I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

For the owner of Riot Games, the recent years had indeed been quite favorable.

Although the outbreak last year caused a delay in the S11 tournament, seemingly causing them to earn much less than in previous years, that was not actually the case.

For a long period, everyone had been confined at home, doing nothing but eating, drinking, eliminating, sleeping, and playing games. According to operational data feedback, "League of Legends" saw an average online user and duration increase of at least 30% above the norm!

A huge number of visitors meant substantial traffic, and with traffic came monetization. They had already made a fortune through advertising. Subsequently, Huaxia's agent, Tengxun, released several new skins, allowing Riot Games to rake in vast profits once again.

Last year's revenue had grown by 27%, firmly placing them among the top two leaders in the gaming industry.

With a year's worth of pent-up consumer spending, the resurgence at this year's S11 tournament led to a massive explosion of income, just through advertising and sponsorship fees alone, they had earned a fortune, and this year's revenue would likely be another astonishing figure.

Luo Huade was now the largest shareholder of Riot Games. Initially, Tengxun had planned to wholly acquire the company. When the share acquisition reached 20%, Luo Huade immediately took action, securing the largest portion of the shares. Otherwise, the company would have belonged to Huaxia by now.

Now, Riot Games had become Luo Huade's money-making tool. It seemed that under Tengxun's agency, the game could control the market as it pleased, but in reality, Tengxun was just a tool.

When Zhang Menglong sent Wang Ling to ask Mr. Ma for the rights to host the tournament, it should have been an easy task. However, surprisingly, the authorization to host the tournament had not been given to Tengxun. Luo Huade's aim was to keep all the influence firmly in his own hands!

"Humph, the Esports Olympics? These mere Qingqiu people also want to hold such a high-level tournament?" In front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, Luo Huade looked towards the east, "The world will not allow a League of Legends tournament bigger or more influential than the S tournament to exist!"

"Dong dong dong!"

"Come in!" Luo Huade said.

A strikingly dressed assistant hurried into the office, "Boss, I have some very bad news."

"What's the news?" Luo Huade frowned.

"Originally, 80% of the teams that had registered for S11 have now canceled their registration."

"What?" Luo Huade's eyes widened.

Each year's S tournament allows the last champion's region to send three teams, with the other regions sending a maximum of two teams. Those regions fought bruising battles all year for these slots. For any team, qualifying for the S series was a tremendous honor.

In previous years, teams who secured a slot probably couldn't wait to burn incense and pray in gratitude for this hard-won opportunity, even going so far as to heavily promote themselves.

If they could win the S tournament, it would undoubtedly be a national celebration, a glory every League of Legends club and pro player dreamed of!

Moreover, this year's prize pool had increased several times over past years, with the championship team's prize being 25 million US dollars! Last year's entire prize pool didn't even have this much money. Did they not want this money? Had they all gone mad to withdraw from the competition?

"What's going on? Why are they withdrawing?" Luo Huade asked.

"They have switched to register for the Esports Olympics' League of Legends tournament hosted by Huaxia."

"What? That knockoff tournament?" Luo Huade said, "What's so good about participating in that? Does it have any value? It's hardly more than an upscale internet cafe tournament, and if we don't grant them the rights, they won't even have the qualifications to host it!"

"But boss, all those teams that have won world championships have signed up for the Esports Olympics, including Qingqiu Country's SK2, DSB team, Europe and America's NC team, Huaxia's KG team, FX team. The only teams that haven't canceled their registration are those second-rate ones hoping to snag an S tournament championship,"

Luo Huade's face twitched, all the world champion teams had joined—how could this still be considered a clone contest without any real value?

An S tournament's area could include several countries, while the Esports Olympics allows a country to send three teams, making the bloodshed reach its peak. Only then could the true world champion be determined!

"Boss, it's not just that, their prize money is outrageously high," the female secretary continued to report, "The champion reward is 100 million US dollars, the runner-up gets 50 million US dollars, and the third place gets 20 million US dollars, all after taxes. Our championship prize is on the same level as their third place after taxes!"

"Then we increase the money," Luo Huade thought for a moment and then gritted his teeth. It doesn't matter if we earn a few billion US dollars less this year. The status of this S tournament can absolutely not be shaken by this so-called Esports Olympics!"

"Raise the champion and runner-up prize standards to match theirs, and I refuse to believe that with the same rewards, they'd still choose to participate in the S tournament!"

"Riot Games raises S11 prize standards, seemingly determined to compete with the Esports Olympics until the end!"

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"Man, Riot's really going all-out here!"

"Damn, are they out of their minds? Didn't they do any background check before making decisions? Don't they know who the major sponsor of this tournament is?"

"Get a top trending spot for Mr. Zhang in advance!"

The latest news from Riot Games caused quite a stir, but in Huaxia, everyone had a spectator's attitude; they knew, when it came to spending money, no one in the world could outperform that man.

"Boss, Riot Games has increased the prize money, should we re-register for S11?"

"There's no need," the boss of an Esports club in Huaxia revealed a profound smiling expression, "Our players are in peak condition this year, which is a good thing for us!"

...

"Old Zhang, have you seen the news? Riot's brought their prize money up to our level, seems like they're really going all-in this time!"

"They can still afford that amount of money," Zhang Menglong laughed. Five years ago, Riot's annual revenue had already exceeded 1 billion US dollars, last year it broke through 2.5 billion US dollars. Taking away costs, turning over a billion or more a year is easy.

Although taking nearly 200 million out for prize money did hurt, it was an expense they could afford!

"If they want to play, let's play along!" Zhang Menglong laughed, "Increase the champion and runner-up prize money tenfold, cover all travel and accommodation expenses for the participating teams!"

"You really are going all out!" Wang Ling couldn't help but be astonished. Is this a competition or charity?

"In the end, the prize money is still ours," Zhang Menglong confidently stated, "And how much money could the travel and accommodation fees even amount to?"

Wang Ling could already envision the collapsing expression on Riot Games' boss's face.

A tenfold increased prize pool—that's 1.7 billion US dollars. It's as if they've worked for nothing all year. Betting everything in this aggressive play, could Riot Games really keep up with such a huge wager?

Zhang Menglong sneered, "They want to compete with us, eh? I'd like to see how they bet against us."