Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 556 Menacing
Kim Jun-ho frowned and said, "But this would be too risky for us. Microsoft's industrial focus is not in Asia. We can help Microsoft fight Momo Group, but we can't be the main force."

Lee Jae-yong said, “The risks are great, but as you said, Microsoft’s industrial focus is not in Asia, but Samsung’s industrial focus is in Asia. Even if Momo Group’s industry does not conflict with ours, can you guarantee that it will always be like this? Can you guarantee that they will not enter the mobile phone field? Can you guarantee that they will not enter the semiconductor field?”

His question struck Kim Junho's heart like a heavy hammer.

Kim Junho fell silent.

He could sense Lee Jae-young's obsession.

This is not just about commercial interests; it concerns the future of the Samsung empire.

Although this family has a bad temper, they still have a keen sense of business.

“However, cooperating with Microsoft is tantamount to asking a tiger for its skin.” Kim Jun-ho’s voice lowered, with a hint of helplessness.

“That’s why we need to be even more cautious.” A glint of light flashed in Lee Jae-yong’s eyes. He walked back to his desk, picked up the Microsoft proposal, and pressed his finger on the investor section. He said, “Johnson wants to stay behind the scenes and use us to fight, but aren’t we using them too? You’re the president of the Asia Pacific region, so I’m entrusting this matter entirely to you. No entity directly related to Samsung can appear on T3’s shareholder list!”

Kim Jun-ho took a deep breath, stood up, and said, "I understand, President. I will personally arrange the distribution channels and on-the-ground promotion. The packaging boxes of Samsung mobile phones and MP3 players will include installation disks and trial cards, and we can achieve the first batch of millions of users within half a month. Within a month, I will make sure that all the first-tier cities in Asia know what Audition Online is."

He paused, looked directly at Li Zairong and said, "President, I also hope you understand that once this fire is lit, no matter who it burns, we ourselves may also get burned. The four senior executives of Momo Group are different from any opponent we have ever encountered before, especially Cheng Yi. He is more dangerous and has no bottom line than we imagined."

Lee Jae-yong laughed and said, "A bottom line? Do we even have such a thing?"

In an unassuming old office building in Gangnam District, Seoul.

A dozen or so programmers, with dark circles under their eyes, had their fingers flying across the keyboard, while rudimentary 3D character models and flashing arrows danced on the screen.

This is the birthplace of Audition Online, a small workshop that was almost unknown in the Korean game industry. They originally made single-player games, but after three years, they felt that they would starve if they continued, so in the second half of 2003 they transformed into making online games.

This is their first online game.

In order to avoid competing with those gaming giants, they chose the most niche field.

Company president Park Jin-woo, a middle-aged man with thinning hair and wearing a wrinkled Brazilian suit, was bowing and scraping over the phone, his forehead covered in sweat: "Yes, yes, President Zhang, please give us a few more days. Next month, next month we will definitely pay the money..."

"Bang!" Just then, the office door was suddenly pushed open, and a fat woman wearing glasses rushed in, panting, her face filled with unbelievable joy. She said, "Brother, I've secured investment!"

Park Jin-woo's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the phone. Ignoring the still-roaring President Jang on the other end, he abruptly hung up the phone and looked at the financial director in front of him, asking in a trembling voice, "How much?"

"They want to invest $50 million to buy 80% of our company's shares," the plump woman said excitedly. "Their representative is in Seoul and said they would come over for a meeting if we agreed."

"Fifty million? US dollars?" Park Jin-woo felt dizzy. He leaned on the table, his voice trembling. "Of course I agree. Let's invite them over now."

Park Jin-woo waited anxiously for a long time, pacing back and forth at the company entrance, rubbing his hands as he walked.

Fifty million US dollars.

Let alone fifty million US dollars, even five million US dollars would be a lifeline for them.

Due to insufficient funding, their promotion efforts faltered, resulting in dismal performance during the open beta test in China in October 2004. Consequently, they were unable to commercialize the game for a long time. They had hoped to learn from the Legend of Mir and enter the Chinese market, but Momo Internet Cafe explicitly banned the game.

The reason given is that the gameplay is too taxing on computer hardware.

This ridiculous claim has led them to the brink of bankruptcy. Even after lowering their agency fee to $30, no one dares to take them on.

Two hours later, Park Jin-woo welcomed two well-dressed, aloof Westerners into his cramped office, which was filled with clutter.

Leading the group is Hans Muller, a senior partner at Polaris Capital.

The other one is his assistant.

"President Park, we are very interested in your 'Audition Online'." Hans cut to the chase without any pleasantries. "Polaris Capital is willing to invest 50 million US dollars in exchange for 80% of T3's equity, and provide state-of-the-art technical support and top-notch global marketing resources. Our goal is to make 'Audition Online' sweep across Asia within a month."

Park Jin-woo felt like he was dreaming. He secretly pinched his thigh—ouch! It wasn't a dream!
When they were on the verge of bankruptcy, the 50 million was a godsend.

Even though we've lost 80% of the shares, what can we do?
They were originally a small workshop supported by the Korea Game Industry Institute.

“Mr. Muller, of course we’d like to! It’s just that a month for public testing is too short! Servers, localization, marketing…”

“That’s not a problem.” Hans interrupted him, his tone calm but carrying immense pressure: “We’ve brought in the top engineering team from Microsoft Research Asia to your company to help you optimize the underlying code and build a server architecture capable of supporting millions of concurrent users. As for localization, we’ll hire the best translation and dubbing teams in Asia to simultaneously translate and promote the content in multiple countries.”

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he said, "We will also invite Samsung Group's Asia Pacific region to assist us, utilizing all their channel resources in Asia to pave the way for your game. Your game installation disc and activation code will appear in the packaging of every Samsung mobile phone and MP3 player sold. Your posters and experience points will cover every business district and university town in all major cities in Asia."

Park Jin-woo and his core team members were stunned.

Is this the power of capital?
Microsoft? Samsung? These giants, usually only seen in the news, are actually teaming up to promote their tiny, insignificant game?
After the initial euphoria, a chill crept into Park Jin-woo's heart.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. Who exactly is behind Polaris Capital? And why is it supporting them so relentlessly?
Moreover, the timeframe is so tight...

“Mr. Muller,” Park Jin-woo asked cautiously, “why did Polaris Capital choose us? And is such a massive investment of resources just for promoting a single game?”

Muller's icy blue eyes met Park Jin-woo's as he smiled and said, "President Park, capital always looks at potential. Audition Online possesses a unique charm, and we believe it can fill a market gap and create enormous value. As for the strategic considerations behind it, that's not your concern. You just need to know that Polaris has invested real money and expects explosive returns. Within a month, this game must be the first to launch its public beta in China. This is a no-brainer. If you succeed, you and your team will gain unimaginable wealth and honor. If you fail..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the coldness in his eyes sent a chill down Park Jin-woo's spine.

"I can do it! I definitely can!" Park Jin-woo immediately straightened his back, patting his chest to assure him. All doubts were suppressed by the immense potential profit and pressure. Who cares who's behind him? This incredible wealth—only a fool wouldn't accept it!
They always believed that their game would be a hit in China.

Young people in China are not very worldly and are easily fooled.

Legend is a prime example. In South Korea, there were fewer than 10,000 players online, but it became a sensation throughout China.

Their Audition Online game is slightly more popular than Legend of Mir in South Korea.

In the days that followed, an unexpected storm arose in the small pond that was T3 Company.

The team of engineers sent by Microsoft Research Asia numbered more than twenty, all of them top-notch technicians. The equipment they brought made the T3's original computers look like antiques.

These engineers acted swiftly and decisively, quickly taking over the optimization of the core code and the construction of the server architecture with astonishing efficiency.

Meanwhile, Samsung's massive business machine also began to roar.

Located in the most bustling area of ​​Myeongdong, Seoul, the flagship experience store features a huge neon sign with the words "Audition Online" shining brightly. Several top-of-the-line computers connected to large screens are placed at the entrance, where professional models and dancers hired by Samsung are typing intensely on the keyboards to the rhythm. The characters on the screens perform cool dance moves, and the dynamic music is deafening.

Passersby, especially young people, all stopped to watch and exclaimed in surprise.

"Wow! What game is this? Is it for dancing?"

"Looks so cool!"

"Look at that girl, she dances so well! And her outfit is so pretty!"

"It says it on the label: Audition Online!"

Similar scenes were playing out almost simultaneously in Shibuya, Tokyo; Xinjiekou, Kyoto; Huangfu Road, Zhonghai; and Siam Square, Bangkok.

Samsung's powerful ground promotion capabilities were on full display, and in less than a week, the Audition Online craze began to sweep across Asia.

However, they only promoted Audition Online and did not conduct a second round of game promotion.

This behavior also piqued the interest of many girls, who began asking about the details of the game on various BBS forums.

With so many people discussing it, the name "Audition Online" has unexpectedly become a hot topic.

However, this kind of trending topic consumes an enormous amount of resources.

As the promotion of Audition Online intensified, Jingzhou Momo Group held a routine meeting of its subsidiaries.

At the meeting, the heads of all the subsidiaries presented their achievements over the past six months.

Gradually, the topic shifted to the recently popular Audition Online.

Although Audition Online hasn't released any discs yet, it has already generated a lot of buzz.

In the Chinese market, because Momo Group controlled the internet cafe market, Audition Online had to settle for second best and start focusing on personal PCs.

On the projection screen in the conference room, promotional videos for Audition Online, sent from various locations, were playing.

The experience stores in Myeongdong, Seoul, were packed with people; the huge neon signs in Shibuya, Tokyo; the long queues at Gyeongju Shinsegae; and the explosive growth of online discussions about Audition Online.

The image finally freezes on what appears to be the text printed on Samsung's latest phone: "Includes a limited-edition activation code for Audition Online."

The atmosphere in the meeting room became much more somber.

Kong Feng broke the silence first, saying to Cheng Yi, who was chairing the meeting: "President Cheng, I think we can't wait and see any longer. Polaris Capital is throwing money around like crazy. Look at these data. It's only been a few days, and the online discussion has already reached the top three in the game category. Moreover, they have also purchased promotional channels from Microsoft and Samsung. Their target is very clear. They should be targeting female players. It seems like they are not competing with us much, but if we let them continue to develop, our game market will definitely be impacted."

He pulled up another data report: "We have also done detailed data verification. In the past two weeks of promoting Audition Online, our user activity, especially the login time and frequency of female users, has begun to decline slightly but continuously."

At this moment, Ma Huateng spoke up: "I've heard of that game. It was made by a small company in South Korea. It had a public beta test in South Korea last year, but the results were so-so. The core gameplay of this kind of music and dance game is not complicated. It's just rhythm judgment plus social dress-up. With our technical strength and our existing channel resources, we can produce a Chinese version of Audition with a high degree of completion in two months at most. I've also discussed the name with the team. We'll call it 'Xuanwu Tuan' (炫舞团).

Ma Huateng's proposal was immediately agreed upon by several senior executives of the group.

In business competition, especially in the internet sector, imitation and incremental innovation are the norm.

Many of the people present, including Kong Feng, had fought their way up from the internet cafe era with Cheng Yi, and they believed in the jungle law of the fast fish eating the slow fish.

However, Cheng Yi, who was sitting in the main seat, had been silently watching the images and data on the screen since the beginning of the meeting, with no expression on his face.

Only when Ma Huateng finished speaking and all eyes were on him did he slowly raise his head.

He scanned everyone present, finally settling on Kong Feng's anxious face.

His voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced all the murmurs in the conference room: "President Kong, do you think this kind of game is worth imitating and promoting for our Momo Group?"

Kong Feng was taken aback, not expecting Cheng Yi to react this way. He subconsciously said, "President Cheng, business competition doesn't care about sentimentality. They've come knocking on our door, are we just going to stand by and watch? The game itself is innocent, as long as players like this format..."

"The game itself is innocent?" Cheng Yi laughed.

(End of this chapter)