Chapter 24: Internal Strife and External Threats, A Path to Breakthrough

Following the heart-stopping technical confrontation with "River God," Zhou Dan successfully repelled the external threat. While the studio appeared to be back on track, hidden undercurrents were already beginning to churn. This time, the trouble brewed from within—a serious crisis emerged in the operations department.

As the business expanded, the studio hired a new operations director named Qian Feng. His resume was impeccable, and he claimed to possess extensive experience across multiple fields, promising to elevate the studio to new heights. At first, Qian Feng did bring a breath of fresh air; leveraging his eloquence and networking skills, he secured several projects with significant potential. Gradually, however, the cracks began to show.

In the pursuit of short-term gains, Qian Feng aggressively slashed costs, completely disregarding the quality of the work. When rendering virtual scenes for a new game, he unilaterally opted for cheap, inferior materials, resulting in coarse visuals and distorted lighting that fell far short of the client’s high-quality requirements. When Zhou Dan discovered the issue and raised concerns, Qian Feng brushed him off with indifference: "The market is fiercely competitive. We need to secure the project first; we can just patch it up later. It’s not like the clients have time to scrutinize every detail."

Zhou Dan knew this was akin to drinking poison to quench thirst and insisted on a rework. This back-and-forth not only delayed the project schedule but also sparked the client’s ire, leading to threats of contract termination and legal action for breach of agreement. To make matters worse, Qian Feng’s approach to external promotion was a disaster. He was obsessed with chasing trends, blindly pouring money into advertisements without considering whether they aligned with the studio’s brand identity.

To promote the studio’s latest design achievements, he spent a small fortune on a popular short-video platform. The resulting ads were shoddy—merely a collection of disjointed clips lacking any creativity or appeal. The audience didn't bite, conversion rates were abysmal, and the invested capital vanished like a stone cast into the sea.

The studio members grew increasingly resentful. Watching their meticulously polished designs being "butchered" by the operations team severely dampened their morale. Xiao Lin, who was in charge of art design, complained, "We toil day and night over our proposals and designs, only for the operations team to ruin everything. How are we supposed to keep working like this?" A demoralized atmosphere began to spread throughout the studio.

Zhou Dan realized that if he did not resolve the conflict with the operations department immediately, the studio would face an irreparable downfall. He first held a serious conversation with Qian Feng, laying out the problems one by one, clearly pointing out the damage his shortsightedness had caused, and demanding immediate corrective action. However, while Qian Feng feigned compliance, he continued to act as he pleased behind Zhou Dan’s back, convinced that Zhou was merely too conservative and rigid.

Seeing that communication had failed, Zhou Dan decided to take decisive action. He selected several team members who possessed both a solid understanding of operations and a deep sense of responsibility to form a temporary "Operations Optimization Task Force." Leading the group himself, he dove into the operational workflow of every project, redesigning scientific and reasonable strategies for everything from cost control to promotional outreach.

In addressing the troubled game project, the task force discarded the inferior materials Qian Feng had chosen, sourced high-quality assets, and arranged for key technical staff to work overtime to re-render the scenes. Simultaneously, they crafted a meticulous promotional strategy tailored to the game’s style and audience, producing creative video ads that highlighted the unique charm of the virtual environments.

After much effort, the resubmitted work dazzled the client. Their attitude shifted from hostility to appreciation; not only did they withdraw their threat to terminate the partnership, but they also voluntarily increased the project budget, expressing a desire for further collaboration. On the promotional front, the new advertisements saw a significant surge in click-through and conversion rates, and the studio’s reputation grew accordingly.

Seeing the success Zhou Dan had achieved with the team, the obstinate Qian Feng finally realized his errors and quietly tendered his resignation. Through this ordeal, Zhou Dan gained a profound understanding that operations and creation are like the two wheels of a vehicle—neither can function without the other. Only through seamless cooperation between the two could the studio move steadily forward in a fiercely competitive market and strive toward even higher goals.