Top of the big era

The effect of Manchester United is really strong.

During this period of time, Zhou Buqi has only met five or six British dignitaries, and the most powerful ones are the British Prime Minister and the Minister of Sports. I mainly talked about sports with the Minister of Sports, and talked more with Mr. Prime Minister, including cooperation in many aspects, mainly investment.

Zhou Buqi also stated that in the next five years, he will lead some Internet companies to invest at least US$300-500 million in the UK to develop the Internet market here.

The overall level of the Internet environment in the UK is very poor, and it feels worse than Japan.

All the powerful companies and the great people in the industry came back from Silicon Valley. I couldn't get along in Silicon Valley, and then ran back to the UK to start a business.

This is the downside of being too open.

There is no barrier between the United States and the United Kingdom, and even the language and culture are similar, which has led to most of the outstanding IT talents in the United Kingdom going to Silicon Valley.

It is human nature for people to go to high places.

The rapid rise and development of the domestic Internet industry is closely related to the general policy of the country. The estrangement between China and the United States is too great, and there are layers of restrictions on going abroad, which is very inconvenient. Only a very small number of people can go out, and the vast majority of people can only passively stay in the country.

Someone has the basic conditions for development.

Right now, Zhu Jun has discovered that the UK is focusing on the game industry, which is equivalent to doing Zhou Buqi a big favor.

A gentleman should promise a thousand gold.

Zhou Buqi promised Prime Minister Brown that he will take the lead in investing 300-500 million US dollars in the UK's Internet industry in the next five years, and it is best to be able to do so.

300 million US dollars is not a small amount. With the strength of the Internet industry in the UK, even if you have money, you may not be able to spend it.

It is a good thing that Zhu Jun is willing to stand out.

The game studio invested by Ninetowns in the UK is also equivalent to the investment led by Zhou Buqi.

Coincidentally!

Zhou Buqi had just finished chatting with Zhu Jun about investing in games. On the other side, he received an invitation from the British Secretary of the Interior. He wanted to talk about the new development direction of the game industry in detail and invited him to London.

The tide of the Internet cannot be stopped, and the British authorities are also trying to catch up. Due to the limitations of their own strength, it is impossible for them to follow up comprehensively like the domestic ones, and they can only pick a key industry to focus on follow-up.

The industry chosen by the UK is gaming.

Zhou Buqi did not neglect, called Zhu Jun, took Baoshan, and two little secretaries, Sun Guanran and Feng Muer, and flew to London together. It just so happened that Xu Liangjie also came from China to operate Farfetch's financing case, so he just brought it with him.

Officials on the British side have little official authority, and the talks are not formal at all. There is no square table negotiating table in the auditorium, and there is no queue with two rows of sofas.

Sitting on the sofa in the office, drinking tea casually, chatting with his legs crossed, just like Zhou Buqi was discussing cooperation with his peers in the industry.

The chats are not necessarily all business matters, they can talk about everything jokingly.

Even the Minister of the Interior asked Zhou Buqi if he had a family, saying that his granddaughter is a third-year student at Oxford University this year, studying law, and hoped that he could introduce her to him...

This temptation is not small!

She is the Earl's daughter.

If Zhou Buqi hadn't been amazingly determined, seeing a group photo of their family on Mr. Earl's desk and keenly discovering his freckled and mediocre-looking daughter, maybe he would have followed suit.

If you want to talk about cooperation, you must first clarify the British game industry. Only by planting sycamore trees can you attract Golden Phoenix. You have declined into such a British Empire, what kind of sycamore tree is there?

An official in charge of the technology industry named Rodney who gave a specific explanation, this guy has a lot of background, he was the vice president of Microsoft two years ago. Later, he was poached by the British cabinet and became a high-ranking official.

"The British game industry has great prospects for development, second only to Silicon Valley in the world."

Rodney was very confident, and he threw out his arguments when he came up.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said nothing, waiting for his argument.

Rodney smiled and said, "Zhou, I heard that you also have a business in Hollywood? Are you an important investor in Marvel?"

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Yes."

Rodney smiled: "That's good, it shows that we have cooperated in this field for many years."

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi was slightly taken aback, not quite understanding, "How do you say?"

Rodney said: "The answer is Hollywood."

Zhou Buqi was at a loss.

Rodney slowly explained, talking about the development history of the British film and television industry, "There is no barrier between Britain and the United States, which has led to many outstanding talents in our country going to the United States. Including the greatest actors in film and television, Vivien Leigh, Chaplin, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, they all came from England. There is no way, the United States has Hollywood, which is the dream place of all actors.”

"How did you solve it?"

Zhou Buqi asked curiously.

Yeah, those two things are really similar. The best British actors have gone to Hollywood, and the Internet IT talents in British games have gone to Silicon Valley.

Rodney said: "We have chosen a very important film and television direction, and through various policy guidance such as tax rebates and subsidies, we have attracted Hollywood products."

"Which aspect?"

"The special effects industry."

"oh……"

Zhou Buqi vaguely remembered something. When chatting with many bigwigs and producers in Hollywood, he seemed to have heard them say that the crew had gone to England.

Rodney said: "The film industry tax rebate has been proposed for many years. The main purpose is to attract investment in film projects through tax rebates, so as to create jobs, support small business operations, expand the tax base, and promote tourism. However, do not The intensity of tax rebates in China is far less than that in the UK."

Zhou Buqi heard people say it when he was in Hollywood, and he still understands it, "It is a recognized fact that the film industry can drive consumption and tax revenue, but all parties still have questions about whether film shooting and production can boost the local economy beyond the amount of tax rebates." There are a lot of debates. States in the United States have different attitudes to this, and the amount of tax rebates is not high."

The corner of Rodney's mouth curled up, "That's because they lack a unified long-term governance idea."

Zhou Buqi asked: "How to say?"

Rodney said: "The UK's film tax rebate policy, in addition to the above-mentioned functions, has the most important point, which is to support the development of the 'creative industries' in the UK."

"Creative Industry……"

Zhou Buqi suddenly realized.

The term "creative industry" was invented by the British. Unexpectedly, it did not come from the game industry at first, but from the film and television industry.

yes!

Both are the same!

There is a very important basic condition for making games-special effects screens.

The technology and creative thinking used behind this are almost exactly the same as the production of special effects screens for special effects movies, but they are not as high-end as movie special effects.

As long as the UK comes up with the best tax rebate policy in the world and brings all the special effects of Hollywood blockbusters to the UK, it can start the local special effects industry. And this industry may better develop into a creative industry, providing infrastructure, technical services and talent guarantee for the Internet-related game industry.

The UK can even produce special effects for Hollywood blockbusters, let alone special effects for games.

This strategic significance is much more important than solving a certain proportion of employment, tourism income, and supporting small businesses through movie tax rebates.

This is a large technology industry, which to some extent represents the industrial strength of a country.

Rodney further explained, "In the past two decades, the UK has given great support to the film tax rebate industry. Almost all Hollywood commercial blockbusters have the shadow of British special effects studios behind them."

Zhu Jun couldn't help asking: "Where is Industrial Light \u0026 Magic? I heard this..."

Rodney was not embarrassed, and said calmly: "The top special effects shots must be produced by special effects companies in the United States. But the quotations of American special effects companies are too high, and the tax rebates are too weak. Ordinary special effects shots , can be completely outsourced to British companies. For example, the "Star Wars" series, such as the recent popular Marvel movie "Iron Man", nearly half of the special effects shots are produced by British special effects companies."

No wonder he said that the two parties have cooperated for many years.

It turns out that many special effects shots of Marvel's commercial blockbusters were produced in the UK.

Mentioning this point, Zhou Buqi is an expert, saying: "The difficulty of film special effects is far more difficult than that of game special effects. As long as British special effects companies can participate in the production of special effects shots of Hollywood blockbusters, even the simplest special effects images, this technology The level is also enough to surpass all games in the world. From this perspective, the UK already has the most basic technical conditions for the development of the game industry.”

Rodney was very happy, "Yes, Mr. Zhou has contacts with Silicon Valley and Hollywood, you should know best! We have prepared the basic conditions. We are also studying the support policies for the game industry. It’s coming out one after another.”

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "From this point of view, the game industry is indeed a good development direction. I told Mr. Zhu Jun yesterday that I will come to invest and set up some game studios, and make good use of the 'creative industries' here. resources to develop the game industry.”

Now, the situation is very clear.

Judging from a logical point of view, the layout of the game industry in the UK is in the same line for decades. There's no reason it didn't develop well.

From this point of view, it may not be just a game company from Ninetowns who came to invest. Changyou, a partnership between Ziweixing and Sohu, can also contribute a part of the money to make games in the UK.

The development of the domestic game industry is still very backward.

Mainly because of technical inadequacy.

It can be seen from a single point that domestic blockbusters have to go to South Korea to produce special effects, and local special effects companies have no use at all. It can also be seen from this that exquisite games like "Call of Duty" and "Total War" still lack such strength in China. The UK can do special effects for Hollywood blockbusters, and there will be no technical bottlenecks in their games.