Downstairs of the Magic Box Culture office building.
Wu Junxian personally delivered Karens and Wood, who had come from afar, to the door of the company.
Looking at the two people getting into the car, he smiled, waved his hand and said "walk slowly".
The security guard sitting in the guard booth noticed this scene, grabbed his colleague, and whispered gossip.
"It seems that the overseas version of Clash of Clans is about to be launched."
"You know all this?"
"Are you stupid? Since when did our company have overseas business? Now two foreigners suddenly came here. They are not here for the tribal conflict, but for the cool Silk Road Overlord?"
"You're a bit imaginative," the colleague squinted at him and said with disbelief, "How can you, a security guard, know whether the negotiation has been completed?"
"Can this be negotiated? Look at the expression on Mr. Wu's face, can it mean that the negotiation has collapsed?"
Seeing that the two of them were about to get in the car and leave, the security guard quickly took out his mobile phone and secretly took a photo.
Just taking a picture wasn't enough, he was poking at the screen with his finger and whispering with a grin.
"No, I can't eat this melon alone. I have to post it on Moments as soon as possible."
At the same time, sitting in the taxi heading to the hotel, Wood looked like he wanted to say something but didn't know how to say it.
After taking a look at the calm expression on the boss's face next to him, he finally made up his mind and spoke.
"boss."
Karens, who looked at the first draft of the agreement in his hand, glanced slightly sideways and said in a relaxed tone.
"What's wrong?"
After considering the words in his mind for a while, Wood spoke cautiously.
"I didn't expect you to agree to their terms."
As if he expected that his men would ask this question, Karens smiled faintly and continued without any change in his tone.
"The share of 40 to 60 is indeed a bit harsh, especially since we are 4, but if the total revenue is considerable, this share ratio is not unacceptable. And we don't have to pay 100 million in one go, which is actually a good thing for us, at least Our publicity budget will also be wider.”
"I think the problem is not the share ratio, but their additional terms," Wood continued with a hint of resentment in his tone. "On top of the 40-60 share, there is also a guarantee agreement. They have lost almost all the risks. Gave it to us!”
It's okay if it's just a share agreement. Almost any agency will be happy to accept these terms without paying additional agency fees.
After all, for them, a pure profit-sharing agreement is almost guaranteed to make a profit without losing any money.
If you make money, part of it will be distributed to overseas manufacturers. If you don't make money, you don't have to worry about losing agency fees. Everything is fine with the server. The IP is not yours anyway, so you don't have to worry about it at all.
Except for the Xia Kingdom and some European countries, the protection of virtual property in most countries is not strict enough to prevent the game from being shut down even if it hits the market.
However, the problem is that Magic Box Culture has added a guarantee agreement to the sharing agreement, which stipulates that if the annual sharing income is less than 50 million, the part less than 50 million will be made up by Bulldog Company.
This agreement can no longer be described as overbearing terms. It is simply a naked hooligan.
Equivalently, if the profit sharing exceeds 50 million, the money will be divided according to the ratio of 46. If the profit sharing is less than 50 million, the money will be divided according to 50 million. In two years, it will be 100 million. This means that all the benefits will be taken by this group of Xia people, and all the risks will be taken. Let them carry it.
When he heard that Wu Junxian laid out this clause, Wood almost couldn't control his emotions and went crazy on the spot, flipped the table and left.
He originally thought that his boss felt the same as him, but he didn't expect that after a serious look on his face, Karens actually nodded in agreement.
"I can understand your confusion, but what you must know is that doing business itself is a risky thing."
Looking at his old friend who had worked with him for many years, Karen paused and continued.
"If it were another game, I certainly wouldn't talk nonsense with them for so long, but this game is different. In the largest player exchange forum in North America, hundreds of topic groups about Clash of Clans have been registered, and the players in them would rather comment on it. Even with hundreds of delays and agents paying tens of dollars a month, they want to play this game and enthusiastically update their strategy experience in the topic group... Do you think we can live up to their expectations?"
Wood was dumbfounded and didn't know how to answer.
Turning his eyes back to the first draft of the agreement in his hand, Karens smiled lightly, his relaxed tone unchanged.
"Let's be serious. If before I came here, I was only 80% confident that this game could become a hit in the North American mobile game market, now it's 90%."
"... Can I ask the reason?" Wood couldn't help but ask, "Is it just because... they insist on sharing?"
Karens shook his head and said.
"How is it possible? There are many game companies that are so confident. How could I let their subjective feelings about their games affect my judgment? The one who really aroused my interest was Mr. Hao from Yunmeng Group."
"...Mr. Hao?"
"That's right, the man who was hailed as a genius by the netizens of Xia State," Karens said with a faint smile, "half a year ago, the only thing I knew about this name was that it was mentioned in a paper in a professional computer journal. A study of magic numbers.”
"You mean... the genius who improved the hardware performance to a new level by modifying the underlying functions?" Wood looked surprised and muttered in a low voice, "I thought they had the same name."
"It's either the same name or the same person," Kelens continued. "Of course, his genius is not just in the field of programming, but also his miraculous investment vision and talent for designing games. I have studied this person carefully. Based on the information, Yunmeng Group’s valuation reached hundreds of millions in less than a year. This guy’s experience can be described as a legend.”
"But... what does this have to do with the game we want to represent?" The expression on Wood's face became more and more confused, and he gradually began to fail to understand what the boss wanted to say.
"The relationship is too great," Karens sighed softly and continued, "Do you still remember the changes in the attitude of Wu Junxian, who has been communicating with us about the agency agreement in the past two days? I remember clearly, when I initially made an offer of 100 million, and his reaction was as close as he could say the word “deal” on the spot.”
"However, after communicating with the parent company, his attitude changed 180 degrees. Not only did he start to get more comfortable with the sharing agreement, he also proposed a guaranteed contract that almost no one would agree to."
"What exactly made his attitude change 180 degrees? I thought about this issue for a long time, and finally came to only one conclusion."
"That's because from the time Mr. Hao first designed this game, this game was prepared for the international market. The domestic release of Xia Guo was just a practice. In other words, the plan for the overseas version of Clash of Clans has always been with Mr. Hao. On the desk, Magic Box Culture was not informed in advance.”
"So the guarantee agreement and the 46% share are just to drive us away."
Wood couldn't help but continue.
"Since they don't want to see us at all, why should we be so hot-tempered but cold-blooded?"
"That's what I call risk. Of course, for them, it might be more accurate to call it a variable."
Facing the seemingly understanding gazes of his subordinates, Karens said slowly with a bright smile on his face.
"After seeing that agreement, normal people would retreat...but I'm not the kind of person who plays by the rules."
With a glint in his eyes, he continued in a to the point tone.
"Since Mr. Hao has made up his mind, we will retreat after seeing this harsh agreement."
"Then I'll be the variable in his plan."