These companies are progressing at different rates; some are fast, some are slow, some are diligently working on their products, and some are racking their brains every day thinking about how to market themselves.

The different personalities of the founders naturally lead to different company styles.

From the current situation, Meng Chang does indeed have some ability. He was able to open his first store in such a short period and do so well in all aspects, creating a good buzz online, which is enough to prove his capabilities.

Among all the projects currently invested in by Dream-Fulfilling Ventures, Leng Mian Gu Niang (Cold Noodles Girl) can be considered the best-performing, and also the fastest-spending.

Soon, all the projects had reported. Two companies were found to have minor issues. After Jing Haibing pointed them out, the finance people from those two companies immediately recorded them to be corrected after the meeting.

The meeting ended, and the video signals were cut off one after another.

He Desheng said, "President Pei, are we still strictly adhering to the previous policy? If we continue to invest after the money runs out, then... based on the current spending rate of Leng Mian Gu Niang, we might have to invest more money next month."

Pei Qian nodded, "Yes, keep the original plan unchanged. Invest when we need to! Just let me know next time when we reinvest in Leng Mian Gu Niang."

He Desheng nodded, "Okay, President Pei."

...

...

November 25th, Friday.

After lunch, Pei Qian made a special trip to the office to pull up the results of the latest Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test on the backend.

The Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test has a total of four attempts. New employees enter a probationary period after joining the company, lasting one month, with a test opportunity every Friday.

Passing the test at any of the four attempts means officially joining the company; failing all of them means they have to leave.

However, because the time it takes for these new employees to complete the resignation procedures from their original companies varies, their joining times at Tenda also differ.

This time's Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test includes about 1/4 of people who didn't pass the last test, and the rest are taking the test for the first time.

Pei Qian didn't have much hope for this, after all, only a week had passed since the last test. What could have changed?

Even if the words he said at the responsible persons' dinner had a subtle influence on the entire company's atmosphere, it shouldn't be so immediate.

Pei Qian opened the backend to check.

"Huh?"

"The pass rate seems to have dropped, right?"

"It really has dropped!"

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised. This was simply an unexpected joy!

The Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test's backend displays the pass rate for each test, as well as the pass rates for first, second, and third tests.

That is to say, detailed data such as the approximate percentage of people who passed the test twice in this batch of new employees will also be statistically available.

It seems that a downward trend is clearly visible.

"Could there really be such a good thing?"

"No, can't get carried away."

"Although the pass rate for this batch has indeed decreased, the people taking the test are different each time, and there will be some natural fluctuations in the pass rate."

"This matter still needs long-term observation, and no conclusions can be drawn prematurely."

Pei Qian silently looked at the data again, preparing to continue observing for a while. After all the new employees have completed the Tenda Spirit Test, he will look at the final pass rate before making a decision.

After closing the Tenda Spirit Compatibility Test's backend, Pei Qian casually browsed the latest news online.

Suddenly, he saw such a keyword in a relatively low position on the trending searches: "IOI New Version".

"Hmm? Is it saying that news about IOI's new version has already leaked?" Pei Qian immediately clicked to view.

Some time ago, Shang Yang Games had already gathered some information about the changes to IOI's national server strategy. After all, Shang Yang Games definitely has more channels to obtain information in the industry than ordinary netizens.

But since Shang Yang Games can find out this information, it definitely means that these changes are already in production, and are basically a foregone conclusion. Then, it is not surprising that this news has leaked and been exposed online.

The news from Shang Yang Games will indeed be more well-informed, but it will only be faster by a week or two at most.

Pei Qian searched for information about the new version of IOI online and found that the reason why this news came out was because IOI had updated these changes on the test server.

The moment the changes were updated on the test server, it immediately caused huge controversy among the player community, and major game media also reprinted it.

Although IOI is already relatively cold in China, its market share worldwide is still considerable. There is no reason for game media to miss such a big news story.

The changes updated on the IOI test server this time are mainly in terms of gameplay, including adjustments to the anti-farming (last-hitting) mechanism, changes to hero bounties, richer map resources, etc., which are slightly different from the changes Lin Wan mentioned before, but are largely the same.

However, the old players didn't buy it after the update. The official social media account of Finger Company was instantly flooded with objections from old players.

Before Finger Company had time to explain, one wave subsided only for another to rise.

Some game media, for some reason, obtained some internal information and disclosed Finger Company's operational strategy adjustments for the IOI national server.

The national server will be changed to a low-price zone, and the prices of heroes and skins will be reduced to about 1/2 to 1/3 of the international server;

The IOI national server will cooperate with the domestic Longyu Group, which will be responsible for the localization operation of the IOI national server;

In addition, it is said that Finger Company has finally decided to start preparing for the first World Finals, and IOI's national server负责人 (fù zé rén, person in charge) Christian and senior executives of Longyu Group are contacting domestic clubs that still retain IOI divisions.

By the time Pei Qian noticed, this news was already raging in the IOI player community.

"It was exposed so quickly; the security work wasn't done well enough."

"No, it may also be actively exposed to test the players' reactions."

"Release some news first, without concrete evidence. If the players' reactions are not intense, then they can stand up and admit it. If the players' reactions are intense, then they can change to a more conservative plan based on public opinion."

Pei Qian originally thought that this news would not be exposed for at least another week, but he didn't expect it to spread so quickly.

Longyu Group is a leading game company in China in terms of size, and its public relations department is not just there for show. When this news first broke, if they wanted to suppress it, they could definitely suppress it.

But not only was the news not suppressed, it also spread quickly.

Pei Qian would not believe that no one was fueling the flames behind this.

The key is that Tenda is the only competitor of IOI in China now. Pei Qian knew very well that it wasn't done by Tenda, so it could only be done by Finger Company itself.

Thinking about it carefully, this is not a particularly difficult operation to understand.

Finger Company has now decided to make this change, mainly to attract more new players to join, but this will inevitably change the game habits of old players.

After this operation is done, it is certain that they will be scolded. The only question is how badly they will be scolded.

If, while being scolded, they can indeed create hype and attract more new players, then it will be worth being scolded.

Therefore, Finger Company first releases some news that is not yet confirmed, and allows these game media to forward it to see how the public opinion reacts.

If the public opinion's reaction is not very intense, then they can continue to promote it; if the reaction is particularly intense, then the parts that everyone strongly resists can be temporarily shelved, and only some parts can be promoted.

To put it bluntly, it is to leave a way out for themselves through this operation. Otherwise, if they update it directly without regard for anything, and then change it back sheepishly in a wave of scolding, then it will be too embarrassing.

Pei Qian, of course, welcomes these changes with open arms.

An IOI that fiercely resists and struggles is a good IOI. Otherwise, if GOG's market share continues to expand like this, wouldn't it become increasingly difficult to lose money in the future?

It's just that the players' reactions are not so simple.

Of course, online public opinion is not one-sided. There are also many players who support this change, and the two sides are arguing fiercely.

"Don't mess with the gameplay, is the designer's brain damaged? I know you're envious of GOG, but if you change it like this, I'll just go play GOG, okay?"

"Oppose all changes except for enriching map resources! The game will definitely change after the change!"

"You people are really hard to please. You were the ones who said the game wasn't exciting enough and there weren't enough gameplay options before, and now that the game is going to change the gameplay, you're the ones who jump out to oppose it. I think this change is pretty good; it's not as tiring to play. If you really want to criticize, you have to wait until the effect of the test server comes out before criticizing, right?"

"Hey, the national server of IOI was already cold. I, as a die-hard old player, had already given up hope that it would become popular. I didn't expect to see it on a trending search. Changing to a low-price zone is indeed cheaper for new players to join, but what about us old players who have spent a lot of money before?"

"Damn, the skin I just bought yesterday is going to depreciate greatly? At best, it's a cut in half, at worst, it's only 1/3? The wait-and-see party is laughing! I'm not saying you can't lower the price, but you're lowering it so drastically. Are you really not treating old players as people?"

"So hard to please, it's as if you old players won't benefit after the price reduction? It will be cheaper for you to buy skins in the future too."

"It is said that the foreign internet has exploded, and many people are scolding Finger Company for being unfair and saying that they are licking up to national server players."

"They're just feeling unbalanced."

"Not entirely. The main thing is that GOG is selling at dirt-cheap prices both domestically and internationally. If there wasn't GOG, Finger Company's operation might not have been scolded by so many people, but with this comparison, there's instantly a problem..."

"Finger Company has finally figured it out. Hurry up and start the Global Finals! The Dayak Group isn't short of money. This competition has been dragging on and on. The GOG Global Invitational has been over for more than two months, and the GPL is about to start! Finger Company is really too slow!"

"Are there any clubs in China that still play IOI? I seriously doubt it..."

"Yes, yes, some old clubs' IOI divisions are said to still be around. It is said that Longyu Group will pay some money to support these people and keep up appearances."

"I think it's a good thing to have these actions. It's already obvious that IOI can't beat GOG. If they don't make changes, it will be a slow death. It's better to take a gamble."

"If you have the ability, unify the national server and the world server, make all the heroes free, set the skin prices lower than GOG, and then burn money to make leagues, do promotions, and even get skins for playing games. Then, give old players extra rewards, like an exclusive skin or point compensation. Absolutely no one will scold you! The Dayak Group is so rich. I support them burning money to do promotions. Now they want to take money from the players' pockets and expect the players to support you. What is that?"

"Yeah, if you want to expand your market share, bleed yourself. How is it okay to suck blood from old players?"

Players with different opinions are arguing fiercely online.