opponents."

"Today we are working together to deal with league of legends, but tomorrow we might become rivals in other fields."

He leaned back in his chair.

"It must be the investors behind Riot Games who used their connections to find Lao Ma."

"That's why Lao Ma opened his mouth to ask me to let go."

Listening to Xiao Ma's explanation, everyone slowly nodded.

Indeed.

Such things are indeed too common in the business world; today it's an alliance, tomorrow it's an opponent. In the face of interests, there are no permanent friends.

And the next second.

Xiao Ma sat up straight, his voice turning a bit colder.

"However."

"The other side made Tencent Group suffer such a big loss in the gaming field."

"How could I possibly let go just because of one sentence from Lao Ma? Since I've finally managed to catch an opportunity to beat a drowning dog, I naturally won't let it pass."

He turned his head and looked at Vice President Chen Yongnian, clearly having thought of something.

"dota 2's official Weibo, continue to issue announcements, promoting that we are the number one game in domestic revenue."

"Just emphasize dota 2's player count and per capita consumption."

In fact, the trending search term for dota 2 a few days ago was thought up by Xiao Ma, and it was precisely because of that publicity at the time that many potential players were curious about why dota 2's revenue was so high, leading them to try the game.

Vice President Chen Yongnian nodded.

"I'll arrange it immediately."

A few minutes later.

dota 2's official Weibo posted a new announcement.

"dota 2 has topped the domestic game revenue rankings for three consecutive months; three million players have created a monthly turnover of over one hundred million, with per capita consumption ability leading by a wide margin."

"The game that players vote for with their spending is the truly good game."

After this announcement was issued, the high-level meeting of Tencent Group had not yet ended, and this announcement did not really make them pay much attention or concern.

After all, it was just stepping on league of legends once more.

Issuing this announcement at the time when league of legends released a new event almost explicitly stated that no matter how hard league of legends tried, its revenue could not possibly exceed dota 2.

The meeting continued.

But ten-plus minutes passed, and just as the meeting was about to formally end, Xiao Ma's phone suddenly rang.

It was a call from Lao Ma.

"What does Lao Ma want with me?"

Xiao Ma frowned, and after telling others not to speak, he answered the phone.

But before he could even speak.

Lao Ma's voice came through the receiver, his tone carrying a sense of helplessness.

"I have already warned you."

"Why are you still targeting league of legends?"