How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 137 The company is yours, and I'll even give you an IOU. [10,000-word update, please subscribe]

The development of iOS games is inseparable from the emergence of tablet computers.

The first-generation iPad was announced in January and officially went on sale on March 8, selling nearly 300,000 units on the first day.

With the help of the first generation, it achieved a sales volume of one million units in the first month after its official release.

Wang Yao prepared a series of promotional activities, having already placed hundreds of promotional orders on YouTube. Yi Xiaoxing personally created the explanation template script, so that game enthusiasts around the world could receive recommendations almost as soon as the game was released.

And I've already purchased a New & Noteworthy feature from the Apple App Store.

The second step involves participating in the "Assassin Tournament" sponsored by the "American University Friendship Association." The champion receives $10,000, while those who place second through 100th will each receive a newly released iPad tablet.

Accurately target and disseminate the game to the student population to ensure its social sharing attributes.

The game's best feel in its early stages was on tablets, and because it's a paid game priced at $1.99, its market share in China is even smaller; it primarily targets the Western market.

Wang Yao plans to have Xu Jiao film promotional videos of various ancient assassin cosplays, such as Nie Yinniang, Hong Xiannu, and Wang Cong'er (these characters are all paid skins with special effects), and she will consistently rank among the top in the tournament.

The persona of an "Eastern game girl" sparked a lot of discussion, since those energetic teenagers in the United States can't stand being overshadowed by a little girl when it comes to games.

Cai Haoyu and Xu Jiao are both anime and manga enthusiasts. Although they may not be the same kind of fan, they should have a lot in common. After finishing up the promotional video, Wang Yao flew to Beijing overnight.

midnight.

Jiang Yan, who had recently been invited to Ni Ni's dorm to sleep with her, was suddenly awakened by a vibration coming from upstairs.

"Is anyone living upstairs?" Jiang Yan subconsciously reached out to Ni Ni next to her.

Since Ni Ni returned, she has been living here. The accommodation here is not only better than the apartment she rented, but it is also closer to the company.

Most importantly, it's very quiet. I heard that Wang Yao bought the entire five-story building to use as dormitories. Other company employees live downstairs, but I haven't heard of anyone living upstairs.

"Huh?" Ni Ni got up groggily. "No, upstairs is President Yao's dormitory."

Wang Yao originally lived downstairs from them, but because they were always running around late at night, he had no choice but to move upstairs.

"Then listen upstairs to see if there's any noise?" Jiang Yan swallowed nervously.

With such a commotion, and the sound of furniture being moved, could it be a burglar?
But stealing furniture seems a bit too much, doesn't it?

"Wait a minute." Ni Ni seemed to be brought back to her senses by the strange noise upstairs and put on her coat.

"Where are you going? Has someone really gone upstairs? Should we call the police?" Jiang Yan exclaimed in surprise.

“It’s not about someone getting in; I suspect it’s about stealing someone.” Ni Ni smiled strangely and tiptoed upstairs through the emergency exit, not even taking the elevator to avoid alerting the culprit.

Jiang Yan was worried about her safety, so she took a stun gun and followed behind her.

Upon reaching the upstairs corridor, the vibrations ceased, but the woman's faint, piercing cries for help remained remarkably clear.

Jiang Yan blushed instantly to the roots of her ears; she naturally understood what was going on.

Ni Ni blushed and gritted her teeth as she pretended to knock on the door.

Tsk, they were able to see light through the wall in Shanghai, and they're still doing it now that they're back in Beijing!
I'd like to see who's so resilient.

"Hey, hey, forget it, let's go back to sleep." Jiang Yan quickly stopped her when she saw this. No matter who was inside, it wasn't good to disturb their good time like this.

"There's someone inside calling for help, I can't just stand by and watch them die," Ni Ni joked.

"Save my head, let's go quickly." Jiang Yan's legs were a little weak, and she pulled Ni Ni downstairs.

"Let's go sleep in Nazha's dorm next door." Ni Ni led her to the next room, and sure enough, the world became quiet.

But both of their minds were in complete turmoil.

"Um..." Jiang Yan finally couldn't resist her curiosity.

"Don't ask me, I don't know either. If you're curious, go upstairs and knock on the door yourself." Ni Ni suppressed a laugh.

Jiang Yan checked the time.

It's almost 2:30!

Young people are in really good physical condition.

The next day, when Jiang Yan saw the energetic Wang Yao at Yonghe Company, she felt somewhat afraid to meet his gaze.

"Oh? When did Mr. Wang arrive in Beijing? Why didn't you let us know? I would have picked him up at the airport." Ni Ni greeted him exaggeratedly.

"It was too late when I got back, so I didn't disturb you." Wang Yao smiled.

"Did you come back too late, or did you study too late?" Ni Ni asked, winking.

Seeing her cheeky little face, Wang Yao raised an eyebrow.

It's one thing for a rented apartment costing over 3000 a month to have poor sound insulation, but how come a house bought for millions also has only so-so sound insulation?
"Go and inform everyone here that I need to have a short meeting." Wang Yao ignored her teasing and turned to Jiang Yan, "Miss Jiang, it's been a long time."

"Oh, Mr. Wang, I'm here to update you on the progress." Jiang Yan blushed and hurriedly handed over the project proposal from her bag.

The script for "Playing with People" was almost finished. Wang Yao reviewed it again and found no problems. Gao Yalin and the others then prepared to submit it for review and raise funds to start filming.

The original 170 episodes were condensed into 90 episodes, divided into two parts. Wang Yao naturally didn't have time to watch them all, but he focused on the early synopsis and character settings.

"That's great. It's clear that Professor Gao and the others have put in a lot of effort. We can submit it for review and issue the budget now." Wang Yao nodded, then looked up and saw Jiang Yan fidgeting on the sofa with a flushed face. He asked with concern, "Miss Jiang, are you having a cold?"

"Oh? No, no, it's probably just the wind outside. It's quite windy today," Jiang Yan said with an embarrassed smile.

"How's the casting for the second female lead in 'Lost in Time 3' going? What did Director Guan say?" Wang Yao asked.

"There hasn't been a final announcement yet, I'm waiting for news too." Jiang Yan blinked.

It's unclear whether Wang Yao genuinely didn't know or was asking on purpose.

"Filming will start at the end of the month at the latest, and there will definitely be news then. It would be great if you could be selected; I think you'd be quite suitable," Wang Yao said casually.

Jiang Yan blinked, secretly pondering the deeper meaning behind it.

"If there's nothing else, Mr. Wang, I'll be going now." Jiang Yan put away the project proposal that Wang Yao had signed, said goodbye to Ni Ni, and hurriedly left.

Xiao Yang, Yi Xiaoxing, and others came in for a meeting. They had been mainly involved in the planning of the "Lost 3" project recently, and spent the rest of their time working on their own small projects.

Yi Xiaoxing and Luo Hongming remade their previous show, which has a bit of the nonsensical and awkward style of the original "Wanwan". With the addition of beauties like Jin Chen and Li Yitong, five episodes were released in less than a month, and the new show already has nearly 5 fans.

Luo Hongming's "The School Beauty is Here" has now surpassed one million fans, with an average of over 50 views per view. The data is almost catching up with Yi Xiaoxing's accumulation over many years.

Furthermore, by sharing outfit ideas on the show and providing referral links to Taobao stores, the commission is approaching 5 yuan, which is of great monetization value in the early days of the internet.

Xiao Yang has been working feverishly on the script and storyboards lately, while Wang Dali has taken leave recently due to his father's health issues.

“For the next week, everyone should stop what they’re doing and focus on this project.” Wang Yao gave each of them a tablet computer, which already had “Fruit Assassin” downloaded on it.

“You are all well-versed in parody culture, so the promotion of this game in East Asia is entrusted to you. No matter what method you use, make it reach tens of millions of views within this month.” Wang Yao also distributed the proposal to everyone.

"Wow, this thing is so advanced!" Luo Hongming exclaimed after receiving the tablet.

They were all from the parody field and didn't know much about the 3C industry. Besides, Apple didn't value the Chinese market at that time; their advertising spending on tablets and phones was minimal. Therefore, many people only became familiar with the brand after the iPhone 4S. Currently, the mainstream brands are still knock-offs, Nokia, and HTC. "Wow, is the cutting so smooth? So much fun!" Yi Xiaoxing, a former game content creator, quickly grasped the essence. Under his guidance, the room soon echoed with 'swish swish swish' cutting sound effects.

Besides its gameplay, the sound effects played a significant role in the game's success.

“Games are addictive and point-based. Xiao Xing has experience in this area, so let’s focus on him for now. Let me know if you need anything; I’m going out for a bit,” Wang Yao said with a smile as he stood up, seeing that everyone was already engrossed in the game.

"Sister Miao Miao asked if you have time; her dance drama choreography is almost finished," Ni Ni reminded you.

"I should have some time tonight, but if that's not convenient, we can arrange it for tomorrow," Wang Yao thought for a moment.

“I’ll let you know after I ask her.” Ni Ni nodded.

Kiwi is a project incubated by Baidu and is currently the only video platform in China that claims to offer 'high-definition, genuine' content.

It has taken a completely different path from the four major platforms: You, Dou, 6, and P.

It's hard to imagine that Baidu, which started with piracy, could incubate a completely legitimate product like iQiyi.

Wang Yao chose to cooperate with them mainly because they were willing to pay a premium for copyrights and were also willing to provide internal support for incubating projects.

The other companies are just waiting to reap the rewards. For example, when "School Beauty is Here" had tens of thousands of views, Youku ignored it. Now that it has a stable viewership of hundreds of thousands, they have approached us multiple times seeking cooperation.

Wang Yao arranged the meeting with Qiyiguo CEO Gong Yu under the guise of being the CEO of Kanpianer.com.

Compared to established online ticketing and movie ticketing platforms like Kanpian.com, Qiyiguo, although an upstream video platform, is still a relative newcomer.

Although Gong Yu is a veteran in the field of internet entrepreneurship, his first entrepreneurial project was an internet-based vertical real estate brokerage platform, which was later acquired by Zhang Chaoyang's Sohu, and Gong Yu was also recruited and appointed as the vice president.

Later, after the non-compete agreement ended, Gong Yu was unwilling to remain idle and prepared to start another business. However, Zhang Chaoyang no longer had the energy or mood to support him. So, he cooperated with Mr. Li from the neighboring company, Baidu, and borrowed Zhang Chaoyang's framework blueprint for a legitimate video platform to found iQiyi.

To be honest, if Zhang Chaoyang's depression weren't so abnormal, Wang Yao would have preferred to work with this kind of idealist.

However, Gong Yu is not exactly a pure entrepreneur. At least he doesn't have many shady dealings. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been working diligently for more than ten years with less than 2% of the shares.

"Mr. Wang, I've long admired your name." Gong Yu had a square face and a somewhat simple and honest smile.

When he first met Wang Yao, he was amazed by the man's youth.

This wasn't the first time Wang Yao had met him; in his previous life, his short dramas had had many close collaborations with Kiwi.

"President Gong, it's a pleasure to meet you." Wang Yao shook hands with him, sizing up Gong Yu, who had just entered his prime.

"Everyone says President Wang is young, but I didn't expect him to be this young. What kind of tea does he drink?" Gong Yu couldn't help but remark.

"Anything is fine. Mr. Gong, was this office just renovated?" Wang Yao looked around at the surroundings.

"We were crammed together with Baidu before, and we only moved out last month. I heard that CEO Wang's company is in Shanghai? Why didn't you consider Beijing back then? The internet resources here would be better," Gong Yu said casually.

"I started in e-commerce, then moved into media, and as for the internet, it was purely by accident," Wang Yao said with a smile.

He mentioned that he initially only wanted to create a model agency platform, but unexpectedly ended up making a ticketing platform first.

"That's what a heroic young man is like, he can succeed at anything." Gong Yu smiled and checked Taobao Girl on his computer. "Wow, this model agency platform is pretty good too. The homepage data shows a large number of users."

"Currently, we have over 30,000 B-end clients and about 200,000 active C-end users," Wang Yao casually remarked.

"Oh? Does that mean you've already started making a profit?" Gong Yu asked, somewhat surprised.

"We'll just have to barely keep the platform running and expanding," Wang Yao said with a smile.

The main costs were borne by Tianhuo.com, making it easy for the platform to profit.

"It looks more commercial and clearer than Meishe.com," Gong Yu commented from a professional's perspective.

Currently, the most famous model agency platform is Meishe, which is even preparing for its first round of financing, with a valuation of 20 billion yuan, causing quite a stir in the investment circle.

“The service targets are different; one is a public domain service, and the other is a private domain service,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Public domain and private domain? Those two terms are precise. I've learned something new." Gong Yu raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"It's just like how President Gong chose copyright + UGC instead of the copying + UGC model used by other platforms," ​​Wang Yao said tactfully.

"We have to thank Mr. Zhang for this. He was the one who started advocating for the arrival of the era of legitimate content and the inevitable demise of piracy a few years ago. Although he didn't wake up the video platform industry, he did wake up Baidu, the search company. In recent years, with the success of the paid search model, they have realized the importance of copyright." Gong Yu smiled.

In fact, when iQiyi first appeared, Wang Yao always felt that it was a conspiracy by Baidu to force other platforms to use genuine products.

Baidu controls almost 75% of the domestic search market. As long as it cuts off the pirated links on other platforms, it will be very difficult for users to find pirated content on video platforms. If users want to be able to find it, they have to pay Baidu.

However, these platforms are all backed by large capital, and Baidu was afraid of going too far, so it simply invested in its own video platform. Even if other platforms do not cooperate, at worst all the traffic will be poured into its own platform, and it can still make money.

Under this monopoly on search traffic, the balance shifts, and even Tencent, which owns its own traffic, may not be able to support a video platform. In this situation, Baidu is taking a two-pronged approach, so that neither is neglected.

Wang Yao remembered very clearly that Baidu's investment in Qiyiguo was not in the form of money, but in the form of traffic exchange.

Therefore, Wang Yao doesn't believe that Baidu really wants to produce legitimate content.

Whether by sheer coincidence or by the call of the times, Kiwi's approach actually broke through the piracy crisis and even became the first to implement a membership platform and a paid viewing mechanism.

It can only be said that it was a matter of timing and fate, or that Gong Yu did indeed have merit in taking the helm.

"Copyright is the foundation for protecting creation, and creation is the source of vitality. President Gong's path is correct," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"To be honest, when I started this website, apart from Zhang Chaoyang, all my colleagues and friends were pouring cold water on me, thinking that the cost of using genuine products was too high and the pressure too great, and that it wouldn't be able to operate. Mr. Wang is the first person to give such a definite endorsement. It's a pity I don't drink, otherwise I would have drunk a lot of wine." Gong Yu was somewhat moved.

Talking about copyright in this day and age is like talking about e-commerce ten years ago; back then, nobody believed e-commerce could take off.

"Roads are made by people walking on them," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Perhaps it's because Mr. Wang works in the film industry, which is a field that places the most emphasis on copyright, so his perspective is different," Gong Yu pondered.

He is quite good at putting himself in other people's shoes.

Putting yourself in someone else's shoes is actually a matter of intelligence, not emotional intelligence stemming from empathy.

“Indeed, as beneficiaries of the existing system, it might be a matter of habitual thinking.” Wang Yao smiled. “May I inquire how many works are in President Gong’s copyright library?”

"Very few. We are currently testing hardware issues such as image quality, but the budget for copyright has already been reserved. It's a considerable amount, enough to support the platform's initial user acquisition," Gong Yu said with a smile.

Last year, the entire internet copyright market share was less than one billion yuan, and Youku even spent less than one hundred million yuan on copyright. It's absurd that a platform with tens of millions of users relies entirely on copying and creating derivative videos.

"I do have a batch of copyrighted and original projects, and I hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with President Gong," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Oh? It seems Mr. Wang has already made moves in the copyright field? How large is it?" Gong Yu was not surprised, but rather very interested.

Kanpianer.com collaborates with almost all domestic film production companies, so it should have some expertise in accumulating film IPs.

"Around 10 billion?" Wang Yao asked, feigning contemplation.

Gong Yu paused for a moment upon hearing this, then stared at Wang Yao and asked.

"Is Mr. Wang here to discuss cooperation or mergers and acquisitions?"

10 million?
The company's current valuation is only 4 million!
The company will give you everything, and then give you an IOU!

(End of this chapter)