Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 131: Buying out the future for 1.13 billion, building a gaming empire!
"This is indeed the result of Riot Games, but I also invested $1200 million to make League of Legends possible, so that it can be launched and become profitable in the future."

Wang Junshan smiled faintly: "You provide the effort, I provide the money, and we share the technological achievements. It's perfectly reasonable."

"Moreover, the domestic market is unique, and there is a lot of uncertainty about whether League of Legends can be successfully introduced to China. I have to hedge against the risks, right?"

“This…” Mark and the other man fell silent.

It sounds perfectly reasonable, but it's hard to accept!

"You guys take your time to think it over, I'm going to play a game with them."

Wang Junshan went straight out the door: "Come on, warriors, let's have a solo match!"

"Mr. Wang, are you serious?"

"This is the game we developed!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.

Wang Junshan actually wants to solo League of Legends with them!
Isn't this a joke?
Wang Junshan smiled faintly: "So what if you developed it? You might not be able to beat me!"

"If that's what you say, then I have to teach you a lesson!"

Tom sat in front of the computer: "Let's fight!"

Everyone gathered around.

I originally thought that Wang Junshan, who was playing League of Legends for the first time, was bound to lose.

Unexpectedly, not long after the game started, Tom was forced to use his Flash ability by Wang Junshan.

They continued to suffer defeats, losing 5-0.

Wang Junshan's smooth combos left Tom, the chief technology director, looking miserable and unable to develop his skills.

Wang Junshan's repeated extraordinary performances drew cheers from the crowd.

Even Mark and Brandon, who were having a heated discussion in the office, couldn't help but look over and come out.

Until Mark saw Tom's appalling performance, he couldn't help but cover his face in embarrassment:
"Tom, in the game you developed, you got slaughtered 11-0, it's just...sigh!"

Tom was so angry he smashed his keyboard: "Don't be so arrogant here! If you're so tough, come at me! You'll get crushed too!"

"Mr. Wang is simply a gaming genius in League of Legends!"

"If he wasn't playing there in person, I would suspect he was cheating and he should be banned!"

"Hahaha!" Wang Junshan laughed.

After the game ended, Tom was quite exasperated.

Ryan sighed: "Tom, you're useless. I have to reclaim the dignity of a developer!"

"Come on, if you can do it, then you do it!" Tom immediately stepped aside.

After a few minutes, Ryan also fell silent.

Compared to Tom, his performance was not much different; he was still being unilaterally tortured and killed.

Under Wang Junshan's suppression, they couldn't develop at all, and it was a pitiful sight.

Both chief designers knelt down, and everyone else was speechless.

Wang Junshan was in a great mood.

joke.

How can your mere two years of research and development compare to my more than ten years of accumulation?

"Come, Your Majesty, let's talk again."

Fearing that Wang Junshan would continue to attack others, Mark quickly invited Wang Junshan back:

“We can accept your technology sharing and source code sharing, but the valuation cannot be 3000 million, it has to be 3500 million US dollars, and we will give you 40% of the shares.”

“3500 million US dollars is acceptable, but 40% of the shares is too little, 48%!” Wang Junshan said.

“This…” The two of them frowned.

However, due to the current predicament and the impact of the financial crisis, Riot Games has had no choice but to compromise.

Ultimately, the two sides reached a compromise:

Wang Junshan acquired a 40% stake in Riot Games for $1400 million.

They also acquired an 8% stake in Riot Games' Pre-A round of financing for $280 million.

This would have been difficult if the financial crisis hadn't occurred.

However, once the financial crisis broke out, investors in the Pre-A round also suffered heavy losses, and some were even on the verge of bankruptcy.

Upon hearing that Wang Junshan was paying such a premium to acquire their shares, they naturally had no objections.

Those who were impatient made the transaction on the same day!

In the end, Wang Junshan spent a total of $1680 million, or 1.13 million RMB, to acquire 48% of Riot Games' shares, which was a really good deal!
Moreover, there are priority investment rights, priority acquisition rights, exclusive domestic agency rights, and technology, source code, and data sharing!
This is what Wang Junshan values ​​most!
Admittedly, Wang Junshan could also assemble a team and create a League of Legends game from scratch.

However, League of Legends is not a small game like WeChat Farm!

On the contrary, League of Legends is a very large and complex game, and its development is extremely difficult.

Putting everything else aside, the development difficulty of the game engine alone is ridiculously high!
It took Riot Games more than two years!
Even if Wang Junshan takes a shortcut, it will still take more than a year to complete.

It will take at least two years to develop the entire game!
Moreover, in the past two years, Wang Junshan has needed to be fully involved, personally leading the team in research and development, and tackling key challenges...

Not only is it time-consuming and laborious, but launching it two years later is also too late.

League of Legends will be available in North America next year; there's simply no time to wait.

For this reason, Wang Junshan simply acquired 48% of the shares of the company.

At the same time, the establishment of domestic branches and the sharing of technology and source code with the US headquarters were aimed at honing the skills of our employees and improving the R&D capabilities of our domestic staff!
Once these people have honed their skills, and with the help of the source code, technology, and data shared by League of Legends, they will be able to easily develop Honor of Kings!
That's right, Tencent's game development level made great strides in its previous life thanks to technology sharing with Riot Games!

But now, Wang Junshan has snatched them all away!
Future technology's ability to develop large-scale PC games will also be greatly enhanced.

After spending two days in Lao Mi, Wang Junshan also discussed the development of "League of Legends" with people from Riot Games and offered many guiding suggestions.

Especially on many technical difficulties and core settings, Wang Junshan can always offer solutions in a simple and incisive way.

"My king, I really don't want you to leave."

"Look, your guidance has solved the problem that has been bothering us for months."

"You are such a genius!"

Several top tech experts all praised it highly.

In his previous life in 2008, Wang Junshan was naturally far inferior to the elites of Riot Games.

But now, with the foresight advantage and technological superiority of the reborn, it's a matter of dimensional reduction.

Just like Nokia's Symbian system, it was very powerful in the era of feature phones, capable of running QQ and providing offline navigation.

However, in the smart era, it is outdated compared to iOS and Android, and there is no way to compare them.

There is also a huge generational gap between the technology of 2025 and the development technology of 2008.

"Your Majesty, the weather is not good tomorrow. Why don't you stay for two more days?"

"If two days isn't enough, one day will do. We can save ourselves three months of wasted time!"

Everyone spoke one after another.

Whether it's gameplay, hero design, or operational philosophy, Wang Junshan has provided tremendous help to Riot Games, saving them from many detours.

As a result, League of Legends, which was originally scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of next year, can be brought forward to the third quarter of next year!
Thanks to Wang Junshan's guidance, I avoided many detours and solved many long-standing problems.

The free-to-play model with paid skins, in particular, has opened up a whole new world!

This design maintains fairness in the game for all players while also encouraging paying players to spend money willingly.

It was simply perfect. Wang Junshan smiled faintly: "If I don't go back now, my company will go bankrupt!"

I planned to leave after signing the agreement.

I was kept at the mercy of the people from Riot Games and ended up staying for three more days!

"Your Majesty, please stay one more day. We'll personally see you off the day after tomorrow!" Brandon said with a smile.

Wang Junshan waved his hand: "I've already booked my plane tickets for tomorrow, so I really have to go. But don't worry. When I get back, I'll set up a branch of my flagship company in Beijing, and then I can hand over some of the business to the Beijing branch to handle."

“You can also send some of your staff there so that business can proceed on both sides at the same time.”

"If you encounter any technical difficulties, you can come to the Beijing branch; I'll be here."

Upon hearing this, Tom beamed with joy: "No problem, I'll go there once the Beijing branch is completed."

"I watched the Beijing Olympics online. It's such a beautiful, prosperous, and culturally rich city! I want to go too!"

Several people with technical expertise spoke up, all expressing their interest.

But the two bosses, Mark and Brandon, wanted to curse.

"Wang, you're openly poaching our talent!"

Wang Junshan laughed: "Mark, that's too formal. The Beijing branch is also part of the same company, we're all one family, right?"

"For League of Legends to become a big game, it can't ignore the Chinese market. Only if it becomes popular in China can League of Legends become a global phenomenon. How many people are there in North America alone?"

"If Riot Games wants to grow bigger, it can't just be limited to North America. It also needs to establish an Asian R&D center, and it would be good if it were located in Beijing."

"Brandon, you need to broaden your horizons. The future of Riot Games belongs to an international corporation. Don't limit yourself to this small corner of the world. League of Legends must go international!"

After Wang Junshan's persuasive words, Mark was somewhat tempted.

Brandon was also getting a little cocky.

A major international company!
Asia R&D Center!

League of Legends is going international!

Who can bear this?
Even Brandon nodded repeatedly: "That's right, let's think bigger. The US is the headquarters, and the Beijing branch will serve as the Asian R&D center!"

"Moreover, this model can also reduce costs and improve efficiency."

"Many businesses can be handed over to the Beijing branch, and with both sides progressing simultaneously, there is a good chance of going public ahead of schedule."

Seeing that his old partner agreed, Mark nodded and said, "Okay, then let's set up the Beijing branch as soon as possible and push forward at the same time, so that League of Legends can be launched by June next year!"

“I think it’s a good idea!” Wang Junshan smiled.

He enjoys interacting with tech geeks.

Naive and easily fooled.

If it weren't for the difficulty in being fooled, Riot Games wouldn't have been sold entirely to Tencent in 2011.

Even considering the future of League of Legends, they would refuse to acquire it.

In its previous life, Tencent acquired the company for less than 3 billion RMB in total.

But the rewards are immeasurable.

The profits alone are over 100 billion.

There is also a flagship company worth over 100 billion.

They're making a killing!

As for the R&D team that was incubated through this, the subsequent development of games such as "Honor of Kings" and "Golden Shovel" also brought in enormous profits.

It can be said that this was a stroke of genius that cost more than 2 billion RMB to generate hundreds of billions in returns!
However, now, Wang Junshan has intercepted them all.

And they were even more ruthless in their interception.

We need more than just League of Legends; we need Riot Games!
We also need to move part of the R&D team to the capital to cultivate game development talent for Future Technology, and then build a game empire for Future Technology!
"Chairman Wang, you'll have to stay for a couple more days because of this."

“Okay, I’ll stay for three more days. After three days, I’ll take some employees back with me to build up our Beijing branch.”

Wang Junshan smiled and said, "Once the Beijing branch is ready, the subsequent localization, internal testing, and server setup can all be carried out step by step. This way, it may be launched a year or half a year later than the US server."

In its previous version, the US server launched in October 2009, while the Chinese server launched in October 2011.

The reason for the delay of two years is partly because around 2010, popular games in China were still CF, DNF, and World of Warcraft.

However, multiplayer online tactical competitive games like League of Legends are very rare, and Tencent lacks confidence, requiring further internal testing and research.

In addition, there is the supporting infrastructure construction.

This includes server setup, anti-cheating system development, and customer service team training, all of which take time.

Wang Junshan's advantage was that he knew "League of Legends" would definitely be a hit in China, so there was no need to wait and see or conduct further research and testing.

You can just go all in!
The Chinese server will be available in the US server in the middle of next year, and in the Chinese server at the end of next year or the beginning of the following year.

A year and a half ahead of schedule!

However, before that, they need to acquire Riot Games in its entirety.

Tencent also acquired Riot Games before launching the product in China.

Wang Junshan had a plan, and by the end of the year he began acquiring shares. As long as someone was willing to sell shares, Wang Junshan would buy them all at a premium.

Before League of Legends launches in the middle of next year, we'll acquire the entire Riot Games company.

As for why we don't take them all now?

Of course, it's because League of Legends isn't ready yet!
If we take over everything now, the original team will lose their fighting spirit, and League of Legends will be abandoned. What will happen then?

Furthermore, the development of talent pipelines for future tech game teams will take time and require the support of companies like Riot Games.

Back at the hotel, Wang Junshan and Tang Jinghe had a video call.

Behind Wang Junshan was an endless night, while on Tang Jinghe's side, the sun was rising.

Good evening, boss.

Good morning, Mr. Tang.

"Haha." They both laughed.

"It seems this trip to the Empire went very smoothly!"

"Yes, we spent 1.13 million to acquire a very powerful and promising game company, or rather, a game."

"Oh? For the boss to value it so much and spend over 1 million, it must be a very excellent large-scale PC game?"

"Of course, you'll definitely like it when the time comes."

"No, boss, you don't know me. I actually don't like playing games," Tang Jinghe said.

"Hehe, you don't understand yourself. You'll find out when the time comes," Wang Junshan laughed.

Wang Junshan didn't know why Tang Jinghe didn't like playing games now.

In his previous life, he had been with Tianqi Network for less than a year when he discovered that Tang Jinghe was obsessed with League of Legends.

She also frequently duo-queueed with Wang Junshan, and her most common saying was, "If you carry me to rank up, I'll protect you at my company!"

However, Tang Jinghe kept her word and provided some support for Wang Junshan's smooth promotion.

Even Tang Jinghe, who was laid off by the evil cultivators and transferred to another place, wanted to stand up for Wang Junshan.

All I can say is that this woman is very loyal; she'll really step up when something happens.

It was for this reason that Wang Junshan brought Tang Jinghe under his wing as soon as he founded the company.

(End of this chapter)