Chapter 311: Who Else but You for the Mobile Division
Chapter 311: Who Else but You for the Mobile Division
Would making a horror game greatly increase the chances of losing money?
Of course Pei Qian knew there were some extremely successful and profitable horror games in the world—but overall, those were the minority.
Only a very small number of horror games manage to stand out and leave an impression on players. The vast majority of horror games—and horror movies—end up flopping quietly, or becoming material for mockery on review shows.
The reasons are the same as with haunted houses.
On one hand, the horror genre naturally scares away a large portion of timid players or viewers.
On the other hand, if horror is not done well, it easily turns into unintentional comedy.
Take horror films, for example.
If you want to make something genuinely frightening, you first need a very high level of realism—sets, props, costumes, makeup… everything requires heavy investment.
And on top of that, you need superb cinematography and storyboarding to keep the audience in constant suspense, unable to predict what will happen next. Their nerves must remain tense, their immersion unbroken.
If amateurs attempt horror, it easily ends up like Jingzhou’s haunted house—pleasing neither side:
The timid visitors are too scared to enter, and the brave ones think it’s boring.
Horror games follow the same principle. Only a handful of studios in the world can actually make good horror games.
And the reason Pei Qian wanted Shangyang Games to work on horror was precisely because Lin Wan and her entire team had zero experience with the genre.
Once they produced a piece of trash, it would naturally make its way onto Qiao Liang’s “Trash Game Roast.”
Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
Of course, he still needed to properly encourage them—at least coax Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and the others into accepting this almost-guaranteed-to-fail mission.
Pei Qian set his teacup aside and spoke earnestly:
“The domestic game market—when it comes to horror games—is still completely barren!”
“China’s single-player game industry is extremely weak to begin with, and horror games within the single-player sector are an even smaller niche!”
“Moreover, horror games demand very high skill from their developers.”
“If you want to prove yourselves, then you must tackle the hardest genre! If you can conquer horror games, then making anything else in the future will be trivial!”
“How can a Tengda employee shy away from difficulty?”
Lin Wan blinked, falling into deep thought.
Clearly, after hearing Pei Qian’s words, her attitude had wavered.
Inside, Pei Qian was secretly delighted—just as expected, this approach worked!
If he had said this to other people, it might have backfired and scared them away.
But Lin Wan was different—she liked taking on challenges.
And with the huge success of Blood War Anthem: Enhanced Edition, the entire team was floating in an air of blind optimism—in other words, they were pretty inflated.
In such a mood, who wouldn’t want to make a 3A blockbuster with built-in buzz, just to prove themselves?
Pei Qian was certain that this temptation was something Shangyang Games absolutely could not resist.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Wan said:
“President Pei, I’ll need to discuss this with Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin.”
Pei Qian nodded with a gentle smile. “Of course.”
He could already tell that Lin Wan’s resolve had definitely been shaken.
Since the three of them had no direction yet, Pei Qian’s suggestion would naturally become their guiding beacon!
Lin Wan stood up, preparing to call Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin so they could discuss the specifics of the new game.
But Pei Qian raised a hand to stop her.
“Wait, there’s one more thing.”
Lin Wan nodded. “Please go ahead, President Pei.”
Pei Qian said solemnly:
“Besides the new game, there is another major responsibility I want to entrust to you.”
“Tengda is going to establish an entirely new smartphone brand.”
“And this smartphone brand… I want to entrust it to you, for you to take full charge.”
Lin Wan froze for a moment, then quickly shook her head. “No, President Pei, I really can’t handle that.”
“Even though I’ve bought plenty of expensive phones, I actually don’t understand anything about smartphones, and I’m not interested in them either. Besides, I already have to oversee Shangyang Games. I can’t split myself in two—there’s no way I could handle both.”
Pei Qian wasn’t the least bit anxious after being rejected so directly; Lin Wan’s reaction had been completely within his expectations.
“Don’t be in such a rush to refuse.”
“For Tengda, the smartphone business is extremely important—even more important than Shangyang Games.”
“After all, the upper limit of Shangyang Games is at best becoming a well-known domestic game company. But the upper limit of the smartphone business could be a tech giant worth hundreds of billions.”
“In the future, smartphones will inevitably become even more deeply integrated into people’s lives. They are mobile terminals, and also the window through which every person connects to the internet.”
“Just look at Shenhua Group—a single smartphone market can effortlessly make a game go viral. You’ve seen that enormous influence for yourself, haven’t you?”
“If we manage to succeed in the smartphone business, Tengda will soar even higher!”
Pei Qian tried his best to paint a grand vision.
Lin Wan hesitated. “Er… President Pei, I understand everything you’re saying. But I still feel that handling both games and smartphones will stretch me too thin…”
Pei Qian shook his head. “You’re underestimating yourself.”
“For anyone who wants to grow from an ordinary leader into an excellent one, this stage is unavoidable.”
“Besides, you won’t be working on the smartphone business alone. I’ll find someone to assist you—you can hand all the concrete tasks to them and just make the final decisions.”
“Tengda’s business is so complicated already, and I practically don’t manage anything. Yet everything’s still developing smoothly, isn’t it?”
“Just do what I do—be a hands-off boss.”
Lin Wan took that as a joke and played along with a smile. “President Pei, I can’t compare to you.”
Pei Qian immediately raised a hand. “Don’t belittle yourself. All of you are much more capable than I am.”
“In any case, this is a necessary step toward becoming an outstanding manager.”
“More importantly, looking at the entire Tengda Group, who besides you could possibly be suitable for taking on the smartphone business?”
Pei Qian’s expression was one-hundred-percent sincere.
Lin Wan was stunned. Suddenly, President Pei’s words seemed to make a lot of sense.
President Pei had always made big-picture decisions, so deciding to enter the smartphone industry wasn’t surprising at all.
With Tengda’s current financial strength, supporting a smartphone department wouldn’t be impossible. Judging from President Pei’s tone, this department was meant to develop gradually—he clearly wasn’t planning to rush things.
And to be fair, Lin Wan really is the most suitable person in Tengda to take over a smartphone division.
She didn’t understand the smartphone industry, but neither did anyone else!
President Pei could spend a fortune poaching executives from other companies, but those kinds of hires were unreliable, especially when it came to loyalty.
Even if the executives were loyal, it would still be hard for them to fully grasp Tengda’s spirit.
Meanwhile, among Tengda’s long-time employees, Lin Wan was indeed the one who came closest to being connected to the smartphone industry. After all, Shenhua Group—where she used to work—was built on smartphones and communications.
As the saying goes, even if you haven’t eaten pork, you’ve at least seen pigs run. No matter how unfamiliar Lin Wan was with smartphones, with her background, she still understood the field better than any other old-timer at Tengda.
Lin Wan hesitated for a moment. “Alright, President Pei, I’ll think this over carefully. But during this time, please continue looking for other candidates who might be more suitable. Ideally, someone better than me.”
Pei Qian nodded. “Alright.”
Lin Wan’s attitude had clearly softened—it was only a matter of time before she agreed.
Pei Qian pondered: once the time came, he could just casually hire some industry professional from outside who knew a little bit about the smartphone business to assist her. With that kind of combination, the smartphone project would most likely flop!
But… who exactly should he hire as Lin Wan’s assistant?
That required careful planning.
If he accidentally hired someone too competent, someone who might end up carrying Lin Wan to success… that would be a disaster.
“Then, President Pei, should I call Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin over so you can give them a general direction for the horror game?” Lin Wan asked.
Pei Qian immediately shook his head. “No.”
“For the initial phase, you should think it over yourselves. I don’t want to limit your creativity.”
“Once you have a rough idea, I’ll give a few comments here and there.”
Pei Qian no longer trusted his own design instincts at all.
If he suddenly got an idea on impulse, and it somehow became popular again, what would he do then?
But he also couldn’t ignore the project completely.
Pei Qian’s plan was to let Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin come up with an idea first, and then he would step in afterward with some “reverse guidance” to ensure the game would lose as much money as possible.
“Alright, you all go ahead with your work. I’ll come by again in a while.”
Pei Qian stood up and left.
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