Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games

Although Zhang Yuan didn't know all the ins and outs of the business world, he still had some basic common sense.

When choosing a shop location, the first rule is to look at the area.

Some places—those "Golden Streets" you hear about—can go for 6 or 7 yuan per square meter per day. Why?

Because the location is prime!

Prime location means heavy foot traffic. In those kinds of areas, you can make money doing anything.

On the flip side, if the location's bad, even if you pour your heart into the store, who's going to travel across town just for it?

So ideally, you want a shop inside a big commercial hub—especially inside a shopping mall.

University areas? Also great.

But this location Ma Yang picked... it was just on the outskirts of a regular business district. Worse still, it wasn't even next to the mall—it was separated by a whole street. The whole area looked deserted. Just a glance told you the foot traffic here was poor!

Sure, 3.5 yuan per square meter per day wasn't expensive rent. But given the location, it felt... overpriced.

Zhang Yuan struggled internally.

Should he speak up?

He was still a newcomer. Would it be inappropriate to voice his opinion so soon?

But if he stayed silent, and this turned out to be a disaster... who would take the blame?

He wrestled with the thought.

Then—

"Good. This place looks fine. Let's go with it," Pei Qian decided on the spot.

Zhang Yuan: "..."

Well. That solved that dilemma.

With the president having made the final call, it'd just be awkward to start picking holes in the decision now.

Zhang Yuan could only swallow his concerns.

"Do you have the floor plan?" Pei Qian asked.

"Yes, yes!" Ma Yang hurriedly clicked through the documents and brought up the building layout. "Here it is."

Pei Qian took a look. It was spacious—3,000 square meters.

In terms of total area, it was comparable to the company's current office space.

The building had two floors, roughly 1,500 square meters each.

"I'll give a rough rundown of the layout. Just follow this when you get to renovating," Pei Qian began.

"The internet café is just one part of this place's business. We're only putting in 50 computers. If there are more than 50 customers, they'll have to line up and wait."

"As for the pricing... 10 yuan an hour. That's not too steep, right?"

"Then, we'll set up a bar counter. Drinks—alcoholic and otherwise—should all meet the standards of a real bar. Zhang Yuan can bartend, right? We won't get a huge crowd anyway, so when it's quiet, just mix a couple cocktails for show. Might as well use your talents when there's nothing else going on."

"Next to the bar, carve out a lounge area. During the day, it's a café. Soft background music, let people come in, sip tea, maybe play a few board games."

"At night? It becomes a bar! Zhang Yuan, you said you can sing, right? When you're in the mood, hop on stage and sing a few sets."

"Oh, and dedicate a separate area for books. Just grab a batch from online or a bookstore. That way, if a customer's chilling with their coffee and has nothing to do, they can pick up a book, soak in some culture or whatever."

"And one more thing—we're serving three meals a day here! This used to be a restaurant, so the kitchen should still be in decent shape. But don't keep any of their old pots and pans—buy all new ones!"

"Put out a job ad and hire a professional chef. No fancy stuff—no French cuisine, no sushi, none of that trendy nonsense. Just home-style cooking! Things like scrambled eggs with tomato, shredded pork with garlic sauce, stir-fried cabbage—those classics."

"The menu doesn't need to be big—just ten or so dishes per month. If people get bored, we'll rotate the menu next month."

"As for pricing—charge more than the usual restaurants, because our chef's cooking is just that good! But don't go overboard. Just mark it up 30%, that's enough."

Zhang Yuan stared at President Pei as he laid out the entire plan in full detail, his expression gradually shifting from confusion to awe.

What kind of internet café was this?

A café, bar, restaurant, library, and LAN gaming lounge all rolled into one?

He had never seen anything like it.

"Set aside an area on the second floor for a retail section. Sell some peripherals—mice, keyboards, game controllers. Just stock the expensive foreign brands! We're not expecting to make a profit here—just aim to break even."

"Next to that, build a small theater room—private cinema style. Just toss in ten or so seats. Doesn't need to be big."

"Alright, that should about cover everything."

"Our little place here may be small, but it's got everything—perfect!"

Ma Yang was typing furiously, jotting it all down.

Zhang Yuan, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded.

Did I hear that right?

Wasn't this place just 3,000 square meters total?

If you didn't know any better, you'd think President Pei had rented out an entire shopping mall!

This was a full-on hotpot of ideas!

And the most confusing part—who exactly was the target audience here?

Was it for people coming to game? Eat? Drink coffee?

And the costs… they definitely didn't match the potential returns.

A private cinema with just a dozen seats? What's the point? The rest of the customers supposed to stand and watch?

A whole 3,000-square-meter building, but only 50 gaming computers?

Then there's the café by day, bar by night gimmick—what even is that?

And a bookshelf? With a whole batch of books?

Who's going to read books in a net café?

Sure, at first glance, it looked like the more amenities the better. But in reality? That's not how this works.

As the saying goes, "grasp all, lose all."

These hardcore gaming addicts barely have money. They come to grind games, not to enjoy fine dining. At most, they'll grab a cheap bottle of water from the convenience store—they're not buying your drinks.

And 10 yuan an hour? That's a luxury for most of them.

The place was in a remote location, too. Even if a few people came for coffee, it wouldn't be enough to sustain all this overhead.

Serving only home-style Chinese food? That just made things even more absurd.

Then there's the bar...

Real bars survive off atmosphere and events! Ladies' night, live bands, promotions—there's a whole system to it.

But here? Just a tiny space carved out for a half-baked "bar" in a dinky building?

And imagine the menu: front page has top-shelf foreign liquors, and the back has tomato-and-egg stir-fry and shredded pork with garlic sauce?

What kind of messed-up identity crisis is that?!

The more Zhang Yuan thought about it, the more this felt like a disaster in the making.

He was pretty sure… this place wouldn't even last two months.

And yet, before he could say a word, Pei Qian spoke up—as if he already knew what Zhang Yuan was thinking.

"This establishment marks the first step in Tengda Group's expansion into the physical retail space. So don't worry about short-term losses!" Pei Qian declared confidently. "It's a comprehensive entertainment hub, combining leisure, lifestyle, and gaming. If people don't understand it right away, that's perfectly normal. The key is to slowly shift their mindset."

Zhang Yuan opened his mouth but had nothing to say.

Well… if the president himself said not to worry about losses, then... fine.

At the end of the day, he was still getting paid over 10,000 yuan a month, right?

. . . . . . .

Once Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan were out the door, Pei Qian finally relaxed.

He was very pleased with this location.

The fact that it had previously been a restaurant—and that it had gone bankrupt—made him even happier!

Now he was throwing together a messy jumble of impractical services, all style and no substance. There was no way this place would turn a profit—it was practically guaranteed to collapse.

Pei Qian knew: when it came to burning money, games and physical stores were the top two methods. He needed to stay focused on these areas.

As for Huang Sibo's project? At most, it might lose a million. Not really worth his attention.

A few short videos and maybe a minor sponsorship deal or two? How much money could that possibly make?

It's not even worth worrying about.

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