"I hate that agreement to death now!" On the fifth floor of a nearby building, looking at the blind box sales area for this event, and the long lines of people queuing, Alan Adhan said with a grimace.
"When we filled out that agreement, didn't I explain to you that we might make minor modifications to the main body of Warcraft 3? And we assured you that these modifications would only be service-oriented and would never involve any gameplay aspects of Warcraft 3!" Huang He said with a smile.
When signing the agreement with Blizzard, Huang He had proposed one requirement: that Blizzard should allow Jiangnan to make certain modifications to the Chinese version of Warcraft 3.
At that time, Alan Adhan absolutely refused. How could the great Blizzard allow a Chinese company to alter its game?
But Huang He's reasoning was very sincere. He said that China did not have Battle.net, so Jiangnan would have to build its own Battle.net, which was the oo Game Center.
These two Battle.nets would definitely be different, so their connection would also be different, which would require modifications to some of Warcraft 3's code, and this was unavoidable.
Even if Alan Adhan had his technicians fix the code modifications before release, these technicians couldn't stay at Jiangnan forever. Jiangnan's operation was long-term, and in the future, the operation would inevitably involve many bugs and maintenance needs, all of which required code modifications.
If Blizzard did not allow Jiangnan to modify certain things, Jiangnan's operation could not continue, and the contract would be difficult to execute.
After a long discussion with Alan Adhan, he finally agreed, but he also set down a rule: that Jiangnan could only modify the service-oriented parts and not involve gameplay.
Simply put, it meant that any game values or gameplay mechanics could not be altered.
Therefore, at this moment, facing Alan Adhan's complaints, Huang He could justifiably state that he was acting according to the agreement. His redemption code skins made no changes to the game's stats or gameplay; they only changed the appearance of character models. There was absolutely no breach of contract, and he had even informed Alan Adhan about it in advance.
"Huang, you are truly a cunning fellow. I'm starting to consider whether to hand over World of Warcraft to you for operation too!" Alan Adhan snorted.
"Dear Mr. Alan, I can understand your anger, and who you entrust World of Warcraft to in the future is your right. However, you must understand one thing: what I am doing causes no harm to Blizzard, and Blizzard's interests are not harmed in any way. On the contrary, the price of 2 million US dollars is much higher than the sales price of any Blizzard game in China. You have gained more profit.
"At the same time, Jiangnan also needs to survive and make money. These methods are how Jiangnan makes money. Otherwise, would I really be willing to spend 2 million US dollars to buy a game that cannot make money?"
"But you're making too much!" Alan Adhan grinned. "These 30,000 blind boxes will probably be snapped up in less than an hour, which is 300,000 yuan, nearly 70,000 US dollars."
"There are only 2,000 players on-site, but across the country, you have over 2 million players. Calculated at this ratio, your blind boxes could earn 700 million US dollars nationwide!" Alan Adhan said.
"Seven hundred million dollars! My dear Mr. Alan, I didn't realize you were so witty and humorous!" Huang He couldn't help but retort. "Yes, there are indeed over 2,000 players here, and we have 2 million active users nationwide. But you must understand that those who can come here to participate in the competition are the most active among the 2 million active users. They wouldn't travel long distances just to participate in the competition, which is why they are willing to spend an average of 150 yuan to buy our blind boxes.
"There are at most 50,000 such players nationwide. Where would seven hundred million come from? We're lucky if we break even with a little over a million dollars!" Huang He said.
"Huang, lying is deceiving God. You can't calculate it like that. You'll make at least 10 million US dollars!" Alan Adhan said.
"Mr. Alan, in fact, all our estimates are just guesswork. Perhaps these blind boxes will become unsalable in the future, and nobody will buy them?" Huang He shrugged. Because according to Huang He's guess, the sales of Warcraft 3 blind boxes this time could reach around 100 million nationwide, which is approximately 10 million US dollars!
"You make 10 million US dollars, but you only give us developers 2 million US dollars. You make four times as much as us, Huang. Your conscience must have been stolen by the devil." Alan Adhan said.
"I understand, my dear Alan. To put it plainly, you are not satisfied with the profit distribution, right?" Huang He said directly. Alan Adhan looked a bit embarrassed but nodded.
"Unfortunately, our contract is in black and white, and you cannot go back on it. I also do not intend to change this profit distribution model!" Huang He said calmly.
"Then World of Warcraft..." Alan Adhan brought out his trump card again.
"Whatever you say!" Huang He shook his head. "Dear Alan, you need to understand one thing: in China, I am the one who understands Warcraft and World of Warcraft the best. If you don't give it to me, you will lose who knows how much money!"
"Is that so?" Alan Adhan smiled slightly. "But I think it's because our Warcraft 3 is excellent enough that so many people are willing to pay money to buy your blind boxes!"
"Therefore, whoever gets World of Warcraft in the future can earn more money!"
"Haha, my dear Alan, let's not dwell on this. Your qualifiers are about to start. Aren't you going to the internet café to participate in the competition?" Huang He asked with a smile.
"Okay!" Alan Adhan nodded, then looked at Huang He and said, "Huang, while I'm in the competition, you'd better think this through. I believe the profits you get from your blind box business should be shared with us, so that we can go further in the long run." After speaking, Alan Adhan left the office and went to the competition accompanied by a translator.
"Damn it, an ungrateful wretch! I thought he was a good business partner!" Seeing Alan Adhan leave, Huang He cursed under his breath and kicked over the chair Alan Adhan had just sat on.
"Brother-in-law, who made you angry again?" Leng Zhimeng walked over and asked with a smile.
"Who else could it be, just a blonde bastard who only sees money!" Huang He said.
"Brother-in-law, your words are very amusing. In my opinion, there is no one in this world whose eyes are filled with more money than yours!" Leng Zhimeng retorted.
"My money is earned legitimately, clean money. I paid 20 million yuan in taxes last month. No one in the entire Wenzhou pays more than me. My money is as white as snow!" Huang He laughed.
Leng Zhimeng made a gagging gesture.
"But brother-in-law, you've offended Alan Adhan now. If he really doesn't give us World of Warcraft in the future, then all the glory we're experiencing today will be for someone else's gain!" Leng Zhimeng said worriedly.
Huang He looked at the players still surrounding the now empty sales point below, still wanting to buy blind boxes. He nodded.
These people had undoubtedly been cultivated into Warcraft enthusiasts by his propaganda campaigns, and they had come to understand and love Warcraft culture. Therefore, when World of Warcraft was released, these people would definitely be the first to become World of Warcraft players.
If World of Warcraft's agency rights were then taken away by someone else, then everything Huang He was doing now, cultivating players, would truly be making wedding dresses for others.
"I know what to do!" Huang He smiled faintly. "Don't worry, there are still two years until World of Warcraft is released. It will be very interesting then!"
"Brother-in-law, how do you know it's still two years away?" Leng Zhimeng asked curiously.
"Uh... of course, Alan Adhan told me!" Huang He grinned.
————————————
As it turned out, Alan Adhan's strength was quite considerable. He achieved 7 consecutive victories in the qualifiers and successfully advanced to the semifinals on the second day, which significantly improved Alan Adhan's mood.
However, his journey ended there. In the semifinals, he was defeated by a young boy named Zeng Zhuo playing Undead. What made Alan Adhan somewhat ashamed was that this player was only 14 years old, originally from Sichuan, who came to Shenzhen for tourism and happened to participate in the competition, casually defeating Alan Adhan.
The only thing that comforted Alan Adhan was that Zeng Zhuo advanced all the way, entered the finals, defeated his opponent, and won the championship of the Shenzhen City Competition, qualifying for the national finals. Alan Adhan could proudly state that if he hadn't met the champion, he might have at least won a championship.
Then, the people of Shenzhen were quite upset. Their city champion was taken away by a Sichuanese, which was simply cruel.
Many people also felt it was unfair. Why was the first match held in Shenzhen? This meant that many talented Shenzhen players didn't even know about it, and many esports geniuses hadn't even started playing the game yet, which allowed a Sichuanese to snatch the championship. They were determined to get revenge.
So later, when the City Competition was held in Chengdu, a large number of Guangdong people flocked there, resulting in the Sichuan champion becoming a Guangdong person, which could be considered one win for each side.
Huang He only stayed in Shenzhen for one day. He originally wanted to visit Tencent and see how "Little Pony" reacted, but then he thought that doing so seemed a bit too boring, so he gave up. He then flew directly from Shenzhen to Shanghai. He hadn't seen his precious Zhiwen in weeks and missed her dearly!