No. 063 loses money and goes out of business

Wei Dongsheng shook his head: "It's not just a distraction. ”

Wei Dongsheng quickly added: "For me, the online game industry is a service industry, and the purpose of both operators and developers is to serve players. If the players have a need, I will meet them, and if the player meets the need, we will not lose money and go out of business. I made "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" not because I personally liked the permanent freemium charging mechanism, but because I found that the game market ignored the latent needs of those who have time and money and those who have money and time. ”

"Since there is such a demand in the market, I will meet them."

"There was the demand of the player group first, and then there was the birth of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms". "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" serves the group of players who have time but no money and no money and no time, remember, this is the foundation of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms". "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" does not need to be disdained by paying players when accounting because they are not the customer base of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms"; Ten Kingdoms doesn't need to compromise with hourly payers, as they are not part of Ten Kingdoms' customer base. The real tricky problem in Ten Kingdoms is how to reconcile the conflicts between real free players, semi-RMB players, RMB players, and super RMB players, and the reason why I hired mathematicians and economists to build complex socio-economic models is to solve the complex coexistence problem. ”

"The question of the future, and leave it to the future, starting with the complex realities of the present. "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms" is aimed at the player group who have time and money and no time, and it is impossible and unnecessary to compromise with the hourly pay-to-play player group, however, my concept, the online game industry belongs to the service industry, Spring and Autumn Software as a developer, and Spring and Autumn Network as an operator, there is no irreconcilable contradiction with the hourly pay-per-game player group. The hourly pay-per-game player group is not the target customer of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", but it is the target customer of Spring and Autumn Network. ”

Jing Minqiang's eyes lit up: "You mean ......?" ”

Wei Dongsheng nodded: "Instead of dwelling on "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", it is better to launch another timed paid game." ”

Jing Minqiang: "Spring and Autumn Software currently has no other online game projects, is it urgent to start research and development now?" ”

Wei Dongsheng shook his head: "The background of the Spring and Autumn series of companies is too shallow, the management framework has not yet been perfected, and many details are not standardized. Recklessly distracted from the research and development of new projects, it is very easy to have accidents in resource coordination, and there is a high probability of making a typical mistake of 1+1<2. Since Spring and Autumn Network has stepped into the online game industry, it must focus on doing a good job and achieving the ultimate, and first strive to operate "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms". In order to meet the needs of time-paid players as soon as possible, I am going to operate a time-paid online game as an agent. ”

Jing Minqiang was not surprised by Wei Dongsheng's agency idea, in fact, agency operation is the norm in Huaguo's online game market. Before the advent of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms", only "Journey to the West 2" was worth mentioning under the banner of domestic games, and the others were all leftovers. Therefore, Jing Minqiang did not ask Wei Dongsheng why he acted as an agent, but asked directly: "Do you have a choice?" ”

Wei Dongsheng: "orld_of_arcraft." ”

Jing Minqiang didn't react for a while, and repeated blankly: "arcraft? ”

Chang Mingxia, who was used to making full preparations in advance, translated it into Chinese in due course: "It's "World of Warcraft". ”

Jing Minqiang has made up a lot of lessons recently, and when he heard the words "World of Warcraft", he immediately established a corresponding impression, frowned and said: "The agency competition for this game is very fierce, Shanda Network, Ninth City, and Guangtong Communications are all staring at it, and some time ago, it was rumored that there was a sky-high agency fee of 15 million US dollars. Moreover, it is said that the main differences have been resolved in the negotiations for the agency operation of World of Warcraft, and the results will be available this month or next. In terms of time, we are too late; When it comes to funding, we don't have enough either. ”

Wei Dongsheng smiled: "There is a saying, time is money, efficiency is life." If it's too late, you might as well use money to open the way. ”

As Wei Dongsheng spoke, he drew a big "6" in his notebook with a gel pen and held it up to show the attendees: "This is the agency fee I prepared for World of Warcraft." ”

The crowd was bewildered.

"World of Warcraft" has been rumored to have a sky-high agency fee of 15 million US dollars, and Wei Dongsheng dares to say that he uses money to open the way, which is definitely not 60 million yuan. But if it's not 60 million, it can't be $60 million, right? At the current exchange rate, 60 million US dollars is 490 million yuan. Huaguo's total revenue in the online game market in 2002 was 910 million yuan, and then you said that you spent 490 million yuan to operate "World of Warcraft"?

Crazy!

Everyone looked at each other and fell into embarrassment for a while.

Lu Binqi felt that Jing Minqiang was inconvenient to question on the spot, so he decisively spoke on behalf of Jing Minqiang and asked Wei Dongsheng: "If it is as high as 60 million US dollars, it must be a guarantee agreement, right?" ”

Wei Dongsheng: "That's for sure. ”

Lu Binqi: "Three-year guarantee, or four-year guarantee?" ”

Wei Dongsheng: "Four years. ”

Lu Binqi quickly typed the calculator and calculated the negotiation on the spot: "The minimum royalty for four years is 490 million yuan, which is equivalent to 122.5 million yuan per year." Based on the simple conversion of 40% of the gross profit of the online game industry, the annual revenue of "World of Warcraft" is 306.25 million yuan, which can ensure that we will not operate at a loss. With a simple charge of 0.25 yuan per hour, the average number of online players per day jumped to 139,800 to ensure that we would not operate at a loss. Assuming that each player spends an average of 3 hours online per day and the number of daily active players reaches 1.118 million, we can ensure that we will not operate at a loss. ”

Wei Dongsheng shook his head: "You miscalculated. ”

Lu Binqi was stunned: "Where?" ”

Wei Dongsheng pointed to the six characters in the notebook and said, "The 6 I wrote is not 60 million US dollars, but 600 million yuan." ”

Lu Binqi: "! ”

Jing Minqiang and other participants became more and more speechless, the sky-high price of 60 million US dollars was not enough, and it was increased to 600 million yuan at one time.

Lu Binqi unrelentingly tapping the calculator: "The minimum royalty for four years is 600 million yuan, which is equivalent to 150 million yuan per year." Based on the simple conversion of 40% of the gross profit of the online game industry, the annual revenue of "World of Warcraft" is 375.5 million yuan, which can ensure that we will not operate at a loss. With a simple charge of 0.25 yuan per hour, the average number of online players per day jumped to 171,300 to ensure that we would not operate at a loss. Assuming that the average daily online time of each player is 3 hours, and the number of daily active players reaches 1,369,800, we can ensure that we will not operate at a loss. ”

Lu Binqi concluded and made a judgment: "Such data, "World of Warcraft" will never be able to achieve. On the contrary, "World of Warcraft" has a high probability of adapting to the soil and water, struggling with the death line like "Magic Sword" and "Endless Mission". ”

Wei Dongsheng didn't hear it, and continued to increase the difficulty: "600 million is only a four-year guaranteed royalty tax, plus the signing fee, pre-development investment costs, and promotion and sales expenses, the agency operating expenses of "World of Warcraft" will be 800 million instead of 600 million. ”

Lu Binqi: "! ”

Jing Minqiang and the others in the congregation had nothing to say.

In addition to the management option shares, Spring and Autumn Network currently has only three shareholders, Huo Yongshan, Jing Minqiang, and Wei Dongsheng. Huo Yongshan longed for his chain Internet café in Panyang City, and he only had the right to dividends, and did not interfere with the specific operation of the Spring and Autumn Internet café. Jing Minqiang's shareholding ratio is not high, but the Spring and Autumn series of companies still need to rely on his accumulation of political and economic resources and the influence of the Gong family. For example, the third-party payment of credit treasure, the banks were not willing to sign a contract with the Spring and Autumn Information Service, and later Jing Minqiang's wife visited a friend who had been entrenched in the financial system of China for many years, and borrowed her friend's words, so that the banks could cooperate with the Spring and Autumn Information Service to launch the credit treasure in a timely manner as soon as possible.

The rules and regulations of the contract, the number of shares, cannot absolutely bind the living people in the world.

If Jing Minqiang insists on opposing the cost of 800 million yuan to represent "World of Warcraft", the actual degree of obstruction to the Spring and Autumn Network will definitely far exceed the 19% share ratio. However, Jing Minqiang is Jing Minqiang after all, and the reason why Wei Dongsheng dared to take advantage of Jing Minqiang was that he knew that his old friend Jing Minqiang in the future would never act so simply and rudely.

Although Jing Minqiang is unwilling to spend 800 million yuan to introduce the infinitely risky "World of Warcraft", he will not be so greedy as to break with Wei Dongsheng immediately. On the contrary, Jing Minqiang often faces low-cost investment with the mentality of "I am fortunate to get it, but I am sorry to lose my life". For example, if he invests 10 million yuan and encounters a similar irreconcilable route choice, Jing Minqiang will get back 10 million capital in time, instead of fighting for control with entrepreneurs. However, the 10 million shares of Spring and Autumn Network were scraped out of thin air, given by Wei Dongsheng free of charge, and brought up by Wei Dongsheng himself. Jing Minqiang did not invest in this company in fact, so he would not incur a factual loss, so it was better to continue to believe in Wei Dongsheng's choice.

If you lose only bottoms, it will also be the price of Wei Dongsheng's growth.

Jing Minqiang's personality is like this, so he didn't insist on his own opinions, and took the initiative to retreat: "Okay, if you insist, I choose to believe you." ”

Since Chang Mingxia joined the Spring and Autumn series company, she first served as Wei Dongsheng's assistant secretary, and after the experience of the torrent download artifact project, she was responsible for the operation of "Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms". Chang Mingxia has been in contact with Wei Dongsheng for a long time, and is already very familiar with Wei Dongsheng's character, knowing that Wei Dongsheng is holding a meeting in such a tone, there must be an answer in her heart that no one can stop. Instead of recklessly confronting at this time, it is better to wait until there is a problem before persuading Wei Dongsheng to give up the plan.

In all this, no one vehemently refuted Wei Dongsheng.

Wei Dongsheng had no intention of playing such an unruly and arbitrary image.

Wei Dongsheng deliberately left Jing Minqiang time to express his stance and indirectly convince Lu Binqi and Hu Shifei, and slowly said his reasons: "Why did I introduce "World of Warcraft" at a sky-high price? Because even if "World of Warcraft" is on the verge of bankruptcy like "Magic Sword", its value is far greater than 800 million yuan. ”

Jing Minqiang, Lu Binqi, Hu Shifei, Chang Mingxia, Lei Jiafei and others were stunned: "If you lose money, it's also valuable?" ”

Wei Dongsheng repeated his assertion: "Yes, you heard it right. Even if World of Warcraft ends up with less than 1,000 players online, I can make $200 million with it. ”