The failure of the Sword of Excellence once put Tencent in financial difficulties, and Tencent's top management considered giving up on entering the field of online games, but looking back, the company seems to have nothing worth carrying forward except for game platforms and social platforms.

Failure is the mother of success, and it is better to continue to tackle the game field than to change fields.

At this time, a game development company called Yonghang Technology, which Tencent invested earlier, independently developed QQ Xuanwu, was launched. Tencent didn't have great expectations for this copycat game, thinking that it should have good performance, and it was unlikely that it would become popular.

But unexpectedly, QQ Xuanwu became popular, and the number of simultaneous online users exceeded 150,000 in the first week of its launch. Up to now, the number of simultaneous online users of QQ Xuanwu has exceeded 1 million, which is already a very good performance if it is not pressed by the three cross-server games.

In addition to QQ Xuanwu, Tencent has also copied a large number of popular domestic games, including Demon Domain. Add a QQ in front of these games, and it will become a QQ game, relying on QQ and some user base, and get good results.

A series of copycat games and the benefits of the QQ game platform have reinvigorated Tencent.

With a little more money, Tencent first invested in a Vietnamese game operator called VinaGame, which is a leading game company in Vietnam. Although Vietnam is a small country, it also has great business potential and is an investment market that is easily overlooked.

It can be seen that Tencent's series of operations have avoided the field of giant competition, starting from copycats, small games, and small surrounding countries. These products don't seem to be on the table, but they can't stand a large number of them, and the money comes quickly, so Tencent quickly came to life.

In '09, Tencent set its sights on some of the more powerful game companies in South Korea, Europe and the United States, including Riot.

The development of the cross-server company is too smooth, resulting in Zhou Guangyue having no pressure to move forward and expand.

Fortunately, Hang Yu realized this problem in time, and it is not too late to change.

"Manager Xue, the investment targets you have chosen are very good, do you plan to invest more, just layout? Hang Yu asked.

Tencent has taken the path of more investment and wide layout, and the effect is very good and the development is very fast.

It stands to reason that Tencent has so many joint-stock companies abroad, it should be convenient to cultivate its own R&D team and have strong R&D strength. But the reality is that Tencent has not developed any classic games.

Hang Yu feels that Tencent's development model is good, but it is not necessarily the best.

"I'm just choosing these targets for your reference, you just choose one or two. Xue Wenmin said: "The purpose of our investment in European and American game companies is to use their strength to cultivate their own R&D teams. If you want to rely on them to make some excellent works, I think it's better to do it, because most foreign game companies can usually only make one or two classic works, and then quickly slide downhill. ”

"But I think Tencent's development is very good, and they are investing in game companies everywhere. Hang Yu wanted to test Xue Wenmin and hear what he thought.

"yes, they can't beat us in games. Xue Wenmin said.

Well, because he didn't know the future of Tencent, Xue Wenmin didn't take the other party seriously. Naturally, Xue Wenmin will not consider the advantages of Tencent's development model, because he does not need to learn from the other party.

Seeing that Hang Yu didn't speak, Xue Wenmin said again: "It is true that you can make money by investing more in a wide layout, but in my opinion, it is better to use the money on self-research and agency. And if the game development company declines, we don't have to suffer losses with them, it's better to be pure. ”

Hang Yu said: "That being said, not only Tencent, NetEase Shanda, these game companies, are also actively deploying abroad. If we look at the same game and they have a stake in that game company, it will be difficult for us to get an agency. ”

Xue Wenmin was stunned for a while, and thought for a while before saying: "This kind of practice is really, vicious competition." ”

Hang Yu said: "I guess too, they are actively deploying abroad, and the main purpose is agency. ”

Many domestic game companies have risen through agency games, including cross-server companies, so the giants are paying more and more attention to agency rights. In addition to increasing the cost of representation, what other good way to fight for agency rights?

Shareholding can monopolize the power of agency.

Especially some small companies, like Riot, which started out as a game studio.

Tencent spent less than $3 million in its first round of financing to acquire a 22% stake in Riot, becoming the majority shareholder of Riot and the only Chinese shareholder, and basically holding the agency of League of Legends in China.

Later, League of Legends became popular, and Tencent simply spent $200 million to buy the company. What is 200 million US dollars, and the benefits that League of Legends has brought to Tencent are more than 200 million US dollars.

Even if the fist weakens in the future, it is a big deal to throw it away, Tencent still makes a lot of money.

"I didn't think of that, and it seemed that the struggle for agency was more difficult than I thought. "Xue Wenmin has just taken over as the president of the agency department, and he has been in charge of operations before, so he is not very familiar with the agency business.

"I didn't think about it that much before, but I just found out when I read Tencent's information. You can check NetEase Shengda Jiucheng These companies, I estimate that they have also invested in many game companies abroad, especially new companies with new works. Hang Yu said.

"It depends, if everyone does this, we will have to fight. Xue Wenmin quickly accepted this reality.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you. Hang Yu said.

If you can, of course, you can directly select a good game as an agent, and the investment efficiency is higher. However, in such a harsh investment environment, cross-server companies can only follow the trend and choose the form of shareholding to fight for agency rights.

Or there are some fish that have slipped through the net and can be won over without having to invest in shares.

However, the probability is low, because Tencent, NetEase, and Shanda are not vegetarians, and they are very thieves. Hang Yu was able to grab the agency of DNF, and he paid a lot of price at the beginning.

On the other hand, Xue Wenmin immediately asked someone to check the investment situation of the domestic game giants, and found that it was exactly the same as Hang Yu said, everyone was actively deploying abroad, and it was in full swing.

"I should have given the agency business to me a long time ago, and I wouldn't have fallen behind to this point. Xue Wenmin said secretly.

Then he cheered up and called the investigation department of the headquarters and asked them to collect information on foreign game companies. Although the subsidiaries are independent, some functions still need the assistance of the headquarters.

For example, the Investigation Department, which is only available at the headquarters.

This is because the formation of an investigation network requires a strong overall plan, and it is inconvenient to divide it.