Chapter 478 - 397: The Wildly Popular Game, Livestream Chat (2)

Checking the date, Wu Yun recalled that Principal Wang would be founding Panda Interactive Entertainment in July—what would later be known as the short-lived Panda TV.

Qi Fei, on the other hand, was quite surprised. Over the past few years, Principal Wang had become famous among young people; if not a household name, he was at least someone most had heard of.

Qi Fei was just surprised that Principal Wang would reach out to Wu Yun. After all, their social and business circles hardly overlapped!

Wait, no. Principal Wang owned shares in Wanda Cinema Line and had his own e-sports club.

Qi Fei instantly deduced it was probably related to Wu Yun’s game.

"Xiaoyunzi, is Principal Wang looking to partner with you on a game-related venture?"

Wu Yun nodded. "It’s eighty or ninety percent likely. After all, the hottest PC game right now is my *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds*!"

"Oh well, no point in guessing. I’ll contact him tonight when I get back and find out."

Wu Yun then pulled out his phone. After looking at his @mentions and messages for a few minutes, he said, "Wang Hao! Go get a large screen for streaming and set it up in the study at Cofco Seaview No. 1. I’m going to do a livestream when I get back tonight! I’ll answer some questions from my followers."

"Yes, President Wu! I’ll contact someone to install it right away!"

Wu Yun then posted a quick message on his Weibo: "Going live on Douyu around 10 PM tonight! Come hang out and chat."

For Song Qin’s birthday party that evening, Wu Yun simply followed Qi Fei’s instructions and had Wang Hao buy a bracelet worth over 10,000 yuan as a gift.

For her birthday, Song Qin had only invited her dorm mates and their significant others.

What Wu Yun didn’t expect was that Wang Gang was actually there.

"Hahaha! Young Master Wu! Didn’t expect this, did you!" Wang Gang boomed with laughter.

Wu Yun glanced at Song Qin first, then a suggestive smile spread across his face. "Brother Gang, you move pretty fast! Have you abandoned the factory already!?"

It would have been fine if Wu Yun hadn’t brought it up. The moment he did, a frustrated look appeared on Wang Gang’s face. "You’re one to talk! A hands-off boss like you has the nerve to criticize me!"

"You didn’t even show up for the company’s opening ceremony!"

"Besides, it’s Saturday! Don’t tell me you want to be one of those evil capitalists, squeezing us poor laborers dry!?"

Seeing Wang Gang’s expression, Wu Yun figured that if the terms "996" and "007" had been coined already, Wang Gang would have been shouting them right now.

Wang Gang was especially excited today. ’He must have just successfully confessed his feelings,’ Wu Yun guessed. After all, at their last gathering not long ago, Wang Gang was still calling himself a lonely single.

"Brother Gang, don’t be like that! I’ve been so swamped I couldn’t possibly be in two places at once! Really! Ask Feifei if you don’t believe me! We just spent today at the casting call for *The Immortal Ascension*!"

Qi Fei chimed in, nodding, "Brother Gang, you really can’t blame Xiaoyunzi! He was up late last night talking about financing with some people!"

She didn’t, however, mention that he hadn’t come home at all. After all, in public, she had to protect Wu Yun’s image.

"Financing?" Wang Gang asked. "Young Master Wu, which of your companies is short on cash? I can help you figure something out!"

"No need. It’s a normal part of the company’s growth. The more financing we get, the higher our valuation becomes."

Wu Yun briefly explained the situation with Pinduoduo, then changed the subject. "Besides Song Qin’s, why didn’t I see any of your names on the cast list for *The Immortal Ascension*?"

Qi Fei explained, "I took them all to audition, but in the end, only Qin Qin and Chen Sen from our class met the requirements for any of the roles. The rest can only play bit parts with a few lines."

Everyone, including Li Yao, looked embarrassed. They had, after all, wasted a precious opportunity.

They didn’t know when they’d get another chance like that.

Wu Yun smiled. "Don’t worry about it. Just focus on your studies. As Feifei’s classmates, my company will have plenty of other opportunities for you! As long as you’ve got the skills!"

"Here, here! Song Qin! This is a birthday gift from Feifei and me! Haha! Good thing we didn’t buy anything too expensive, or we would’ve stolen Brother Gang’s thunder! He’d kill me!"

Wu Yun pulled a long, rectangular box from Qi Fei’s purse and handed it to Song Qin.

Song Qin smiled, said thank you, and tucked the box into her own bag without any intention of opening it.

"Alright! Everyone’s here! Waiter, you can bring out the hot dishes now!"

...

After dinner, Wu Yun and Qi Fei turned down the invitation for a "second round" and went straight home.

After taking a shower, Wu Yun sat down at his computer.

After tinkering with the new equipment for a bit, Wu Yun turned on the computer and logged into his Douyu account.

Wu Yun would occasionally gift money to streamers he liked while watching, so while his account Level hadn’t reached the very top tier, it was comfortably in the upper-middle ranks. Because of this, many streamers and viewers already followed him.

So, the moment Wu Yun went live, his stream was instantly flooded with over two thousand people. The number kept climbing, quickly surpassing ten thousand!

Looking at his own image on the screen, Wu Yun made a slight adjustment to the camera before smiling and saying, "Good evening, everyone!"

"I’m sure most of you know a little about me, so let’s get straight to the point today: let’s just chat."

The words had barely left his mouth when he received a "Rocket" from a user named "He Who Came from the Stars."

"Thank you, He Who Came from the Stars. I forgot to disable the donation feature. After the stream, I’ll have my secretary contact the platform to arrange a refund for you. I’m just here to chat today, so there’s no need for gifts or donations!"

Wu Yun glanced at the screen and saw a bullet comment from "He Who Came from the Stars": "President Wu, no need! It’s such a small amount, no need to trouble your secretary."

Wu Yun didn’t press the issue and said casually, "Well, thank you then!"

Immediately, many bullet comments popped up, saying that Wu Yun was truly rich—turning down donations and even wanting to disable the feature entirely.

In response, Wu Yun just smiled and said nothing.

Wu Yun then watched the scrolling bullet comments on the large screen, picking one out and reading it aloud: "President Wu, can you tell us how many players *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds* has right now?"

Wu Yun straightened up in his seat. "That’s not really a secret. According to the report from the end of April, *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds* has sold over 16 million copies worldwide!"

Instantly, the bullet comments exploded. Thankfully, since Wu Yun was using a large screen, he could still make out what some of the viewers were saying.

"Holy crap! At 99 yuan a copy, that’s almost 1.6 billion! And that’s not even counting the higher prices overseas! President Wu is raking it in!"

"The guy above is being too simplistic! That’s the gross revenue, sure, but you have to factor in platform fees, taxes, company operating costs, game development costs... After all that, the profit is definitely not that high!"

"True! But even so, the game is still a massive success!"

...

Wu Yun paused the scrolling comments to read a few. "Some of you are right," he said. "Platform fees are a huge expense. The Steam Platform alone takes a 30% cut!"

"We also have to pay domestic taxes, cover company operations, and on top of that, there’s the promotional budget for the tournament, the prize pool, and the event hosting costs. When you add it all up, our profit margins aren’t as high as you might think!"

Many viewers agreed with Wu Yun’s statement. After all, it was nearly impossible to find another developer as conscientious as him.

Of course, wherever there are people, there’s conflict. A few jealous voices piped up: "If you’re earning so much, why not donate some of it!"

The moment that comment appeared, the user was flamed so hard by other viewers that they presumably left. After all, anyone who knew anything about Wu Yun knew he had donated quite a lot of money.

"Alright, alright! Since that person has already taken off, let’s move on to the next topic."

Wu Yun randomly picked another viewer’s question and proceeded to answer a series of questions related to *PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds*.

Another viewer asked, "President Wu, I saw the announcement gave a date for the finals, but the location is still listed as TBD. I was wondering if you’ve chosen a venue for the finals yet?"

Wu Yun glanced at the flood of "Same question!" and "+1" comments that followed. He smiled. "I’ve already chosen the location!"

"It’s going to be at the Bird’s Nest!"