Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 650 Dominating the online literature market (4K)

Chen Ran’s excuse was very clever.

He even hinted between the lines that Blizzard's pickyness and the complexity of the negotiations seriously affected his preparations during the winter training.

As a result, he was unable to get into the best possible condition for the competition at this year's Australian Open.
This is the main reason why Chen Ran lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open final.

In short, no matter whether this is true or false, just put the blame on the Americans.

wronged?

Anyway, Blizzard has been severely criticized by the media controlled by Chen Ran in recent times.

So it doesn’t matter if I take more blame.

"The contract renewal negotiations with Blizzard have seriously affected our competitive state."

"The Yanjing Olympics are approaching, and I don't want to be dragged down by these things anymore."

"Transferring the agency rights to Penguin is the best option. We don't even need to change the computer room where the game server is located."

Anyway, the two companies are almost in the same boat.

Apart from the change of agent name, there is basically no difference.

At the same time, Penguin Entertainment also announced that it would devote all its energy and enthusiasm to negotiate with Blizzard about the renewal of "World of Warcraft".

After all, you don’t want the game to be down for a few months, right?
Only if Penguin takes over the agency rights from Golden Slam Company can a seamless connection be achieved, and players will not suffer any losses.

NetEase? If you want to interfere, don't you worry that they will do something secretly, causing problems in the handover of the agency rights?

This will greatly affect your reputation among players.

Do you really want to do something that costs money but is thankless?

What's more, there is a widely circulated saying on the Internet nowadays: In Penguin's games, you can become stronger if you spend money, but in NetEase's games, you will still be a grandson even if you spend money.

Chen Ran's actions were praised by countless fans, and even the official media couldn't help but praise him, saying: This is an athlete who puts national interests above personal interests.

"In order to better prepare for the Yanjing Olympics, he reluctantly gave up the right to renew the contract for this game, which means that Chen Ran gave up a considerable amount of commercial income in the future."

"He is worth learning for all of us!"

"The defeat in the Australian Open final sounded the alarm for Chen Ran! He is ready to go all out in preparation for the Beijing Olympics and cannot afford any mistakes."

The outside world could not find any fault with Chen Ran's behavior.

Blizzard was so angry that it gritted its teeth, but it couldn't say anything unless they completely gave up the Chinese market.

As for negotiating contract renewal with the Penguins, they have no objection.

Although Penguin is not as good as NetEase in the gaming business today, its network business outside of games is far better than NetEase.

From Blizzard's perspective, whoever is an agent is not an agent. They are also trying to make money, but they don't have any lofty ideals.

NetEase was also depressed. They originally thought that Jin Man Guan Company was a small fry and could be easily controlled. The probability of poaching was almost certain.

As a result, he suddenly discovered that his competitor had turned into a penguin, and this business battle once again became confusing.

……

"Finally, a big stone in my chest has been put down!"

Chen Ran heaved a long sigh of relief after completing the handover of the "World of Warcraft" agency rights with Penguin's Mark.

In fact, he knew very well that the era when this game brought huge profits to agents was over.

The first agency contract, which was during a period of exploration of the unknown Chinese market, brought Chen Ran huge dividends.

After learning its lesson, Blizzard will definitely take the biggest piece of the pie in the second agency contract.

Chen Ran was not interested in the remaining leftovers.

After all, his company doesn't need to care as much about revenue data as Penguin or NetEase, let alone stock prices.

"The money that should be earned has been earned, and it is indeed time to withdraw!"

Chen Ran is very clear about the principle of "quit while you're ahead".

Too many people have become jealous of me being the agent of this lucrative game, and now is definitely the perfect time to withdraw.

"Anyway, the games we currently have can all use QQ to attract traffic, and we also have Qidian.com and Qianqian Jingting Player, so we are able to be self-reliant."

He told the company's management about his idea, "If you feel that this company is too small to accommodate your ambitions and talents, you can choose to leave. I won't force you."

Chen Ran understood that when he took the initiative to give up the right to renew the contract for "World of Warcraft", people in the company would definitely be moved.

Many people feel that Jin Man Guan’s position in the industry will be reduced and that it no longer has the strength to compete with other established Internet companies.

Those who think highly of themselves will feel that this small temple cannot accommodate them and will want to leave.

Of course, they will not quit their jobs immediately, but they will have second thoughts, and then looking for another job while they are still employed is the inevitable result.

So Chen Ran prepared to cut the Gordian knot and directly clean out those guys with ulterior motives.

With the loss of the agency rights for "World of Warcraft", the company's revenue will inevitably decline by a large margin, and the bonuses of these management teams will also be reduced accordingly.

Coupled with Chen Ran's provocation, it is estimated that there will soon be a wave of resignations among the management.

After all, in this era, China's Internet market can be said to be thriving, and new companies are constantly being established.

With their experience at Golden Slam, it is not difficult for these managers to find their next employer.

Chen Ran also considered this and deliberately brought it up at this time.

In any case, in China's Internet market, which is extremely inward-looking, there is never a shortage of outstanding talents.

When the disloyal management leaves, new blood will immediately come in.

They are not irreplaceable, not like himself and Liu Xiang!
Sure enough, within a week after Chen Ran held the talk, management resigned one after another.

The number of people was even greater than he had imagined.

Seeing his cousin Zhu Xiaoli's anxious look, Chen Ran felt happy in his heart.

A three-legged frog is hard to find, but will a two-legged person be hard to find?
Chen Ran didn't care about it at all, and even welcomed it.

The company's old employees are leaving and new employees are joining at the same time.

This is a good era, a period of economic growth, so employees change jobs very frequently, and everyone dreams of getting a promotion and a raise.

This is not like the period of economic downturn, when employees, especially management adjustments, must be thought twice before making any move. Moreover, all the newly recruited employees are full of hope and enthusiasm.

"Sister, you have to believe me. Although our company may not become an Internet giant, our vitality is very tenacious. Don't look at those prosperous companies now. They will go bankrupt one after another in the future, but we can still survive." Chen Ran said confidently.

My cousin Zhu Xiaoli was a little unconvinced and asked, "Why are you so confident?"

"This thing cannot be explained too transparently, but you will know if you wait and see. Perhaps in two or three years you will be able to see some clues." Chen Ran smiled calmly.

Anyway, when the Penguin Empire is established in the future, among the many large and small companies that cooperate with it for mutual benefit, if there is to be a founding ceremony, Chen Ran and the Golden Slam Company will definitely be ranked first among the nobles.

"World of Warcraft", Qidian Chinese website, Qianqian Jingting, and various web games and terminal games are actively bundled with Penguin through Q coin recharge or QQ, which in turn facilitated the cooperation between Penguin and JD.com.

Now, Chen Ran has taken the initiative to transfer the agency rights to Tencent.

Even Zhang Xiaolong, who later founded WeChat, did not make this great contribution.

What's more, Chen Ran can also use this WeChat idea at any time.

In the long days to come, as long as the Penguin Empire does not go bankrupt, he and his Golden Slam Company will always have no worries.

It is said that having your back against a big tree is good for enjoying the shade.

"Do we still need to develop new games?" Zhu Xiaoli continued to ask, "Or find a new game agent."

Chen Ran pondered for a while and said with a smile: "Forget about being an agent for the game. It's not necessary."

It's 2008 now, not the barbaric 2004.

Any game that is slightly popular is basically targeted by major domestic companies.

For example, Penguin recently acquired the popular "Cross Fire" and "Dungeon & Fighter" not long ago.

Chen Ran immediately ruled out this possibility.

"Don't forget, we have an advantage of being close to the water and getting the moon first. There is no need to go far away to represent games!" Chen Ran said very firmly, "Our new game "God's Tomb" will be launched soon. This means that for all future games, we can choose from those popular novels on Qidian."

"It's much cheaper to pay the author some copyright fees than to pay the agency fees to those foreign companies."

As for the game development costs?

Perfect World has set an example for him. You can use one engine to develop multiple games, and the essence remains the same.

As long as the plot, content and gameplay are up to standard, the probability of failure is basically negligible.

In terms of operations, as long as there is QQ traffic, there will be no shortage of new users.

"Oh, I see... What you mean is to find suitable games to adapt from those novels. This is indeed a good idea." Zhu Xiaoli also agreed with Chen Ran's opinion and nodded in approval.

Chen Ran held his chin and pondered for a while.

He always felt that now was a very good opportunity to continue expanding the company's business.

But this business is not about games, nor is it about online videos.

In the next few years, online videos will be very popular, but in the early stages of this business, you will just keep burning money. When you can’t burn any more money, you will introduce big capital to get involved.

Chen Ran had no interest in such a krypton gold-winning thing.

After all, he and his company have already been confirmed as the top nobles of the Penguin Empire, so why would they bother with the in-game currency of online videos?
So where should we expand?
Zhu Xiaoli reported her work to herself: "Now our company's only market advantage is the online novel market. The current market share has reached more than 60%."

"What, only 60%?"

Chen Ran was a little surprised: "I have launched so many welfare policies before, and this is only the market share? I thought it was at least 70%!"

Zhu Xiaoli said helplessly: "If you start an arms race, others will also start an arms race, so other websites have also increased the benefits of contracted authors."

"There is one more point... it's crucial!" She paused and continued, "After all, a novel website has a limited number of recommendation slots. If you have too many novels, you will have fewer opportunities to be exposed. For some people, there is also a mentality that they would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix."

"At least they can get a lot of referral resources on other websites."

Chen Ran suddenly realized that this was indeed the truth.

Just like the NBA has gathered basketball talents from all over the world, the CBA will always have a lot of regular local fans.

Some authors would rather stay on small websites as a front, at least the recommended resources can be guaranteed.

I think the competition for recommended spots is really fierce.

"No, absolutely not!" Chen Ran said firmly, "A noble son can come from a poor family, so those small novel websites may also have a hit."

"It is indeed possible, but there is nothing you can do about it." Zhu Xiaoli said helplessly.

Chen Ran took a deep breath and made up his mind: "I transferred the agency rights of "World of Warcraft" before, and I also received a lot of transfer fees from Penguin. If we buy it, we will buy it fiercely!"

"What to buy?" Zhu Xiaoli was puzzled for a moment.

Chen Ran clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Catch all the novel websites on the market that are second only to ours in size and buy them all! It won't cost much, we are not short of money now!"

The primary target is the second and third brothers’ novel websites, and Chen Ran plans to buy them all.

My current financial strength is indeed not enough to compete with NetEase, so I can only pull out Penguin, but facing these small-armed and small-legged novel websites, I am ready to strike hard.

Considering the current size of Golden Slam Company, that would be a complete dimensionality reduction attack.

Buy all you can!

It is true that Qidian does not have enough recommendation positions for a single novel website, but with so many websites in its hands, the authors don’t have to worry about recommendation positions.

Chen Ran also plans to enable data interoperability among major novel websites in the future.

"Buy all the competitive novel websites on the market, and then become a group company that monopolizes the online literature market. Let's call it China Literature Group!" Chen Ran even thought of a name.

He still leans against the big tree of Penguin, but this time he becomes the holder.

"With our financial strength, there is indeed no problem." Zhu Xiaoli thought about it and nodded, "Okay, then I'll do it right away!"

She had never considered acquiring the other party before, thinking that since she could just crush them directly, why not suppress them.

However, this time, after being enlightened by Chen Ran, it is a good idea to turn competitors into one's own people at the lowest cost.

A few days later, a tragic scene of wailing and howling appeared in the online literature market.

Jin Man Guan Company is too shameless. It couldn't beat NetEase, so it had to transfer the agency rights of "World of Warcraft" to Penguin. Now it's taking it out on us small novel websites, right?

……

(End of this chapter)