GBP Chapter 193 Cooperation via WeChat
Chapter 193 Cooperation via WeChat
Weibo Farm is on its third day of operation.
The atmosphere in the TUTU Technology office was noticeably more somber than usual.
Before the emergence of "Weibo Farm", TUTU Technology was always a vibrant company.
Lu Ran sat in front of the computer, staring at the continuously declining curve on the backend data panel, his fingers unconsciously tapping the desktop.
Daily active users: 12,347,892
It dropped another two million compared to yesterday.
"Mr. Lu." The operations engineer cautiously approached, his voice low. "The server load has decreased, and the CPU utilization has dropped from 97% to just over 60%... but it doesn't seem to be because of our optimization efforts."
Lu Ran said frankly, "I know it's because there are fewer users, but you've put in a lot of effort, thank you for your hard work."
The young man awkwardly shut his mouth, unsure of what to say, and then left.
Zhou Mingzhe peeked out from behind the screen, adjusted his glasses, but his expression was no longer as calm as before: "Weibo has come up with something new today. Lin Weiwei did a live stream of stealing vegetables, and three million people watched online. Many fans even took pride in having their vegetables stolen by her. Zhang Xincheng planted a 'love seed' in the farm, saying that if you harvested it, you would get his autographed photo, but it was all stolen in three minutes."
"and then?"
"Then he kept his promise and actually sent autographed photos to his fans, and the topic went viral again."
After hearing this, Lu Ran sighed.
This powerful alliance from the other side really caught him off guard.
Starlight Entertainment has really gone all out this time.
They're an entertainment company, yet they dare to exploit celebrity popularity here. Although it's supposed to be a win-win situation, the fans' sentimentality could easily explode someday if it's exploited like this repeatedly.
But now it seems that it has been quite successful.
Lu Ran could actually collaborate with Xingyao Entertainment, but he didn't want to use that connection lightly.
After all, TUTU Technology was basically created by him from scratch.
Although I am also the director of Xingyao and have some authority, this is different from investing in Xingyue Studio. This is already a cross-industry move, and the higher-ups will definitely be more cautious.
Even if the cooperation is eventually reached, Lu Ran will still owe someone a favor.
Furthermore, the collaboration between TUTU and Xingyao may not be as effective as the collaboration between Weibo and Xingguang Entertainment.
Weibo has a large user base, and many of Xingyao's artists mainly rely on Weibo to announce their latest news.
A hasty collaboration could very well damage the very foundation of Xingyao.
So it's not that TUTU's team is incompetent, it's that the other party is too large.
With 300 million users, dozens of A-list celebrities, and the marketing resources of Starlight Entertainment, anyone they target will be crushed.
Moreover, Weibo Farm is a direct copy of Happy Farm, so the user migration cost is almost zero.
The only thing that might make users hesitate is the rabbit that TUTU Pets has been raising for half a month.
"Oh, right," Lu Ran suddenly remembered something, "has our check-in system been launched yet?"
"Just logged in today." Xiao Yang from the operations team immediately brought up the backend. "Seven days of cumulative check-ins in Happy Farm will reward you with limited-edition rabbit food, fifteen days with a limited-edition skin, and thirty days with a special pet 'Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, and Happiness' four-piece set. As of now, the number of users who have participated in the check-ins has exceeded five million."
"How's the result?"
"The results are pretty good. At least looking at the comments section, most of them are positive feedback," Xiao Yang hesitated for a moment, then added, "but it seems that this hasn't been able to retain all users. Some people are still moving to Weibo."
Lu Ran had already prepared himself mentally for this situation. As long as it was effective, that was fine. Lu Ran didn't expect a sign-in system to retain everyone.
By collaborating with the rabbit pet, they've effectively locked in a segment of people who love pets.
"Let me see the comments."
She handed the phone to Lu Ran.
The screen displays a popular post from the TUTU pet community:
Is the "Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, and Happiness" charm given for checking in for 30 days worth keeping?
The number of comments below has exceeded one thousand:
"I really love these rabbits. If I sign in now, I can get a pet from the 'Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, and Happiness' gacha system before the Lunar New Year. I'm not leaving; I'll stay here."
"You're not alone upstairs. I originally wanted to steal Lin Weiwei's vegetables on Weibo, but for the sake of my pet, I decided to stay. I just wonder if any celebrities will join Happy Farm."
"I'm currently shuttling between two places and playing on both. I'll observe for a while before deciding which one to give up."
"There are no rabbits on Weibo. I've had my rabbit for half a month now, feeding it, petting it, and talking to it every day. Now you want me to abandon it? I can't do it."
"+1, I've grown attached to this rabbit. It was sick yesterday, and I was so worried that I got up in the middle of the night to look up tips and tricks."
"So TUTU's trick is pretty ruthless, using a pet to tie someone up."
"It's not that I'm kidnapping her, it's that I genuinely can't bear to part with her. Go take a look at that post about 'the girl living alone and her electronic rabbit,' I cried through a whole pack of tissues."
Lu Ran flipped through the pages one by one, her feelings complicated.
The check-in system was a temporary solution he came up with, aiming to retain users who were reluctant to part with their pets by leveraging the emotional bond they developed with their pets.
It seems that it has had some effect.
Lu Ran originally didn't want to play the emotional card, but now it seems that it has been quite effective.
After all, Weibo has too many resources. If they also launch an electronic pet, Lu Ran will have an even harder time dealing with it.
"Brother Zhou," Lu Ran looked up, "Does Weibo have any plans to make pets?"
Zhou Mingzhe pulled up a intelligence report: "As far as I know, not yet. The Weibo Games team mainly specializes in lightweight H5 games; they have no experience with pet games that require a nurturing system. If they were to hire someone now, it would take at least three months."
"Three months," Lu Ran said thoughtfully. "That should be enough."
"However," Zhou Mingzhe adjusted his glasses and added, "if they cooperate deeply with Starlight Entertainment, Starlight has a technical team that can be outsourced. They can produce a decent version in about a month."
"A month..." Lu Ran paused his tapping on the table. "That should be enough."
He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker.
"What we need to do now is to deepen the integration between pets and the farm in the next month or two. Check-in is just the first step. Next, we can introduce features such as 'pets helping you harvest crops,' 'pets helping you steal crops,' and 'pets working to earn coins.' In short, we need to make users feel that leaving TUTU will not only mean losing a rabbit, but also losing a complete ecosystem."
Zhou Mingzhe nodded thoughtfully: "This might retain some users, but the exodus is unstoppable. Weibo is a massive platform with 300 million users. Even if only one-tenth of them play Farmville, that's still 30 million."
"I know," Lu Ran said. "So we need to plan this carefully. This battle isn't about winning, it's about surviving."
He paused, then suddenly laughed: "Besides, don't you find it strange? With such a huge commotion on Weibo, why haven't the other tech giants reacted?"
Just as he finished speaking, Lu Ran's phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number, and the location displayed was "Beijing".
"Feed?"
"Hello, are you Mr. Lu Ran, CEO of Tutu Technology?" A gentle male voice answered the phone, carrying a professional politeness.
"It's me. And you are?"
"I am Chen Mo, head of WeChat's strategic investment department. I apologize for bothering you, but I would like to discuss a collaboration with Mr. Lu."
...