The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 44



Only Noblemtl

44. Developing a game? (1)

I said I came here to play as a joke, but it wasn’t necessarily the case. China is a place that handles half of the exports of Toad F&B.

There were no signs of the export share increasing in the future, but rather decreasing.

In addition, there was one company that deserved special attention.

It was a company called Tencent, headquartered in Shenzhen. After the company was founded in 1998, it achieved success with the Internet messenger OICQ, but lost a lawsuit with AOL over copyright issues, and developed a new messenger, QQ.

Internet messenger QQ achieved tremendous success with over 100 million users, but its revenue model was poor.

To overcome this, they made huge profits by selling QQ shows that allowed users to decorate their avatars.

“Do you know a guy named Ma Huateng?”

Zhang Yilin didn’t remember the name at first. After all, there were only a few IT companies established in Shenzhen.

“Ma Huateng? Who is that? I’ve heard of him before.”

“I heard he’s the president of a company called Tencent.”

“Tencentra? You’re talking about a company that makes money by selling customizable avatars on Messenger. That guy is younger than me, but he’s very smart.”

Only then did Zhang Yilin nod as if he had finally remembered. He had a personal relationship with Ma Huateng.

Zhang Yilin’s father Zhang Shuji and Ma Huateng’s father were friends who had been sent to the countryside when they were young and suffered together.

While running a business, I was doing well thanks to my connections with Shanghai.

“I want to invest in that company.”

“Investing in Tencent? It’s doing well, but it’s still unstable. How big can a company grow by making avatars? The market is small.”

Even though he had made some money, the company was small. Jang Yi-rin’s reaction was lukewarm.

“So we are venturing into a new field.”

“Where? Is there any money to be made in the IT industry?”

“I heard they’re entering the gaming business.”

Jang Yi-rin, who had been waiting, frowned.

“A game? It would be hard to make it properly. If it’s made by a Chinese company, it would be hard to make a proper game. The programmers are still low-level. There aren’t any proper game planners.”

“We will make our own games, but our priority will be to import games from overseas and distribute them to suit the tastes of the Chinese.”

“That might have marketability. But bringing a proper game is the priority.”

“I heard they are in contact with several Korean game companies.”

“I guess the key is whether Panho comes out or not.”

A license is a game distribution permit issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television after review. You must obtain this to distribute games within China.

It is up to the person in charge to decide whether to give it or not.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t think it’s bad. These days, young Chinese people are really into games. If they find something fun, they get really excited. I used to get really into Ultima Online when I was in the US. But if you import foreign games and distribute them, it’ll be hard to get a license. There’ll be censorship. The key is to somehow get a license.”

It seemed that it would be possible to make significant profits just by importing and distributing the games that had been created.

“That’s why I’m trying to invest. If we just do the Internet messenger business like we are doing now, the market will be limited, but if we branch out into game distribution, it’s a different story.”

“As far as I remember, they had already bought nearly half of the shares from the South African company and wouldn’t accept any more investment. Ma Huateng grumbled that the investment was a steal. I remember it was 46% for $30 million. If the company wasn’t struggling, they wouldn’t have handed it over. They said the company didn’t have any funds before they made money with QQ Show. They didn’t have money to rent servers.”

At first he said he didn’t know, but then he started recalling memories one by one.

“I sent my staff member to propose an investment, but they rejected it. It’s not easy to invest in an unlisted company. That’s why I’m asking you to step forward and help me acquire the shares.”

“Are you really sure you want to invest? How can I help you?”

“I will acquire only 30% of the shares through a three-person allocation, at the price you decide.”

“You’re going that far? It seems like you really want to buy it. How much are you thinking of investing?”

“I would be happy with $150 million.”

“I know what you mean. My brother wants it so badly, so I’ll try my best. What started out as a tiny quail egg has now grown into a goose egg.”

Since it was an unlisted stock, there could not be a separate market price. If a 30% stake was acquired for $150 million, it meant that the entire company was valued at around $500 million.

There was talk that Zhang Yinlin had received shares of Tencent in someone else’s name. The value of the shares he initially received was a steal.

This means that its value has risen considerably now.

“If the acquisition is successful, 5% of it will be yours.”

It costs money to use the gwansi. You have to take care of it yourself so that there are no complaints.

“My share seems appropriate.”

Jang Yi-rin expressed satisfaction with my proposal.

“Even if Tencent were to enter the game distribution business, there would be no Korean game companies that would readily respond. They are still fledglings. If they acquire shares, I will actively participate.”

“Do you have any games in mind?”

Jang Yi-rin was delighted by my words.

“Why do you like talking about games so much?”

“I said I like playing games. These days, I don’t have much time to play games and there aren’t any games that I like, so that’s why.”

“Did you know that the popular game Bloodline in Korea is making inroads into China by creating a subsidiary?”

“Bloodline? I’ve heard of it, but it doesn’t really work for me. I tried it once, but it wasn’t very fun.”

The company that created the game Bloodline, which was a huge hit in Korea, entered the Chinese market by forming a subsidiary through a joint venture with Chinese IT company Gina.com.

It seems like Jang Il-rin has already tried bloodlines, but he didn’t seem to find it very interesting.

The game I was trying to distribute in China had many elements that would be popular in China, even though it wasn’t successful in Korea.

The company that developed the game said they would do it today or tomorrow, so we planned to buy it in its entirety and do localization work for China.

“I’m planning to acquire a game development company in Korea. I think it would be fun for you to try it.”

“Really? What kind of game is it? Can I play it here right now?”

“It’s a game called Fire Striker, but they didn’t properly balance the game in the open beta and forced it to be a paid game, so it failed miserably.”

Although the game graphics and specifications were satisfactory, it was a game that was a total failure due to poor game operation.

It was very popular up until the early closed beta, but it failed due to stupid and short-sighted game management.

“So you can log in from here too? I’ll give it a try. Do you have a game account?”

Since it was a paid game, Jang Il-rin logged in with the account I gave her and played the game.

Jang Yi-rin, who had been playing the game for a long time, tilted his head.

“It was fun. The graphics were good, the specs were decent, and the characters were cute. I thought it would be popular. Why did it fail?”

“The balance is shit. When the wizard is strong, they weaken it with a submarine patch, and when the knight gets stronger, they do the same thing again. It was a flashy game in the beginning, so they kept making weird patches to make it worse, and game users started to leave.”

Jang Yi-rin clicked her tongue at my words.

“Ugh, this is extremely disgusting from the users’ perspective.”

“They said they’ll do it today or tomorrow because the company can’t even afford the server costs. They’re going to take over the game company, do balance patches, and then service it in the Chinese market.”

It’s much easier to improve an existing game than to start from scratch.

“It wouldn’t be an easy task to untangle it, would it?”

“We have very capable staff.”

“Really? Are you that confident?”

“Yes, we’ve already optimized the graphics and redesigned the characters, so if you try it out, it’ll feel like a completely different game. We’ve prepared it here. It’s an online game ported to multiplayer.”

Ariel said she’s busy these days, so she hacked the entire game and made a new balance patch. She said it’s just a hobby.

“Well then, let me help you get a license. I have connections at the Gwangjeonjeon Bureau.”

It’s a connection to the Shanghai faction, so where would it not be?

Jang Yi-rin, who had been thinking deeply about something for a moment, tilted her head.

“How about you start a joint venture with me and distribute it directly? Is there a need to give games like this to Tencent?”

I knew you’d say that.

“Maintaining a single game is no easy task. Even if you have competent staff under you, you can’t manage it yourself.”

“Why should I manage it myself?”

“Then shall I? Let me show you my schedule to show you how busy I am. I know how many companies I directly manage and how many companies I have invested in. Let’s not try to eat it all up. Stop!”

Although we hadn’t seen each other for long, the more I saw Jang Yi-rin, the more he seemed like a neighborhood older brother I knew.

He has a bad habit of secretly pushing all the annoying tasks onto his younger sibling.

It’s okay for me to eat it raw, but it’s disgusting when other people do it. Disgusting.

It was Jang I-rin who was avoiding my sharp gaze.

“After acquiring the stake, I will leave the publishing to Tencent, so please help me when signing the distribution contract.”

“What a pity.”

“Oh my! What a pity! What a pity!”

Jang Il-rin, who had been watching me get angry, quietly sat down in front of the computer.

“Let’s install the game I brought and try it out. Is it really fun or not?”

***

[We’ve finished optimizing it to run well even on low-spec computers.]

“Do you need that?”

[Master, China is still poor. If you distribute games that are played in Korean PC rooms, they won’t work properly.]

“Really?”

[This is a country that still uses 386.]

“Can you play the game with those specs?”

[Of course, high-spec games are not allowed.]

“China still has a long way to go. Any decent game has to be run on a Pentium. Not even a 486, but a 386. That doesn’t even have a proper heat sink. Won’t it catch fire while playing games?”

[There is also the issue of the workshop. There is an increasing number of people who make a living by selling items or gold obtained through auto-rotation.]

“Does that make any money?”

[If you get one item well, you can make money. If you run a workshop, you can make a lot more than the average income of Chinese people.]

“There are workshops in Korea, let alone China. The average income would be much lower.”

[Anyway, you absolutely must invest in Tencent.]

“I’m doing it because you told me to, but I don’t feel like it.”

[why?]

“It’s not cool! It’s like they’re trying to steal money that kids have earned. The market is still small. They haven’t even made $100 million in sales in the Chinese market.”

[What kind of stupid talk are you talking about? It’s small now, but do you think it will continue to be that way in the future? The game market will be bigger than the luxury goods market that Master likes. Do you know how much the Chinese people like games?]

“Is that all?”

[These people are crazy about games. They’re crazy. In the future, half of the Chinese population will play games.]

I couldn’t help but be amazed by Ariel’s prediction.

“Half? How many people are doing this? 500 million? 600 million? It’s dizzying.”

[I enjoy light casual games, but once the game launch is successful, I will be gifted sweet cash every year. Do you take games so lightly? Come to your senses!]

Damn, I got cursed at by an AI.