Starting as a Manga Editor

Chapter 172: Delayed

“I just suddenly thought about live streaming,”Tang Yao looked at the surprised Li Xue and began explaining, “After all, when it comes to interactivity, live streaming has a stronger edge. This model also helps build brand awareness for the account.”

The high interactivity of live streaming essentially transforms content consumption into a shared social event, turning viewers from passive recipients into active participants.

And this real-time, two-way, and entertainment-oriented interactive experience is exactly what sets live streams apart from pre-recorded videos. It’s also the key to quickly building user stickiness and unlocking commercial value.

In this world, live streaming is just beginning to sprout. There are already quite a few platforms, big and small, but most of them still rely on PC. The content mainly focuses on talent performances, with user tipping as the core profit model.

That’s because the mobile internet era has only just started.And FGO deserves a lot of credit for kicking it off.

Thanks to FGO’s success, not only did game developers start to see the potential in mobile games, but even unrelated live streaming platforms began to wonder: since this fourth-generation mobile network can support mobile gaming, can’t it also support live streaming?

After all, phones are way more portable than PCs.If every phone could stream live content... wouldn't that be a goldmine?

That’s how the mobile internet era works—every field has the potential to be disrupted or rise up. The entire internet industry will be upended. Those with sharp instincts will seize the first opportunity; those slower, if they have deep pockets, can still catch up by throwing money at the problem. But no matter what, the decisions, operations, and strategic choices during the process are absolutely critical.

One wrong move, and it’s game over—you’ll fall into a pit you can’t climb out of.

Just like a certain search engine from Tang Yao’s previous life. Honestly, every single decision they made during the mobile internet era was the wrong one… Now, Tang Yao wouldn’t dare claim her decisions will be 100% right.But with her past-life experience, she can at least avoid most of the traps and catch most of the big waves.

And live streaming?That’s one of those waves.

When she first proposed turning Rin Tohsaka into a character persona, she had already thought about the potential of live streaming.

But Avalon’s core business wasn’t in that area, and the ANF team was working hard on user growth. Tang Yao was worried that pushing live streaming too early might ruin ANF’s current positive community vibe, so she hadn’t rushed into it.

Now that Li Xue brought up Rin Tohsaka’s account,She was reminded again.

“Is ANF even suitable for live streaming?”Li Xue frowned slightly as she thought aloud, “Most live streaming platforms have already entered the phase of burning cash, right? The competition is fierce…”

“I get what you mean.”Tang Yao nodded.Even though the live streaming scene here hadn’t gotten to the point of a full-on war, there were already a lot of platforms out there.

But still...

Tang Yao smiled. “We can definitely do it. We can create a live stream that fits ANF’s style—like a 2D-themed stream. Think of it as testing the waters. It could just be another section, or we might not even need to add a new section. Just try one stream and see how our users react. Testing it doesn’t cost us anything. If it doesn’t work, we can go back to making videos.” “True.”Li Xue nodded in agreement, but then another concern popped up. “But can Rin Tohsaka’s face-tracking system even be used for live streaming?”

“Uh… hard to say.”Tang Yao thought for a moment and shook her head. “Our videos are all manually adjusted. You obviously can’t do that in a real-time stream, so we’d have to ask the tech team.”

Back when she made that Rin Tohsaka video, the approach was Live2D combined with a webcam-based face capture system.She had just proposed the concept—actual implementation relied on Kang Ming, Cai Quan, and the rest of the tech nerds.Apparently, they even built a custom tool for it, and the final result turned out decent.

“I’ll go ask them now.”With that, Li Xue stood up and left.

…Half an hour later.Li Xue came back with a slight frown. “Not really doable. Kang Ming told me the tool they’re using right now is totally hacked together. The face capture SDK is based on some open-source project that they heavily modified and forced into place. It works okay for recording videos, but for live streaming? Way too many changes are needed. There’s no way to make it work in the short term. Not even a compromise solution would be ready before the end of the year.”

Tang Yao sighed helplessly. “Then there’s nothing we can do.”

“But he said they can look into it over the holidays and maybe have something ready after the New Year,”Li Xue added, “And they seem pretty interested, too.”

“I see…”Tang Yao thought for a moment. “Then can you tell them to try turning that tool into a client software that regular users can use?”

Li Xue blinked. “A client software?”

“Yep. Just tell them. Ask if they can explore that direction,”Tang Yao nodded. “And tell them not to worry about the money part once it's done.”

Whether it’s live streaming or client software, it’s still an experiment for her.If it works out, it’s a huge win. If it doesn’t, no big loss.

When it comes to money, Tang Yao was never going to shortchange them.

Kang Ming and the others were among the first to join, super proactive and motivated.There’s no way she’d let them feel unappreciated.It was also the best way to inspire the new people who’d join later.

“Alright, I’ll talk to them.”Even though Li Xue didn’t fully understand Tang Yao’s vision—after all, she had never witnessed the VTube boom—She still chose to trust her judgment. “What about the year-end videos then…?”

“Let’s postpone them,”Tang Yao decided after a brief pause. “Since the live stream isn’t happening and they need time to rework the tool, plus they’re already handling game development, there’s no point piling on extra tasks. We’re not in a rush. Once the tool matures, video production will be easier... And didn’t Kang Ming say it might be ready after the New Year?

If it really works out then, we can do a live stream. It’d be the perfect chance to promote Dou Pai. Saving the debut stream’s buzz and excitement for our second game might actually work better.”

“Got it. I’ll let Cai Quan know.”Li Xue nodded after giving it some thought—it made sense.

“Mm.”Tang Yao responded, then something occurred to her. She added casually, “But it’s not urgent… sit down first. The holidays are coming up—how’s the year-end bonus looking?”

It had been a tough year.Avalon might only have one game,But revenue kept breaking records. Everyone on the team had seen the results.

For all those people who had stood by her side from the very beginning, there was no way she’d let them go through the New Year without a solid bonus.

In fact,Tang Yao had already discussed this with Li Xue a while ago.Of course, bringing it up now was also her way of changing the topic.Who knew if Li Xue still remembered the whole teasing situation from yesterday…

“I’ve done the calculations. Based on your suggestion, we’ve set aside a percentage of the profits as a bonus pool for distribution…”Li Xue nodded. “I should have the rules and distribution sheet ready for you soon. Since all the departments are newly formed, I’m not exactly experienced, so that’s why it’s been delayed.”

She was extra cautious when it came to this kind of thing.After all, she knew very well—year-end bonuses couldn’t be decided impulsively or carelessly.The incentive system is one of the most important parts of company management.

Otherwise, it just causes more problems down the line.People aren’t bothered by small bonuses—they’re bothered by unfair ones.

But right now, Avalon was still in rapid growth. It was far from stable. New hires were joining every day.So figuring out how to distribute it fairly and transparently was indeed a headache.

Fortunately,Li Xue seemed to have a decent understanding of corporate management, which helped her get a good handle on things.

“No worries. As long as it’s ready before the New Year,”Tang Yao waved it off with a smile, then teased, “Thanks for all your hard work… By the way, Miss Li, did you give yourself a year-end bonus too?”