Chapter 667: DGE’s Talent Gap

September 26th, Monday…

Pei Qian decided to go to the DGE Club after lunch and a photo-taking session with three passionate fans.

Pei Qian left a mystery when signing his signature as he only signed one word ‘Pei’.

The fans would definitely wonder if ‘Pei Qian’ was the actor’s name or Boss Pei’s name if he were to sign his full name.

If it was the actor’s name, then both the actor’s and Boss Pei’s surnames were ‘Pei’? Such a coincidence?

If that was Boss Pei’s name, then… the long story could be cut short.

That was why Pei Qian only signed a ‘Pei’. On the one hand, it was to prevent fans from having too many associated thoughts and to protect his identity; on the other hand, it was for a good wish.

The fans that he met at the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe obviously became lesser once the weekend passed.

That showed that Huang Sibo’s method of ‘I’m my own substitute’ obviously worked. The number of fans interested in Boss Pei’s identity had greatly reduced.

It was conceivable that Pei Qian would be less disturbed as time went by.

As for the GOG International invitational tournament, it might have ended successfully yesterday. However, the popularity might continue for some time, and it might affect many areas.

For Shang Yang Games, the GOG International invitational tournament was an important part of the promotion of the GOG to the overseas community, which had proven excellent effect!

This game had in-depth cooperation with foreign live-stream platforms. The number of new viewers had repeatedly hit record highs and had even surpassed IOI’s popularity on the internet for the first time.

That marked a phased victory in GOG’s overseas promotion expenditure plan!

Of course, the foundation of MOBA games was relatively deeper. It would be unlikely for GOG to fully surpass IOI which had been launched in advance overseas. However, GOG had begun to challenge IOI’s first mover advantage on a global scale. That was an indisputable fact.

The GOG International invitational tournament made GOG’s position as the king domestically even more stable. It had even attracted a large number of players from other games!

In the end, such success would come from several aspects:

The high bonuses and large expenditure style announcement have attracted extremely high enthusiasm.

The overseas audiences saw the overseas veteran clubs enter into the semi-finals, which ensured their attention up till the semi-finals and beyond even though they were all knocked out in the end.

Domestic audiences had gained a great sense of pride when they saw the domestic club beat the veteran overseas clubs. They had increased their recognition of GOG and had begun to deeply connect with GOG and the concept of esports.

This format was sneaky but also very effective.

In addition, various branches emerged during the competition such as the fact that Huang Wang lifted the trophy single-handedly which weighed nearly 30 kg. It was spread wildly on the internet, resulting in a ‘circle-breaking’ effect.

In addition to Shang Yang Games, many other industries had also benefited from this game.

There was no need to say about Deposit Fitness gym; many of the branches were now so full that people were even waiting in line on the app.

The Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 received higher attention, too.

Xiao Peng’s original plan was to make the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 part of the Great Esports Ecosystem anyway. It had been greatly advanced under the influence of the trendy GOG International invitational tournament!

Huang Wang’s image of raising the trophy and the H4 Club enjoying the sky-high prize money inspired many good players. More of them now wanted to become professional players and now had two paths:

The first was to go to the major clubs (including DGE Club) to try out; these major clubs happened to be in Jingzhou.

The other route was to find excellent players themselves, form a team, and go to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 to train together. Start with the internet cafe competitions and then work hard to enter the professional circle.

The Esports Club could absorb a very limited number of candidates. These clubs had to produce results after all. They would reject those players that were not ideal so that they would not have too many overheads.

The Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 was different. The prize money from these games in the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe competitions could just manage to feed a team and maintain a basic lifestyle. It gave those teenagers with dreams a chance.

Pei Qian had agreed that Xiao Peng should continue to expand and open Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 as densely as possible in the populated areas of Jingzhou when it showed its success. The first wave hit during the first two days.

Pei Qian could only choose to ignore these now.

He could not care about the internet cafe anymore; all he could do was to open more branches and give more bonuses. Do whatever you want except sending money to me.

Whether it would have a profound effect on GOG in the future or not was not something he could worry about in this cycle.

As to why head to the DGE Club specifically…

It was mainly because Pei Qian suddenly felt that the DGE Club could probably be rescued.

The DGE Club disappointed Pei Qian previously, but the players were all sold now!

Huang Wang was now part of the H4 Club; so what if he got the trophy? The heat generated by him also belonged to the H4 Club now.

Of course, in the short term, everyone would still link these players to the DGE Club.

However, what if three months were to pass? What about half a year later?

Previously, the DGE Club was popular probably because they were strong.

The strength was because GOG was in its infancy and embryonic stage, and the DGE Club was ahead of the other clubs with two months of extra high-intensity and professional training. It quickly opened the gap with other clubs.

However, after the ‘Scattered Stars’ operations, the competitive level of other clubs quickly caught up.

The 10 new internet addicts in the DGE Club would definitely be abused if they were to play against clubs like H4 or EK.

That meant that the DGE Club could no longer maintain their previous dominance.

DGE Esports Club would soon be forgotten if there were no results in Esports. They would stay in the circle without making money for Boss Pei at best.

Therefore, Pei Qian was ready to evaluate the DGE Club’s situation again. He would trust them once more if it was optimistic.

To that end, Pei Qian also specifically booked a table in advance in Ming House and prepared to treat them to a big meal.

…

DGE Club…

The new Team One and Team Two of the DGE Club were having mock competitions.

The ten of them were engrossed: sounds of tapping on the keyboard and mouse sounded together, and the captains of both teams continued to command.

Zhang Yuan and Coach Yaling watched by the side, whispering.

“It seems like the finals yesterday spurred them on; they are holding themselves up well today,” Coach Yaling said.

Zhang Yuan nodded. “Well, definitely. Watching their predecessors slaughter their opponents and raise the cup with one hand must have encouraged them a lot.

“However, more haste, less speed. It is not enough to simply increase the amount to improve yourself. The key is to pay attention to scientific training methods. I am a little worried that their current state is counterproductive.

“But… there is no better way.”

Coach Yaling looked at the whiteboard next to her. It had the results of these two DGE Club teams’ mock competition results on it. They were almost completely defeated.

These new players were selected from countless good players, but they were not regulars after all. They had yet to have the running-in like the other clubs had and had no way to fight back against the other clubs yet.

It was precisely because of this that the two teams practiced extremely hard.

However, esports was something that had to work very hard at but not necessarily be rewarded accordingly.

In many cases, talent, good mentality, and scientific training methods were more useful than inefficient efforts.

The more impatient the players, the easier it was to fall into such inefficient efforts.

Zhang Yuan was worried about it but could think of no better way.

Perhaps it was time to find a personal coach?

However, finding a personal coach meant trusting him wholeheartedly. The good ones were already at the other clubs and the remaining ones were not strong enough. Zhang Yuan would not be able to find a suitable candidate for a while.

Pei Qian walked in with a headache.

Zhang Yuan and Coach Yaling stood up hurriedly. “Boss Pei!”

Pei Qian greeted both of them and found an empty seat to sit down.

He saw the results of the mock competition on the whiteboard and showed a happy expression subconsciously.

What lousy results, eh?

These mock competitions were with those who were eliminated; that was to say that they were playing against weak teams but still lost more than they won.

That was very good news!

Pei Qian could not help but nod slightly. Yes, this opening was much better than the last batch of players!

Why could the last batch be sold everywhere? That was because they started early and won at the starting line.

This batch lost on the losing line!

That was very comfortable.

However, Pei Qian immediately saw the focused and serious-looking players in the training room. They seemed to be highly focused and training very hard.

Pei Qian frowned instinctively.

He could not be too optimistic; there were still huge hidden dangers!

This group of players tried out after the DGE Club had become popular. They were very talented and good players.

If they continued to practice like this and their abilities soared, then wouldn’t it fall into the previous vicious cycle?

The DGE Club beat the others in mock competition → the myth of the DGE Club continues → sponsors continue to invest like crazy → other clubs offer high prices to buy players → the DGE Club has a better name and more better players come to try out.

It would be unstoppable then!

Moreover, people liked to try out at the DGE Club as compared to the other clubs because, in addition to the DGE Club’s branding, career prospects were also important considerations.

The other clubs could find ways to lower the price when signing the contract. They were more inclined to sign a three-year-long contract with a lower salary. Many talented players had difficulty playing out their worth before proving themselves in the game.

The club would not sell the players if they proved their worth after signing the long contract so it was a loss to the players.

However, in the DGE Club, everyone knows that the players would be sold once they proved their worth, which was very suitable as a springboard.

In other words, the DGE Club did not need to bid with other clubs at all. They did not even need to offer high prices to these players for them to rush to it!

It was because the newcomers to the DGE Club were not here for the current salary, but the big contracts that the other clubs would dish out for them after they prove themselves!

The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more worried he was.

Wouldn’t the DGE Club be hopeless if they were to continue to develop according to this script and monopolize talented players from the source?

No, no, this group of players had a good start; something had to be done to keep it going! Never enter this vicious circle!

Obviously, these players had watched the GOG International invitational tournament and were now anxious. He had to think of a way to change a mentality.

Pouring cold water on them would be useless and was easy to have a counterproductive effect. They still had to use good conditions to corrupt their will to fight.

Pei Qian watched silently by the side.

…

The mock competition ended at five in the afternoon.

Next would be the debrief of the competition and dinner.

Zhang Yuan’s expression was more anxious now.

He knew that this could not go on!

In the past, two teams of the DGE Club were the strong against the strong, since Huang Wang and Jiang Huan’s understanding of the game surpassed other club players and coaches so they became stronger as the two teams practiced each other.

However, the two teams were now rookies!

The shortcomings of the two teams without any personal coach of the DGE Club were stark now that the other clubs were on the right track now. The two teams would not be as good as other clubs no matter how much they practiced.

However, the problem was that Zhang Yuan himself was only a manager. He could see where the problems were, but he did not know how to solve them.

The two teams could only discuss the issues themselves. They seemed to be summarizing very seriously now, but they would not be able to unite their thinking quickly. It seemed like there were signs of mutual rejection on the contrary.

Zhang Yuan looked at Boss Pei subconsciously.

Boss Pei had not spoken much since he reached the club this afternoon. He only watched the two teams playing mock competition silently

Zhang Yuan felt that Boss Pei must have some special reason for coming here at such a juncture, right?

He was most likely worried about the talent gap of the DGE Club!

Zhang Yuan felt that Boss Pei would be able to see the problems that he could see himself.

He only did not know how Boss Pei would solve this issue.

Zhang Yuan waited silently for Boss Pei to enlighten him.

Pei Qian’s worries grew stronger as he saw the players discussing intently.

That was because the two captains were seriously summarizing the problems. The team members were also presenting their ideas. They were having a fruitful brainstorming session.

They trained hard and were working hard on the summary. The two teams might catch up with other clubs in no time if this were to continue!

The original two teams of the DGE club were successfully trained this way so Pei Qian felt that he must not fall into the same pitfall twice.

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