Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2191 The background of buying

Sports games are an important category of games, including e-sports, which is actually a branch of sports, and it may enter the Olympic Games in the future.

Regardless of whether there is a provocative incident by EA, in the long run, Changyou will definitely lay out the sports game track.

Zhou Buqi owns Manchester United, Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, Zurich, San Jose Earthquakes and other teams. He has such a great influence in the sports industry. If he does not make sports games, it will be a waste of resources.

In the sports game industry, the most influential company is of course EA.

Because EA has FIFA Soccer.

The second largest game giant is take-two, which owns the flagship 2K game series.

However, because take-two does not have football games, the brand awareness of "2K" is not enough, and the main sales volume is only in North America.

There are too many sports game companies in Europe.

Without football games, it would be difficult for take-two to open up the European market.

Because there has been a wave of basketball fever in China, many domestic players have played 2KNBA, but the focus of players is "NBA", not "2K".

In other words, the brand of 2K sports games has not really been established under the hands of take-two.

At least the degree of globalization is not enough, and it is limited to the North American market, which is relatively small.

Zhou Buqi asked Changyou to buy the company Take-Two, not only because this company owns well-known series such as "Civilized City", "BioShock", "Grand Theft Auto", "Red Dead Redemption", "Duke Nukem" and so on. Games, the more important reason is that he has his eye on the sports brand "2K".

He has the advantage of foresight, and he must make good use of it.

It’s not that the 2K brand will shine in the future. In fact, take-two in the previous life has become a top game giant, with a market value close to 300 billion US dollars, and they have not established the “2K” sports game brand.

The fundamental reason is that there is no football.

It is FIFA that is not on guard.

What if Changyou makes "FIFA Pro Evolution Soccer" and further strengthens the "FIFA" brand, and when the contract expires, what if FIFA does not authorize it?
Or, FIFA is willing to authorize, but asks for sky-high authorization fees, what should I do?
Just like in the previous life when EA's "FIFA Football" was in full swing, it was blackmailed by FIFA. EA is unwilling to give money, so "FIFA Football" can only be renamed "EA Football".

In fact, the name "EA Football" is also very good, because "EA" is also a very strong sports game brand.

The splash screen of all EA games will have a large logo of "EA".

So what about PES?
Changyou's own brand is far inferior to EA, which has been cultivating for decades, so you can't continue to use Konami's "PES" name, right?Isn't Changyou using its own resources to advertise for Konami?
Zhou Buqi would not do this kind of thing.

Therefore, we must acquire take-two.

The "2K" brand should be brought over.

Then, by relying on "Pro Evolution Soccer", the "2K" brand will be truly developed and turned into a world-class game brand, and an impression will be planted in the players' minds - as long as they play sports games, they will play "2K" ".

In this way, any potential problems are resolved.

If FIFA turns its back on people in the future and wants to do something about the "FIFA" trademark authorization, let them do it.Changyou wants to develop the brand of "Pro Evolution Soccer" in the direction of "2K" instead of "FIFA".

However, this matter cannot be rushed.

Fortunately, the "FIFA" trademark authorization signed with FIFA is for each period of ten years.

There are ten years to operate.

enough!
In the short term, with the influence of football, the authority of FIFA, and the popularity of PES, the game "FIFA2KPES" will be launched.

It mainly uses "FIFA" and "PES" as the selling point of marketing.

Borrowing chicken and laying eggs, using these two powerful brands to strengthen players' impression of "2K".

After three or four years, when the players are familiar with the football game "FIFA2KPES", they can change the name appropriately, and change "PES" to the more accurate "Football", called "FIFA2KFootball".

This completes the transfer of the brand.

From the core "PES" to "FIFA" and "2K".

Continue this line of thought for the next few years.

Strengthening the brand attribute of "2K" step by step and weakening the influence of "FIFA" is to focus on "2K" and supplement "FIFA" in the marketing of the game and the design of the main interface.

We should use the authority of "FIFA" to give impetus to "2K".

The game was renamed again, and it was called "2KFIFA Football".

By this time, the "2K" brand was built on football games.

In the beginning, players would choose to play this game, partly because of the attraction of "FIFA" and partly because of the attraction of "PES".Slowly, it is necessary to de-"PES" and weaken the sense of existence of "FIFA", with "2K" as the core.

Players recognized this game because of "2K".

At that time, not to mention that the FIFA Lions will open their mouths to blackmail Changyou, if FIFA does not perform well, Changyou may take the initiative to disengage from them.

The "FIFA" trademark has little actual value to the game.

The final name of this game should be "2KFootball".

就像《2K篮球》《2K橄榄球》《2K棒球》《2K美式摔跤》一样，应该叫做《2K足球》。

Therefore, Changyou must complete the acquisition of take-two.

Changyou is too young, and the development time is too short.

Insufficient background.

If you do a lot of things from scratch, it will be too slow.

If you want to quickly grab some territory in the core game market, the best way is to trade space for time.Get the copyright of "Pro Evolution Soccer", buy the "2K" trademark, and effectively integrate them in the future, let's work together!
Together with Ren Yuxin, Zhou Buqi signed a series of contracts with Konami around "Pro Evolution Soccer".And a strategic capital increase agreement, Konami will issue 4% of the shares to Changyou in a targeted manner, and get 2 million US dollars.

However, every week has come, and there must be some extra gains.

Zhou Buqi improvised again, saying that he wanted to buy out the mobile game copyrights of the two games "Contra" and "Red Fortress" at a price of 200 million US dollars.

This request is really unreasonable.

However, he is the richest man in the world, so he can't completely refuse.

Tuo was also hesitant last month, so he looked at his father.

Jingzheng was also a little angry last month, but now he is under too much pressure, external public opinion is turbulent, and internal management conflicts, so he is about to be forced to resign. He really doesn't have the heart to compete with Boss Zhou. It's embarrassing to say : "You can only choose one!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "What about the price?"

Yuejing glanced at him, "I need to pay more!"

The old game "Contra" has long been in Konami's warehouse. It has been many years, and no one plays it anymore.

This is an old tradition that Konami has always criticized.

Once a certain blockbuster game is developed, all the business departments will start to squeeze out all the value of this game.

The current "Contra" contributes less than $100 million in revenue to Konami every year.

Moreover, what Zhou Buqi asked for was the mobile game version, which was not related to Konami's current business.

Sell ​​it and sell it.

Zhou Buqi just mentioned it casually, but he didn't expect his face to be so big, so he asked, "How much?"

Jing Zheng said last month: "A game costs 200 million dollars."

Zhou Buqi was silent for a while, and then said with complicated eyes: "Then let's take a step back, I want both games, a total of 300 million US dollars."

Last month, Jingzheng took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "It's just the mobile game version."

"Of course." Zhou Buqi smiled, "If the mobile game version fails, you won't lose; if the mobile game version succeeds, these two old games will become popular again, and maybe they can also drive the field of console games. Not bad."

Last month, Yuejing was getting older and couldn't keep up with energy, so he waved his hand weakly, "That's how it is."

It turned out to be a deal.

Ren Yuxin was stunned.

In the past period of time, it's not that he hasn't communicated with Konami about cooperation in other games, but the attitude of the other party is very conservative.Cooperation is possible, but not now, and it is not a buyout model.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Boss Zhou made his appearance, he would be finalized in a few words.

This is an invisible big hand manipulating behind the scenes, right?

This is the industry influence, right?
Not to mention him, even Zhou Buqi himself was a little surprised.

This is the benefit of the richest man in the world, right?
Face is really useful!

In the end, last month Jingzheng sent out an invitation.

Now that the negotiation is over, it's time to celebrate.Tomorrow night, Konami will hold an open celebration reception. At that time, some industry celebrities and some media reporters will be invited to announce the cooperation between Konami and Changyou. Everyone will witness together.

Especially hope that Zhou Buqi can be there in person.

Zhou Buqi was not very willing to come forward, but taking advantage of others, he always wanted to reciprocate courtesy, so he agreed.

Surrounded by many people, the negotiating team led by Zhou Buqi and Ren Yuxin finally left Konami's headquarters.Looking back, this building has a total of 6 floors and is located in a prime location in Tokyo.

All show the heritage of Konami.

It is impossible for Changyou’s branch in Japan to acquire land in such a good location, and even if it does, it is impossible to build only a small 6-story building.

In terms of background, Changyou is still a bit short.

but it does not matter.

Insufficient background, you can buy it!
For 300 million US dollars, I bought the mobile game copyrights of the two games "Contra" and "Red Fortress", and it was a buyout clause...

This business is simply too cost-effective!

Once you have a beginning, it's easy to handle.

The mobile game copyrights of "Contra" and "Red Fortress" have been bought so easily, so will the mobile game copyrights of Konami's other classic old games be far behind?
Well, cooperation, of course, is mutually beneficial, the more the better!
(End of this chapter)