PDLP Chapter 471 Promoting TUTU with All Our Might
Chapter 471 Promoting TUTU with All Our Might
When Lu Ran left the company that night, it was already completely dark.
Even at night, the wind in Shanghai in June is unbearably hot.
He stood on the steps at the entrance of the office building waiting for his car, taking out his phone to see if Shen Yuege had sent him any messages.
The first thing I saw was a work message from Zhou Mingzhe, saying that Tencent had called again today, and the tone sounded even more urgent than last time, with a clear sense of pressure to get a response.
Lu Ran replied, "Let it sit, no rush," and then put his phone back in his pocket.
The taxi arrived, he opened the back door, got in, gave an address, and the car merged into the traffic.
He leaned back in his seat, staring at the rows of streetlights receding outside the window, his mind racing with one thought. He knew that simply stalling wouldn't work; Tencent was clearly trying to force him to make a decision during this window of opportunity.
Either agree to renegotiate the revenue sharing, or wait for the other party to make a move and tamper with the WeChat login interface.
He didn't want to choose either outcome.
But now we need to get a result first, to express an attitude.
Therefore, Lu Ran adopted Chen Mo's method.
When he got home, Shen Yuege was still waiting in the living room.
There was a half-eaten bowl of white fungus soup on the coffee table. She leaned back on the sofa looking at her phone. Hearing the door open, she looked up and glanced at him: "Have you eaten yet?"
"I ate at the company." Lu Ran changed his shoes, walked over and sat down next to her, taking off his coat and draping it over the sofa armrest. "I want to discuss something with you. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the company's future direction."
Shen Yuege put her phone aside and sat up straight cross-legged: "Go on."
Lu Ran recounted Tencent's recent developments and his own thoughts, starting from the letter requesting renegotiation and continuing to his consideration of independently developing the TUTU account system.
After he finished speaking, Shen Yuege was quiet for a moment, then said, "You should have done this a long time ago. Every time I log into your game using WeChat, I feel like I'm a guest in someone else's house."
She thought for a moment and added, "And it would be nice if you could choose a few numbers you like for your TUTU number."
Lu Ran nodded.
He had actually thought about this before, but he always felt that since TUTU had few users in the early days, it wouldn't be very useful to push for an independent login system.
The situation is different now. Millions of players log in to League of Legends every day using various methods. If we can find a way to convert some of them into TUTU account users, then even if Tencent does make a fuss about the interface in the future, it won't cause serious damage all at once.
He turned on his computer that very night and started writing the proposal.
There are two core logics. First, the newly added TUTU number cannot just be a randomly assigned string of numbers; it must make users feel that the number belongs to them.
Secondly, the binding process must be simple, so that players don't feel that changing their login method is a hassle.
He wrote a few lines of initial ideas in the document.
A TUTU number can be nine digits. Users can choose two or three digits when registering, such as their birthday, anniversary, or favorite number combinations.
This way, even if the other six digits are randomly generated, the account itself will have a personal identifier.
Later, we can further open up ten-digit accounts, with the first digit divided by region. For example, users in Shanghai will start with 1, and users in Guangzhou will start with 2, which will be easier to remember and facilitate subsequent regional activities.
Zhou Mingzhe responded quickly after seeing the proposal: "The idea of choosing a number is quite interesting. I always thought that TUTU numbers couldn't be promoted because they weren't much different from WeChat numbers. Now that they have commemorative significance, users will at least be willing to remember them."
Lu Ran replied, "Your technical team should assess the development cycle and cost of this customizable number feature and try to come up with a preliminary conclusion this week. Meanwhile, the operations department should start creating promotional content, letting the word out that TUTU is going to open commemorative edition accounts, and see how users react."
That afternoon, the operations department posted a teaser on TUTU's official community, without revealing too many details, only saying that "TUTU will be upgraded soon, adding commemorative attributes," along with a simple timeline diagram.
Two hours after the post was published, the comment section exploded.
Some people guessed that it would allow users to choose their birthdate, others guessed that it would allow users to customize their prefix, and still others directly asked if auspicious numbers like "666" and "888" could be auctioned off separately.
The most outrageous thing was that one user left several messages saying, "I don't care what you do, as long as I get to choose my birthday combination, I'll buy TUTU a year's membership."
The operations team compiled a list of representative feedback from the comments section and sent it to Lu Ran. He read it and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Users' attitude towards this feature is much more positive than he expected, indicating that they really don't feel a sense of belonging to the existing purely random numerical accounts.
At the same time, Zhou Mingzhe's technical evaluation report was also released.
If the feature allowing users to select two or three digits is developed using the simplest approach, the technical team could probably finish it in two weeks.
However, the function of using the tens digit as a regional identifier will have to wait until the regional coverage is more complete before it can be implemented.
After reading the report, Lu Ran replied that the first phase of the nine-digit self-selection function should be launched first, and the ten-digit division by region can be put on hold for later. Let's get it running first.
He added another countermeasure to the plan.
If Tencent does indeed cut off the WeChat login interface in the future, TUTU needs to guide users to log in again with their TUTU account as soon as possible, and must ensure that all game data, heroes, skins, and rank records are completely migrated, so that players do not feel that they have lost something just by changing the login method.
He added a note after that measure: "This has the highest priority. The technical team needs to prepare a data migration plan in advance, and must complete the account association process for all users within 24 hours after the interface is cut off."
Zhou Mingzhe replied, "24 hours is a bit tight, but we can first create a one-click binding function, allowing users to link their WeChat account and TUTU account with a single click, without needing to re-enter any information. This way, even if the interface is cut off, their data will already be bound in advance."
Lu Ran thought for a moment and said, "Let's go with this approach."
Have the tech team develop a pre-binding feature, adding an entry point to the game login screen to encourage existing WeChat users to bind their TUTU accounts in advance.
After binding your account, you can enjoy some extra perks, such as a limited-edition avatar frame or a few days' experience boost card.
Instead of directly telling users "you need to change your number," use incentives to reduce user resistance.
After the plan was finalized, he held an online meeting with Zhou Mingzhe, Chen Mo, and the operations team.
He first explained the overall idea, and then asked everyone to add their own details.
After listening, Chen Mo raised a crucial question: "If a user binds their TUTU account and then logs in again through WeChat, will the data between the two accounts conflict?"
Zhou Mingzhe said that technically this can be made into a unified user ID system, so that no matter which entry point a user logs in from, the backend uses the same account.
Once you link your WeChat ID and TUTUID during the initial binding, you won't have to repeat the login process from any location afterward.
The operations team asked a more specific question: "What if Tencent finds out we're doing account binding in advance and turns against us?"
Lu Ran took a sip of tea and said, "Then let them know."
TUTU's move to implement an independent account system is itself a statement that we are prepared to withdraw from this dependence, rather than waiting unprepared for them to make their moves.
Seeing this move, Tencent will likely reconsider its strategy, because they can see that we are not planning to compromise on the login interface issue. This could actually shift the balance of negotiations slightly towards the middle.
After the meeting, Chen Mo stayed behind alone, waiting for everyone else to leave the call before speaking: "I agree with most of what you said at the meeting today, but there's one detail I'd like to confirm again—if Tencent really backs out prematurely and the pre-binding progress falls behind schedule, what's our backup plan?"
Lu Ran didn't hesitate and directly said that the backup plan was to use mobile phone number login as a temporary alternative.
TUTU's backend stores users' phone number data. Although the coverage is not complete, it covers at least 60% of active users.
The remaining 40% can be re-bound through in-game announcements. Although there will be some churn, it is much better than causing millions of players to be unable to log in overnight.
After listening, Chen Mo nodded and said that they should prepare according to this approach.
The two chatted online for a while about the specific timeframes and resource allocation, and then went to make their own arrangements.
After hanging up the call, Lu Ran sat in his chair and stared at the solution document on the screen for a while. He thought that he finally had a way to deal with Tencent's move that he had been worried about. Although it was not perfect, at least he was no longer waiting for the other party to make a move without any preparation.
He closed the document, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes for a moment, then took out his phone and sent Shen Yuege a message: "The plan is finalized. The commemorative version of TUTU number will be launched within two weeks, along with the pre-binding process. Now we'll have the confidence to respond to any further moves from Tencent."
Shen Yuege replied: "Zhou Mingzhe has to work overtime again, right?"
"He said it himself. He said he had wanted to do this for a long time, and this was a good opportunity to finish it all at once."
"Then bring some late-night snacks when you come back. If he's prepared them, you can treat him to something nice." Shen Yuege replied, followed by a bear emoji holding a spoon.
Lu Ran smiled at the little bear, put away his phone, turned off his computer, picked up his coat, and left the office.
Most of the lights in the corridor were off, with only the emergency lights casting a dim yellow glow.
As he walked to the elevator, he glanced back at Zhou Mingzhe's office. The door was still closed, with a sliver of light shining through the crack.
His phone vibrated again while he was standing in the elevator; it was a screenshot of a test sent by someone from the operations department.
The screenshot shows a prototype design of a TUTU account registration page. Next to the account input box, there is an extra line of small text compared to the previous version: "You can choose 2-3 digits as your account commemorative code. Birthday, lucky number, or anniversary are all acceptable."
Below is an example box where you fill in a string of numbers, with two digits highlighted in light blue and labeled "Optional".
Lu Ran stared at the screenshot for a while and thought the page looked quite pleasing to the eye.
He put his phone back in his pocket, the elevator doors opened, and he stepped into the chilly November night of Shanghai.
Tencent, bring it on!
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