Chapter 3537: Second Cooperation
This call from the United States was from hnLee, the creator of "Unter-ke" who had worked with Lin Feng before. During the call, hnLee told Lin Feng that since Lin Feng recommended them to develop online games and network "Unter-ke" during their previous cooperation, after careful consideration, the Valve game development team had just recently developed "Counter-Strike NE". In view of the previous pleasant cooperation between the two parties, they hoped to discuss the Chinese agency rights with Lin Feng.
At the same time, hnLee also wanted to introduce the founder of Valve, now Newell, to Lin Feng, and hoped that Lin Feng could come to the United States as soon as possible.
Hearing this news, Lin Feng was greatly encouraged. He did not expect that when he casually said to hnLee that he hoped that he could develop "Unter-ke" into an online game, he would really develop it into an online game a year later and contact him first.
Now "Unter-ke" is hot all over the world, and it has officially become an official competition item of the first G (World Electronic Sports Competition) held by Samsung, South Korea, this year, which attracted thousands of game masters to participate. Although there were no teams participating in the competition at this time, "Unter-ke" was in full swing in China and was loved by everyone.
Lin Feng had previously sold more than 400,000 quasi-genuine copies of "Unter-ke" through Dingdang.com, and Tencent.com also provided an online gaming platform with an endless stream of players. If "Counter-Strike NE" was launched at this time, it would surely be a big hit and would allow his game empire to reach a new level.
"Legend" is a role-playing online game, "Plants vs. Zombies" is a casual online game, and the upcoming "Counter-Strike NE" is a first-person shooting online game. The three online games divide different types of players, and they are all high-quality online games. Therefore, they are not in conflict, but can echo each other, which will surely allow his "second world" to reach new heights.
At this moment, Lin Feng and Wu Zhaopu, Liu Yingying and others held an emergency small meeting to determine the maximum amount that could be afforded for the agency of "Counter-Strike NE" in this trip to the United States and related details. After arranging company matters, Lin Feng went to the United States alone with several assistants.
This trip to the United States also made Lin Feng realize that there were too few think tanks around him. Every time he had a meeting, he had to call Liu Yingying from Dingdang.com and Wu Zhaopu from "Second World" to negotiate, which was not conducive to the development of the company. Especially as his own company grew stronger and stronger, talents were indispensable for rapid and stable development, and a large number of talents.
Talents, talents, I hope that I can bring back some talents during this trip to the United States.
Americans and Japanese have different working methods and attitudes. As soon as Lin Feng got off the plane, Valve's Newell and hnLee personally greeted Lin Feng and took Lin Feng directly to the company headquarters, so that Lin Feng didn't even have a good appreciation of the legendary Silicon Valley.
Valve's headquarters,
It's not really big. However, in Silicon Valley, a place where every inch of land is valuable, renting a floor or a building is definitely not something that Valve, a company that has only developed a few games, can afford.
After entering the company and briefly greeting each other, Newell introduced the company's main creative staff and asked the technicians to show Lin Feng the graphics and operability of "Counter-Strike NE".
The graphics follow the consistent style of "Unter-ke". The lighting effects, picture details, music and sound effects are still not outstanding, but they are enough to make the game run smoothly, and the undemanding graphics also directly reduce the requirements for computer configuration, which is the key to whether an online game can be popular.
As for the operation, it still provides the same number of guns as "Unter-ke", and maintains the original refreshing feeling and good feel. Lin Feng tried it and felt very good. The feeling of sweeping the battlefield with an AK47 is still so exciting.
As for the rules of the game, this time after the adaptation to the online game, multiple modes have been added: competitive mode (traditional "Unter-ke" LAN mode), decisive battle mode, grenade mode, extreme mode, biochemical mode, etc. The biggest highlight is the expansion of the camp system.
"Counter-Strike NE" is divided into CT camp, T camp and zombie camp. Elite troops from various countries appeared in the CT camp, such as the French Armed Action Group, the Russian Snow Special Forces, the Taiwanese Thunder Team, the Japanese Warning Bureau Guard, the American Navy SEALs, and of course the most important Chinese Flame Dragon Tactical Team.
Lin Feng could imagine that once he became an agent in the future, there would be countless players who chose the Chinese Flame Dragon Tactical Team.
As for the T camp, there were the American Blue Legion (mercenary troops), the Middle East's Wild Guerrillas, the Japanese Sunset Legion, etc. What surprised Lin Feng was that in the T camp setting, Japan actually had three troops selected. I am afraid that once the network is operated in the future, whoever chooses the Japanese team in the T camp will be beaten up.
The zombie camp is divided into five types of zombies: ordinary zombies, host zombies, shadow Barbie, hateful butchers, witchcraft zombies, etc. Although zombies cannot use guns, they have special skills that the human camp cannot match.
The three camps have their own advantages and disadvantages, which greatly enriches the playability of the game.
After a trial, Lin Feng was extremely satisfied with the quality of the game "Counter-Strike NE" developed in this year. If it is an agent, it will be popular on the Internet.
Seeing Lin Feng's satisfaction, Valve CEO Newell and CS father hnLee also smiled. This time they chose Lin Feng as the first agent partner of the newly developed "Counter-Strike NE". In addition to the previous successful cooperation experience between the two parties, the more important point is that Valve is currently in a lawsuit with the previous cooperative company Sierra, because of the previous game copyright issue, and the relationship between the two companies has also deteriorated extremely. Therefore, Newell, who originally planned to recruit agents in the North American market first, made up his mind and simply turned his attention to other markets.
According to their market research, although the European online game market started earlier, the number of gamers is not large. There, football is the first sport, and football games are also the first game. Although the world's most famous CS team is also in Europe, Valve CEO Newell is not optimistic about the prospects of "Counter-Strike NE" in Europe. At least the short-term returns will definitely not meet Newell's current requirements.
Now the lawsuit between Valve and Sierra is deadlocked. No matter who wins in the end, the two companies cannot cooperate again. For Valve, which has exhausted its funds for the development of "Counter-Strike NE" and "VE2", this first agent must be successful and must bring them huge funds for subsequent research and development.
Europe is not good, Africa is out of the question, Oceania has too few people, and it is not as good as Europe. In the end, Newell set its sights on Asia. At first, hnLee proposed to cooperate with Lin Feng, but Newell believed that a company that sells quasi-genuine products has limited strength. Although the two parties had a pleasant cooperation before, it could not bring Valve the ideal huge funds, so it rejected Lin Feng at the beginning.
However, after a careful investigation, Newell found that the hottest online game market in Asia today is not Japan, let alone South Korea, but China. The hottest online game company in China, which can be said to be the undisputed overlord, is "Second World". After further investigation, it was found that the president of "Second World" was Lin Feng, who was rejected by him before. Newell was dumbfounded on the spot.
Newell was so shocked that he was speechless when he heard that the "Legend" developed by Lin Feng's "Second World" had a monthly profit of tens of millions of dollars. The "VE" they developed, which was well received by the market, only brought Valve 15 million US dollars in revenue, while the "Legend" developed by Lin Feng had almost the same number every month. This shocked Newell and made up his mind to cooperate with Lin Feng immediately.
He immediately asked hnLee, who had been in contact with Lin Feng before, to call Lin Feng, and Lin Feng's trip to the United States took place.
Both parties were sincere in their cooperation attitudes and had experience in cooperation with each other, so the negotiations were naturally smooth. Newell asked for a mainland China agency fee of 10 million US dollars and enjoyed a 30% profit share.
For this kind of negotiation, Lin Feng was already familiar with it. Although Newell has developed a series of world-renowned masterpieces, Newell, who was born as a technical R&D personnel, is not as good as Lin Feng in negotiations, otherwise there would not have been a game copyright dispute with the previous cooperation, Xueleshan.
After some bargaining, Newell insisted on the $8 million agency fee, but the profit share was reduced to 20%, and even the Asian agency rights were given to Lin Feng, but the initial $8 million agency fee must not be reduced.
This is not because Newell is stupid, but Valve is in trouble now. The lawsuit with Sierra is not only protracted, but also consumes a lot of energy from the company's top management, and also makes many venture capitalists hesitate, making Newell unable to obtain new financing. Now Valve must obtain at least $8 million in working capital, otherwise the following series of development plans will be stranded or even terminated. Therefore, Newell did not hesitate to reduce the profit share, and even gave the entire Asian agency rights to Lin Feng in order to obtain a huge amount of working capital.
Lin Feng knew that this was already Newell's lowest offer. Of course, it has not reached Newell's limit. However, you can't do things to the extreme. Cooperation with Valve is just the beginning. There is no need to make the relationship so stiff for a little benefit. Lin Feng also doesn't want to become the second Sierra and sue Valve in the future.
However, Lin Feng did not agree to Newell's agency contract because a plan suddenly came to his mind.