Huayu: Starting from joining the mainstream entertainment industry in 96

Chapter 323, Section 321: Resurrection

In December, the capital city was bitterly cold, and one's breath turned to frost.

Inside the general manager's office of Shengying Media in the Jingxin Building, however, there was a warm and cozy atmosphere that made one feel drowsy.

"Mr. Wang, Mr. Zeng Liqing has arrived. He's here to report on the progress of the 'Legend' project." Li Tingting knocked lightly on the door and entered, reporting in a low voice while placing a freshly brewed cup of hot tea beside Wang Sheng.

"Invite him in."

Wang Sheng's spirits lifted slightly, and he adjusted his posture.

Zeng Liqing walked in wearing a thick down jacket, looking travel-worn, with a rosy glow still on her nose from the outside air.

He took off his coat, revealing a slightly wrinkled sweater underneath—a typical unkempt style for a programmer, but his eyes were filled with the focus and seriousness unique to a technical backbone.

"Mr. Wang, Assistant Li," Zeng Liqing greeted them somewhat reservedly.

"Mr. Zeng, please sit down. It must be cold outside." Wang Sheng gestured to the chair opposite him, his tone amiable. "Tingting, pour Mr. Zeng a cup of hot tea as well."

"Thank you, Mr. Wang." Zeng Liqing took the teacup from Li Tingting, warmed his hands with it, and then took out a thick document from his briefcase. "Mr. Wang, I'm here to report on the progress of the domestic preparations for 'The Legend of Mir 2'."

"Okay, take your time, no rush," Wang Sheng gestured for him to relax.

Zeng Liqing took a deep breath and began her report: "First, there's the most basic localization work. Actoz and Wemade from South Korea have sent two core technical personnel, one responsible for the underlying program and the other for the game text, in accordance with the 'Strategic Technical Support Agreement.' They've already connected with our colleagues at Tencent Games, and their office is located in Haidian District, making it convenient for you to visit at any time."

Wang Sheng nodded slightly.

"The localization work is considerable, especially the skill, item, and quest descriptions, which need to conform to the language habits of domestic players. We expect that complete localization and preliminary localization testing will take at least until the end of the second quarter of next year," Zeng Liqing continued.

Wang Sheng expressed his understanding.

The localization of online games in 2000 was far more complex than simple text replacement in later years. It involved adapting the underlying code, embedding fonts, and localizing the cultural context, making a lengthy process inevitable.

"Secondly, there's the design of the game point card system."

Zeng Liqing turned to another part of the document, "We referenced the models of a few paid online games on the market, such as 'King of Kings' and 'Online Three Kingdoms,' and initially designed a system based on CD-KEY and online time billing."

The challenge lies in preventing hacking, preventing unauthorized charges, and ensuring accurate billing. This part is led by our Tencent technical team, with API support provided by our Korean partners.

In 2000, when electronic payments were far from widespread, physical game cards were practically the only way for online games to generate revenue. The stability and security of this system were directly related to the lifeline of game revenue.

"Finally, and this is something you emphasized in particular last time, Mr. Wang, is the advance structure of the distribution channels."

At this point, Zeng Liqing's tone became somewhat uncertain, "Well... our internet team is indeed not very familiar with offline physical channels..."

Wang Sheng waved his hand, interrupting his anxiety, and turned his gaze to Li Tingting beside him: "Tingting, please introduce our existing offline network to Engineer Zeng."

Li Tingting understood, stepped forward, and explained clearly to Zeng Liqing: "Engineer Zeng, you may have heard of the 'Light and Shadow World' audio-visual chain store project that President Wang previously planned."

Although the expansion plan was hampered by the severe impact of pirated VCDs/DVDs in the past two years and failed to spread across the country as expected, we still maintained at least one core store in each provincial capital and municipality.

These stores were originally established to integrate idle resources from various film studios and to provide employment for some older or retired employees. Currently, they are basically able to maintain a balance between income and expenditure, thus solving some practical difficulties for the former film studios.

Zeng Liqing nodded. He had heard of this before, but he didn't expect that President Wang would still keep this "old network" that seemed to have been impacted by the times.

Wang Sheng took over the conversation, his tone calm and resolute: "Now is the time to make this network work again. The 'Light and Shadow World' stores will be our offline bridgehead and warehousing and distribution node for future game point cards and internet cafe management systems."

He looked at Zeng Liqing: "My plan is to select a group of young people who are quick-witted, hardworking, and willing to venture out from among the young people currently working in various companies within our 'Shengying Group.' These people have the support of local film studio resources and are also familiar with the local situation."

Tencent will send technical personnel to provide them with centralized training on two topics: first, how to install, debug, and maintain the management system we customized for internet cafes; and second, how to market this system to internet cafe owners, and subsequently, how to distribute and sell game cards.

Li Tingting added, "The promotion staff will be paid a base salary plus high commission. They will receive a percentage of the commission for each system sold, each internet cafe installed and maintained, and each game card sold. The specific details will need to be determined by you, Mr. Wang."

Zeng Liqing's eyes gradually brightened as she listened.

Using the children of film studio employees as a ground promotion force is a solution tailor-made for the current predicament of offline promotion!

These individuals have organizational backgrounds, making them more reliable than purely salespeople recruited from the general public, and they are also more likely to gain the initial trust of local internet cafe owners.

"Mr. Wang, this plan is fantastic!" Zeng Liqing couldn't help but exclaim. "So... what would be a suitable price for this internet cafe management system? How should the profits be distributed?"

After a moment's thought, Wang Sheng, considering the current market situation and future strategy, offered a solution: "This system itself is not expected to make a lot of money; in fact, it may even generate a small profit or break even in the early stages. The goal is to quickly capture the distribution channels. The price cannot be too high, so that internet cafe owners will feel it is a burden, but it also cannot be too low, so that it seems worthless."

Based on Zeng Liqing's previous report on the prices of mainstream software on the market, Wang Sheng proposed a more competitive and sophisticated solution:
"We offer two options. The first is the basic version, designed for small and medium-sized internet cafes with fewer than 50 computers. It's a one-time purchase with a price of 1288 yuan. This price is slightly lower than other software on the market, making it very attractive and almost eliminating any hesitation for small internet cafe owners."

"The second type, the standard version, is for large internet cafes with 50 or more computers, especially hundreds of computers, and adopts a per-terminal charging model."

We offer a package price, for example, up to 100 units, priced at 2588 yuan; for each additional client license beyond 100 units, an additional 20 yuan will be charged.

This price is positioned in the mid-range market for Wanxiang Network Management, but our advantage lies in the potential for future integration with Shengying's film and television promotion and even priority supply of game cards.

"As for profit sharing," Wang Sheng continued, "for every system sold, the promoters receive a direct commission of 30%, which is their deserved reward for their hard work and as an incentive."

The remaining 70% will be split equally between Tencent and my "Prosperous Investment" at a 35%:35% ratio. Tencent's portion will cover your R&D costs and subsequent maintenance; Prosperous Investment's portion will support the operational costs of the entire channel expansion and feedback to the film studio system.

Wang Sheng knew in his heart that this system itself couldn't make a lot of money.

Its core value lies in "locking in" internet cafes, the most important online gaming terminal.

Once internet cafes use your system and develop a habit of using it, subsequent sales of game cards and even more value-added services based on this platform will naturally follow.

A price below market value is more like a stepping stone to unlocking a gold mine.

As for whether it will offend the local bullies?
Although the film studio's security department no longer had guns, it still retained its organizational structure.

Zeng Liqing quickly did the mental calculation: a system promoter could earn 300 to 600 yuan, which was an extremely attractive income in 2000, enough to inspire the hard work of those young film studio employees.

Tencent can also obtain stable cash flow and valuable offline channel data.

“I understand, Mr. Wang! This allocation plan is very reasonable, and I believe it will greatly motivate people,” Zeng Liqing said excitedly. “I will go back and immediately organize the technical team to work overtime to improve the system and prepare training materials.”

“Yes,” Wang Sheng nodded. “The training will be held in Beijing, and the company will arrange the food and lodging. You need to make sure the training content is solid, so that these young men can really solve problems when they go out, and not ruin our reputation.”

"Yes, Mr. Wang!"

Zeng Liqing stood up and solemnly agreed.

"Go ahead. You and Assistant Li will handle the details. If you encounter any technical problems, contact the Korean side directly." Wang Sheng waved his hand.

Zeng Liqing stood up to say goodbye, leaving the office with full enthusiasm and clear instructions.

(End of this chapter)