SWDnovel Chapter 294 "League of Legends" Launched
Chapter 294 "League of Legends" Launched
Headquarters of Tutu Technology, Shanghai.
Zhou Mingzhe sat in his office, with a recent user growth curve for TUTU displayed on the screen in front of him.
That curve started soaring after the finals and almost never stopped.
Ninety million daily active users.
He stared at the number, feeling both excited and anxious.
Excitingly, Tutu Technology has finally grown from a small company into an entity that no one dares to ignore.
Ninety million daily active users—a year ago, he wouldn't have dared to even dream of that.
What worries him is that the user growth is too fast, so fast that he doesn't know how to keep up with these people.
What does 90 million users mean? It means that 90 million people open TUTU every day and spend time, energy, and emotion on it.
They have high expectations for TUTU, hoping to find fun content, interesting games, and a community that resonates with them.
If TUTU fails to meet these expectations, they will leave. And they will leave even faster than they came.
This is the cruel reality of the internet industry—it comes like the tide, and it goes like the tide.
When the tide comes in, you feel like you're standing on top of the world; when the tide goes out, you realize you're wearing nothing at all.
TUTU's biggest problem right now is that it doesn't have enough content.
At TUTU Game Center, there are only a few games that are worth mentioning – "Seven Heroes Jianghu" is the main one, "Three Kingdoms Kill" is still in closed beta, and the rest are mostly small games like "Happy Farm" and "Gold Miner".
These mini-games are fine for attracting casual users, but they're not enough to retain 90 million users.
Users need more.
More games, more content, more gameplay, and more social scenarios.
If TUTU can't provide these services, they will look for other platforms.
Meanwhile, their competitors are eagerly awaiting this day.
EA, Perfect World, Sakura Games, Tencent—each of them is preparing a product, and each wants to snatch users from TUTU's market share.
If TUTU cannot come up with a sufficiently competitive product before they make their move, then these 90 million users will just be being used by someone else.
"Brother Zhou," Xiao Yang from the operations department knocked on the door and came in, holding a data report in his hand, "This is the user retention data for this week."
Zhou Mingzhe took it, glanced at it, and frowned.
While daily active users are increasing, both day-two and seven-day retention rates have declined. This indicates that while many new users are joining, not enough are staying.
"What about user feedback?" he asked. "What are new users saying?"
"I've summarized it," Xiao Yang said, opening his notebook. "There are a few main issues. First, there aren't enough games. Many new users come for 'Seven Heroes Jianghu,' but after playing for a while, they want to try other games, only to find that 'Seven Heroes Jianghu' is the only large-scale game available on TUTU."
"Secondly, content updates are slow. Some users have already played through all the existing content of 'Seven Heroes' and are waiting for the new version. However, the new version will not be launched until next month, and users may leave during this gap."
"Third, and most importantly—many users are asking what TUTU's next step is. They want to know what surprises this platform can bring them next."
After listening, Zhou Mingzhe remained silent for a moment.
What to do next?
He also wanted to ask Lu Ran this question.
He picked up his phone, found Lu Ran's number, and dialed it.
I answered the phone after it rang twice.
"Brother Zhou, what's up?" Lu Ran's voice sounded energetic, not like someone who was still recovering from an injury.
"Lu Ran, you've seen the user growth, haven't you?"
"I saw it. Ninety million, even faster than I expected."
"Speed is a good thing, but it's also a problem," Zhou Mingzhe said bluntly. "We don't have enough content. Users come in but there's nothing to play, so retention rates are dropping. EA and Perfect World are already developing new products, and Sakura Games is also bringing over their classic games. If we can't come up with anything new, we might not be able to retain these 90 million users."
Upon hearing that this was the problem, Lu Ran smiled.
"Brother Zhou," he said, "do you know what I'm waiting for?"
"What are you waiting for?"
"We've been waiting for this day."
Zhou Mingzhe was taken aback: "Waiting for this day? Waiting for user growth?"
"Not entirely." Lu Ran's voice became serious. "I'm waiting for the right opportunity—an opportunity to launch League of Legends."
Zhou Mingzhe's mind raced for a moment, then he suddenly realized: "You mean, you've already..."
"Yes," Lu Ran said. "I've been preparing for League of Legends for a long time. But I haven't released it yet because the timing wasn't right. Before the earthquake, TUTU's user base wasn't large enough, and the cost of launching a large-scale game was too high. After the earthquake, I was recovering from my injuries and couldn't spare the time. But now—"
He paused, his tone carrying a confident certainty.
"TUTU currently has 90 million users, a good reputation, popularity, and high user expectations. The user base is still growing. Promoting League of Legends at this time would be like throwing a match into a pile of dry wood."
After listening, Zhou Mingzhe felt that Lu Ran had kept this as a trump card.
"You mean, taking advantage of this user growth momentum, we should launch League of Legends directly and retain these users?"
"It's not just about keeping them," Lu Ran said. "It's about locking them in. Let them find new things to do, new things to talk about, and new things to look forward to on TUTU. Let them feel that staying on TUTU is the right thing to do, that it has a future."
He paused, then continued, "Brother Zhou, do you know why EA and Sakura Games are accelerating their expansion at this time? It's because they've seen TUTU's weakness—insufficient content. They want to take advantage of our lack of preparation and use their products to attack us."
"But they miscalculated. It wasn't that I wasn't prepared; I was waiting for the perfect opportunity."
After listening, Zhou Mingzhe remained silent for a long time.
Then he laughed.
"Lu Ran," he said, "you little rascal, did you plan this all along?"
"I guess so." Lu Ran smiled as well. "I started preparing for the game 'League of Legends' three months ago. It's just that TUTU's user base wasn't large enough at that time, so the launch wouldn't have been very effective. So I've been waiting for the right time."
"After the earthquake, I went to the disaster area and got injured, and TUTU lost users—I was indeed quite passive during that time. But I knew that as long as the Super Girl finale was well organized, the users would come back. And there would be more than before."
"Sure enough, once the finals were held, the users came back. And there were even more than I expected. Ninety million, that's a lot more than enough to support the promotion of a large-scale game."
Actually, Lu Ran originally planned to wait a little longer, but since Zhou Mingzhe brought up the issue, Lu Ran felt that the time was about right.
After listening, Zhou Mingzhe couldn't help but sigh, "You really are a patient person. You've got such a good hand, and you haven't played it."
"It's not about enduring," Lu Ran said, "it's about waiting. Waiting until the chips on the table are big enough before pushing them all out at once."
"Do you have enough chips now?"
"That's enough." Lu Ran's voice became firm. "Brother Zhou, let's prepare to launch the project. It's time to bring out 'League of Legends'."
Zhou Mingzhe took a deep breath, opened his notebook, and wrote a few words on it—League of Legends, project approved.
"How exactly do we do it?" he asked.
"Let's get the team up first," Lu Ran said. "On the tech department, we'll pull out the core personnel to develop and adapt League of Legends. This game has very high technical requirements, and we can't afford any mistakes."
"The operations department is starting to prepare the pre-launch promotion plan. TUTU homepage, splash screen, push notifications—use all available resources. I want every TUTU user to know that a new game is about to launch."
"Also," he paused, "the marketing department needs to contact major gaming media outlets, esports clubs, and game streamers. This game isn't just a game; it's an ecosystem. I want to build up esports, streaming, and the community."
Zhou Mingzhe quickly jotted it down in his notebook. After finishing, he looked up and asked, "What about EA and Sakura Games? They're also launching new products."
Lu Ran smiled.
"Let them promote it," he said. "No matter how good their product is, it's still someone else's. But League of Legends is ours."
"and--"
His tone became meaningful.
"Brother Zhou, did you know that classic games from EA and Sakura Games might not be successful in the Chinese market? Cultural differences, operational strategies—these factors all affect a game's success. But League of Legends is different. It was designed for this market from the very beginning, designed for players of this era."
"I dare say that when League of Legends is released, EA and Sakura Games will know what it means to be a dimensional destroyer."
This confidence comes from the market's proven track record in the past.
When Lu Ran transmigrated here, the game "League of Legends" had already declined in popularity, but it was still the pinnacle of MOBA games.
At its peak, League of Legends accounted for 90% of the players in internet cafes, demonstrating its dominance.
Although Zhou Mingzhe was not clear about the specific power of "League of Legends", Lu Ran had shown him the specific game modes, and in his opinion, the game was not bad.
"Okay," he said, "I'll go arrange it right away."
"Wait a minute," Lu Ran called out to him, "There's one more thing."
"What is it?"
"As for 'Three Kingdoms Kill,' let's prepare for the open beta. The closed beta has been going on for so long, and the data is almost ready. It's time to launch it to the market."
Zhou Mingzhe was taken aback: "Developing two games simultaneously? Do you have enough manpower?"
"That's enough," Lu Ran said. "Three Kingdoms Kill is a card game with low operating costs, so it doesn't need too many people. Just have a team from the tech department handle it. We should focus our efforts on League of Legends."
Zhou Mingzhe thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay, I'll arrange it."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Mingzhe leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
"League of Legends".
Although he didn't know exactly how the game would develop, he could sense from Lu Ran's tone that this time, something really big was about to happen.
After all, he might not believe in games, but he believed in Lu Ran.
Ninety million users, two new games, and a group of formidable competitors.
The days to come will not be peaceful.
But he remained calm.
Because Lu Ran was there.
That young man had never disappointed him from day one.
Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened, but the lights in the distance began to light up one by one.
That was the night in Shanghai, a galaxy of millions of lights, where countless dreams shone in the darkness.
And he knew that in that galaxy, there was a lamp that belonged to Tutu Technology, to TUTU, and to all of them.
He smiled, turned around and went back to the table, picked up his notebook, and began to assign tasks one by one.
The League of Legends project has been approved.
The open beta of "Three Kingdoms Kill" is now live.
Team building.
Preheating scheme.
Resource allocation.
Every step must be taken steadily and surely.
This time, they weren't chasing others; they were leading the pack.
This position is difficult to attain, but even more difficult to maintain.