Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 400 Fight
Just as Du Yusheng was hosting a banquet for his guests, Cheng Yi's side began to launch a counterattack.

After three days of build-up, the players' emotions have reached their peak.

In the past few days, the online rate of Momo Internet Cafe has plummeted. The internet cafe, which was once packed every day, is now less than 50% full. This situation has delighted Shengda Group. Not only Shengda Group, but also Yanjing Shikong Culture and Zhonghai Wangyuan Communication are very happy.

They finally realized that the popularity of Momo Internet Cafe was solely due to the game Legend.

Without the game Legend, the Momo Internet Cafe empire is bound to crumble.

Everyone was convinced that November 15th would be the end of Momo Internet Cafe.

On November 11, after several days of silence, Momo Group finally released an announcement.

A Letter to Legendary Players of Momo

Dear Momo Legend players, we regret to inform you that the operation of "Momo Legend" by Momo Games will officially cease on November 15, 2002.

At that time, we will shut down all game servers and also stop client downloads.

A year together, not a long time, not a short time. We have always known that for each player, including us, every character, account, equipment, and friend list is not just a string of code, but our youth, our passion, and a wonderful part of our lives.

During this period, we made every effort to renew the contract and actively communicated with Shengda Group, but the conditions proposed by Shengda Group were not acceptable to us.

However, we will not forget our promise to the players and will continue to do our best to protect their interests.

On November 15th, we will give an explanation to all players, and we will not let them down, nor will we bow to power.

us……

In a lengthy essay of several hundred words, Momo Group vividly demonstrated its willingness to compromise and its unwavering resilience.

This letter to players reveals that Shengda Group is deliberately making things difficult for Momo Group.

This sparked a huge uproar. In no time, Shengda Group's game forum was flooded with angry players, and all sorts of abusive posts filled the forum. Under pressure, Shengda Group had no choice but to enable administrator comments.

Unable to post on Shengda Group's game forums, these angry players turned to portal websites such as Tianya and Xinlang.

It's really numb.

Chen Tianqiao swore to God that he had never been scolded so harshly in his life.

He was more worried about the IPO than about being criticized.

It seems that no CEO of a listed company has ever become a public enemy just before the company is about to ring the bell at the stock exchange.

This is completely different from being scolded before. Before, it was only the player's parents and relatives who were scolding them, but now it is the player himself who is scolding them.

Players are users.

If a product is being heavily criticized by users, it means that there is a problem with the product from the investor's perspective.

If this matter continues to escalate, it will raise questions from investors. Once investors raise questions, their fate will be similar to that of NetEase's stock price.

"We can sue them! This is malicious defamation!" Chen Danian slammed his fist on the table in the conference room of Shengda Group and said angrily.

The executives of Shengda Group present all had somber expressions.

This is outrageous, especially considering it happened at the crucial moment of going public.

Cheng Yi must have known they were going public, which is why he went to such lengths to stir up hatred for them.

Chen Danian's suggestion drew everyone's attention to Zhou Haibin.

Zhou Haibin habitually touched his nose and said, "From a legal point of view, there is no problem with the announcement they issued."

"Then we have no other way?" Chen Danian looked at Zhou Haibin.

Zhou Haibin said, "The best solution now is to remain silent. As long as we don't respond, the heat will gradually dissipate. If we take countermeasures, it will play right into their hands."

“Yes.” Su Yao, CFO of Shengda Group, nodded and said, “The most urgent task now is to spend as much money as possible to eliminate the impact, contact people on Tianya and Sina to help delete posts and ban people, and minimize the impact before our listing.”

When Su Yao spoke, everyone nodded in agreement. All they wanted to do now was go public and cash out; they didn't care about anything else.

Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Chen Tianqiao spoke up, "How are things going with the arrangements from Time and Space Culture?"

The newly appointed Marketing Director, Zhai Hui, said, "They had already selected a location and prepared computers in Handong Province, but for some reason, General Manager Luo stopped them. However, they have a very good relationship with Lianxiang Group, so the computers can be deployed at will."

Chen Tianqiao said coldly, "Our General Manager Luo is really capable."

Chen Tianqiao then asked, "What about Wangyuan Communications?"

Zhai Hui added, "I contacted Chen Hui again a few days ago, and he said he has no interest in the Handong Province market for the time being."

"That kid Chen Hui must have been scared out of his wits in Handong Province," a senior executive laughed.

“I heard that kid is still preparing a gift for Cheng Yi, supposedly a huge jade mountain.” Another executive said, “This Chen Hui doesn’t seem like someone from Lianjiang at all; he has no guts whatsoever.”

"Exactly. If it were his father or his brother, they would have already attacked Jingzhou City by now."

"These international students are all so spineless."

Shengda Group and Wangyuan Communications are both located in Zhonghai City, and the two sides have close ties.

Most of them didn't have a good impression of Chen Hui, who had a good relationship with Luo Shengyi, and they all complained about him.

Chen Tianqiao looked at Zhai Hui and said, "Now notify Shikuang Culture to prepare to set up shop in Handong Province. First, select the location of the internet cafe and transport the computers there. Tell them that the faster they act, the faster they will make money. I will open a Momo Legend Commemorative Zone on November 15th. All Momo Legend players can receive a game gift pack."

“Okay.” As Luo Shengyi’s deputy, Zhai Hui was also very familiar with market operations.

What they need to do now is to absorb the legendary players from Handong Province as quickly as possible.

The biggest challenge in attracting players is the composition of internet cafes in Handong Province.

Momo Internet Cafe has captured nearly 70% of the internet cafes in Handong Province. For their success to take off, they need internet cafes with Windows operating systems. However, in Handong Province, only some illegal internet cafes in remote areas have Windows systems.

Therefore, they could only seek cooperation with two other internet cafes that had chain licenses.

"President Chen, Mr. Mi from Shikong Culture said that their funds are insufficient to quickly expand the market in Handong Province, so they would like to ask if we can provide them with some investment," Zhai Hui said.

"What are your opinions?" Chen Tianqiao asked, looking at everyone present.

“I think it’s worth investing in. This Momo Group is so infuriating. I really don’t want to see them hanging around in front of us anymore.”

"I don't recommend investing. Internet cafes belong to the physical industry, which has a very long return cycle and is also very risky and uncertain. If we invest rashly, it may affect our financial growth curve."

"I don't recommend investing either. Internet cafes only break even in one or two years, the return cycle is too short. I still suggest that our Shengda Group focus on the gaming business."

"We should invest. If we take a stake in internet cafes, we'll be able to promote our games much faster in the future."

"I don't recommend investing..."

The major shareholders present began to argue.

These major shareholders are all big shots in the financial world of Zhonghai City.

When Legendary completed its initial trial and began nationwide promotion, these people immediately raised 100 million yuan in operating funds for Shengda, and subsequently invested another 300 million yuan.

Without those 400 million yuan, Legend could never have become a nationwide sensation in just three months. After all, no matter how good a product is, it requires a lot of money for on-the-ground promotion. One part product, nine parts promotion – that's the ratio of business investment in this era.

"One-tenth of the product" means that only 10% of the funds need to be invested in product development.

In terms of promotion and advertising, 90% of the funds must be invested; otherwise, even the best product will be worthless.

Just like Chen Tianqiao's friend Shi Yuzhu, although he claimed to invest only 300 million yuan in the promotion of his Brain Gold product every year, intermediary agencies have carefully calculated the promotion costs of Brain Gold.

38 billion!

This is Brain Gold; no matter what product it's invested in, 38 billion yuan can make it a household name.

And Legend's investment was no less than that of Brain Gold.

Chen Tianqiao let the major shareholders argue. After a few minutes of debate, someone said, "Mr. Chen, what are your thoughts?"

Chen Tianqiao said, "My idea is to invest in Shikuang Culture."

"Tell me your reasons," the head of the largest financial institution in Zhonghai City asked Chen Tianqiao.

Chen Tianqiao said, "The reason is simple: the market in Handong Province is worth our investment. I'm not acting impulsively, nor do I want to completely destroy Momo Group. I'm very interested in how Momo Group operates Legend. I think combining online games with internet cafes is a really good idea. If we can get a share of the internet cafe industry, it will greatly benefit our Legend and future games. In fact, if we have enough internet cafes, we can even restrict the installation of similar online games in internet cafes."

"Although it sounds very good, the internet cafe industry..." Several financial tycoons present hesitated.

They've already received a lot of criticism for investing in online games; if they were to invest in internet cafes as well? Would they have no shame at all?
Knowing their concerns, Chen Tianqiao said, "We can register an unknown small company to make the investment, so that it won't cause any controversy in society. You can look at the development of Momo Group in the past year. In just one year, they have amassed billions of dollars. After all, Handong Province is one of the top three provinces in my country in terms of economic size, and its overall consumption capacity can even rank first in the country. If we can take over this market, the benefits will be numerous."

Chen Tianqiao's words finally persuaded these shareholders.

The group nodded slowly and said, "Then let's do it your way. We mustn't expose this small company. If people find out that we've invested in such a low-level industry as internet cafes, they'll laugh at us."

They are all leaders in the financial world, and their investments are either in high-tech industries or in the internet industry.

If people knew they had invested in the internet cafe industry, it would really make their peers laugh at them, since the internet cafe industry is something only nouveau riche and local thugs would be willing to do.

With everyone's approval, Chen Tianqiao looked at Zhai Hui and said, "Have the person in charge of Shikong Culture come over tomorrow, and I'll talk to them in detail."

"it is good."

"President Cheng, Shengda Group has started paying to delete posts. Many forums no longer have posts about Shengda." Inside the Handong University Entrepreneurship Base, Cao Zheng walked into Cheng Yi's office and said, "Many of our accounts have also been banned by those forums."

"Great!" Cheng Yi slammed his hand on the table and laughed heartily, "Immediately launch the 'Entertainment for All' section on the school's intranet. The slogan for the section will be 'Speak Freely, Never Ban.'"

Cao Zhengze was taken aback and said, "President Cheng, are we really not allowed to speak out?"

"That's just a slogan," Cheng Yi said irritably. "Use your brain when you encounter problems, don't be so stubborn. Can a slogan and a promise be the same thing? Of course, things that should be deleted should be deleted, and things that should be banned should be banned."

"Ah, I understand, I'll get on it right now." Cao Zhengze quickly replied and ran out of the office.

The internet world has been in complete chaos these past few days.

Lured by money, many popular forums began deleting posts. At first, some people were just following the trend, but when they found their posts had been deleted, they became the victims.

Especially those post-80s netizens who were influenced by the "Young and Dangerous" movies, their tempers are all incredibly explosive. You dare delete my post? Then I'll keep posting! I'll let you delete as many as you want!
What? You've silenced me?! I'll f*** you...

There is no father here, there is a place to keep the father!
As the trend of deleting posts and banning users intensified, what was originally just a debate about right and wrong in the legendary game gradually evolved into a confrontation between ordinary people and internet capital.

As the commotion escalated, few people cared about the original cause of the incident.

They frequented various forums, only to be banned from posting by each of them.

Left with no other option, they started posting on online game forums like Magic Baby. The moderators of these internet cafe game forums, not wanting to get into trouble, had no choice but to activate the forum-wide ban function, allowing only administrators to post.

This incident has been described by the media as a day of gray terror on the internet.

Just when these overly enthusiastic netizens were wondering what to do, Renren.com suddenly released an announcement.

The Renren website has officially launched its social section – the All-People Entertainment Forum. The forum's motto is: Speak freely, and never refrain from speaking.

The forum attracted hundreds of thousands of people as soon as it appeared.

Previously, Renren.com only allowed college students to register and post, while other members of the public could only access it as guests.

Now that a social section has been opened, members of the public can also register and post.

In just two days, this popular entertainment forum was overflowing with people, and posts criticizing Shengda Group sprang up like mushrooms after rain, even topping the list of the top ten hottest tech news on Renren.com.

(End of this chapter)