game trailblazer

Chapter 64 Industry Adjustment

The relatively well-known large companies in the American film industry include Warner Bros., Columbia, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal, MGM, etc. In addition, there are many small-scale independent production and distribution companies like New Line.Zhang Lexing prefers large companies with production and distribution. In fact, he is mainly worried that the box office will be affected by distribution problems in the future, so he is not interested in small distribution companies that are easier to acquire.But unexpectedly, these big companies are not cheap now, such as Paramount, the price assessed by experts is no less than 82 billion US dollars. Zhang Lexing doesn't want to buy a company in a daze, and sell it at a loss in a few years, so the film company's acquisition plan can only be postponed.Fortunately, Calvert, who is in charge of the investigation, is very capable. In addition to investigating the situation of the film company, he also attached a simple way to get involved in the film industry at the end of the report-acquisition of the copyright of certain films, and attached a In the list of possible acquisitions, Zhang Lexing found the trace of "Terminator" in it.

The first part of "Terminator" was filmed by director James Cameron in 1984. The production cost of the whole film was 640 million US dollars. Coupled with the subsequent peripheral development, comics and game authorization, Hemdale, which owns the copyright of the film, can be said to have dug a gold mine.Unexpectedly, six years later, Helmdale Company did not develop and grow because of this, but because of its own business problems, it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and had to exchange its own family assets for money to survive. The copyright of "Terminator" was therefore included in the list of legal The sales list is said to have attracted a lot of attention.

"Terminator..." When Zhang Lexing saw the words on the list, his heart trembled, and he felt that he had found a very suitable target. "Terminator" itself is nothing, but it can connect Industrial Light and Magic, James Cameron, Schwarzenegger and other people or things together.Thinking of this, Zhang Lexing dialed the number of Anderson, the person in charge of the Honghe Fund, and gave him the task of buying the copyright of "Terminator" at all costs.

After receiving the notice, Anderson didn't dare to neglect, and immediately went to Hemdale Company to contact.Thomas, the boss of Hemdale Company, relied on more than one company's intentions, and at first wanted to put on airs and wait for a price. Unexpectedly, Anderson directly quoted a price of 1200 million US dollars, which he could not refuse. Thomas was dumbfounded all of a sudden.This can't be completely blamed on Thomas, who made Helmdale Company's mess is not as good as before, and it is almost waiting for the rice to cook every day.It's not that Thomas doesn't want to use several companies to compete to raise the prices of his own products, but apart from Red River Fund, the highest offer from other companies is only 700 million U.S. dollars, and the price difference is too far.Although Thomas is the big brother in charge, he is not the only one who has the final say on everything in the Helmdale Company, so he hesitated again and again, and finally had to accept Anderson's offer to transfer the copyright of "Terminator" to Red River Fund , Zhang Lexing has thus become the new master of "Terminator".

Two days after getting "Terminator", Zhang Lexing was still calculating the resources in his hands, planning how to make full use of them, when Yang Xinxin appeared in front of him with a stranger.

Before Zhang Lexing could ask, Yang Xinxin spoke first: "Brother, you really don't have the self-consciousness to be the boss of the company."

Yang Xinxin's words made Zhang Lexing very embarrassed, and said with a wry smile: "Sister Xin, what you said is really..."

Before Zhang Le could finish his jargon, Yang Xinxin went on to say: "I know you are in a bad mood these days, the film industry invested in anticlimactic behavior, and in the end only won the copyright of one film, and RB's acquisition is difficult. It's very big. But brother, don't you know that there is a kind of person in the world called a corporate sniper?"

"Corporate sniper?" Yang Xinxin was right. Zhang Lexing, who knew little about the financial market, had never heard of this term.

"Enterprise sniper, in simple terms, is to look for companies with investment value or undervalued value, to make profits by acquiring their stocks, entering the board of directors to influence their operations, or even direct acquisitions, and then making profits through splitting and selling .” The stranger who came with Yang Xinxin explained Zhang Lexing’s doubts.

"Sister Xin, who is this?"

"He is my friend Mai Jiajun..."

Mai Jiajun took out a business card and handed it to Zhang Lexing, and said at the same time: "Mr. Zhang, if you have any intentions for corporate M&A, you can contact me."

Zhang Lexing took a look at the business card, and then sized up Mai Jiajun.This person looks dignified, but he looks gentle, honest and honest, not at all as cold as the corporate sniper Zhang Lexing imagined.

"Brother, don't underestimate him. He is also a famous figure on Wall Street. His first debut was to cooperate with Carl Icahn to snipe Trans World Airlines. Thanks to the close cooperation between the two, the project was completed in nine months. After purchasing from zero to 52% of the equity, Carl Icahn got his wish to control Trans World Airlines, and Maggie also earned the first pot of gold in his life. After that, he set up his own firm to help companies in need with M&A (Mergers and acquisitions). If the timing is right, he will also make a direct move. As far as I know, at least he was not idle in 87 and the beginning of this year."

Zhang Lexing believed that Yang Xinxin's introduction should be correct, so he took out the information of Yiqiao Group and handed it to Mai Jiajun, "Mr. Mai, please see if there is any possibility of acquiring this company."

Mai Jiajun took a look at the information and said, "Family business is a bit difficult, but it's not impossible."

Zhang Lexing was overjoyed: "Mr. Mai, what should I do?"

"I need 20 billion US dollars, and I will definitely let you buy this company at a reasonable price before the end of the year, but I hope you will not interfere with how to do it."

Zhang Lexing understands that this is also a gamble. If it succeeds, not only will the strength of Kunpeng Animation greatly increase, but it will also benefit a lot for his future game development career.But if it fails, the money may be wasted.Zhang Lexing's expression changed a few times, he exhaled, and said, "Okay, I believe you."

Mai Jiajun smiled and said: "Mr. Zhang, don't worry, you will soon know that it is worth the money."

A secret war surrounding the Hitobridge Group has thus quietly kicked off...

After two worries were settled, Zhang Lexing's attention turned to the employees who were studying in the United States.It happened to be a vacuum period for Blue Dragon's project, and the developers who had completed the preliminary project were preparing to enjoy their holidays. Only Zhan Jun and his group were different.Just like many people studying abroad in this period, Zhan Jun and others have strict requirements on themselves, seize the time and study hard, so even Albert, the development director of Blue Dragon Company, feels very satisfied with their progress. Incredible.When the employees of Blue Dragon Company were discussing with each other where to go on vacation, Zhan Jun and others gathered in their residence to summarize the experience in the previous project.

Zhang Lexing was very pleased to learn that the employees worked so hard. After reading the evaluation report issued by Albert, he decided to give them a formal training opportunity.I borrowed a conference room from Blue Dragon Company, and held a pre-game development seminar...

A newly-launched Dell 486 computer was placed on the table in the middle of the conference room. The computer was not connected to a monitor, but a projector was used to display the picture on a curtain not far away.There is a whiteboard next to the projection screen, which is used for temporary writing.There are many collected PC games in the computer, such as: Sid Meier's "Pirates" and "Railway Tycoon", Will White's "Sim City", "God Is Crazy" from a British production company, etc. .

"Everyone has been studying for so long, have you ever thought about making a game by yourself?"

Everyone nodded and replied in unison: "Yes!"

"Do you have any ideas for the new game?" Zhang Lexing has high expectations for the team he is training, and hopes that they will have a strong sense of independent innovation, so he does not plan to provide ideas entirely by himself. If he does, I am afraid Will personally kill the creativity of this game development team.In KF-Panda back then, Zhang Lexing suffered from this problem, and finally had to change the planning staff to solve this problem.Zhang Lexing didn't want to be wrong twice on the same question, and he didn't have the capital this time.

There was silence for a while, and people began to stand up and speak.Some people proposed to repackage some games released a few years ago with the latest computer technology. Some people wanted to transplant some popular games on the game console platform to the PC. Of course, some people put forward more "original" suggestions for this kind of game culture-adapting "Journey to the West" into a game...

In the brainstorming of everyone, many ideas were born, but unfortunately, almost none can be used directly. Although some ideas are good, the current PC hardware performance is limited, and its connotation cannot be fully expressed.As for the Sinicization of games, considering the domestic market environment, if it’s just an amateur Sinicization, it’s okay, but if it’s serious to engage in the Sinicization of the imported version, it’s estimated that one will pay for the other, and we’ll wait a few years.

In fact, those ideas that are limited by the performance of PC hardware and cannot fully express their connotations are still very interesting. For example, a man named Zhong Guoqiang claimed to have played "Prince of Persia" and felt that this type of game is very interesting. The idea of ​​turning the space where the prince moves into a three-dimensional space is proposed, and the protagonist of the game is changed to an adventurer in the Republic of China. The game process is no longer about the prince saving the princess, but hunting for treasures in ancient tombs full of traps. Adventurers need to avoid deadly traps while defeating the guards of the tomb.Different ancient tombs will be levels one by one. The more the ancient tombs go, the more organs there will be. Not only will there be traps that hurt people, but there will also be traps that require brains to crack. The corresponding number of tomb guards will also increase. The stronger the guard's ability, the more mysterious the ancient tomb in history will be ushered in after completing the exploration of all ancient tombs in the early stage - Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum.After listening to Zhong Guoqiang's introduction, Zhang Lexing couldn't help but look at him twice, wondering if this guy might have traveled through time, otherwise, how could the creativity be so similar to "Tomb Raider", it can be said to be "Ancient "Tomb Raider" Chinese version.Although there is no way to produce it for the time being, Zhang Lexing has included this idea in the list of necessary developments. As long as the technical strength can keep up by then, I believe that it will definitely produce an effect that surpasses that of "Tomb Raider".Of course, other interesting ideas are also recorded in the idea collection book prepared by Zhang Lexing in advance, and they will only be taken out when the conditions are ripe in the future. This is a valuable asset for the game development company.

Finally, it was Zhan Jun’s turn to speak. He walked to the computer, started the PC version of “Pirate”, and said while demonstrating: “I studied this game carefully some time ago, and it was quite interesting. Players can choose to play as a pirate from a certain country.” , rely on trade, exploration, war (including sword fighting, land battle, sea battle) to obtain honorary titles or material rewards. There are a variety of ships including three-sail fast warships, large sailing ships, and single-masted sailing ships in the game It's a little regrettable that the map is a bit small, and it can only move around Europe. I have an idea, if the map can be expanded to the entire world, and a little more ship types and game items are added, then the player's exploration will be more fun .”

Zhang Lexing couldn't help but looked at Zhan Jun more, and sighed in his heart: "Could it be another rebirth? Why do many of these people's ideas resemble some well-known games in the future?" In fact, Zhang Lexing didn't know, what he knew The game of "The Age of Discovery" is said to be really influenced by Sid Meier's "Pirate", although this statement is not recognized by Guangrong Company.

Since the creativity is similar, Zhang Lexing decided not to waste the name, so he simply occupied the signboard of "The Age of Discovery", and it is better to make himself cheaper than a small RB.

With the end of Zhan Jun's speech, the game development seminar is almost over.So Zhang Lexing made a final concluding speech, and confirmed the next development project "The Era of Great Voyage". The project leader is Zhan Jun, and the other 11 people are team members.Next, it's time for Zhan Jun to lead the project development team into formal operation.

According to the process, the next project team needs to conduct feasibility analysis, which is an essential part of game development. It is the process of determining the expected game market capacity, setting the game cultural background, understanding user needs, and analyzing competitors.After research and discussion, the background of the game is set in the period of great geographical discovery in Europe in the 16th century.In order to reduce the complexity of the game, the plot is set as an adventure story of a European youth who was born in a sailing family. In order to realize the dream of his great-grandfather and father, he set sail to conquer the world.As for competitors, except for "Pirate", which has already been released, no similar games have been found yet. Of course, Zhang Lexing remembers that Guangrong Company will launch this game next year, but there is no sign yet.From a market point of view, this game is planned to be developed in traditional Chinese, Japanese, and English. In order to expand the audience, in addition to launching on computers, it may also be transplanted to home console platforms in the future.

After completing the feasibility analysis, Zhan Jun led his development team to the library to look up relevant materials and maps during the period of the Great Geographical Discovery. For more detailed information, Zhang Lexing asked someone to get some documents related to that period from the UK, Copies of drawings, letters, etc.After three weeks of research and analysis, Zhan Jun produced the project approval report, and the era of great navigation officially started.

Everything seems to be going so smoothly. The Kylin Windows 3.0 operating system, the key project of Visual System this year, has also entered the final testing stage, and it will be available for sale in five weeks.At this moment, a ray of cloud came quietly...

(End of this chapter)