Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client, December 14th (Chang Tao) "I am not a businessman, I don't have so many wild business ideas, I am just doing what I am good at." At the end of the interview, I posted "Business" People" label, PDD denied it.
On December 10, Beijing, PDD participated in the inauguration ceremony of the "Betta Charity Special Fund of China Children and Teenagers' Fund" as the "Betta Youth Charity Advocate".
After the event, PDD accepted an exclusive interview with the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client, sharing his experience and views on e-sports and live broadcasting, and responded to the concerns and speculations of his so-called "business empire".
PDD's real name is Liu Mou, and PDD is his game ID.
Before retiring in June 2014, PDD was one of the most famous e-sports players in China: the 2013 SWL League second season champion, the 2013 IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) Singapore Championship, the 2014 LPL (League of Legends Professional League) Spring Games Runner-up... And after signing with Douyu in March 2019, PDD has become one of the most popular and well-known game anchors in China.
The attention of the outside world to him does not stop there.
In 2019, as the founder of Xiaoxiang Interactive Entertainment, PDD was listed on the "Forbes China 30 Under 30 Elite List" that year.
PDD also has considerable income in terms of live streaming rewards, club investment and player transfers.
For a long time, "PDD is a businessman", "PDD is very business-minded", and "business ghost" are labels put on him by the public, and even PDD's famous business saying is circulating on the Internet: Doing business should not be too small, look up and see the sky. Big.
However, PDD does not recognize the identity of a "merchant".
He said that he doesn't have many wild business ideas, and he does what he is good at.
However, he did not deny the idea of jumping out of the e-sports and live broadcast circles and expanding new business territory.
PDD accepts an exclusive interview with Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client
The following is an interview with China-Singapore Jingwei PDD (slightly edited):
"Playing games, career and interest are two different things"
Zhongxin Jingwei: Through your childhood experience, you will find that you were very obsessed with games, and now you will be called "Internet addicted teenager" by many people.
At the moment, there are indeed some teenagers who are addicted to games and even delay their studies.
So, what do you have to warn them?
What is the difference between professional players and ordinary people playing games?
PDD: I think we must distinguish between occupation and interest. These are two different things.
If you only regard games as your hobby, and you do not intend to "play games" as your future career in life, you must allocate your time reasonably and control its impact on your life. This is the most important thing.
If playing games is your profession, you have to work hard to do it well and be the best player.
The most essential difference is how to recognize the difference between the two in the allocation of time and energy, and how to control the proportion of time and energy invested.
In fact, it is very difficult to become a professional player from an "Internet addicted teenager". The threshold is very high. There may not be a professional player out of 1,000 people.
Therefore, the vast majority of "Internet addicted teenagers" should control the time and energy invested in the game, and do not let the game affect the main line of their lives.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: There are many teenagers who love gaming who want to become professional e-sports players like you. What is the secret of your success?
PDD: The successful experience and secret are summarized after becoming a professional player.
The threshold of professional e-sports is very high. It requires you to have extraordinary talents. It does not mean that you play for a long time, and you can become very good by working hard and become a professional player.
Therefore, for teenagers, when deciding to devote their short youth to professional e-sports, they must first consider whether they are suitable for this profession.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: How to judge whether there is talent?
What are the standards?
PDD: For example, the reaction is very fast, the operation is very fast, the things the brain thinks can be delivered to the hands quickly, and the brain thinking is also very clear.
"There are misunderstandings in e-sports talent training"
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: At the beginning, China formed a national e-sports team, which caused controversy.
Even today, the public's awareness of e-sports is still limited.
Do you usually encounter such doubts?
PDD: Doubts must exist.
Not only e-sports, many new formats will be questioned by the public before they have experienced so much historical precipitation.
But from my experience and observations, compared to the year I became a professional player in 2010, the public's recognition and acceptance of e-sports has increased a lot.
Let me give you the simplest example. In the past, my parents and uncles and aunts talked about who's children play games, and then the whole life must be over.
But now they will not deny it for the first time, but will care about how you are doing. They are more cognitively rational, and at least they have changed a lot from the stereotype that "playing games is a bad boy".
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: What is the difference between gaming and e-sports?
PDD: Games are more of entertainment.
For example, if you return home from work and play games to relax, this is a kind of
A form of entertainment.
E-sports is a group of people entering this industry, PK with all the masters in the world and then competing for the championship, this is a sports competition.
E-sports requires your concentration, purity, and ingenuity. Entering this industry, you won't think about anything else, just want to make yourself stronger.
E-sports is a cruel sport that is achieved through computer operations, but it is actually a competition between people, and it is a sport in which humans challenge themselves to the limit.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: A recent report showed that during the epidemic, China's e-sports users added 26 million. It is expected that China will become the world's most commercially valuable e-sports market in the future.
What are the problems and gaps in China's e-sports professionalization and talent training?
PDD: A simple truth is that only when the industry becomes more standardized can it bring about better commercialization, provide players with a better space for survival and development, and attract more talents to enter the industry.
In the past, many e-sports teams thought about how to survive, but now they are more concerned about how to enrich their own style of play and how to become the industry's first. Many e-sports companies have the idea of going public.
In addition, the more important point is that although the number of e-sports users in China is increasing rapidly, the overall output value of the industry is not high.
Quantitative changes will trigger qualitative changes. As the scale of this group becomes larger and the consumption power becomes stronger, various commercial operations of China's e-sports will become more mature.
As for talent training, I think there are still misunderstandings in the industry.
In fact, in terms of e-sports talent training, I am also in the groping stage.
In fact, there are many differences between our training of talents and colleges and universities.
We do e-sports youth training. This matter actually has nothing to do with ordinary players. We are targeting clubs in the industry and sending them players.
The players we selected have very high scores, which are very far from ordinary players.
At present, many courses related to e-sports in colleges and universities actually have a large gap with the training of e-sports players. They mainly train personnel such as e-sports operations.
The matter of training professional e-sports players is left to colleges and universities, which is not realistic at present.
PDD accepts an exclusive interview with Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client
"Content is the core competitiveness of the anchor"
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: Many fans commented that PDD's live broadcast room "brings a sense of joy", and they talk about games while also saying a lot of life principles. Is this deliberate?
How did this style come into being?
PDD: It's actually a natural expression.
The live broadcast is meant to allow you to be your true self, and will amplify some emotions.
I have been doing live broadcasts for many years, and there are many fans who have followed me for many years, and I want to pass on more correct values to them.
Because what you say may affect many people.
As for the style "brings happiness", it may have something to do with my personality. I am usually a funny person.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: What do you think of the new format of webcasting?
How do you think you can be a good anchor?
PDD: From an industry perspective, webcasting is becoming more and more standardized.
At first, a lot of capital and eyeballs paid attention to this industry. At that time, there was some chaos in the industry.
Now, all aspects are being standardized. For example, live broadcast platforms such as Douyu are slowly becoming available.
As for the career of anchors, it is now slowly being accepted by everyone. This change is inseparable from the gradual standardization and specialization of this industry.
The most important thing for a good anchor is the content he delivers, which is the first core competitiveness.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: In recent years, you have paid more attention to public welfare. You are still the honorary principal of Pippi Happy Hope Primary School. What is your starting point for public welfare?
PDD: In the early stage of the industry's development, anchors will receive many free gifts, and the platform will settle accounts for them.
When the amount of money reaches a certain level, I think so many people’s "work and effort", instead of consuming it casually, it is better for us to use the money to do something meaningful.
I hope that after the completion of the primary school, I participated in the monument-setting ceremony. When I saw that so many children had good classrooms and teachers had their own offices, I could feel that it really helped them and changed their lives. It's better.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: As the representative of Douyu anchors, you have been awarded the title of "Betta Youth Charity Advocate". Can you tell us what you will do in the future for youth charity?
PDD: In fact, the most important thing is to encourage everyone to pay more attention to public welfare in the industry and within the Douyu system, and to create a more active, healthy, and positive network environment.
"I don't have many business ideas"
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: How do you think about the evaluation of "PDD is a businessman" and "PDD is very business-minded"?
Do you recognize it?
PDD: Not so recognized.
I have never done anything deliberately, nor do I have many wild business ideas. Many things I do are related to my own experience.
Everyone says that I am very business savvy, but it means that I have made money in youth training and transfers.
But my idea of doing this is actually very simple, which is to do what I am good at.
I can't waste my experience as a top professional player, so I will choose to open a club. At that time, our plan was to send this club to LPL, but it failed and we switched to the youth training.
In fact, I just extended the experience I have accumulated over the past few years and my personal strengths.
Including me doing MCN, it is actually because I have extended the experience accumulated in live broadcasting.
For the rest, I don’t have any business plans. I have been focusing on what I am good at for so many years.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: So you will not jump out of the two circles of e-sports and live broadcast to do business?
PDD: It's hard to say, what each person does at a stage is closely related to his own life.
For example, I am currently doing live broadcast, I think this is something I can handle.
Nothing is fixed and unchangeable. The choice must be made according to one's own situation. Everyone is like this.
If someone suddenly told you today, you must be suitable to start a business, I think it is wrong.
I cannot predict what I will be able to do in the future, but I will choose what to do according to the environment I am in at that time.
Sino-Singapore Jingwei: Which dimensions will you look at when choosing an investment team?
What are your criteria for selecting people?
PDD: Actually, there are many things to consider.
I will look at the team for a longer period of time, looking at his development potential in five years.
From an investment point of view, it is unrealistic to get quick returns.
In the future, the club will be a more important part and role in the development of the e-sports industry, because it can extend many things.
If I choose a player, I will chat with him first.
From the chat, I can see how he plans his career, what kind of professional attitude he is, and even whether he is a super genius, I can see.
Because I was also a "genius".
(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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