My game, you have no right to award

Chapter 191 Super IP
The Market Strategy Department is not just any random department within BlueWindow Technology.

In terms of size and number of employees, it may not be comparable to some medium-sized departments, but in terms of status, it is supreme.

It even has a huge influence on the entire Blue Window Technology.

This is because the Market Strategy Department is almost equivalent to the helmsman controlling the direction of the ship for Blue Window Technology, and they are currently sailing in a dangerous area full of reefs and undercurrents.

The battle between Starwheel Group and Blue Window Technology for the console market is in full swing, but the market share of VX4 is the data that the entire company is most concerned about.

It can be said that the fate of the entire company's game console business, and even the company's own survival, rests in its hands.

If BlueWindow Technology loses out or is defeated in the mainframe market, although it will not cause the entire company to go bankrupt in the short term, the risk of bankruptcy will increase rapidly in the long run.

After all, the external market cares more about their console market share than BlueWindow Technology itself does.

This is why the head of the market strategy department can openly shift blame in front of everyone.

Because he knew that this matter would not affect his status, not even in the slightest.

If he really takes responsibility, others will try their best to help him out of trouble.

After all, with great power comes great responsibility.

If his current position becomes vacant, others will not be as overjoyed as one might imagine; instead, they will be terrified, fearing that the higher-ups will decide to let them replace him.

All his willfulness and recklessness stemmed from the fact that he had already mortgaged his future.

This is similar to a general who has made a pledge to fight; before the battle even begins, he has everything he needs—the best supplies, personnel, and provisions.

If everything goes smoothly and the battle is won, then naturally one will return in triumph and be honored.

As for whether his achievements will overshadow his superiors, that's a matter for later.

But if he fails, death will be the only outcome for him.

The VX4 and GS4 are still evenly matched. Losing the game only means losing the initial advantage in the Chinese market, not that they have lost the entire Chinese market.

They could easily find a way to counter Starwheel Group's expansion in China by supporting other game companies and studios from the region.

In fact, that's what the head of the market strategy department thought, and that's what they were planning to do.

"Although we made some mistakes regarding Megvii Games, we also contacted many game companies in China."

"Many of them are willing to cooperate with us and sign exclusivity agreements."

Some of the high-ranking officials present seemed thoughtful, while others nodded repeatedly.

For them, the high sales of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" are certainly due to the quality of the game itself, but they are more inclined to believe that regional market factors contributed at least 80% to its success!
In other words, they believe that the tens of millions of sales of "Youming Shanhai" are more due to the strength of the Chinese market itself, rather than the quality of the game itself.

That's not wrong to some extent, since only the Chinese region has such a large local player base.

Other regions either have a large player base but lack economic development, resulting in a shortage of players willing and able to spend money on expensive AAA games.

Either the economy is developed, but the number of players is insufficient to support such a large sales volume solely from players in the local area.

BlueWindow Technology conducted a detailed investigation into this matter, and the conclusions were very much in line with their "expectations".

That is, if "The Lost Tomb" had been developed by a game company from any other country, there wouldn't even be a one percent chance that it would have achieved today's sales figures.

Therefore, their conclusion is that if a local Chinese game company can make a game of similar quality, it will be able to replicate the success of "Youming Shanhai"!

"Among the many potential partners we examined in China, we believe the most promising project to succeed comes from a company called Jinqian Shengshi."

The Golden Age of Qianlong?

Upon hearing the head of the market strategy department awkwardly utter four Chinese pronunciations, everyone present wore a strange, ambiguous expression, as if they were both smiling and not smiling.

When Jin Qian spoke it, it sounded very similar to the pronunciation of "Qin Qiong".

Of course, this is based on the premise that it comes from someone who doesn't speak Chinese, and is then heard by a group of people who don't understand Chinese but know Qin Qiong.

In English, Qin Qiong is a term most often used to discriminate against Asians, especially Chinese.

Its pronunciation is mocking and imitating the way Chinese people speak.

From a social perspective, if a public figure utters the name "Qin Qiong," they would theoretically be labeled as a racist and suffer social death.

It's like saying that to someone.

However, from a practical point of view, the punishment for acts of discrimination against Chinese and Asians is far less severe than that for discrimination against Black people and squid.

In many cases, they might just get a few insults from the Asian community, but they won't be punished in any way.

At this point, within BlueWindow Technology, it was even less likely that anyone would care, and many white executives would even speak more maliciously in private.

So their expressions upon hearing this were a mixture of wanting to laugh but not daring to.

"Please begin and explain in detail."

The chairman of Blue Window Technology, who had been slightly dissatisfied, put aside the matter of losing Kuangshi Games and "Youming Shan Hai" and turned to ask about other partners.

"This Huaxia company called Jinqian Shengshi is not a game company."

After saying this, the head of the market strategy department paused and looked at the crowd in front of him.

As expected, most people looked puzzled.

You're not a game company, yet you're telling us that the "most promising projects to succeed" come from there?
Are you kidding!

"This company is more like a copyright management company."

"And its owner, after we made contact, intended to adapt one of its super IPs into a AAA single-player game."

Hearing him say that, everyone understood. Although they didn't know if this so-called super IP was genuine or not, it was commercially sound.

Which of these executives doesn't understand the power of intellectual property?
Why do so many companies, knowing that the sequels they produce are of poor quality and will be criticized upon release, still tirelessly repeat the same mistakes?
This is because, for them, it is not a "mistake".

No matter how badly a sequel is criticized or how poor its quality is, it still has a high probability of being profitable.

As long as his IP address is strong enough.

"The original work of this IP universe is a novel called 'The Secret Records of Dragon Abyss'."

The head of the market strategy department had a proud look in his eyes and a confident smile on his lips.

This was a potential partner he had been searching for a long time before finally settling on.

He believes that after the adaptation, this work will be at least two times, or even three times, more popular in China than "The Lost Tomb"!
Although the fact that the other party is not a game company will cause some difficulties in the early stages, he believes that these are not problems.

Difficulties often represent opportunities.

After careful consideration, he concluded that this was actually more advantageous for them.

As for the reason...

"The Legend of Longyuan is one of the pinnacle IPs in the Chinese martial arts genre." He smiled. "Is there anyone who doesn't know martial arts?"

Everyone present burst into laughter.

They may not fully understand what wuxia is, but most of them have heard the term from kung fu-themed movies from the last century. "If we use movie plots as an analogy, wuxia is similar to Chinese kung fu movies, but the plot and worldview are more like Westerns."

After hearing his explanation, an image came to everyone's mind.

An Asian man wearing a straw hat, holding a dart, stood back-to-back with the man opposite him.

As the leaves fell, the two turned around at the same time and threw darts!
After standing facing each other for a few seconds, one of them collapsed to the ground, while the other stood proudly in place.

The winner picks up all of the opponent's belongings, mounts his horse, and rides away.

Only the dead lay there, slowly decaying.

It seems, nothing wrong?

"This novel, which was written in the 1960s, has been licensed to produce numerous derivative works to date, including TV series, games, stage plays, comics, and more."

"Among them are many works that are bestsellers throughout the Chinese-speaking world."

"Historically, almost every officially licensed work associated with it has recouped its costs."

Upon hearing the head of the market strategy department say this, everyone's expressions turned serious, but their eyes also revealed an undisguised fervor.

Almost all costs were recovered...

They believed the other party wouldn't make things up, and such a description was incredibly damaging.

This indicates that the popularity of the IP itself has exceeded the quality of content required for the work to break even.

In other words, it's about selling history. As long as you can convince users and then put that IP on their devices, you can still make money!
That's terrifying power.

It was from this sentence that they first realized that what the other party meant by "super IP" might not be an exaggeration.

"In the gaming industry, all of the previous licenses for 'Dragon Abyss Chronicles' were for online games."

"Most of them are online games, but some have been adapted into mobile games."

“For example, the online game ‘Dragon Abyss’ launched by China’s Iron Games in 2005 has been ranked among the top five in the revenue charts of online games in China for seven consecutive years.”

"From the perspective of game adaptation, adapting 'Dragon Abyss Chronicles' into a 3A single-player game is a blue ocean that no one has ever touched before."

"This means that if it succeeds, the buzz and market impact it will generate will be enormous!"

An executive suddenly interrupted him.

"But this also means greater risks."

The head of the market strategy department glanced at the other party, revealing a hint of dissatisfaction, and raised his voice slightly.

"Of course there are risks, but what business doesn't have risks?"

Sure enough, upon hearing him say that, the chairman nodded slightly.

This level of risk is completely within a controllable range.

However, he still asked the question.

"You said before that this isn't a game company?"

Seeing that the chairman had spoken, the supervisor quickly turned his body towards him and respectfully replied.

"Yes, this company is only responsible for IP management. Their job is to authorize and negotiate with third-party companies."

"Tell me what you think."

The chairman's question was certainly not as simple as it sounded; it had a deeper meaning.

His biggest concern, of course, is the game development issue.

Since the other party is not a game company, who is responsible for game development?
Who will fund the development?

How is the specific development process monitored and how is collaboration conducted?
These are all questions that have not yet been answered.

Clearly, the head of the market strategy department had a plan in mind.

"We will sign a contract with the other party and authorize a well-established Chinese game company to develop the game itself."

really!

Since the other party is not a game company, in order to develop this game and satisfy the desire of Chinese players to support domestic game companies, they naturally cannot authorize foreign game companies.

Not to mention, it's questionable whether foreign game companies can even handle Chinese themes.

Considering only these two aspects, licensing the game to a Chinese company becomes almost the only solution.

“We can acquire a Chinese game studio, or establish a joint venture, or simply license it.”

"Personally, I prefer to establish a joint venture to collaborate with local game development teams in the Chinese market."

The supervisor raised his chin, looked at everyone, and observed whether anyone showed any disapproval.

As expected, many people looked on with suspicion.

He rolled his eyes inwardly, thinking they were a bunch of short-sighted mediocre people.

Regardless, he was determined to stick to his own ideas.

"On the one hand, if we want to do a good job with the martial arts genre, which is unique to China, we must give the other party a certain degree of autonomy."

"But on the other hand, we do need to have decision-making power over the entire game development process."

"This game must fit into our VX4 market strategy!"

His tone was unusually firm.

"In terms of investment, we can provide strong financial support, market-based support, and international distribution channels."

"I believe that no Chinese game company would be willing to reject our proposal."

Upon hearing this statement, the crowd below whispered among themselves, occasionally glancing up at their supervisor.

The white-haired chairman crossed his hands, placed them under his chin to support it, and stared intently at the supervisor, his mind racing with calculations.

Finally he made his decision.

Do you have any suitable Chinese game development teams as potential partners?

Hearing the chairman say that, the supervisor breathed a sigh of relief and then immediately perked up.

The other party has clearly approved his proposal, which consolidates his authority.

He firmly believes that this plan can help the VX4 platform regain the Chinese market from Xinglun Group.

"Yes, we have identified several game companies."

He nodded and said.

(End of this chapter)