Rebirth: I Want to Surf

The day after FarmVille launched.

Yao Yuan came to the game studio again. After firing nearly half of the employees, the small building that has not been refilled in the future looks more and more empty, but it still maintains normal operation.

Originally, what is a small broken company doing with so many bells and whistles? It's all about fishing.

Everyone paid close attention to "FarmVille" and talked about it with great interest. A Chinese American was beaming and said: "I have made console games before, and the difficulty is completely incomparable. It took a few months to make a little progress. "FarmVille" How long did it take?

4 weeks? Or 5 weeks?

I mean it's really so easy, didn't expect so many people to be crazy about farms! "

"Because it's a social game at its core, don't forget the purpose of our studio."

"Yeah, I'm just so surprised."

"At this rate, "FarmVille" will become the hottest game in the United States. I can't imagine that we may be favored by big shots, invest some money in us, and gradually become an important industry giant."

The employees were excitedly imagining the future, and almost copied the scene of "Happy Farm" which became popular in China.

"FarmVille" was launched yesterday. How many active players do you guess can attract on the first day? The final number is between 2000 and 9000.

At that time, I thought 9,000 was too exaggerated. How could 9,000 people come to grow vegetables?

As a result, this morning, when the data from Facebook came over, everyone was shocked: the number of active people on the first day was 50,000, and while they were chatting, this number had become 120,000!

The stairs of this small building are all on one side. Yao Yuan stood at the guardrail on the third floor and could directly see the movements of the employees below.

Cheng Wei was also there, and wondered: ""Happy Farm" is so popular in China, you only need to do a little research to find out, why do they still look so rare?"

"Because Americans don't care about things outside the United States, if you want to do business with them, you have to learn their habits as soon as possible."

Yao Yuan shrugged and called Cheng Wei into the room.

Zhao Haitao has been ordered to go back to China. The office is empty. He sat on the boss chair and turned around, feeling uncomfortable, so he simply stood up: "After finishing the work here, you stay and take care of the game studio, and wait for the domestic selection. Then the receiver will come and replace you."

"OK!"

Cheng Wei nodded without hesitation, in stark contrast to Zhao Haitao, and asked, "President Yao, the technical threshold of "FarmVille" is not high, will anyone copy it?"

"Of course it will, but the most important thing about social games is the platform and gameplay. We have already occupied the top, and even if someone copied it, it is just a copy, and there is not much innovation."

The domestic "Happy Farm" is simple to play and belongs to a series, followed by "Happy Ranch", "Happy Fishing Farm" and "Happy Restaurant".

"FarmVille" is directly full, merging several of them.

You can farm land, raise livestock, dig ponds to raise fish, and open small workshops for processing... One is to meet the preferences of Westerners, and the other is to prevent plagiarism.

Because as long as it is within the scope of the "farm game" concept, there are so many ways to play it. If you think hard and try to break the sky, that's it. Even if someone plagiarizes, at most it is the same, and there will be no innovation.

Of course, if someone is inspired by "FarmVille" and combines the farm mode with other modes to create a new game, Yao Yuan can't avoid it.

So we can only try to prevent plagiarism.

In fact, in history, the biggest reason why "Happy Farm" went overseas, was plagiarized, and was overtaken was that it did not make localization improvements and did not understand Western tastes.

Yao Yuan chatted with Cheng Wei and received a call from Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg was also very pleasantly surprised. Barabara said that he hoped that the two parties would maintain their friendship forever. Yao Yuan grunted and agreed, it's okay to keep friendship until you go to Tiananmen for a run...

Later, Milner received another call.

"Yao, you can really bring me a lot of surprises. I thought I had already made a high judgment on your game company, but I didn't expect to go further."

"Thank you for your praise! In fact, this game has been popular in mainland China for a long time, and we just made a transplant."

"So do you need funds? It's not easy to develop in the United States."

Milner turned very bluntly, but also very direct.

Yao Yuan sighed, everyone supports the video industry, and he can't always be taken advantage of, he has to give something in return, and said: "Of course, my studio needs your help."

That night, the two met again.

The two parties agreed that Milner would invest US$5 million, which would be regarded as an angel investment, and take 10% of the studio's shares.

"The recent popularity of FarmVille has been ridiculed by many developers, and they even held up signs outside that small company shouting: This is not a game!

But there's no denying that FarmVille's success has taken a toll on elitist and pretentious attitudes within the industry. "

"This is a turning point for the gaming industry. You don't need hundreds of dollars of specialized equipment, you don't need to learn how to install software, how to use a controller, etc.

These 'regular people' can also play video games, like doing crosswords in a newspaper, or watching soap operas. "

"FarmVille lets developers, investors, and gamers know that certain games appeal to everyone. Gaming is a fun and relaxing way to spend time, regardless of a player's age, gender, or skill level."

"FarmVille" has been online for less than a week, and the number of active users has grown like a rocket, and there are more and more discussions in the media. It is as popular as "Happy Farm" in China, and some people even set the alarm clock to steal food...

People from all walks of life were also alarmed, and turned their attention to this small broken company.

If a company wants to grow in the United States, regardless of whether it is foreign or local, it is impossible to keep Wall Street/Silicon Valley from sharing the profits.

Yao Yuan doesn't mind financing, but Milner is very grateful for his close proximity.

…………

Los Angeles, Rogue Films.

Gulden once again met with guests from China.

The two sides exchanged several rounds, and the price hovered between 150 million and 180 million yuan, but Gulden always felt that the other party's reserve price had not been quoted, and he couldn't figure out what other cards to play.

The assets of Rogge Films are clear, and all of them are on the table. It is impossible to significantly lower the price.

"Hello, see you again!"

"Hello, I hope we have a happy ending this time."

Gulden shook hands with Yao Yuan's negotiator, and started another round of verbal confrontation. When the quarrel became heated, he was a little impatient, and said: "Sir, let's not waste any more time, you can state your final price !"

"Also!"

The negotiator paused and spit out a number: "80 million!"

(besides……)