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Chapter 319 0316 [The Future Era is About to Launch]

"Mr. Chen, this is a representative from Bigfish, an American company. He is discussing with us the North American distribution rights for Plants vs. Zombies."

After concluding the summit forum, Chen Guiliang returned to his booth and heard good news.

“Hello, Mr. Chen,” the American said in broken Chinese, then switched to English, “This is our first time in China looking for games, and we’ve discovered Youke’s Plants vs. Zombies. This must be God’s arrangement.”

Chen Guiliang took the opportunity to practice his English: "God is always very helpful to good people."

After finishing speaking, Chen Guiliang turned to his employee and asked, "How did the talks go?"

Yu Ke's lawyer, who was involved in the negotiations, said, "These foreigners are dishonest; they're trying to play word games. They proposed a prepayment + revenue sharing model, and then said that the prepayment could be used to offset revenue sharing. Revenue sharing is calculated based on the platform's turnover, which they can manipulate. If they add the clause that the prepayment can be offset, Yu Ke might end up owing them money after the first revenue sharing. Moreover, the settlement period is only six months; who knows what will happen in the second settlement period?"

"What are your thoughts?" Chen Guiliang asked.

A representative from Youke said, "We're going to sell it outright. The US is too far away. Even if the revenue figures aren't fake, they'll still rip us off on payment channel fees. Damn it, PayPal's commission is only 5% at most, but they're saying they'll deduct 30%."

Chen Guiliang smiled and continued practicing his English: "Sir, you are being dishonest. The conditions you offered are all traps and deceptions. We can only cooperate through a buyout."

“A buyout is also acceptable, $20. We want the global rights, excluding mainland China,” the American said.

Chen Guiliang turned to his lawyer and asked, "Go cool off somewhere else. How do you say this in English? The translation needs to be accurate, fluent, and elegant."

The lawyer muttered, "I'm not a professional translator; the requirements for faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance are too high."

Chen Guiliang could only say, "NO!"

The American shrugged: "For a casual single-player game, this price is already quite good."

Steam representatives didn't attend the expo in China this year; they're currently focusing on publishing their own developed games. Other companies only had 12 games listed on Steam, all from major studios.

Therefore, partnering with Bigfish is the best option for Plants vs. Zombies if the game wants to be released in North America.

The Americans are emboldened and are driving down prices relentlessly!

The man turned and left, intending to leave Chen Guiliang waiting. After stepping out of the negotiation room, his expression suddenly changed—he saw representatives from Oberon Media being led over by Youke employees!

He cursed inwardly, "What the hell? Oberon's in China too?"
The two companies have different issuance methods.

Bigfish focuses on its self-operated platform for online downloads and online community services.

Oberon Media releases content on multiple platforms, including mobile and handheld consoles, and also collaborates with platforms such as Microsoft and Yahoo.

Chen Guiliang, on the contrary, was no longer in a hurry. There was more than one buyer, so they could take their time to negotiate.

Revenue sharing model is open to discussion.

A buyout option is also acceptable, but he only sells it out for 5 years.

A single-player game will basically have no sales after 5 years, and most distributors are willing to accept that.

The reason Chen Guiliang only sold the game for five years was because he was still hoping to make another fortune with "Plants vs. Zombies" in the smartphone era.

In addition to American distributors, manufacturers from Japan, South Korea, and Europe have also been inquiring about the situation.

This is one of the core reasons why Chinese game companies participate in the ChinaJoy expo: they can directly contact publishers from many countries around the world.

In the evening, Chen Guiliang went to have coffee with Director Kou. They chatted casually.

"Has the game been sold?" Director Kou asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "Negotiations are still ongoing. Some foreign companies are quite interested in Plants vs. Zombies. There's also a small company that wants to distribute Future Era and bring it back to compete with Dungeon Fighter Online."

Director Kou smiled approvingly: "It seems that as long as the game quality is good, it is not difficult for domestic games to go overseas. The real problem is that most domestic games are not well made and it is difficult to impress foreigners."

"We try our best to make the game with care," Chen Guiliang said.

Director Kou said, "The CJ exhibition has been extended from three days in previous years to four days this year, so that you can take your time to negotiate."

This is just empty talk, of course; the real reason is that the scale of the event is getting bigger and bigger.

On the first day of this year's CJ Expo, 100,000 people participated!
Director Kou said, "If the negotiations don't go smoothly, I'll take you to dinner with some senior executives from foreign manufacturers. These executives aren't involved in the negotiations; they're mainly here to attend the forum and, incidentally, to sell some games or hardware to China."

Chen Guiliang said, "Thank you for your kindness, leader."

Whether or not you eat is irrelevant. Negotiation is based on the interplay of interests between the two parties, not on a few drinks.

Of course, Chen Guiliang still went.

The main reason was that it was inconvenient to refuse Director Kou's request, and getting to know more foreign colleagues wouldn't be a bad thing.

That evening at a dinner party, Chen Guiliang met Gregory Dawson, Big Fish's Director of Asia-Pacific Business Development. Dawson was responsible for sourcing games in China, Japan, and South Korea, reporting directly to Big Fish's Vice President of Global Publishing.

The two exchanged views over drinks, and Gregory was very interested in the Youke Interactive platform because Big Fish is a similar platform in North America.

After finishing their meal, they decided to find a place to talk privately.

Chen Guiliang said, "China's game distribution platforms are still relatively small in scale, especially in terms of the ability to distribute a large number of foreign games. The main reason is the issue of censorship policies. Many foreign games simply cannot pass censorship due to their graphic violence or other issues."

Gregory nodded and said, "I am well aware of this situation. It is very difficult for a game to enter China, especially a single-player game with blood and violence."

Chen Guiliang said, "We are similar platforms; you focus on the North American market, and I focus on mainland China. In fact, we can establish a long-term cooperative relationship."

"How about a long-term partnership?" Gregory asked with some interest. Chen Guiliang replied, "You can entrust me with the distribution of the games you distribute in mainland China. The games I develop or distribute can be distributed in North America by Big Fish. Both sides will receive the most favorable treatment. Especially regarding revenue sharing, the payment period can be shortened, and there will be no illegal practices. Mutual trust is essential for long-term cooperation."

Gregory said, "I need to report to headquarters. And I also need to prepare some materials."

Chen Guiliang said, "I will have someone compile the relevant materials for you as soon as possible."

This kind of strategic partnership is a long-term negotiation, and it's still unknown whether Big Fish will agree.

The following day, Chen Guiliang continued to participate in the forum, which was the "China Casual Games Development Forum".

This also includes web-based games.

With the development of technology, there are more web games this year, with more complete functions and better presentation than last year.

The carnival activities reach their climax starting from the third day.

Jay Chou's arrival!
He is the spokesperson for "Dynasty Warriors Online" and will be performing the game's theme song "Wushuang" live.

"Boss, we'd like to ask for leave," Xu Fengyin said as she ran over.

Chen Guiliang asked, "What kind of leave do you need during work hours?"

Xu Fengyin said, "Let's go see Jay Chou. It's not just me, there are several others too."

Chen Guiliang said speechlessly, "They encouraged you to ask for leave, didn't they?"

Xu Fengyin remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement; she was unwilling to betray the person who had instigated her.

Chen Guiliang said, "The venue will definitely be packed with people. Even if you take leave, you won't be able to squeeze in. Just stay at your posts. Lin Junjie and Jin Sha will also be there tomorrow for our 'Three Kingdoms Kill' game."

Xu Fengyin turned and left, sticking out her tongue and making a face behind Chen Guiliang's back.

Jay Chou is still awesome! There was a cosplay event at the GameSpot booth, and even his own people wanted to take time off to go and check it out.

The audience flocked to the "Dynasty Warriors Online" booth, which was so crowded that it was packed to the brim. Most of the audience left disappointed, while a few lingered outside listening to the music.

No matter who Jay Chou or Jay Chou are, it doesn't affect the World of Warcraft booth. It's packed every day!
Some people bought tickets for several days in a row just to queue up and play "The Burning Crusade".

There has been a long queue for "Future Era," with some even urging Chen Guiliang to release it soon.

The "Three Kingdoms Kill" College League will be held in three days, with the finals taking place in Guangzhou. Chen Guiliang needs to fly there.

It's normal for the company's CEO to participate personally, after all, "Three Kingdoms Kill" is Youke's cash cow. It needs to be given enough attention, and the players need to be appeased properly.

Once the "Three Kingdoms Kill" college league ends, "Future Era" will open for registration.

Chen Guiliang specifically assembled an operations team for "Future Era," with core members coming from the operations team of "Three Kingdoms Kill," and also recruited additional staff during the early testing phase.

整个团队，核心策划4人、程序与运维8人、客服团队28人、市场推广6人，总计46人负责运营《未来纪元》。

This does not include the development team of "Future Era".

It's far larger in scale than "Three Kingdoms Kill"!
As a result, the number of employees at Game Science has increased to more than 240 – including newly recruited employees and some who have joined the Three Kingdoms Kill team.

The official website for "Future Era" started a countdown a month in advance, releasing game screenshots every day.

Besides the die-hard fans of Chen Guiliang and You Ke, the most active group is the readers of the novel of the same name.

The Future Era forum (a novel-related forum) and the Future Era game forum have been collaborating for about half a year. They discuss the differences between the novel and game plots, and use the game's settings to discuss the direction of the novel's plot.

Some people even volunteered to help by posting advertisements in other places.

There were even discussions about who should be the spokesperson, with some clamoring for Chen Guiliang to hire a celebrity to endorse the product.

Why invite any celebrities? They're all prone to scandals.

The reason "Three Kingdoms Kill" invited Lin Junjie was because of that song; there was no need for "Future Era" to do so.

On the last day of the CJ Electronics Show, Chen Guiliang drank and had fun with Tao Chenggang and others before flying to Guangzhou to participate in the Three Kingdoms Kill College League.

Once we return to the capital, "Future Era" will be launched.

Previously, 5000 closed beta accounts were released in batches, all of which were subsequently wiped. This time, it's a non-wipe open beta, and players can now make in-game purchases.

Even some Warcraft players who have been waiting for The Burning Crusade are planning to try out Future Age.

In fact, the more experienced a player is, the more willing they are to try new games.

No matter how much they love World of Warcraft, as soon as they hear about a new game release, they'll invite each other to download and try it out. Most of the time, they'll quit after a day or two. But if the game is good, it can keep them playing for a month or two.

To retain veteran players, your game must be engaging enough!
Of course, this excludes "Three Kingdoms Kill," which is practically addictive. You can put it down anytime, pick it up again after a while, and play it like crazy.

The game "Future Era" officially launched on Friday at 7 PM.

Chen Guiliang personally went to the company to keep an eye on the increasing number of players.

This is his first truly original game since his rebirth, and it is by no means a copy of "DNF". Because everything from the game's storyline to the character graphics is original, and even the game engine is self-developed.

(End of this chapter)