My rebirth is different

Chapter 539 Blizzard's Crisis

"Mike, World of Warcraft must be entrusted to our Facebook game as an agent. You know, in China, there is no more suitable partner than our Facebook game."

Bryan said sincerely to Mike Mohaimi, the boss of Blizzard Studios.

The two of them are also old colleagues, and Brian has also worked under Mike Morhaimi for many years, so Brian came here without going around the corner, and directly expressed his thoughts.

"Bryan, why don't you continue to develop your own company, oh, I understand, you failed to make those few damn online games last year, right? Haha, I persuaded you at the beginning. For games, how could South Korea be better than us in Europe and the United States. But you just didn’t listen to my advice and insisted on importing games there, and now the company has been acquired.” Mike Mohaimi said with a smile.

This remark was a bit heartbreaking, and Brian retorted unconvinced: "Mike, times have changed! Don't underestimate those game companies in Korea, look at the hottest online games in China now, legends, miracles, no matter how you belittle them games, but they make money! Make a lot of money! That’s what a good game is.”

Mike Morwaime smiled contemptuously, and waved his index finger, "No, no, games are a kind of art! Look at those games produced by Blizzard, they can not only achieve commercial success, but also bring great joy to players. The same game experience, this kind of game can be called a work of art. I have also tried to play the legendary miracle you mentioned. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a fast food game without depth and artistic sense! The studio is working on After the developed World of Warcraft comes out, you will understand what a large-scale online game is!"

Brian admitted this point, World of Warcraft is not a newly established game, this game has been established for several years, and it is rumored that it has been in development for a full ten years!
Of course, Brian knew the inside story and knew that it didn't take that long, but it has been eight years since the project was established.

In eight years, the game that has been created is a god-level game studio like Blizzard, and the quality can be imagined.

It's a pity that he didn't have the chance to represent this game. Of course, now at the Facebook game company, he can be regarded as representing in another way.

"Okay, old buddy, let's stop talking about art, let's talk about real business. On behalf of Facebook Game Company, I formally apply to represent World of Warcraft in mainland China." Brian said seriously.

This is also the most important purpose of his coming this time, to win the agency right of World of Warcraft!

Talking about business, Mike Mohaime also became serious. World of Warcraft is the most important project of Blizzard Studio in the next few years, and he will certainly not be careless.

However, how World of Warcraft operates may not have the final say on him.

…………

At Blizzard in early 2003, the two founders, Mike Mohaimi and Alan Adhan, were still in power.

In the global game circle, there are quite a few people who don’t know the experience of Blizzard entrepreneurs. One important reason is that Blizzard has always been unwilling to use the media to hype itself.

In 1998, Alan Adhan resigned as president and became the chairman of the company's board of directors, and Mike Morhaime took over as president.Retiring from the first line to the second line, as a consultant, Alan Adham hopes that he can have enough time to return to game design.

However, there is a very interesting phenomenon, that is, the news of Alan Adhan's resignation did not generate any response among the players, and it did not reduce the players' good impression of Blizzard. Many players even did not know that Blizzard's top management had changed.

A very simple reason is that outside of Blizzard employees, no one really knows who Alan Adhan is and what he does.

There are countless players around the world who are obsessed with Diablo, Warcraft, and StarCraft.However, most players don't know who the producers of these games are!

"We love game design work, but we need to focus on game products!" The happiness gained from the game development process is enough for Blizzard entrepreneurs to avoid any temptation from the outside world. Plowing and even contact with the outside world remain largely closed.At Blizzard, everyone from the boss to the employees keeps a low profile, and the company's doors are rarely opened to the outside world. Blizzard people only focus on their own careers.

This is in stark contrast to the strange phenomenon that some company bosses are more famous than their company's products.

That is, when Mike Morhaime and Alan Adhan were in power, Blizzard was the real Blizzard, and it was held on the altar by players.

However, the development of Blizzard is not so smooth. Most players only know Blizzard, but they don’t know that Blizzard was acquired and resold several times in the 2003s. In [-], the parent company behind it was Wei Wang. di.

In 1994, Blizzard was acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates.

In 1996, Sierra and Davidson & Associates were acquired by CUC International.

In 1998, Sierra and Davidson & Associates were sold to Havas News Agency.

In the same year, Havas News Agency was acquired by Vivendi, and then both Blizzard and Xueleshan became Vivendi's younger brothers.

As for Vivendi, the company is notorious in the industry.

I don’t know how many well-known game companies have died in its hands. If the history does not change, just this year, in 2003, the four original founders of Blizzard will completely fall out with the parent company Vivendi.

In 2003, due to disagreements with Vivendi, the four founders of Northern Blizzard resigned collectively, causing an uproar in the industry.These four founders are also the core creators of the "Diablo" series of games, so they are also known as the "Dark Four".This year, a total of 30 employees left Blizzard North.The large-scale exodus of personnel severely hurt Blizzard North. In 2005, Blizzard announced that Blizzard North was closed, and Blizzard North's ongoing project "Diablo 3" was also postponed.

When it comes to Vivendi, many people may be unfamiliar with it, but this company has a lot of history.

Vivendi, Disney, Time Warner and other entertainment giants are among the world's eight giant media multinational groups, and their business scope includes music, television, film, publishing, telecommunications, Internet and games.In addition to games, its Universal Music is the world's largest record company, with more than 25% of the global music market share. In terms of movies, it once controlled Universal Pictures, one of the eight major Hollywood film companies.

This giant with a history of more than 100 years is very legendary in itself. In 1853, Napoleon III, the emperor of the Second French Empire, personally signed a decree to establish the "General Water Company", which was the predecessor of Vivendi.

Since 1980, General Water Company began to use acquisitions to expand its business categories. At first, it was related to the water environment, such as waste treatment, sewage irrigation, etc., and then gradually spread to energy, logistics, construction and other major categories.Basically, which industries are popular, or which industries have favorable policies, we will buy companies in those industries.Their earliest foray into the tertiary industry was in 1983 when they helped establish Canal+, France's first pay TV station.

The company has since stepped up its forays into the telecommunications and media industries.By now, the company's business categories have been diversified, and the word "water affairs" is no longer suitable as a company name.

In 1998, General Water Company changed its name to the familiar "Vivendi".

This year was also the year when they entered the field of vision of gamers - both Blizzard and Xuele Mountain belonged to him.

…………

"Old man, this matter... I may not be of much help to you." Mike Morwaime shook his head and said in a low voice.

Brian was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "Mike, what happened? You are the president of Blizzard, so you have the final say on who the agent will be handed over to?"

Mike Mowaime smiled, twisted his bloated body to open the refrigerator to get two cans of iced Coke, and handed a can to Brian.

"Bang!" He opened the can of Coke, drank more than half of it in one go, and belched contentedly.

Then he said: "As you know, Blizzard's parent company is Vivendi, this damn French Rooster! They only have money in their eyes, and they don't care about any game or development! Recently, Alan and I talked to Vivendi. We met and held a few meetings, and the two sides have great differences on the future development of Blizzard. Vivendi is also dissatisfied with us, saying that Blizzard is too slow in making games. Damn, they think games are an industry Can a high-quality game be produced on the assembly line? So..."

"So what?" Brian asked quickly.

"So, Allen and I talked privately, and it is likely that we will leave Blizzard soon." Mike Mohaimi said frankly.

Brian and him are old acquaintances, and if he wants to leave Blizzard, there is no constraint on him, so it doesn't matter whether it is confidential or not.

This startled Brian. If both Mike and Allen left, could this Blizzard still be called Blizzard?

You know, these two people are the soul of Blizzard.

From Diablo to Warcraft to Interstellar, these three god-level IPs of Blizzard were all created under the leadership of these two founders.

"Is there no room for redemption? Blizzard is the hard work of you and Allen, so you just gave up?" Brian asked, staring closely at Mike Morwaime.

"Hey..., if there was even a chance, why would we want to leave? Since Blizzard was acquired for the first time, it was doomed to no longer belong to me and Allen. Now I regret selling the shares at the beginning. said Mike Morwaime with a wry smile.

He and Allen may be the simplest and most persistent game producers, with high IQ but low EQ.

Back then, when they had just made some achievements, they were fooled by the capital side, saying that they would be given the greatest autonomy, the most sufficient funds, and fully support them in making the best games in the world. In this way, they were fooled. Directly handed over the company's controlling stake...

(End of this chapter)