128: Chapter 128 Panda Live Officially Launched

March 16, 2017 AD,

Wang Sicong posted a Weibo: "For a long time now,

I've had enough of domestic streaming platforms.

Lagging, high latency, poor picture quality,

too many ads, and a terrible community ecosystem.

Our streaming platforms don't seem to have kept up with the rapid development of the internet.

So, to change this situation,

I decided to create my own streaming software,

improving all of the aforementioned issues.

The new streaming platform will be released soon,

so please look forward to it."

Wang Sicong has a massive following on Weibo,

bolstered by the halo of being the son of the richest man.

Coupled with his very candid personality,

he frequently calls people out or puts them on blast on Weibo.

Furthermore, he often plays various games with his viewers

and is always among the first to experience the latest games.

He counts as a true gaming enthusiast,

which has earned him recognition from many netizens.

Relying on this 'approachable' billionaire persona,

he is even known as the 'National Husband'.

At this time, Wang Sicong was at the height of his popularity.

Initially, people thought he was just a second-generation rich kid obsessed with games,

nothing more than a spendthrift who only knew how to blow money,

who only attracted envy through his extravagant lifestyle,

thus becoming a major internet celebrity.

But when he posted this Weibo,

many people were taken aback.

Outsiders were just looking for drama,

as the current domestic streaming market had long since been carved up.

Where was there room for anyone else to get a word in?

President Wang's move was undoubtedly a simultaneous declaration of war against all other major domestic streaming platforms.

And as for those platforms,

which one of them wasn't backed by a tech giant?

The major mainstream streaming platforms on the market were currently on edge.

After seeing this Weibo,

every one of them felt a bit nervous.

Given Wang Sicong's track record of spending money without regard for cost when it came to his passions,

if he really wanted to seriously build a streaming platform,

the other platforms might not necessarily be a match for him.

Furthermore, Wang Sicong himself was a veteran player of various games;

he surely understood how to run a streaming platform better than they did.

Many people commented under Wang Sicong's Weibo.

"President Wang is right.

Most current streaming platforms are trash.

I'm looking forward to President Wang being the first to break the deadlock.

I hope to one day see a truly smooth, high-definition stream."

"If nothing else,

the ads on other platforms are truly overwhelming.

If you accidentally click the wrong thing,

it downloads 'Tanwan Lanyue' or 'Legend' for me.

It really drives me crazy.

Regardless,

I'm still very much looking forward to the streaming product President Wang brings us."

"I used to think Wang Sicong was just an approachable spendthrift,

but now I see he's quite ambitious!

He previously acquired the iG eSports Club,

and his eSports career is flourishing.

Now he wants to start his own streaming platform.

He's clearly very optimistic about the future gaming market

and wants a piece of the pie!"

Amidst much anticipation,

on March 20th,

Wang Sicong released more information about the new streaming platform on Weibo.

"The name of the streaming platform I'm about to launch has been finalized.

It's called Panda Live.

It's currently in closed beta,

and many tech experts are already testing it.

They will be broadcasting on Panda Live during this period

while providing us with improvement plans.

Users who want to experience it early

can ask them for a beta code

to install and use it in advance."

He then tagged many famous streamers on Weibo,

whom he had invited to Panda Live with heavy investment.

With President Wang's fame

combined with substantial signing fees,

few streamers would be unmoved.

But this was only the beginning.

Wang Sicong currently had very abundant funds.

With the support of Li Xiang Technology,

Panda Live's angel round of financing alone reached one billion!

He still had a lot of money to burn.

While some streamers were testing it in beta,

Wang Sicong continued to recruit people,

even poaching from the other three mainstream streaming platforms.

Under the temptation of fame and fortune,

many streamers even broke their contracts to jump to Panda Live.

Well-known ones included PDD, Misaya, Lan Zhanfei, Zhou Erke, Qiutu, and so on.

Of course, there was another very important reason for their move.

While paying huge sums to sign them,

Wang Sicong also promised to help them pay the liquidated damages to their original platforms!

This clause was indeed outrageous,

but knowing it came from Wang Sicong, the son of the richest man,

it wasn't hard to understand.

Everything was ready.

At 6 PM on the afternoon of April 2nd,

Panda Live officially went online.

Many big streamers started broadcasting simultaneously.

In just one day, Panda Live's downloads across the entire internet reached 130 million!

At its peak, there were even 80 million people watching live online at the same time.

It seemed as if all the netizens in the Dragon Kingdom had come to join the fun.

Panda Live's servers crashed at one point,

but President Wang had anticipated this

and had specifically spent a fortune to buy a large number of servers in advance.

As soon as they saw such a massive influx of traffic,

they immediately activated the backup servers.

The streaming truly lived up to Wang Sicong's promise of no lagging!

Furthermore, when many viewers downloaded and installed Panda Live

and opened a stream to watch,

they really found that the interface had no ads whatsoever.

It was very clean!

This also caused many users who just wanted to try it out to develop a good impression of Panda Live.

Many people eventually decided to keep Panda Live on their phones.

The first day of streaming was perfect,

with basically no major issues,

which made Wang Sicong quite proud.

Seeing the wave of positive reviews for Panda Live online,

an excited Wang Sicong opened a bottle of '82 Lafite.

While sipping his drink,

he wore a satisfied smile.

"However, this is only the beginning!

I will use Panda Live to prove myself.

I am definitely not a useless spendthrift!

I will prove it to my father!"

With Panda Live's momentum at its peak,

Wang Sicong announced another matter on Weibo.

"A few old friends will be joining Panda Live soon.

They will broadcast on Panda Live whenever they feel like it.

I hope everyone can support them!

@Lin Gengxin, @Huang Xiaoming, @Angelababy Yang Ying..."

Wang Sicong tagged several celebrities in a row.

More importantly,

his tone was as if he were posting an ordinary Weibo.

However, the people he tagged

were all currently hot stars in the entertainment industry!

If these celebrities had joined any other streaming platform,

those platforms would have put up decorations and set off firecrackers,

promoting it vigorously across every platform,

desperate for the whole world to know!

But with Wang Sicong,

the style was so understated it was like he was describing a very common occurrence.

"President Wang's moves are truly grand.

So many big stars,

so many big streamers.

I reckon Panda Live must have sunk a lot of money into this."

"Is President Wang the type of person to be short on cash?

I heard his monthly pocket money is tens of millions.

Some people are truly born in Rome.

I hate that my dad isn't as capable!"