20 years of restarting life

Chapter 2630 ArenaNet’s Ideal

"Three gentlemen, the United States is not a country of a single nation, so it also has its own complex diversity. The North American mmorpg game market is now the two regional markets with the highest number of Internet users, networks, and Internet-connected computers in the world."

Qin Xiaolu said with a smile: "Although it is possible that Miracle Mu will not become a mainstream MMORPG game, even if it only becomes a niche game, it is not unworthy of us. Besides, Miracle Mu is a game we only play in North America. A start for the market.”

Qin Xiaolu's words were reasonable and well-founded. Not only Woatt, Brian, and Strien nodded in approval, but also the Chinese and Korean personnel around them all had smiles on their faces.

The first step in the long march of thousands of miles, no matter whether it is done well or not, staggering or not, the first and most important thing is that this first step must be taken first.

"So for New Audio and Video, it can form a perfect fit with your ArenaNet."

Zhao Changan smiled and said something. Although he didn't say it clearly, the meaning of the words was self-evident and everyone present could understand it.

In fact, half a year has passed since Woat, Brian, and Strynn visited the Pearl Cretaceous at the end of last year, and then Li Xiuying took them to visit the Great Wall.

However, in the past six months, ArenaNet is still facing severe financial difficulties.

So far, they have been running around, but they still haven't found an investor willing to invest, and the company has been burning capital.

In the past six months, the three of them deceived several Blizzard elites, resigned with enthusiasm, and jumped to ArenaNet.

After jumping in, everyone was asked to work hard and struggle together for the development of the company - and to take money to invest in shares.

If these fools hadn't entered the market and used money to support it, ArenaNet might have been at the end of its rope.

But in fact, ArenaNet is almost at the end of its rope.

Except for the dozen of their internal employees who are also shareholders of the company who have no money, it took more than a year to see the other dozen investors who decided to invest because of their status as Blizzard elites. , ArenaNet has not even completed the plot and structure of future games, and everyone thinks they have been fooled, so naturally they will not spend a penny to continue investing.

ArenaNet was born at the wrong time, just in time for the global Internet winter. A large number of Internet high-tech companies had to go bankrupt due to insolvency while struggling, and the stock prices of a large number of companies plummeted.

Just like Nortel Networks, whose highest share price reached $120 last year, its current share price is less than $10, causing countless investors to lose their money.

So now those angel investors have been tricked by these shameless Internet unicorns in the past two years. As soon as they hear that it is an emerging high-tech Internet company, a corresponding one will immediately pop up in their heads. The word 'liar!'

The more people like Woatt, Brian, and Strain describe the future of ArenaNet in a golden light, the more investors feel that it is a group of Internet liars.

Moreover, the idea of ​​this game put forward by Woatt, Brian, and Strain is that it has only 20 levels, does not rely on equipment, and does not have large-scale transactions.

This idea earned them cynicism from almost all the potential investors they visited. The most straightforward words were, 'Is this still an MMORPG online game? Why don't you just say it's the Battle.net version of Warcraft, Diablo, and StarCraft? ', 'Originally I thought that you guys disagreed with Blizzard's game design concept, and wanted to see what your different game concepts were. Isn't this the King of the Hill that can only be upgraded to level 10? Is it full level 20? Change the soup but not the medicine, it's still Blizzard! '

Although the words sounded ugly, they were actually bloody.

Up to now, the shareholders in ArenaNet have gone through red-blooded arguments time and time again, and are actually ready to compromise. However, most of them tend to cooperate with NCsoft and become NCsoft's North American branch.

As a well-known mmorpg online game company in Seoul, NCsoft developed "Lineage" and "Lineage II" which dominated the charts in Seoul for nearly a year, and are now operating in North America with quite good results.

Both Cretaceous and Zhuozi, owned by One Nano, operate failed games that have been eliminated and discontinued in Seoul. The reason why there are still players in China is that they have not yet encountered the truly outstanding MMORPG network from abroad. Game impact.

Once struck, whether it is a legend or a millennium, it will collapse and fall apart at the first touch!

And in their view, Seoul's economy is developed and its technology and technology are much higher.

At the beginning of this month, ArenaNet contacted NCsoft again, and the conditions offered by NCsoft became more favorable.

However, NCsoft's bottom line is still to insist on holding a controlling stake, making ArenaNet a subsidiary North American branch.

Rather than being able to continue to be an independent company, as ArenaNet wants, it is a cooperative relationship with NCsoft.

Just when Voyat, Brian, and Strain were about to decide and agree, Yinnan Irvine New Audiovisual Company sent an official open beta to ArenaNet inviting them to the company's Miracle Mu.

Woatt, Brian, and Strain were also curious about what kind of 3D engine game their former colleague Li Xiuying had made, so they came to participate in the public beta ceremony.

And whether Brian or Strion spoke so harshly, it was more because when they saw this scene, they inevitably felt envy and depression in their hearts.

Due to funding reasons, ArenaNet's game development has almost stagnated. They resigned last year with great ambitions, but the reality left them bruised and embarrassed.

It is conceivable that by cooperating with NCsoft, in the long run they may not even be able to achieve the freedom and independence they had at Blizzard.

I originally came out resolutely and wanted to escape the cage, but in the end I was forced by reality and life career, and had to re-enter a cage that was probably smaller and narrower!

As for cooperating with Yinnan, they didn't want to at all. Li Xiuying's Webzen was taken over by the young man in front of him and held 88.1% of the shares, which was even more ruthless than NCsoft!

To put it bluntly, they are all the same as Liu Xiuying. They have ideals but are bitten and bruised by the ferocious beast of capital.

But now they would rather be bitten lightly by NCsoft than fall into the pot of the more ferocious Chinese beast in front of them.

"President Zhao, last year Brian, Strion and I maintained the vision and philosophy of the game we had when we first joined Blizzard - an 'original' starting point that was only for the sake of players and centered on players, and gave up the Position, high salary and honor, we chose the difficult path of entrepreneurship. We never did it to make money.”

Woatt's voice was heavy and his words were very general, but Brian and Strion understood the meaning of Woatt's words, and his face was gloomy and heavy.

Didn’t the elite colleagues from Blizzard, including those in ArenaNet, all resolutely leave Blizzard and enter ArenaNet with this ideal in mind?

However, in the face of the power of capital and reality, they became angry and desperate!