Chapter 223: I've Never Invested in Such a Cheap Project

(Chapter 220: A Wild Boar Cannot Appreciate Fine Grain — the plot has major changes; interested godfathers can re-read.)

Fang Hong and Chen Zhixi chatted for a long time, and also discussed the company's development and the films and TV shows to be shot next.

"Lost in Thailand" was a project Chen Zhixi pulled in herself, an investment by Yutu, shot using the Yutu Production team.

Only the casting rights were given to Xu Guangtou.

Chen Zhixi seemed to have very good relationships with these new-generation directors and stars.

That was her own ability.

"Cold War" was a joint project between Yutu and Yindu; although filmed in Hong Kong, it was a film produced by a Neidi company.

It was meant to move away from the Hong Kong film path, upgrade production capability, and also to boost Zhang Songwen.

Additionally, "American Dreams in China" was also meant to boost Zhang Songwen — he replaced Xiaoming's role; the two were only one year apart in age to begin with.

Apart from the female lead, the other cast members did not change.

Deng Chao himself hadn't expected he could act in a Yutu film, but he had already cut ties with Huayi anyway.

Otherwise he wouldn't have gone to act in Enlight's films.

The film and TV side was still managed by Chen Zhixi; Fang Hong only directed the kind of big-budget films with heavy special effects — for example, "Now You See Me" was a project he led.

This film changed its Producer, with the Han family's female Producer taking over, currently doing pre-production preparation.

These were all the films Yutu was going to shoot now.

On TV, only "My Love from the Star" and "The Heirs" were still filming; "Legend of Lu Zhen" had already wrapped and was in post-production.

Chen Sicheng was also in post on "Lucy 1"; Wen Muye would help with post on this film when he had time — after all, they had followed it the whole way and understood what kind of style Fang Hong wanted.

The entire company was running busily.

Four months had passed since the previous year-opening meeting and the company's adjustment period, with two months left to complete it.

After the adjustment, taking the Game Department as an example, the games division was only responsible for three major areas: planning, development, and operations; animation and visual effects were outsourced to the Best Special Effects Department.

The Animation Department had its own business, kept things clean, and for now did not take outside work, only providing technical support.

In other words, the Game Department did not handle specific content; whatever kind of visuals and effects were needed, they submitted the requirements to the Best Special Effects Department.

Art was the same — they submitted design requirements to the production art team.

Of course, the accounts had to be settled — money had to be paid; settling accounts was non-negotiable, and later everything would operate in the form of independent companies.

Even so, the Game Department's headcount had not decreased but actually increased, reaching over two hundred people — after all, operations, security, and other personnel kept growing.

This was for ecosystem building, cracking down on cheats, and running good tournaments.

The "Fortnite" development team was also continuously expanding.

But for the Best Special Effects Department to develop, it needed to take on orders; this department itself had no product content, and without orders it couldn't develop quickly.

The Best Special Effects Department currently had three sources of orders.

First, film and TV works produced by Yutu itself; second, external business from the United States Zhonghua Family; third, the Game Department.

The main feeder was the Game Department, because this department had a large amount of CG to produce, including promotional videos which were also CG.

"Hero Glory" plus "Fortnite" was enough to keep the Best Special Effects Department busy for a long time, but to be fully fed, the workload was still too little.

They still had to rely on Yutu shooting big-budget films — "Now You See Me" was the first special-effects blockbuster in the truest sense.

An investment of 130 million; if shot well, it could lift the current Best Special Effects Department's technology up a notch and let the department keep pace.

These three sources of orders had to ensure the Best Special Effects Department was self-sufficient and could rise rapidly.

If the Best Special Effects Department couldn't rise, all other business would be held back, because all other business needed special effects as its backbone.

In the past two days, Fang Hong had finalized with the South Korean game distributor NCsoft the entry of "Hero Glory" into the South Korean market.

With the Singapore distributor Garena, he finalized entry into the Southeast Asia market.

In other words, the initial globalization of "Hero Glory" was complete; from here on, it was about watching it develop.

If it developed well, it could snatch the market from "League of Legends."

Recently, "Hero Glory" had 4.3 million monthly active users globally; "League of Legends" was still more than double that.

Domestic concurrent users were also soaring, reaching 660,000; Q2 revenue was 48.2 million, with no revenue growth.

Don't expect money from overseas for now — that would have to wait until Q3! However, the map design that "League of Legends" had originally planned to adjust this May was shelved.

Because that map design was too similar to "Hero Glory," which also led to user churn for them — it lacked the polish and delicacy of "Hero Glory."

At the same time, it made Tencent alert, and they began throttling "Hero Glory" — that is, not letting the game do promotion and traffic-driving on their platform.

They also stepped up the promotional offensive for "League of Legends."

That didn't matter — the entire internet wasn't their family's property, and now that it was the mobile internet era, there were plenty of promotional channels.

Forums, Tieba, communities, Weibo, magazines, shows, game recommendation sites, livestreaming, video, social platforms, shopping malls — all were promotional channels.

Alibaba, Sina, Baidu, Pig Factory, Xiaomi, 360, Huawei — internet giants were everywhere.

Even Tencent Games had to use other people's promotional channels.

Otherwise, how could they have later fallen out with Huawei — wasn't it all over promotional channels, with Huawei wanting a bigger cut?

"Hero Glory" wasn't a mobile game; it just needed promotion.

Games and movies were different — movie theaters were concentrated in the hands of a few major theater chains.

Game terminals — computers, phones — were in the users' own hands.

That's just how it was; competition was inevitable. Pig Factory and Tencent had competed for decades, and you never saw Tencent completely shut Pig Factory down.

Just as Fang Hong was busy with the various departments of the company, checking on each department's situation.

Three young uninvited guests arrived at the Game Department.

"Knock knock knock!"

These three young people looked a little nervous; they knocked on the glass door and asked the front-desk lady: "Excuse me, is your supervisor in?"

"Yes, are you here to apply? Fill out these forms first." The lady took out three forms.

They receive many such people every day; this is exactly the time to expand.

"No, we're here to see your supervisor. Could you help us introduce us?" said a young man. "Could you tell me your names? That way I can ask."

"I'm Cai Haoyu, he's Liu Wei, and he's Luo Yuhao," Cai Haoyu introduced them one by one.

"Wait a moment."

The girl said, then dialed the general manager of the gaming department, Li Min, on the landline: "Manager Li, three people want to meet you. One is named Cai—"

"Not seeing them!" Li Min cut her off and hung up.

They didn't even make an appointment—how could he have that much time? He was swamped.

Who knew where these people came from? He'd never even heard of them.

The girl put down the phone and expressed regret to the three.

The three young men exchanged glances, let out a bitter laugh, and left dejectedly toward the elevator.

They could only try the next company—hoping the next one would go smoothly.

They were used to this; they'd been turned away dozens of times already, and now they were at their wit's end. If they couldn't secure investment, the entire game project would be shut down—they wouldn't even be able to afford food.

"Ding!"

The elevator doors opened, and a young man walked out, hands in his pockets, head held high, passing right by them.

"Let's go!"

Cai Haoyu lowered his head and signaled his companions to enter the elevator.

Liu Wei glanced at the young man, his eyes lighting up. He grabbed Cai Haoyu and chased after him.

"What's wrong?" Cai Haoyu looked bewildered.

"Principal!"

Liu Wei blurted it out. Luo Yuhao's expression changed instantly, and he hurried after them.

Fang Hong was just about to enter the gaming department when three young men rushed forward and blocked his path. He stopped.

"P-P-Principal!" Liu Wei exclaimed excitedly.

"Who are you?"

Fang Hong looked at their youthful faces—he didn't recognize them at all, and had no memory of them.

"We're from MiHoYo Network Technology Company. These are my partners," Cai Haoyu quickly introduced them.

"Oh!"

Fang Hong understood—he knew MiHoYo, but not the people. Who knew what the company's founder looked like?

He asked: "What do you want from me?"

"We made a mobile game called Collapse Academy, in a 2D anime style, designed specifically for 2D anime fans. Mobile games are the big trend now—"

Cai Haoyu spoke haltingly, and went on at length.

He talked from their game to the market, then from the market to trends, sweat forming on his forehead—because Fang Hong remained indifferent.

The other two companions watched him, their own nerves tightening.

Cai Haoyu pulled out a booklet from his bag: "This is our business plan. Principal, please take a look."

"No need," Fang Hong waved his hand to refuse.

Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao's hearts sank—they wouldn't even look at their business plan.

Cai Haoyu pleaded: "Principal, you really should look. It's got real potential!"

"I don't understand it," Fang Hong shook his head.

Fine. Another failure. The three were deeply disappointed.

"I don't understand your business plan. Just tell me—are you here for money?" Fang Hong asked.

"Uh, yes."

Cai Haoyu nodded. It was too blunt.

Couldn't they even have a conversation first?

"Just say it—how much?" Fang Hong asked again.

"One… one million." Cai Haoyu held up one finger.

"Too little. I've never invested in anything this cheap," Fang Hong waved dismissively.

One million was nothing. These three still needed funding—better to get it all at once.

The three stared wide-eyed, utterly astonished!

One million was cheap? Someone actually thought that was too little?

"W-What about ten million?" Cai Haoyu ventured.

"That's more reasonable," Fang Hong nodded.

The three exhaled in relief. There were people who just handed out ten million without even reading a business plan? They'd never seen anything like it!

"Here's my phone number. Keep it. I'll have someone contact you soon. Ten million U. S. dollars will be transferred to your company's account under my personal name. Go now—work hard." Fang Hong walked away.

Hearing this, the three stood frozen, stunned for a long moment. Cai Haoyu's voice trembled: "Did I hear right? He just said U. S. dollars, right?"

"Seems like it," Liu Wei had heard too.

"Ahahaha—"

The three embraced, laughing uncontrollably, overjoyed.

They'd only hoped for a million or two—and now they'd gotten seventy million in investment.

This money was enough to make a super-large game—and live like kings.

Fang Hong had too much money overseas; ten million meant nothing to him. He wouldn't use Yutu's funds.

(End of Chapter)