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Chapter 525 0513 [Youke's Korean Subsidiary]

At this point, the number of registered users on Tencent Weibo was very close to that of ByteDance Weibo.

Using QQ to attract traffic is no joke!

A similar situation occurred in another timeline. In 2010, Sina and Sohu engaged in a microblogging war, while Tencent Weibo remained relatively quiet. However, within just six months, Tencent Weibo's user base surpassed Sina's, and it maintained its lead for the next two years.

In the public's perception, Sina Weibo is always considered more powerful because of its greater social influence. Tencent Weibo, on the other hand, focuses on everyday sharing among younger users and receives less social attention, with very few viral events.

Now let's compare ByteDance and Tencent, using data up to the end of February 2012—

Chen Guiliang's ByteDance Weibo account has 4.135 million registered users and approximately 8000 million daily active users. The account with the most followers is actor Yao Dazui, with 1200 million followers.

Pony Ma's Tencent Weibo account has 3.826 million registered users and approximately 1 million daily active users. The account with the most followers is that of hurdler Liu Xiang, with 1400 million followers.

In terms of daily active users, Tencent Weibo has surpassed ByteDance's Weibo!

This is because a large number of young users share their daily lives. They don't argue with others, and even if they do, it's confined to a small circle, making it difficult for outsiders to perceive their presence.

Many younger users don't even have mobile phones and can only use Tencent Weibo's computer client. But they can go to internet cafes every day to update their status, just like they used to update their QQ space every day!
A large number of Tencent Weibo users were converted from QQ Zone.

Therefore, it can be said that the competition between ByteDance Weibo and Tencent Weibo is a continuation of the competition between HaiNei.com, XiaoNei.com, and QQ Zone.

"What Tencent Weibo lacks is social influence. Their poaching of Fang Zhouzi will make up for this shortcoming."

"It's not that far-fetched. A single pork knuckle can't possibly bring our users over."

"We absolutely cannot let our guard down. Many netizens follow Fang Zhouzi's Weibo posts every day to follow the gossip. Once they get into the habit of logging into Tencent Weibo, they will be completely lost in just one or two weeks."

"Then keep Fang Zhouzi's Weibo account trending, so that both the anti-Fang and pro-Fang factions log in to ByteDance Weibo every day to argue. Make them keep the habit of logging in to ByteDance Weibo!"

"Furthermore, we're encouraging more celebrities to join the debate. We have a lot more celebrities, especially those who love to argue. Our gossip is plentiful and satisfying."

"..."

The management team of ByteDance's Weibo account held meetings for two consecutive days to discuss countermeasures.

They don't care who wins or loses among Fang Zhouzi, Han Han, and Lao Luo; they only care whether ByteDance's Weibo account will be lost.

Chen Guiliang did not personally participate in such matters.

While pushing the stream, ByteDance also proactively contacted a heavyweight figure – Bai Zixiucai.

Bai Zixiu, a PhD in Biology from the University of Southern California, has had multiple popular science articles plagiarized by Fang Zhouzi. For the past few years, he has been collecting dirt on Fang Zhouzi and continuously compiling and updating "A Chronology of Fang Zhouzi's Plagiarism."

More than 100 cases of plagiarism by Fang Zhouzi have been compiled.

In mid-March, the hashtag "Fang Zhouzi plagiarized a chronology" trended on ByteDance's Weibo, attracting a large number of netizens.

In late March, Fang Zhouzi's old rival, Xiao Chuanguo, also resurfaced. He didn't say anything else, just demanded money from Fang Zhouzi. This was because Fang Zhouzi had lost the lawsuit years ago but transferred assets, closed bank accounts, and refused to comply with the court's compensation order.

From then on, the drama unfolded more and more, with ByteDance's Weibo providing juicy gossip every day.

And that's how the traffic increased?

The user is saved, right?

The truly heavyweight figures, Cui Yongyuan, Wang Zhian, and Zhu Yi, haven't even made an appearance yet.

Cui Yongyuan goes without saying.

In another timeline, it was Wang Zhian who truly defeated Fang Zhouzi.

The person who posted that famous Weibo message after the Fukushima earthquake in Japan was Wang Zhian, who said that Fukushima would undergo earth-shattering changes a year later. More than ten years later, he went to Japan specifically to eat Fukushima rice and confidently asserted that the nuclear wastewater from Fukushima was harmless.

Why did Wang Zhian become enemies with Fang Zhouzi?
Because Fang Zhouzi exposed Zhu Yi's fake business.

Zhu Yi is a professor at an agricultural university. Fang Zhouzi exposed him for engaging in pseudoscience and frequently endorsing health products.

Even more interestingly, ten years later, Fang Zhouzi and Zhu Yi, who are sworn enemies, are boasting together about the United States' handling of the pandemic...

……

Chen Guiliang flew to South Korea.

Game Science's Korean subsidiary was officially established last fall.

As the group's CEO, Chen Guiliang had to take the time to inspect the company, both to demonstrate his presence and to show his appreciation for the Korean subsidiary.

The company is located in Pangyo Tech Valley, Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, which is home to a large number of game companies as well as high-tech departments or R&D centers of major Korean enterprises.

Chen Guiliang checked into the hotel on the first day and went to inspect the company the next day.

He hadn't even left the hotel yet, but the company was already busy.

Several employees from China felt genuine contempt and helplessness as they watched their Korean colleagues' behavior.

"Are they crazy?"

"Don't speak, respect their traditions." "This is too much, it's like some country's leader is coming."

"Yooko's corporate culture is ruined in South Korea."

"..."

Before Chen Guiliang even went upstairs, Wu Zhenhao, the CEO of the subsidiary, was already downstairs with his men to greet him.

Wu Zhenhao is a former executive at SK Telecom and Blizzard Korea.

Last year, Chen Guiliang received a list from headhunters but couldn't find a satisfactory CEO candidate. After going through two rounds of selections, he finally chose Wu Zhenhao.

In another timeline, this guy is the head of Riot Games' Korean subsidiary!
However, when Chen Guiliang hired a headhunter to poach him, Wu Zhenhao was still a high-ranking executive at Blizzard Korea. He was forcibly recruited by spending money.

Accompanied by Wu Zhenhao, Chen Guiliang took the elevator upstairs to the company.

"Welcome, President!"

Before even entering the door, I could hear the unified shouts.

A red carpet was even laid out in front of the company, and executives led employees in a line to greet Chen Guiliang, bowing in unison.

I'm crazy.

This was the first time Chen Guiliang had received such treatment, and while he felt awkward, he was also surprisingly enjoying it.

He recalled a news report he had seen before his rebirth: a South Korean executive visited a factory in Vietnam. The Vietnamese factory organized hundreds of female workers, waving South Korean flags, to line both sides of a red carpet to welcome him. The red carpet stretched from the factory gate all the way to the factory building.

Chen Guiliang said to Wu Zhenhao, "This is too formal. There's no need for that. Just do your job well."

Wu Zhenhao said, "Welcoming the chairman is also part of my job."

Chen Guiliang didn't say anything more. Damn, why is this kid becoming more and more pleasing to the eye?
Introduced by Wu Zhenhao, Chen Guiliang shook hands with the Chinese and South Korean executives one by one. Chen Guiliang didn't talk about work, but instead inquired about their well-being and occasionally chatted with a few employees about their personal lives.

This gesture made the Korean employees feel very warm and that Chairman Chen from headquarters was a truly good person.

After the show, Wu Zhenhao was called in for a private talk.

Wu Zhenhao reported, "Our game, *Oracle Era*, went into closed beta and open beta almost simultaneously with Riot Games' *League of Legends*. *League of Legends* has a more comprehensive esports scene, and it already entered South Korea last year thanks to the WCG. But our game characters are more attractive, the game interface is cleaner, and it's more in line with the aesthetics of South Korean players..."

"As of the end of last month, Oracle Era had a peak of 25 concurrent players, while League of Legends only had a peak of 13. We have a clear advantage."

"In addition, we have worked with headquarters to initially establish a tournament framework in South Korea. However, due to the game's limited influence, half of the major esports clubs in South Korea have not yet formed teams for 'Oracle of Odyssey'. The same is true for 'League of Legends'; only one-third of the major esports clubs have formed teams for Riot's game..."

In another timeline, Riot Games announced its entry into the South Korean market in July 2011. Closed beta testing began in September, followed by open beta testing in November.

However, due to Youke's disruption in the European market, Riot Games' revenue plummeted, and Tencent ceased its investment. As a result, Riot Games' entry into the South Korean market was delayed by three to four months.

Currently, Oracle Era and League of Legends entered the Korean market almost simultaneously.

Moreover, Chen Guiliang even snatched the position of head of Riot Games' Korean subsidiary!

Chen Guiliang said with a smile, "I brought you a gift this time. Headquarters has launched a new hero called 'Captain Divine Might Li Chengji'. He claims to be a descendant of Admiral Yi Sun-sin from another world."

Wu Zhenhao's eyes lit up: "If this hero is released, it will definitely be very popular with Korean players. We can leave League of Legends even further behind!"

Gangplank, the captain of League of Legends, has already been released, so there is no similar character in Oracle Era.

However, in the faction settings of "Oracle Era", there is also the existence of pirate groups.

This time, they went all out and made the pirate captain a descendant of Koreans, but only a self-proclaimed descendant of Koreans, constantly clamoring to restore the glory of his ancestors.

It's similar on Riot Games' side; Ahri, the nine-tailed fox, was specifically designed for the Korean market. Yes, Americans believe the nine-tailed fox originates from Korean mythology.

At this point, Ahri had already been created by Youke.

When Riot Games entered the Korean market last year, they had to bypass Ahri, the nine-tailed fox, and redesign a bear girl named Uni. In human form, she is a gentle priestess, and her ultimate ability transforms her from a human into a bear, corresponding to ancient Korean mythology.

To be honest, this bear girl is quite ugly, especially in her bear form. Released in January of this year, it has been criticized by many Korean players.

“We are currently implementing a promotional plan in internet cafes,” Wu Zhenhao said. “Internet cafes have always been a fundamental part of the Korean gaming market and a key indicator of a game’s popularity. We have already partnered with hundreds of internet cafes nationwide, and we will accelerate the internet cafe promotion plan next…”

Chen Guiliang said, "Don't skimp on initial promotion; quickly distance yourself from League of Legends. You could hire the hottest Korean stars to be our spokespeople."

Wu Zhenhao said, "The price is very expensive."

Chen Guiliang said, "Don't worry about the costs, we can even lose money this year."

Wu Zhenhao said, "I understand. How about we start another charity project?"

"What charity project?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Wu Zhenhao said, "Riot Games recently announced that all revenue from the first half of the year's League of Legends professional esports tournaments will be donated to charity. We can announce that we will donate a certain percentage of Oracle's revenue this year to charity."

“Okay. No matter what the fist does, we’ll retaliate with even greater force!” Chen Guiliang nodded.

(End of this chapter)