Chapter 91: New Developments
In the eyes of the media, Murong Feng appeared to be at the pinnacle of success. However, in reality, he was deeply troubled.
Ye Zi had just started working at China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and was still adapting to her new environment. With no projects to work on and no exams to study for, she naturally wanted to spend more time with Murong Feng. She hoped to go out with him in the evenings to watch movies or attend concerts.
Almost every day around finishing time, she would discuss evening plans with Murong Feng via instant messenger.
Meanwhile, Tang Qing had grown accustomed to regularly spending time with Murong Feng over the past few weeks. Although she hadn't stayed overnight at his place again since that one time, she had become used to frequently being in his company. Even though she knew Murong Feng needed to spend more time with Ye Zi now that she was back in Beijing, Tang Qing would occasionally express her desire to see him during their phone conversations.
Murong Feng found himself in a difficult situation.
While he wanted to spend more time with Ye Zi, he also couldn't bring himself to turn down Tang Qing.
Fortunately, his appointment as a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) brought with it numerous responsibilities. Combined with his company duties, Murong Feng suddenly found himself extremely busy. In the midst of this hectic schedule, he would occasionally find time to accompany Ye Zi to a play, which delighted her. He would also spend weekends fencing and horseback riding with Tang Qing, providing her with extended periods of one-on-one time that made her happy as well.
Murong Feng sometimes tried to avoid thinking about these issues. He didn't want to hurt either woman, but he knew that in the future, everyone might end up getting hurt. However, seeing how happy both women were when spending time with him, he would console himself by thinking that at least for now, everyone was happy. As for the future, he would deal with it when the time came.
...
After a period of chaotic adjustment, Murong Feng gradually adapted to his new lifestyle rhythm.
Chang'an Capital and Fengyu Holdings were now his two most important companies.
At Chang'an Capital, investing was his favorite aspect of the work.
As for Fengyu, the internal testing of the "Criss-Cross" game had concluded, and beta testing was about to begin. The marketing and promotion efforts were in full swing, which led him to focus much of his attention on this area during this period.
There had been some minor adjustments to the management structure of the newly formed Fengyu. Ding Jun was appointed as the CEO of the new company. As one of the earliest executives to work with Murong Feng, he held the largest number of personal shares in the company after Murong Feng and Liu Xin. Murong Feng recognized his abilities and trusted him the most, making his appointment as CEO well-deserved.
Wei Bao was appointed as COO (Chief Operating Officer) and CTO (Chief Technology Officer). In addition to overseeing the technical development and operation of the "Criss-Cross" game, he also took on the management and research guidance responsibilities for Fengxing's subsidiary mobile game studio. He became the most crucial figure in the company after Chairman Murong Feng and CEO Ding Jun. Murong Feng was already planning to reward him with a portion of the company's equity at an appropriate time to retain his services.
Meng Hao, the former general manager of Ayu, was appointed as Senior Vice President in charge of marketing and sales. This was also a high-ranking position with significant authority. As a veteran in the gaming industry, he was naturally well-suited for this role. However, Murong Feng's trust in him was somewhat reserved, relying more on his experience in the online gaming field.
The integration of the two companies was a slow process. For now, they had only sorted out the equity relationships and management hierarchy. There was still a lot of follow-up work to be done, but there was no rush. Currently, Fengyu's most important task was the launch of the "Criss-Cross" game!
After the technical closed beta testing of "Criss-Cross" concluded, and as the versions were gradually improved and the system became more stable, a limited internal testing phase began. Some well-known players, online gaming studios, and gaming clans were invited to help test the game, with the promise that their accounts would not be deleted. This immediately attracted a large number of skilled players.
Simultaneously with the start of internal testing, the marketing campaign for "Criss-Cross" was launched in full force. The marketing strategy focused primarily on online marketing and ground-level promotions, with less emphasis on traditional media placement. They only placed official advertisements and numerous soft articles such as review pieces in professional gaming magazines like "Player," "Interactive Gaming," "Home Computer and Gaming," and "Computer Game Strategy."
In terms of online marketing, they focused on mainstream online gaming portals such as 17173 and other high-traffic websites according to Alexa rankings, including major portals, community websites, and professional sites with concentrated user groups and high PV traffic. They employed various online advertising models such as rich media video pop-ups, streaming button ads, and text link ads. They also utilized some online advertising marketing alliances, which, although not high in total cost, allowed for high-frequency, wide-coverage targeting of online gaming user groups.
For ground-level promotion, Murong Feng didn't emphasize the quantity of poster placements but instead focused on cooperation with internet cafes. He required the ground promotion team to prioritize collaborating with internet cafes to add game promotional pages to their desktop systems, followed by the placement, hanging, and posting of various promotional materials.
Murong Feng personally took charge, with Ding Jun, Wei Bao, Meng Hao, and others also stationed in Beijing, meeting weekly to review marketing progress.
As an independently developed 3D game, "Criss-Cross" received enthusiastic market feedback from the very beginning of its promotion. The high-definition opening CG, in particular, created a strong response as rich media video pop-up ads on various websites. The scenes and intricate graphics, comparable to major foreign productions, deeply attracted numerous players. Tens of thousands of comments flooded the official "Criss-Cross" game website forum, eagerly anticipating the public beta test.
Everyone was delighted by the market's enthusiasm. Murong Feng immediately decided to purchase additional servers to ensure they could accommodate as many users as possible during the public beta. He also instructed Wei Bao to conduct relevant stress tests during the closed beta to ensure a good online experience for game users.
"Criss-Cross" climbed rapidly in the rankings of most anticipated 3D MMORPG online games on many gaming websites, second only to the Japanese manga-adapted "Dragon Ball Online," becoming the most anticipated domestically produced online game.
At this point, Meng Hao remarked with emotion, "Chairman Murong's decision was indeed correct. My previous focus on licensing major Korean games was somewhat misguided." He then sincerely apologized to Wei Bao, "Mr. Wei, your research and development approach was correct. I must apologize for consistently suppressing your ideas for independent development in the past. It was a mistake on my part."
This sudden admission touched everyone present. Wei Bao quickly responded with a smile, "Not at all, Mr. Meng. The success of 'Criss-Cross' owes much to your effective marketing strategies. Those of us in technical R&D lack your market sense. Let's not dwell on past matters!"
Murong Feng also smiled and said, "Old Meng, we're a team. There's no need for such formalities among us. It's fine to have different opinions, but once we've set a direction, we come together as one to make it happen. That's what makes us a team!" Meng Hao smiled, and the unease that had been troubling him for days finally dissipated.
Murong Feng, who initially didn't have a particularly good impression of Meng Hao, found his opinion of him suddenly improving after this frank apology. Moreover, Meng Hao had indeed done an excellent job with the marketing promotion of "Criss-Cross," tirelessly negotiating with media outlets and leveraging many of his long-standing relationships. It could be said that Meng Hao played a crucial role in creating such high market expectations for "Criss-Cross."
Considering this, Murong Feng smiled and said, "Since everyone is here, I have an idea. For the launch of 'Criss-Cross,' both the technical R&D team led by Wei Bao and the marketing team led by Meng Hao have made significant contributions. Therefore, I've decided to offer equity incentives to Wei Bao, Meng Hao, and the core members of their teams at an appropriate time. Please research and provide me with a list of names and suggestions for specific incentive measures and quantities."
Wei Bao and Meng Hao were overjoyed at this news. As industry veterans, they were well aware of how valuable Fengyu would become in the future, given the current market enthusiasm for "Criss-Cross" and the level of financial support. Equity incentives essentially meant allowing them to share in the company's future profits. Although this was somewhat expected, hearing Murong Feng explicitly state it still delighted both men. They exchanged glances, their faces breaking into smiles.
"Criss-Cross" was a free-to-play game, with a revenue model based on the sale of virtual currency and virtual items, similar to the game "Zhengtu." Meng Hao was optimistic about the game's income projections. He predicted that after one month of official public beta operation, the user base would exceed 100,000, and within six months, it could surpass 500,000. He estimated that by then, quarterly revenue could exceed 50 million RMB, which was already a very high level for a company currently transitioning from third-tier to second-tier status in the gaming industry.
However, Murong Feng shook his head and smiled, saying, "No, if we operate the game well, breaking through 100 million USD in quarterly revenue shouldn't be a problem! Keep in mind that 'Perfect World' currently has an average concurrent user (ACU) count of about 624,000, with approximately 1.565 million active paying users (APU), and their quarterly revenue is 360 million USD. So if we truly reach 500,000 users as you predict, and we operate it well, we should be able to achieve at least 100 million USD in quarterly revenue!"
With the operational goals set, the specific company operations and game promotion were left to Wei Bao and Meng Hao to implement, with Ding Jun overseeing the overall process. As the chairman, what Murong Feng could do was to establish a good equity incentive policy for these key personnel, motivating them to work even harder...
...
During this period, aside from focusing on the launch of the "Criss-Cross" game, another matter that Murong Feng paid close attention to was the development of Kaixin.com.
As a startup website, Murong Feng had been involved with Kaixin.com from the very beginning. In addition to Chang'an Capital's seed capital, he had personally invested 10 million RMB, making him the second-largest shareholder after Qin Lan. As a result, he also joined Kaixin.com's board of directors.
Murong Feng had never started his own business before. Initially, Fengxing was mainly run by Liu Xin, and the companies he invested in later all had their own industry professionals, such as Li Xiangnan at Habor and Ouyang Lanruo at TOM. He wasn't familiar with their operations and couldn't offer much help, so he was merely considered an investor.
For Kaixin.com, however, Murong Feng was a multimillionaire with extensive investment experience and a well-known figure in the business world. They valued his opinions highly. Over the years, through osmosis, Murong Feng had gained a deep understanding of the development trajectories of startup companies. This came not just from the daily operations of the companies he invested in, but also from his investment work, where he reviewed hundreds of proposals daily and had the ideas of thousands of entrepreneurs in his mind. Additionally, the investment managers under him submitted daily investment reports and company fundamental analyses from various industries. As a result, Murong Feng had unconsciously developed a profound understanding of the development paths of startup enterprises.
When his guidance and suggestions actually helped Kaixin.com avoid many pitfalls, it further inspired a kind of inexplicable admiration and dependence in Qin Lan and others, making them more willing to operate according to his advice.
This was a new experience for Murong Feng, something he hadn't felt with the companies he had invested in before. He had a sense that Kaixin.com was like his own entrepreneurial attempt.
Murong Feng's initial success had come too easily. Although he had been constantly improving himself and learning along the way, he always felt a bit insecure. This was why he had enrolled in the EMBA program at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. With Kaixin.com, he experienced the process of building something from scratch, step by step. For Murong Feng, this experience was invaluable.
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