Vivendi had originally intended to sell Blizzard, but at the time, Blizzard had just released StarCraft II and achieved astonishing success. Vivendi saw a profitable opportunity and decided to keep Blizzard for the moment.
However, this did not mean Blizzard would have an easy time. Blizzard was constantly under the threat of being dismantled. Vivendi repeatedly expressed his desire to break up Blizzard and sell off its more valuable game IPs to acquire a substantial amount of cash.
Vivendi was not just passively waiting for Blizzard to be broken up. He also decisively set various performance targets for Blizzard, such as the annual profit it must achieve and the amount of profit to be remitted. Failure to meet these targets would result in Blizzard being dismantled and a quick influx of cash.
It was largely due to Vivendi's presence that Allen Adahan found himself constantly navigating difficult situations.
Historically, it wasn't until the release of World of Warcraft, which provided Blizzard with a stable revenue stream, that Vivendi temporarily abandoned the idea of dismantling Blizzard. After all, a cash cow that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profit annually was hard to come by; only a fool would sell it.
However, Vivendi also restricted Blizzard from investing resources into the development of other games. Developing new games meant incurring costs and shifting human resources, which would in turn affect World of Warcraft's revenue.
This was why, after the advent of World of Warcraft, Blizzard's output began to decline sharply. It took years of effort to produce the mediocrely received StarCraft II, primarily because Blizzard's internal resources were being depleted by Vivendi.
Therefore, when Allen Adahan saw that Huang He had bought Blizzard's shares from Vivendi, his first reaction was not anger, but rather a sense of relief.
Allen Adahan understood Huang He. He knew that unlike Vivendi, whose mind was solely focused on money, Huang He understood and loved games. In Huang He's hands, Blizzard would likely not engage in such exploitative practices. Allen Adahan even felt a slight sense of happiness.
"Mr. Allen, do you have any objections to my offer?" Huang He asked.
"No!" Hearing Huang He's question, Allen Adahan shook his head with a wry smile. The company had already been bought by you, and you're still asking me such a question? Is that necessary?
So, Allen Adahan shook his head resolutely, indicating he had no issues. This left Huang He slightly disappointed. He had been hoping Allen Adahan would put up a fight, giving him an opportunity to feign magnanimity. However, Allen Adahan did not seem particularly angry.
"Huang, you've bought Blizzard. How do you plan to operate it next?" Allen Adahan continued to ask.
"No special plans. Blizzard just needs to stick to its core business!" Huang He stated calmly. "In the future, Blizzard will solely be responsible for game development, whether it's single-player games, online games, or mobile games, which are just emerging but hold great promise."
"I will provide Blizzard with ample funding for game development, but Blizzard cannot be involved in game operations. All of that will be handled by Jiangnan Group's professional game operations company!"
"I want to return Blizzard to its essence, to be a pure game development company!"
"Great! I will fully support you!" To Huang He's surprise, Allen Adahan became so emotional upon hearing his words that tears began to well up. He was a completely different person from the one who had been desperately maneuvering to extort money from him.
The speed of this transformation was indeed remarkable.
"Allen, why do I feel like you've become a different person?" Huang He asked, somewhat bewildered. He had been planning to dismiss Allen Adahan outright, but now that he was so cooperative, Huang He found himself without a good excuse.
While Allen Adahan's previous maneuvering had been quite troublesome, he had been acting in the best interests of his company.
As a competitor, one would naturally dislike such a person, but as the boss of a company, Allen Adahan was undoubtedly an excellent manager.
"It's all because of Northern Blizzard. Those guys can't stand being tormented by Vivendi and are determined to resign. To keep them and prevent Vivendi from interfering with Northern Blizzard, I had to exceed this year's performance targets!" Allen Adahan said with a wry smile, revealing Blizzard's dire situation.
It turned out that in addition to Blizzard headquarters, there was also Northern Blizzard, the subsidiary that developed the Diablo series. However, that subsidiary was largely supported by four key individuals. They were currently in the preparation phase for the Diablo III project, which was to be Blizzard's next major focus for the next three years.
But upon learning of this project, Vivendi bypassed Allen Adahan and directly issued an order to Northern Blizzard, demanding that Diablo III be developed as an online game, operated on a subscription-based model, similar to World of Warcraft.
The four key figures at Northern Blizzard vehemently refused, as they only wished to develop single-player games. This led to a fierce conflict, and eventually, the four key figures at Northern Blizzard decided to resign simultaneously.
In a desperate attempt to mediate, Allen Adahan found himself constantly trying to reconcile Vivendi and Northern Blizzard. Allen Adahan promised Vivendi profits exceeding expectations, in exchange for Vivendi refraining from interfering with Northern Blizzard's normal operations.
However, historically, Allen Adahan failed. Warcraft III alone could not meet Vivendi's targets. Consequently, Vivendi directly ordered that Diablo III must become an online game, with no room for negotiation.
Following this, the four key figures at Northern Blizzard collectively resigned, and Northern Blizzard effectively ceased to exist. The Diablo series would not see a sequel for over a decade.
Even the later release of Diablo III was completed under the direction of Blizzard headquarters, losing the spirit of the original Diablo II.
At this point, the four key figures at Northern Blizzard had not yet resigned, and Allen Adahan had also discovered the massive Chinese market. This led to Allen Adahan's maneuvering concerning Huang He.
In essence, while Allen Adahan might not have been the best of people, he wasn't inherently evil. The true villain was Vivendi.
Huang He also detested Vivendi. The initial agreement was to acquire Blizzard for $300 million, but Vivendi abruptly increased the price by $50 million. Allen Adahan's constant maneuvering ultimately forced Huang He to swallow his pride and purchase all of Vivendi's Blizzard Group shares for $350 million.
Frankly speaking, if Huang He hadn't recently made a significant profit through Western Pony Company, he wouldn't have known where to get the extra $50 million. After all, out of the $1 billion he borrowed last year, only $300 million remained after various transactions.
Meanwhile, upon receiving Huang He's assurance that Blizzard would focus on being a game development company, and that the current year's profits would not be withdrawn from Blizzard's accounts, with even some funds being provided to support Blizzard, Allen Adahan eagerly contacted the four key figures of the Northern Blizzard team to share the good news.
"Am I superfluous here?" Shi Yuzhu couldn't help but say, watching Allen Adahan busily rushing about and suddenly becoming extremely respectful towards Huang He.
Shi Yuzhu was genuinely vexed. He had traveled all the way to America intending to seize Jiangnan Group's cash cow, Warcraft.
Who could have imagined that while he merely intended to buy Warcraft from Blizzard, Huang He would be even more audacious and buy out Blizzard entirely?
Despite being prepared for such a display of power, Shi Yuzhu felt utterly outmatched. Resignedly, he wiped his face and prepared to leave.
"Wait a moment!" Huang He glanced at Allen Adahan, then smiled. "President Allen seems to have many matters to attend to, and the board meeting hasn't been convened yet. I'm not yet the chairman of the company, and staying here serves no purpose. Mr. Shi, perhaps we could have a meal together?" Huang He extended an invitation.
"I couldn't ask for more!" Shi Yuzhu naturally couldn't refuse Huang He's invitation, especially considering Huang He was now far wealthier than him. The two then found a high-class restaurant and began to chat over their meal.
"After returning to China this time, do you still plan to be involved in the game industry, Mr. Shi?" Huang He asked with a smile.
"This..." Shi Yuzhu hesitated. He wasn't sure what Huang He's intention was in asking, but he couldn't show fear. So, Shi Yuzhu stated decisively, "Well, when one door closes, another opens. There are many game companies in the world. Do you plan to follow me around, Boss Huang, and acquire any company I intend to buy?"
"Heh heh!" Huang He chuckled awkwardly. "Games are an undeveloped ocean. Jiangnan Group cannot monopolize the entire game market by itself. That's simply impossible!"
"Therefore, I have no intention of preventing Mr. Shi from entering the game industry. Moreover, isn't the current situation a result of you trying to poach my talent?" Huang He retorted, leaving Shi Yuzhu with a wry smile.
"To be honest, while I personally don't oppose normal commercial competition like this, I am more inclined towards mutually beneficial cooperation," Huang He said.
"Boss Huang intends to seek cooperation with me?" Shi Yuzhu keenly detected the crux of the matter.
"Exactly!" Huang He nodded. "I want to build the 00 Game Center into a large-scale platform that can accommodate all game companies and games in the world, allowing all games to benefit from the massive traffic of oo users. Jiangnan Group will only earn a small intermediary fee from this."
"If Mr. Shi is interested in the game industry, you can approach me. Our 00 Game Platform welcomes your presence at any time!" Huang He said with a smile.