Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

After sending Zhu Xiaoce on his way, Pei Qian felt a little more at ease.

Fortunately, everyone respected Boss Pei!

Short videos actually were still not that lucrative this year; viewing websites have not started to give rewards and bonuses according to viewership.

In order to profit from such videos, there were a few general ways.

One was to collaborate with advertisement companies, embedding or force-selling products within the videos. This was a more traditional method that was very common for beauty products and games. Previously, Qiao Liang—who had gained popularity from The Lonely Desert Road—had primarily done so through such sponsored partnerships.

Another way was to set up an official website or do a sideline to sell whatever one could. The possibilities for this were limitless. One could possibly rake in profits or could lose everything and go bankrupt. Professional gamers that retired from sponsored partnerships often went down this route.

Of course, other methods were available as well. However, they were vague and unsubstantial, and ordinary video creators would not consider these ways.

Just like how online writers hoped that lesser people would read pirated versions and their subscription rates would be higher. However, as for selling distribution rights for millions or tens of millions…

That was a pipe dream; people could dream all they wanted.

Furthermore, Pei Qian had managed to hold Zhu Xiaoce off at last, making the latter give up on low-value sponsored partnerships for now. This way, ninety-nine percent of Boss Pei’s Daily Life’s income would be stopped!

After all, to find a UP Master willing to fork out a hundred thousand for a classy and custom-made video; how rich would the owner have to be to agree to this? Wouldn’t it be better if they directly engaged the video site and buy advertising space?

Thinking about this, Pei Qian was quite assured.

…

Someone knocked on the door.

“Enter.”

Lu Mingliang pushed the door and entered.

“What’s up?” Pei Qian asked.

Game Designer’s design manuscript had been completed before the New Year. Pei Qian had also given his assent, and there probably wasn’t much that needed to be changed.

As for artistic resources and the actual production process, Pei Qian couldn’t care less. After all, he was the boss. To personally micro-manage would mean he didn’t know how to prioritize and spend his time.

Now, Boss Pei’s Daily Life was the project he needed to keep a close eye on; he had to guard it with his life!

“Boss Pei, it’s regarding dubbing. For dubbing of the voice-overs, I have already found a few more well-known people in the country for that; we have recorded a few segments already as a trial. Do you want to listen and choose one? I can’t decide,” Lu Mingliang said.

Dubbing?

En, it seemed as if he should at least pay a little attention to dubbing.

Game Designer’s entire gameplay (factoring every choice and every decision) was around eight hours long; voice-overs basically were embedded from start to beginning. If all the wordings were added together, it was probably forty to fifty thousand words.

As for dubbing, the market rate for it was very cheap.

For a ballpark figure like fifty thousand words, the cheapest would be two to three thousand yuan while it would at most only cost up to ten thousand.

In comparison to Game Designer’s total cost, that was peanuts.

Pei Qian naturally wasn’t concerned about money.

He was concerned—would the voice-overs be able to force players to give up on the game?

Of course, if they randomly took someone off the streets who was tone-deaf and spoke indistinctly to do the dubbing, the desired effect could be achieved. However, this evidently was a violation.

Pei Qian could only choose someone who wasn’t so outstanding among the pool of passable candidates. Even if he wanted to find someone ordinary, he had to find someone that could speak clearly and smoothly; he couldn’t find someone with an obvious problem that the system could seize on.

Lu Mingliang had already contacted quite a few people for dubbing on the resource website; he had also recorded some samples that contained lines in the game for Pei Qian to have a listen.

Pei Qian opened them one by one.

The first was from a proud young lady.

Without hesitation, Pei Qian clicked next. He definitely couldn’t pass this one! Could one imagine how excited those stay-at-home gamers could be if they heard this voice!

The second was a soft and dainty female voice. The voice was rather subservient and made people feel numb and chill. Definitely not this either! However, this would be good for ASMR¹.

The third was that of an ordinary male’s voice.

The fourth was a hoarse and rather high-pitched male’s voice. This voice was rather nasal and thin; it even had a tinge of huskiness to it.

Pei Qian hesitated between the third and fourth options.

The third was rather perfunctory; it wouldn’t be very outstanding. However, his sarcasm was not good; it was more like a news anchor’s tone. He might not be able to compel players to stop playing.

I’ll go with the fourth one!

This voice wasn’t that pleasing to the ears; some people might feel uncomfortable and a little difficult to listen to. It sounded like the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard. It would definitely be able to aid in players quitting the game!

Furthermore, for some reason, the more Pei Qian listened, the more he wanted to beat that person up.

The players would definitely feel the same!

Since the number-one priority of this game was to scold players—the more annoying this voice was, the better!

Pei Qian thumped the table and said, “Let’s go with this one; his voice is sufficiently unique.”

Lu Mingliang took a look at the audio clip that Boss Pei had chosen as his face grew pained.

Pei Qian was confused.

“Is there a problem? This person is quoting a high rate? Or is he very occupied now? Offer more money!” Pei Qian believed that most problems in the world that could be settled with money were not problems!

Especially for dubbing, these people did hard work; and their pay wasn’t actually considered high. To give a few thousand more, so what?

“It’s not that, Boss Pei. This was the dubbing sample that we had given them. We were hoping to give them a rough idea of what tone they should carry for this project. This was something I had recorded myself…

“I had placed all the files I received together in the same folder as the one I had. I had forgotten to differentiate them…” Lu Mingliang said as he scratched his head.

Pei Qian was bewildered.

Come to think of it, the last dubbing clip indeed had some interference in the background. Although the background was rather quiet, interference in the background was clear; and it was evident the equipment used for this recording was not that good.

Pei Qian looked at Xiao Lu, “You… did this? It doesn’t sound like you at all!”

Lu Mingliang nodded. “Yes, I strained my voice to record this; I tried to mimic the voice of a perverted fiend…

“Boss Pei, don’t misunderstand. I have indeed watched a few western crime-related movies; however, my character is still the same! My mental state of mind is also very sound!

“Boss Pei, please choose another one…”

Pei Qian looked at Xiao Lu as his eyes lit up.

Alright! This was a hidden treasure!

“No, I want you! I need this kind of perverse and hoarse voice. Besides you, I don’t think anyone else can do this!”

Pei Qian was very adamant. “I will give you however much the dubbing rate is; I’ll leave this matter in your hands.”

“However, Boss Pei, we don’t have the special equipment for recording…” Xiao Lu was getting more anxious.

Pei Qian gestured, “This is a concern? Just go and rent an audio recording studio; wouldn’t that solve your problem? How much is it an hour? At most two to three hundred, right?

“Let’s fix a limit at three hundred per hour; find a more posh studio and rent for three days. Three days would be seventy-two hours; that would be twenty thousand yuan. When this starts, the dubbing teacher won’t need to assist in the dubbing; he will be responsible to stand next to you and give you professional advice!”

“If three days is insufficient, extend the rental! Dub at your own pace and take a break when you are tired. You can continue whenever you are rested. In any case, I want the quality to be assured while you should also take care of yourself.

“Alright, let’s do it this way. Ask Assistant Xin to have this settled.”

Pei Qian gave a ‘this discussion is at an end’ face.

Lu Mingliang tugged on his hair as he didn’t know what to say. Should he thank Boss Pei for his trust, or should he say that Boss Pei was not taking this matter seriously??

However, seeing Boss Pei’s determined gaze, Lu Mingliang didn’t dare to say anything as he could only nod and do as he was told.

Settled!

Just like this, there wasn’t much else to be worried about this game.

Initially, the matter with the short videos had made Pei Qian feel as if things were going to go sideways; now, he suddenly felt as if things were still within his control!

Game Designer and the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe were proceeding very smoothly as loss-making projects.

As for Boss Pei’s Daily Life—although it had gained initial popularity, Pei Qian had stopped Director Zhu from going down the ‘sponsored partnerships’ pathway.

Perfect!

Of course, Pei Qian couldn’t let his guard down now.

He couldn’t help it but sigh. Why was it that all his employees made him worry so much? Why were they so talented? When he was hiring them, he didn’t see all these gifts and talents in them at all.

Fortunately, he had his brothers.

Ma Yang was still rather reliable and definitely did not have any special abilities! Speaking of Ma Yang, the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had started to undergo furnishing.

As the original owner of the place had done a good job renovating, changing it into an internet cafe had only required a change in concept and structure; this would not take too long and could be done in around half a month.

The estimated date of completion was March 7th or 8th.

With Ma Yang keeping an eye on things, Pei Qian was rather relaxed.

He intended to go and take a look once the refurbishing had been done. As long as Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan did not pull any stunts, this internet cafe was going to smoothly incur losses—without a doubt!