Reborn in 08, Public Enemy of Competitors

As dusk settles, Jiangshan Restaurant comes into view.

Shen Mo booked a private room to entertain Wu Xiaoguang, Lin Qingsong, and their group.

The table was laden with authentic Quzhou dishes, steaming hot and fragrant. After a few rounds of drinks, the atmosphere gradually warmed up.

"Mr. Shen, I've already spoken with Pony."

Wu Xiaoguang put down his chopsticks and slowly said, "Splitting the profits 50/50 is no problem, and we'll take care of the server too."

Then, changing the subject, he said, "However, we have one condition: the operating rights of 'Everyday Farm' must belong to Tencent."

"What kind of operating rights?"

Shen Mo frowned. "Translate this for me. What the hell is this 'operating rights'?"

Lin Qingsong immediately explained, "It includes the complete operational rights, including updating, renaming, and removing content."

"This shouldn't be called operational rights, but rather control rights, right?"

Shen Mo gave a cold laugh: "What, does Tencent want to rename 'Everyday Farm' to 'QQ Farm'?"

"If Mr. Shen doesn't agree, that's fine. We can find another way to cooperate."

Wu Xiaoguang directly proposed a "guaranteed minimum plus maximum" solution.

In other words, Tencent will pay a guaranteed income of 200 million, but any profits exceeding the guaranteed amount will be distributed to Zhangle at a maximum of 200 million.

Shen Mo curled his lip, "Your abacus beads are practically hitting my face."

Every game has a lifespan.

Generally, it takes three to five years, and a very few can last for more than 10 years, such as "World of Warcraft" and "Fantasy Westward Journey", which are masterpieces.

Especially in the fiercely competitive Chinese market, QQ Farm did not have a long lifespan, but at its peak, it was popular with people of all ages and genders, and was practically a game for everyone.

However, in the previous life, the "Five Minutes" company, as the developer, did not get any of the profits.

Tencent initially offered three options: a high buyout fee, a revenue share based on a certain percentage, and a guaranteed minimum plus a capped maximum.

The five-minute selection seemed to be the safest option, guaranteeing a minimum return and a maximum return, but in reality, it capped the potential for profit.

As a result, the penguin can make a net profit of 40 to 50 million yuan every month, but can only drink a sip of soup in five minutes, at most 3 to 4 million yuan.

Just like that, we missed out on hundreds of millions!

Shen Mo was certainly not satisfied with just getting some soup, and bluntly refused, saying, "We can have an exclusive partnership with Tencent, but we can't hand over the operating rights."

"So, regarding the profit-sharing ratio..."

This answer was exactly what Wu Xiaoguang had expected.

"If Tencent is unwilling to cover the server costs, then we'll split it 60/40."

Shen Mo narrowed his eyes. Damn it, even you penguins don't respect intellectual property rights as much as Brother Hao!

Even Yang Jiguang couldn't split the profits 50/50 with Hao Ge, but I'm willing to split them 50/50 with Penguin. That's already giving Ma Huateng and Penguin enough face!

The atmosphere in the room immediately became heavy upon hearing this.

Lin Qingsong and the others were stunned for a moment. Holy crap, this young man!

In all my years in the industry, I've never seen any content provider dare to challenge Tencent! And dare to demand a 60/40 split!

"Of course, I am extremely sincere about this cooperation."

Shen Mo said, "Zhang Le can compromise and still split the profits 50/50, but the operating rights of 'Everyday Farm' will not be handed over."

He then took a sip of his drink. "In exchange, Palm Joy Studio will also create several exclusive games tailored for QQ Space. I can give you exclusive cooperation rights for these new games with Tencent, without cooperating with Renren or 51.com."

Wu Xiaoguang tapped his fingers lightly on the table, deep in thought.

"Mr. Wu, I advise you to consider the bigger picture."

"The reason I developed 'Everyday Farm' was not just to make money or to drive traffic to QQ Space."

"The ultimate goal is to make QQ Space bigger and stronger, and with the assistance of YiTaoGO, to build it into the first social e-commerce platform in the country."

Shen Mo's tone carried a hint of seduction, "You must not lose sight of the big picture for the sake of trivial matters."

After weighing the pros and cons, Wu Xiaoguang was ultimately swayed by the promise of social e-commerce.

"Okay, a 50/50 split it is. But Mr. Shen, let me make this clear from the start: if it's social e-commerce..."

"Don't worry about it."

Shen Mo smiled. "Even if it weren't for our friendship, I would still do my best to make this social e-commerce game a success for YiTaoGO, for the sake of its empire!"

"I will arrange for the QQ Space team to connect with your ZhangLe and open up the API interface."

Wu Xiaoguang nodded in satisfaction. "President Shen, you need to be well prepared and strive to launch before Double Eleven."

Shen Mo readily agreed, after all, QQ attracts tens of millions of users, and this massive influx of traffic must be capitalized on.

………………

Time flies, and it's already the end of October.

YiTao GO is growing rapidly with an average daily registration rate of over 10, and its total number of users has exceeded 700 million.

Amidst these impressive results, Lingyun Technology launched "Everyday Farm," and GG immediately appeared on all of QQ's promotional channels.

As a teacher and one of the first people in China to access the Internet, Qian Qing is by no means outdated.

I've played Legend of Mir and Conquer Online; my QQ friend list is longer than my phone's address book.

On this day, I logged into QQ as usual, intending to chat with a few old friends, but my eyes were drawn to the pop-up window on the right.

The open beta of "Everyday Farm" is now live! Invite your friends to plant and steal crops together!

What surprised him even more was that Qin Tao and his old friends all sent him links to "Everyday Farm".

Driven by curiosity, I clicked on it almost by accident and started playing "Everyday Farm" following the "newbie guide".

The rules are simple and the gameplay is easy to learn.

Sowing, turning the soil, weeding, watering, and pest control can all be done in one go, which is much simpler than growing flowers on a balcony.

Then, he kept switching between friends on the list, just like doing farm work in real life. Coincidentally, Qin Tao's vegetable garden was ripe at that moment.

Qian Qing was quick-witted and nimble-fingered, clicking away haphazardly.

Getting something for nothing and stealing chickens from an old friend is double the joy, but his smugness lasted less than two minutes before Qin Tao confronted him:

"Old Qian, why did you steal my radishes and cabbages!"

"It's just a game, is it really that big of a deal?"

"I don't care, these radishes and cabbages were planted with great effort and were almost ready for harvest, and you stole them."

"It's not like I actually stole it."

"It's stolen, and you have to let me steal it back."

"What do you mean by 'stealing'? That was my deserved reward. I just helped you water the plants and remove the pests. Even if I'm doing odd jobs, I still have to get paid."

"Nonsense, nonsense." Qin Tao sent an angry emoji.

"What kind of twisted logic is that? When we were sent to the countryside, we just went to work in the county town during the off-season. We were paid daily, and there was never any delay in payment."

After Qian Qing sent the message, his old friend did not reply, clearly sulking. He muttered, "I've never seen him so petty before."

Afterwards, I would sit in front of the computer for a long time, wandering around my friends' farms. Whenever I saw someone I could help with, I would do so immediately. Whenever I saw someone I could steal crops from, I would do so immediately. My experience points increased rapidly.

Feeling quite pleased with himself, he switched back to his own farm to keep watch, taking precautions against others stealing his crops. Before long, the harvest was ready.

However, a pair of sinister hands reached out and suddenly launched a sneak attack.

Qian Qing was so frightened that she hurriedly tried to click, but her hand speed was not fast enough. She watched helplessly as the vegetables she had worked so hard to grow were completely harvested, and her anger level soared.

What's most infuriating is that Qin Tao sent a laughing emoji:

"You stole 8 from me, I'll steal 18 from you. A gentleman takes revenge, and I'll take it now!"

"Is this really necessary?! Is this really necessary?!"

Qian Qing was so angry that his blood pressure rose. He secretly decided to teach his old friend a lesson and stopped wandering around aimlessly. Instead, he became like a venomous snake, lurking and lying in ambush.

The wife called from the living room, "Wash your hands, dinner's ready."

Qian Qing remained silent, having sat there for 17 minutes.

"Dinner's ready!"

His wife called again, but Qian Qing still didn't respond. Not finding it strange, she saw him staring intently at the game screen and angrily said:

"Dinner's ready!!"

"Shh, right away."

Qian Qing placed the mouse on the crops that were about to be harvested. Just as they were ripening, he pounded the mouse, but unexpectedly, the crops withered instantly.

Qin Tao was faster than him, not just once, but every single time. He had barely moved to the next plot of land when the previous one was already harvested.

If you can't steal the third, fourth, and fifth pieces, and then the last one, then the 20-plus minutes of waiting will have been wasted.

Fortunately, we didn't come up empty-handed.

Unfortunately, the dog caught him and he lost his gold coins. What he stole was less than what he lost, so it was a bad deal!

"You old Qian, you've finally met your match! You stole from me!"

Qin Tao still couldn't resist making sarcastic remarks and showing off his beloved guard dog.

"Where did you come from, you dog?" Qian Qing gritted his teeth.

I won't tell you.

The two old rascals were having a little tiff with each other. In a fit of anger, Qian Qing went to look for it himself and found that it was sold in the store, but Q coins were not available. Only gold coins could be used to pay for it. The price was 1000 for a regular dog and 5000 for a sheepdog.

At this stage, no one can afford it at all.

"I forgot my reading glasses. Here, here."

The wife pointed to the "Activities" section in the upper right corner and invited five friends to receive a free ordinary dog.

Qian Qing held up five fingers, "Son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and two more to find."

"Count me in!"

The wife exclaimed excitedly, "This game looks really interesting! I want to play too!"

Overnight, "Everyday Farm" surged like the Yellow River, gradually revitalizing the daily active users of QQ Space.