Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 599 Arrival!

“Mr. Waters,” Mike Morhaime’s voice turned cold as he said, “Blizzard is committed to providing a fair and smooth gaming experience for all players, and we are highly concerned about any technical changes that could disrupt this experience. As for the promotion methods in the Chinese market, we will immediately communicate more deeply with our partners to ensure that they are in line with Blizzard’s core values.”

His response expressed concern about the threat posed by Microsoft, without immediately making any promises, and at the same time temporarily passed the buck back to Momo Group.

Waters knew he couldn't subdue them in one go; what he wanted was to plant the seeds of fear in Blizzard's heart.

Waters stood up, straightened his suit, and smiled, "Blizzard's reputation is hard-earned. I don't think Mr. Mike will be blinded by short-term market gains. We look forward to seeing your actions. Farewell."

After seeing Waters and his group off, Mike Mohan's face immediately darkened.

He knew that he had been drawn into the struggle between Momo Group and Microsoft.

This is a battle over operating systems; it can be deadly.

Mike Mohan secretly decided that they had to stick to the dual-platform strategy, even if both platforms were unhappy about it or even attacked them. They had to stick to the dual-platform strategy and not offend either of them.

Despite being mistreated by both families a thousand times, he still treated them like his first love.

This is the fate of these small companies that are struggling to survive.

On the way back to the airport, Waters sat in the armored car, the scenery outside the window rushing past him.

He loosened his tie, and the last trace of polite smile he had at Blizzard headquarters vanished completely, replaced by an excited look in his eyes as he prepared for competition.

He pulled out the company's encrypted phone and quickly dialed a number.

His voice was devoid of any warmth as he said, "Start the plan."

As soon as Waters gave the order, the entire Microsoft Asia Group sprang into action.

In brightly lit conference rooms, business elites in suits and ties had sharp eyes, with thick lists spread out in front of them.

All online games that have been launched or are expected to be launched within a year in Asia have been marked, evaluated, and rated.

Phone calls, emails, video conference requests... were quickly flooded into those numerous online game companies.

Inside the office of a mid-sized game company in Seoul.

President Kim's hands trembled slightly as he looked at the draft cooperation agreement sent by Microsoft on the screen.

Standing next to him was the operations director, who was also breathing heavily.

"President, these, these conditions..." the operations director said, his voice trembling, "Three rounds of new game promotion subsidies, plus Windows Asia pop-up push notifications, just once! Just once! Our game will be seen by the whole world."

President Kim stared at the bolded exclusivity clause and said, "Ensure that the product client only supports Windows and Mac operating systems..."

He took a deep breath, a struggle flashing in his eyes, but was quickly overwhelmed by the immense temptation, and said, "Sign! Why not sign? Without Windows, where else can we make money? Reply to Microsoft immediately that we agree to all the terms!"

Tokyo, in the conference room of a long-established factory.

"Microsoft is trying to trap us," a senior board member said with a furrowed brow. "Signing this agreement means we're tied to the Windows chariot, and the future possibilities are..."

"We can't think about the future, we have to think about the present." Another executive retorted, "Microsoft's pop-up ads have hundreds of millions of exposures, plus subsidies for new games! What about other platforms? Linux is a joke! As for China's Moc-OS... it's uncertain whether it will even survive this year."

After a long silence, the president finally spoke slowly, saying, "That's right, survival comes first. Let's secure the resources we have now to survive. Notify the legal department to sign the contract."

Similar scenes are playing out across Asia.

The immense allure of traffic has broken down the psychological defenses of most companies.

Agreements guaranteeing the uniqueness of Windows systems were sent like snowflakes to Microsoft Asia Group in Zhongguancun.

At this moment, the atmosphere in Cheng Yi's office was as oppressive as the calm before a storm.

Several senior executives from Momo Group who received the message spontaneously gathered in Cheng Yi's office.

Huang Wenrong said with a livid face, "This Waters is no ordinary person. His tactics have always been unconventional. He is a well-known old fox at Microsoft. He makes users only able to choose between Microsoft and Apple systems in order to circumvent the monopoly policy."

"Well, judging from the current situation, he doesn't even bother to fight us one move at a time; he just flipped the table. But they do have the ability to flip the table." Zhang Lingyu sat on the sofa, her eyes somewhat sharp.

She took a sip of tea, looked at Cheng Yi, and said, "How about we find a way to get him to Southeast Asia? How about a three-day yacht trip for him?"

Cheng Yi glared at Zhang Lingyu, who immediately looked away as if nothing had happened.

Cheng Yi said, "Golden mountains and silver seas... traffic hegemony... Waters's move to undermine China's foundation was indeed very clever."

Looking at the somewhat disoriented Momo executives in front of him, Cheng Yi knew he had to encourage them.

Faced with the behemoth that is Microsoft, not only Huang Wenrong and his team, but even he himself was unsure of what to do.

Waters first moved its Asian headquarters to Beijing before embarking on a series of operations.

Microsoft and Zhongguancun have always had a good relationship. As early as two years ago, they cooperated with Zhongguancun Science Park to establish Zhongguancun Science and Technology Group, with Microsoft holding an 18.9% stake.

Judging from its current layout, Microsoft has Microsoft Asia United Group in Beijing and Microsoft Online Co., Ltd. in China Overseas.

This ensured their influence in Yanjing and Zhonghai.

If Microsoft can establish a foothold in these two largest cities in China, then it can certainly establish itself nationwide.

Cheng Yi looked up and said, "He actually made two big mistakes."

Upon hearing Cheng Yi's words, everyone turned to look at him.

"The first mistake," Cheng Yi said, "He underestimated our influence in the gaming industry. Our games, such as World of Warcraft, Primordial Era, Fantasy Westward Journey, and the upcoming Sweet Home, cover four major genres: 3D, 2D, turn-based, and Q-version casual games. In the face of absolute strength, all their tricks are just paper tigers."

“The second mistake.” He walked to the window, looking down at the myriad lights of Jingzhou, and said, “He underestimated the ambition and drive of the entrepreneurs on this land.”

Cheng Yi's words were clearly intended to encourage the executives present.

With a major battle imminent, the morale of senior executives is of paramount importance.

Back then, they were already overwhelmed just by dealing with Tang Jun, the president of Microsoft China.

Now, they are facing Microsoft's Asian headquarters.

However, the Momo Group of today is not the same as the Momo Group of a little over a year ago.

It won't be so easy for Microsoft to acquire them anymore.

Cheng Yi thought for a moment and said, "Huang Wenrong, you immediately draft a Moc-os system developer alliance plan in the name of Momo Group and Blizzard!"

Cheng Yi spoke rapidly: "Tell all game companies, especially those that were forced by Microsoft to sign exclusivity agreements, to join this alliance. Their games can share Momo's precise promotional resources through internet cafes and receive exclusive optimization support for the Moc-os system provided by Momo's technical team."

Cheng Yi sneered, "Microsoft's biggest profit model lies in constantly updating and accelerating hardware iteration. Their approach also makes many software programs struggle with compatibility issues. Let's start from this point and stab them in the back first. On our system, Pentium 2 can play 2D games smoothly, but on Microsoft's system, Pentium 4 will lag when playing 2D games."

"This time we'll play our cards straight and see if they follow suit."

Huang Wenrong said, "They probably wouldn't dare to follow suit; this is the foundation of their income."

“That’s right!” Cheng Yi sneered, “As long as they don’t change this, they’ll never be able to devour us!”

"Zhang Lingyu!" Cheng Yi looked at Zhang Lingyu, who realized she had misspoke. Zhang Lingyu quickly stood up and said, "Yes."

“Use all available resources to meet with those companies that are still wavering and try to bring them into our alliance.”

Zhang Lingyu said, "Okay, but what if they don't agree?"

Cheng Yi sneered, "If they don't agree, then we'll use our ultimate move."

Zhang Lingyu raised an eyebrow and said, "Should we ask them to go to Southeast Asia?"

“If you ever mention Southeast Asia again, I’ll beat you up,” Cheng Yi scolded.

"I... I won't mention it," Zhang Lingyu pouted, looking quite aggrieved.

Cheng Yi said, "Just tell them clearly that if they cooperate with Microsoft, then I will have Tencent copy their game."

"This..." Zhang Lingyu was stunned.

This……

That's a great idea!

With clear and specific instructions issued, the previously somewhat flustered management team quickly found their anchor, and their eyes regained their excitement and fighting spirit.

Just as Momo Group and Microsoft Asia Group began to make their moves against each other.

At 10:7 AM on July 18, 2005, a moment that will be etched in the memories of countless players arrived.

Gyeongju, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Bangkok...

The glow of countless computer screens illuminated excited and expectant faces.

"It's on! The server is on!"

A young man shouted in the internet cafe, instantly igniting the enthusiasm of the entire cafe.

Inside the operations and maintenance center of Smartisan Technology, the curve representing server load on the huge screen soared straight up like a rocket, instantly breaking through the 80% warning line and rushing towards 90% without stopping...

Alarms blared incessantly, but the engineers' faces were filled with a mixture of excitement and tension.

"Molten Core in Zone 1 is full!"

"The queue for the Dark Portal in Zone 2 has exceeded 5000 people!"

"Hyjal Hill in Zone 3... Zone 3 is full too!"

"Emergency opening of Northrend Zone 4! Quickly!"

All the servers that were opened in advance were completely full within just a few minutes, with the number of people in the queue jumping wildly in the tens of thousands.

The chat channel was instantly flooded with messages like "[111]", "[aaaa]", "[Anyone here?]", and "[Team up]", so fast that it was impossible to see them clearly.

In the game, maps such as Northshire Abbey, Dun Morogh, and Valley of Trials were instantly flooded with players.

Everywhere you look, there are level 1 characters bouncing around with all sorts of weird names, crowding together to fight for quest monsters, creating a chaotic yet hilarious scene.

The visual effects of skills, the figures of players running, the exclamation marks above the heads of NPCs...

They intertwine to form an extremely busy and vibrant picture.

"It's stuck, I can't click on the NPCs."

"Who just touched my monster?"

"Master, please help me find a group."

"Starry Night Guild is recruiting, excellent benefits!"

At this time, Momo Internet cafes across the country also ushered in an unprecedented boom.

Every computer screen in the high-end computer area of ​​Momo Internet Cafe displays the login screen or game screen of "World of Warcraft".

The network administrators moved around, either helping people solve login problems or promoting drinks and snacks.

"Network administrator! Add another 10 yuan to machine number 106!"

"Boss, are there any more machines left?"

"Wait for me, wait for me, I'll be in line soon."

The air was filled with the smell of instant noodles and cigarettes, and excited shouts.

Many individual internet cafes under the Momo Alliance even spontaneously organized small events, such as rewarding the first person to reach level 10 with free internet access and giving rewards to the first team to clear a dungeon, pushing the atmosphere to a climax.

Meanwhile, major computer malls and Honor computer stores were also packed with people.

Many players who were attracted by the game's graphics or whose computers were too slow to run it smoothly flocked to this site.

"Boss, this Honor V1 can run World of Warcraft smoothly, right? Give me a set!"

"Boss, if I install the Momo system on my computer, can I play World of Warcraft?"

Inside Microsoft Asia, Waters stared blankly at the system monitoring data, his brow furrowed.

The popularity of World of Warcraft exceeded his expectations.

The number of Asian players on their Microsoft system alone has already soared to the million mark.

Although they threatened Blizzard with special 'optimizations,' they still didn't dare to take that step because they were unsure of the extent of World of Warcraft's popularity.

Special optimizations are a double-edged sword and should only be used as a last resort.

Even without any special 'optimization', some discordant voices still emerged on major Asian forums:
"This game is garbage, the Microsoft system is incredibly laggy!"

"Damn it, even with this setup, I keep getting the wrong notes!"

"3D games are just unreliable!"

At this moment, Cheng Yi stood in the command center of Momo Group, looking at the good news and data flying in from all over Asia like snowflakes, and finally a relieved yet ambitious smile appeared on his face.

The fire of World of Warcraft has finally been completely ignited.

It brought not only the success of the game itself, but also a surge in the number of Moc-os system installations, which was the most powerful blow to the Wintel alliance.

"Tell Yu Sen and Lin Qingyin to keep a close eye on Microsoft's every move. The developer alliance plan should be launched immediately while the iron is hot!"

His orders came one after another, and the entire Momo Empire began to operate efficiently around World of Warcraft as its new core.

That night, the gates of Azeroth were completely opened to Asian players.

World of Warcraft has officially arrived!
(End of this chapter)