New York 2006

Chapter 186 Internet Speed
The new headquarters of Holi Gaming Company is located in "New York's Silicon Alley" in lower Manhattan, close to famous schools such as New York University and Columbia University.

The concept of "New York's Silicon Alley" was proposed during the Internet boom of the last century, but it has always been tepid.

Until recent years, with the support of Mayor Bloomberg, a lot of resources have been invested in urban reconstruction and policy support, and some start-ups have begun to settle in, gradually gaining the title of "Eastern Silicon Valley". Of course, compared to the real Silicon Valley, There is still a big difference in strength between the two.

After financing, Holi Game Company has been looking for a new headquarters, and "New York's Silicon Alley" is naturally the best choice. As a technology company, Holi Game Company has easily received policy support from the New York City Government, mainly tax exemptions.

"Hi, boss."

Luo Ji walked into the company venue. The decoration was indeed much better than the previous company venue on Broadway.

The company has a canteen, game room, gym, psychological counseling room and pet room.The overall atmosphere of the company is relatively relaxed, there is no dress code, and the corporate culture is close to Silicon Valley.

The company suddenly had a strong character, and Luo Ji was very satisfied with at least the face-saving skills.Isn’t this what a big company should be like?
Luo Ji said to the company employees around him: "Let the CEO come to my office to report on his work."

Luo Ji came to his office and looked out the window. He could see the logos of established companies such as GuGou, Microsoft, and Oracle.They have their own branches in New York's Silicon Alley.

"Logic, in the past four months, the company's total expenditure was 3100 million meters. The main expenditures were the acquisition of friends' transactions, vigorous promotion of friends' transactions, server construction, employee daily wages and company decoration. The total income in the past four months was 2000 million meters For knives, the main income comes from friend trading and Texas Hold'em poker. The main income platform is Facebook, which accounts for 80% of the income."

"In the past four months, the total number of game users has reached 2000 million, and the number of daily active users has reached 300 million. The most active users are friends buying and selling, and the number of daily active users has reached 80, which is more than 30 for MyYearbook's "Owned" More than double, their game is also ranked in the top ten.”

Luo Ji was a little dissatisfied: "Are you still stalking MyYearbook's "Owned"? They obviously copied our friend's business."

"They are not short of money and have been competing with us. Without our first-mover advantage and huge number of users, we would probably have a [-]-[-] tie with them."

Luo Ji said seriously: "Then let's take legal action. At least it will deter them."

"Ok."

Yang Jian continued: "But public opinion may not be very good to us. Their founder is a beautiful high school student, and the media likes her very much. If the lawsuit is won in the end and a precedent is formed, it will also be very bad for our future strategies. . After all, in social games, it’s impossible not to imitate others in game mode.”

This is a bit like shooting yourself in the foot!

"let it go!"

Luo Ji thought for a while and said, "Then increase the promotion efforts. After three months, I don't want to see their game appear in the top ten of the rankings."

"Ok."

Yang Jian continued to report: "Ranking second is our Texas Hold'em poker, with 42 daily active users. Others such as Scrabble with friends, pet development and life sims are also among the top ten daily active games. Rush Tetris, Falling outside the top [-]. We still have three games left between [-] and [-]."

"Ah."

Yang Jian continued: "In addition to the top ten, recently, there are three games with a very popular increase in the number of active users. One was developed by us based on the game model of friend buying and selling, Pet Association. Unlike friend buying and selling, which directly uses people to socialize, we It’s about using pets to socialize, and it’s growing very fast.”

"Great. This is innovation."

Luo Ji praised: "If this game can reach the level of buying and selling among friends in the future, the company will reward it with shares from the creative reward pool."

"There are two other games, one is Parking Wars, a battle for parking spaces. This game is adapted from the recent popular variety show. The number of people is growing very fast and the gameplay is also very unique. We have contacted them and they have games for sale. plan."

Luo Ji had played this game before after being reminded by the company, and he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

"Then continue to contact us and acquire this game as soon as possible. Money is not an issue, time is the most important thing. These popular games have the same price every month."

"I will!"

Yang Jian continued: "However, the game that is growing the fastest right now is a game called Mob Wars. This game style is very unique, like an innovation in social games. It is a multiplayer online role-playing crime game , through social interaction, many players form a crime family to facilitate leveling and organize group attacks. Each player's character can choose to be independent, create his own crime family, or join another crime family. Just like the real mafia Like gangsters."

Luo Ji knew about this game and had played it before, but it didn't feel familiar to him.

However, there is a market for crime games like this in Omi, just like GTA, which sell very well.Every time a new series is released it creates a huge buzz in the gaming community.

Yang Jian continued: "This game can be said to be the most playable and innovative social game among current social games. However, their company directly quoted 6000 million yuan, and the lion opened its mouth."

"It's time to put our strategy into practice."

Luo Ji's eyes were sharp and he said directly: "Then imitate their game model and create a new game. Don't be afraid of legal matters."

"Ok."

Yang Jian continued: "But when it comes to the law, Hasbro recently sued us because our Scrabble game with friends is very similar to their Scrabble game. It is very likely that our game will be forced by the court. shelf."

"Hasbro, which company produces Transformers?"

"Ah."

Luo Ji was surprised: "Does the Scrabble game we usually play at home or in newspapers still have copyrights?"

"Yes, this game was invented in 1938, and the copyright belongs to Hasbro. We only found out about this recently when we received the lawsuit documents."

Luo Ji angrily cursed: "It's been 70 years, and the damn Mickey Mouse Act has extended the time by so much. These old companies are really disgusting."

"Oh, I didn't expect that either."

Luo Ji continued: "Can we reconcile?"

Yang Jian said seriously: "They are unwilling. We have contacted them. Hasbro's purpose is to operate this game alone. It is impossible to cooperate with us."

"Hasbro, Hasbro." Luo Ji muttered, "They are a listed company, so they are not easy to mess with." Yang Jian said, "Yes, we have consulted Jamie's law firm. We will lose the lawsuit. Undoubtedly. These established companies will not give in at all to the protection of copyright."

Luo Ji thought for a moment: "Is there any way to avoid being forced to take it off the shelves?"

"It is necessary to modify the interface and then rewrite the code. However, after the modification, it will no longer be the Scrabble game that the public is familiar with. There is a certain threshold for getting started, which may affect the popularity of the game and the number of new users."

Luo Ji said helplessly: "Then modify it. At least we can keep the game running."

After reporting on his work, Luo Ji, accompanied by Yang Jian, came to the company's new department, the mobile game development department.There are currently only eight employees here, which is nothing compared to the more than 80 people working on social game development.

This department was temporarily formed after Luo Ji received an invitation from Apple to launch a third-party developer platform.

Although this department is small, Luo Ji has great expectations. Smartphones will definitely replace traditional mobile phones, so this department is likely to grow into a behemoth.So now he is directly under his leadership.

"How is the development progress of the first game now?"

The head of the department said: "Nowadays, the memory of mobile phones is relatively small, so the games developed cannot be very large. Now we are optimizing this aspect. Moreover, Apple mobile phones have a unique IOS system, and the development method is also different from the current mobile phone software development. , there are some technologies that we are not very familiar with yet, and we need to develop them over and over again to learn this knowledge.”

Luo Ji asked, "When can I see the finished product?"

"It will take at least three months, but you will definitely see it when it is launched in Apple's APP store."

Next, the person in charge demonstrated it to Luo Ji. The game was obviously a semi-finished product, but it could be seen from the appearance that it was a mobile online game, which was very similar to the mobile online games currently on the market.

Luo Ji warned: "Let's continue on our path. Mobile games are free and items are charged. Remember to set up more levels to guide users to pay, you know?"

"Ah."

A week later, Luo Ji came to the social game department to observe the development progress of the game Mafia Wars.The mechanics of this game completely replicate the Mob Wars game mode.

The person in charge of game development said: "In more than a month, we will be able to complete the production and launch it."

"very good."

Luo Ji continued: "The game mode can be imitated, but the animations and characters must be redesigned. Don't let others see at a glance that you are imitating their style, you know?"

"I understand, and I will communicate closely with the company's legal department and design department."

"That's good."

As soon as Luo Ji finished speaking, Fiona patted him on the shoulder and reminded: "The signing team is already here."

"OK."

Luo Ji followed Fiona to the conference room. The two middle-aged white men opposite were the developers of Parking War. According to reports from his subordinates, there were only ten people developing the entire game.

Luo Ji stepped forward and shook hands with the two of them with a smile: "Believe us, joining Holi Game Company is the right choice."

"Haha, I believe it too." The middle-aged white man opposite smiled happily.

Luo Ji looked at the acquisition documents in his hand. The acquisition fee was 1500 million US dollars, and 3% of the equity was worth 2500 million US dollars in total.Very satisfied with the price given.

"Happy cooperation!"

"Happy cooperation!"

After signing, Luo Ji nodded with satisfaction. From now on, fighting for parking spaces would be their company's game.He felt more familiar with this game than playing it with friends.

Luo Ji then took him on a tour of the company. After that, their studio would be moved into the company in New York, instead of being run independently in Los Angeles like his friend's deal.

After the tour, Luo Ji and Yang Jian came to his office.

Luo Ji complained: "Nowadays, game purchase prices are getting higher and higher. In the past four months, they have more than doubled."

Yang Jian said with a smile: "There is no shortage of smart people in the world, and everyone is increasingly aware that the market size of social games is expanding rapidly. The price is changing day by day. If you buy a friend now, you will definitely not be able to get it without 4000 million."

Luo Ji curled his lips: "This is not the result of our company's promotion. Without the expenditure of publicity expenses, how could we have the number one position now?"

Yang Jian said: "After this acquisition, the company's funds are obviously not enough. I estimate that it will last until the end of August at most. And it cannot acquire other game companies in the meantime."

Luo Ji thought for a while and said, "It's okay. Let's not raise funds yet. Let's wait until August. The valuation should be higher by then."

Yang Jian said worriedly: "What if there is a special situation and the capital chain is broken? Will the company go bankrupt?"

Luo Ji spoke to reassure him, "It's okay. I'm still here! If it doesn't work, I will borrow money from the company."

"Okay." Yang Jian felt relieved.

Luo Ji then picked up the company's financial statements and looked at them. The current liabilities were 2500 million and the company's cash reserves were 1500 million.Counting this time, the company has already burned 6500 million yuan.

Luo Ji exclaimed: "So this is the speed of the Internet!"

Yang Jian asked doubtfully: "What is it?"

"Burning money!"

(End of this chapter)