Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 612 Little Ma is very angry
Cheng Yi's composure failed to stem the market's frenzy.

Microsoft's "Voice Online, Points Frenzy" campaign is like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly creating a huge wave.

Its effects were so powerful and its spread so rapid that it far exceeded everyone's expectations.

In the first few days, it was only some students and casual gamers who were looking for a bargain who tried it out.

But once the first wave of people actually exchanged their AFK time for real game points and posted screenshots on various forums, the trend instantly swept through the entire online gaming community.

"Damn, it really works! I logged in for two days and got a 10-yuan game card for 'Primordial War Chronicles'."

"MSN is awesome, Shangding is so generous."

"What are you waiting for, brothers? Charge! Isn't free game time a great deal?"

In internet cafes, almost every computer is logged into MSN.

Financial and technology media outlets have given extensive coverage to this matter.

The subsidy war escalates! Microsoft enters with massive investment, posing a potential major crisis for UTalk!

"Burning Millions Daily? In-Depth Analysis of Microsoft's TS Voice Subsidy Strategy"

Is User Loyalty Vulnerable to Capital? A Brief Analysis of UTalk's Dilemma

The wolf is really here! Microsoft China fires the first shot in its counterattack!

……

These reports further amplified the impact of the event, making more ordinary users who were not originally concerned about it aware that they could exchange MSN chat for free game points.

The name Huaxia Shangding Technology Co., Ltd. also came into the public eye along with Microsoft's huge subsidies.

What alarmed industry insiders even more was that the promotion of MSN-TS encountered almost no policy-related obstacles and proceeded smoothly.

This is entirely due to its unique operating model:
Huaxia Shangding Technology Co., Ltd. is a company controlled by two well-established local state-owned enterprises. These two state-owned technology companies have become the general agents for all MSN businesses in China.

All operations, promotions, data, and servers are handled entirely by this wholly domestically-owned company.

Microsoft Asia Group, on the other hand, transformed itself into a simple technology provider and strategic investor, similar to domestic companies that distribute overseas online games.

This ingenious structural adjustment perfectly avoided the policy risks that foreign companies might face in specific areas, allowing MSN to conduct aggressive on-the-ground promotion and subsidy activities without any obstacles, just like a local company.

Their foundation is even ten times more authentic than that of Shengda, the agent of Legend.

Waters' move was extremely shrewd, demonstrating his profound understanding of the Chinese market, rather than simply throwing money at it.

For a time, UTalk and its parent company, Momo Technology and the Momo Group, seemed to be shrouded in the double shadow of Microsoft's huge capital and ingenious strategies.

Wang Yan receives countless inquiries from shareholders, partners, and the media every day, leaving him overwhelmed.

Data shows that UTalk's daily active user growth curve has declined rapidly, and its market share has dropped from over 80% to just over 30%.

Microsoft's money-burning tactics successfully tore apart UTalk's seemingly unbreakable monopoly in a very short time, forcibly dragging a competition that originally belonged to product experience and ecosystem building into a simple, brutal, yet extremely effective capital-consuming war.

Unable to withstand the pressure any longer, Wang Yan had no choice but to send out invitations to several major shareholders of Mochao Technology to the company for a small symposium.

The next morning, the major shareholders arrived one after another.

Apart from Ma Huateng, who didn't look too good, everyone else seemed fine.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Wang Yan, they naturally entered the conference room and all looked at him.

Wang Yan turned on the projector, and a lot of data appeared on the screen.

UTalk experienced a precipitous drop in daily active users and user time spent, with daily active users plummeting from a peak of over 170 million to just over 30.

Wang Yan looked haggard and said in a dry voice, "That's the situation. UTalk is losing users very quickly, and the uninstall rate for individual users is very high. Fortunately, the diskless system and the pre-installation in internet cafes have helped us withstand most of the losses, but the situation is not optimistic."

Unexpectedly, the first thing to say was not anxiety, but a slightly relaxed chuckle.

It's Zhu Jun from The Ninth City.

He stroked his chin and laughed, "Actually, there's no need to be so pessimistic. In fact, Microsoft is helping us boost our performance. The amount of game cards I've been using in the backend has increased by more than 18% in the past few days."

Ding Sanshi of NetEase pushed up his glasses, his expression relatively calm, even somewhat detached, and said with a smile, "Yes, the sales of our game cards for 'Fantasy Westward Journey' and 'Westward Journey Online' have also increased slightly, while MSN has brought us a lot of new users."

NetEase's games have stronger social attributes and a relatively lower reliance on voice tools, so the pressure felt at this moment is minimal, and they are even somewhat happy to see it happen.

Ma Huateng of Tencent was completely different. His face was ashen, and he tapped the table hard with his finger, saying, "Everyone, pay attention to the key point. UTalk's data is collapsing, and our QQ's online synchronization and message volume have also been greatly affected. Users are now logging into MSN to increase their time, and their social relationship chains are being migrated to MSN. This is the most critical issue."

He said in a low voice, "Yes! Microsoft is burning money to give you game cards and help you generate revenue, but this is poison! Once you get used to this new free channel, once users are completely settled on the MSN platform, guess what will happen next? When Microsoft turns around and charges you channel fees, promotion fees, and traffic fees, will you still be able to laugh? For more than a year, we at QQ have been pushing traffic to you, almost at cost price."

Kong Feng chimed in, "Old Ma is right. This is the most insidious aspect of Microsoft. The activity levels of World of Warcraft and The Legend of the Primordial Era have increased, but users have also gotten used to these free game cards. If one day Microsoft stops distributing game cards, and users are used to receiving them for free, have you thought about the consequences?"

The atmosphere in the meeting room instantly became subtle.

Zhu Jun and Ding Sanshi lost their earlier ease and their expressions became serious.

They were all shrewd and experienced, and instantly understood the enormous risks that Ma Huateng and Kong Feng had pointed out.

Microsoft's strategy is quite clear: use short-term gains as bait to dismantle the moat built by UTalk and QQ, with the ultimate goal of locking users and traffic firmly into its own MSN ecosystem.

Once a dependency is formed, the lifeline of a game company is effectively controlled by Microsoft. Once MSN accumulates a massive user base, it will evolve into an online game promotion platform.

The money spent on game cards that are given away now will be recovered hundreds of times in the future as promotional fees.

Looking at the chaotic scene before him, Wang Yan felt a chill run through him.

He realized the problem was more serious than he had imagined, and that the shareholders' interests were now completely at odds.

Zhu Jun, Ding Sanshi, and others who can enjoy the benefits of increased revenue in the short term, and Ma Huateng and his acquaintances who have suffered direct impact on their core businesses, are unlikely to form a united front to fight against Microsoft immediately.

That's the crux of the problem.

UTalk is backed by a loose alliance, each member with their own agenda, unable to form a unified front driven by shared interests like Microsoft. "How about..." Zhu Jun tentatively began, his eyes darting around, "We could observe for a while? After all, judging from the data right now, it's not a bad thing for us..."

His voice trailed off under Ma Huateng's murderous gaze.

Ding Sanshi pondered for a moment, then said something relatively fair but still helpless: "Perhaps we can try to contact Microsoft and negotiate terms, after all, our game content is the most important thing..."

These words were tantamount to an admission of Microsoft's dominant position in the distribution channels, which made Wang Yan feel even more powerless.

The meeting reached a stalemate for a time.

The pessimism no longer stems from a simple decline in data, but from a deeper understanding of the vulnerability of their own alliances and a sense of powerlessness in the face of Microsoft's vast capital and strategic maneuvering.

He could almost see Microsoft smiling as it launched honey-coated bullets at their headquarters, and they were powerless to stop it, with some even finding the sugar-coated bullets quite appealing.

This is incredibly profitable.

The money Microsoft is burning through is essentially going to these game companies.

Once the money is in your pocket, do you expect them to take it back?

difficult!
Even brothers can turn against each other when faced with interests.

Wang Yan and Ma Huateng's gazes, whether openly or subtly, were cast toward the empty seat in the main room.

The only person who could possibly break the deadlock has not yet arrived.

The real crisis lies not in external attacks, but in whether the internal alliance can remain united and clear-headed under the weight of sweet words and promises.

However, Ma Huateng also understood that with such huge profits at stake, even if Cheng Yi ordered a counterattack, these game companies would probably just go through the motions without putting in any real effort.

You won't know what crisis is until the knife falls on your own head.

Just as the meeting reached a stalemate, the meeting room door was gently pushed open, and Cheng Yi appeared in the doorway.

"Sorry, there was an emergency meeting at the company, so I'm late." He had a relaxed smile on his face and quickly sat down next to the Thresh Technology representative.

He glanced at the tense atmosphere in the conference room and couldn't help but laugh, "What's going on? Did you two have a fight?"

When Wang Yan saw Cheng Yi arrive, it was as if he had seen a savior. He quickly reported the current situation and the differences between the two sides, emphasizing the fierce subsidies from Microsoft, the decline in UTalk's data, and the internal debate about whether to follow up or wait and see.

Cheng Yi turned around and glanced at Li Weiwei, who immediately and perceptively handed him her personal teacup.

Cheng Yi slowly blew on the steam from his teacup, listening to Wang Yan's report. He even took a leisurely sip of tea, as if listening to a story that had nothing to do with him.

His relaxed demeanor eased the tension among the crowd somewhat.

Look, President Cheng is very confident now.

Cheng Yi had no choice; he had to appear completely relaxed, even a little pretentiously relaxed.

If he also showed signs of anxiety and kept saying 'What to do, what to do, what to do,' then the mentality of the guys present would completely collapse.

After Wang Yan finished speaking, everyone in the conference room focused their attention on him.

Ma Huateng couldn't help but speak first, his tone urgent: "President Cheng, we can't hesitate any longer! Microsoft is undermining us! We must fight back immediately! Even if... even if we have to allocate some funds to follow up with subsidies to retain users!"

Ma Huateng is well aware of Momo Group's financial strength, and as a major shareholder of Tencent, Momo Group should support them at this critical juncture and help them overcome their difficulties.

Zhu Jun frowned and retorted, "Old Ma, you make it sound so easy. Who's going to pay for this? How much? Who can compete with Microsoft in terms of money?"

"Are we just going to surrender?" Ma Huateng was so angry he almost laughed out loud. "Once MSN has ingrained user habits, we..."

"Alright." Cheng Yi gently put down his teacup. His voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced everyone's argument.

He looked around calmly and said, "I understand. Microsoft has money, policy approval, and the trump card of universal credits. We, on the other hand, have no money, no policy advantages, and internal opinions are not even unified."

He paused, then said something that left everyone speechless: "So, my suggestion is not to engage in a price war with them. In fact, we should help them by promoting MSN extensively."

"what?!"

"President Cheng?!"

"This……"

The conference room was immediately filled with incredulous exclamations and skeptical voices.

A look of joy appeared on the faces of Ding Sanshi and the others, while the expressions of Wang Yan and Ma Huateng changed drastically.

Kong Feng, caught in the middle, also didn't quite understand Cheng Yi's decision.

The laser pointer in Wang Yan's hand fell to the table with a thud.

Cheng Yi seemed oblivious to everyone's reactions and continued slowly, "Don't portal websites like Xinlang, Souhu, and NetEase still have plenty of empty advertising slots? We can also use the TV shopping slots from Huanyu Vision to negotiate prices with Microsoft. Everyone should set their own prices and pay for MSN's paid advertising."

"Since we can't beat them, let's join them. Microsoft has money, so it's not a bad thing for us to take the opportunity to earn some advertising fees. It's a good way to recoup our losses, and maybe the money we earn will be more than the revenue growth of our own games because of this subsidy. Plus, you game companies can all make announcements and advertisements in the game."

When he said this, his gaze lingered on Zhu Jun and Ding Sanshi's faces for a moment.

Zhu Jun and Ding Sanshi were initially worried that their surrendering views would provoke Cheng Yi's anger, but upon hearing Cheng Yi's words, smiles immediately spread across their faces.

President Cheng is truly a wise and reasonable person.

"Cheng Yi!!!" At this moment, a low roar filled with suppressed extreme anger suddenly rang out.

Ma Huateng suddenly stood up, his face ashen, his chest heaving violently, and his hand pointing at Cheng Yi trembling slightly.

This was almost the first time he had ever called Cheng Yi by his full name in such a disrespectful manner.

"Do you know what you're saying? This is surrender! In the past two years, QQ has brought so much traffic to our group. Even if it hasn't done anything outstanding, it has certainly put in a lot of effort, right? And now you want to use our resources to help the enemy spread propaganda? To hasten our own demise?"

(End of this chapter)