Chapter 396

Seeing that Qiu Bojun and Lei Jun also agreed to let Founder and New Oriental join the game studio to share the risk, Li Dongling did not refuse again. As for whether Jin Shan would regret it later, that was not something Li Dongling needed to consider.

Founder and New Oriental entering the fray could also provide an extra sales channel for the game studio and bring in two more investors to pour in money.

Developing games is very money-burning. As for whether it can break even, it all depends on luck. If Founder and New Oriental can't hold on, Dongling Gao Ke can just buy back their equity in the game studio. There are plenty of ways to drive them away if needed, it just depends on whether it's necessary...

The gaming business, even if not done for the electronic dictionary business now, is something Tianya Network Company would have to touch sooner or later. What else could early internet companies rely on to survive if not games?

Regarding the equity of the game studio, Jin Shan, Founder, and New Oriental did not have too much contention. After all, no one knew if the game studio would succeed. Qiu Bojun, Lei Jun, Zhang Yufeng, and Yu Minhong were all holding an attitude of giving it a try and didn't take it too seriously.

After discussing for a long time, the several companies in the entire game studio jointly invested ten million yuan. A game company of this scale is already a big deal in the current domestic gaming industry.

Dongling Gao Ke invested six million and took 60% of the equity; Jin Shan still contributed technology as equity and obtained 27% of the equity; Founder got 10%, and New Oriental became a small shareholder, holding 3%.

"Cheers!"

After the game studio agreement was reached, everyone raised their glasses and had a drink together.

When discussing the game studio equity earlier, the few didn't take it seriously, but when it came to the name of the game studio, they started to take it seriously. The main ones were Zhang Yufeng and Yu Minhong; they were the people who cared most about face and wanted to use the names of Founder and New Oriental to name the studio to add some hype.

Li Dongling and Ren Yuefeng didn't speak up. In fact, which company's name the game brand hangs on doesn't have much impact on Dongling Gao Ke.

Of course, if the game is developed well, players might recognize the brand—something like "Produced by So-and-So, must be a boutique"—and it might be hyped to the heavens.

But if the developed game is delayed or ends poorly, the players' cursing will be fierce. They won't just curse the game manufacturer, they might even curse the parent company along with it...

The most direct examples are the football and e-sports industries. The teams and parent companies in these two competitive industries will basically be giant companies in the future. When the results are good, they can indeed bring huge traffic, but if they lose the game, the parent company will suffer the impact.

Just like when the LNG team lost to the Korean T1 team, Li Ning's live-streaming room for selling goods was sprayed until they went off-air, their market value plummeted by two billion, and even the following year's LPL league saw viewership plummet and sponsors withdraw because of this match; the bleakness is evident.

"How about calling it Xishanju?"

Seeing Zhang Yufeng and Yu Minhong arguing without a result, Qiu Bojun spoke up at this moment and proposed another name for the game studio, but he didn't use the name Jin Shan.

By changing the name, the game studio wouldn't have to struggle over which of the four major shareholders' company names to use.

"Xishanju?"

Hearing the name proposed by Qiu Bojun, Zhang Yufeng pondered it for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "What does this mean?"

"In my hometown, there is a village called Xishan Village!" Qiu Bojun said honestly.

Hearing this name, Zhang Yufeng and Yu Minhong were speechless for a moment, yet they had no way to refute it.

"Let's go with this name. From now on, the game studio will be called Xishanju!"

Li Dongling smiled and finalized the name for the game studio. By choosing this name, Dongling Gao Ke, Founder, Jin Shan, and New Oriental wouldn't have to argue anymore.

Zhang Yufeng and Yu Minhong both shook their heads and smiled helplessly, then raised their glasses and clinked them with Qiu Bojun.

"Xishanju game development will be responsible by Jin Shan in the future. You can develop it in-house, and you can also introduce overseas games, acting as an agent to distribute games from Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and other places domestically!"

Li Dongling said to Qiu Bojun and Lei Jun. In his past life, Xishanju's days couldn't be said to be bad; it once became the "white moonlight" of domestic single-player games in the hearts of countless players, and they remained unforgettable even years later, and countless players did indeed support Xishanju with real money.

Like the first generation of *Jianxia Qingyuan*, in the era of a gaming desert, it sold for 128 yuan and sold 25,000 copies. That was 128 yuan in the nineties! Facing the pressure of piracy and cracked versions, being able to get the support of more than 20,000 players with real money—when *Jianxia Qingyuan 2* arrived, it even achieved a sales miracle of more than 200,000 copies, showing how popular it was.

The popularity of this kind of single-player game probably wouldn't see another wave of 3A single-player fever in the country until decades later, when domestic single-player games were in a mess and hearts were completely broken, and the appearance of *Black Myth: Wukong* blasted through 590,000 copies in five days of pre-sales.

Fortunately, Xishanju had *Jianxia Qingyuan*; unfortunately, it tested so many games, and only *Jianxia Qingyuan* succeeded. Whether it was PC games, online games, or mobile games, this was the only IP that could fight...

On the contrary, other game manufacturers, whether developing games themselves or acting as agents, were all thriving. The money earned from selling skins in half a year was more than the *Jianxia Qingyuan* brand had earned in twenty years combined.

Li Dongling supported Xishanju in developing games in-house, and even developing 3D engines. After all, Dongxin Semiconductor would also be involved in the graphics card industry in the future. In the early stages of the graphics card industry, they relied on games to drive sales. Before the emergence of digital currency, mining, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence computing power, what graphics cards could rely on was games.

Huang Pi-yi, with his "knife technique," forcibly cut Nvidia into the company with the highest market value in the world, almost cutting down Intel and Microsoft, who had been arrogant and suppressing him for more than a decade. He couldn't let "Old Huang" have all the fun; Dongxin Semiconductor definitely had to join in the fun.

As for Xishanju, developing games in-house is fine, but they should still act as agents for games. By taking the strengths of a hundred schools, Xishanju could harvest more leeks—no, wait, specialize in one thing and fill in the gaps!

Qiu Bojun and Lei Jun naturally wouldn't object to Li Dongling's words. Right now, the domestic gaming scene is a desert; on computers, besides the few small games that came with the Microsoft system, the rest were basically imported from overseas.

The domestic gaming industry hadn't even started yet. Xishanju was one of the few domestic game companies that started trying to eat the crab. The dispute between domestic and agency games didn't exist at all; everyone was still groping in the dark.

"Brother Li, next month, Founder is going to Hong Kong to ring the bell. You must be there!"

When the crowd dispersed, Zhang Yufeng held Li Dongling back. Besides attending the groundbreaking ceremony, the most important thing for his visit was to personally invite Li Dongling to Hong Kong to attend Founder's bell-ringing and listing.

Founder's stock price is Zhang Yufeng's current headache, and Li Dongling was just rumored by the media to have become one of the top twenty richest people in Asia.

As a company invested in by one of the top twenty richest people in Asia, and also the third-largest shareholder, whether Founder could take the opportunity to attract the attention of Hong Kong and overseas investors and whether they could boost the stock price was what Zhang Yufeng cared about most.

Li Dongling pondered for a moment. Seeing this, Zhang Yufeng's heart couldn't help but rise a bit. If Li Dongling didn't attend Founder's bell-ringing ceremony, the publicity momentum he had prepared would be weakened.

"Founder's listing, I must show my support. However, for this listing, it should still be led by you, Brother Zhang, and Academician Wang. I'll just beat the drums on the side; I can't steal the limelight!"

Li Dongling looked at Zhang Yufeng, but he was also reminding him that while one can borrow momentum, too much is as bad as too little. Li Dongling didn't want to endorse Founder. If its stock price fell, those investors would find their way to Dongling Gao Ke, and that would be the real trouble.

"I understand!"

Zhang Yufeng was in a great mood. As for Li Dongling's reminder, he didn't know if he took it to heart, but with Li Dongling there, he felt that Founder would definitely become the focus on the Hong Kong stock market.

Watching Zhang Yufeng's figure, Li Dongling shook his head. He felt that Zhang Yufeng was a bit too eager for quick success and instant benefits, and he cared too much about Founder's stock price and market value. This couldn't be called a bad thing, but if one cares too much about these, one sometimes loses their sense of proportion.

As for going to Hong Kong, it wasn't just to attend Founder's bell-ringing ceremony; in fact, that could only be considered a small matter. Ning Wenco in Hong Kong had also invited Li Dongling several times, and there were other matters waiting for Li Dongling to handle.

Whether it was dealing with Soros coming to Asia to harvest leeks or following the Li family in Hong Kong to make a profit on Orange Telecom in the UK, it all required laying out the strategy in advance. If he went late, he wouldn't even be able to catch the hot stuff.

As the end of the year approached, major companies were basically checking accounts, holding meetings, summarizing, and formulating plans for next year. Dongling Gao Ke was no exception. Even though Li Dongling didn't really like dragging a bunch of people together to bicker, the necessary meetings were still indispensable.

Especially since Dongling Gao Ke had just established a Budget Management Committee this year. Next year, the funding applications from major departments and companies under Dongling Gao Ke would all need to be approved by the Budget Management Committee.

Just like the technical department, if they want to apply for next year's funding, they have to roughly budget the projects they want to develop next year. If it exceeds the budget, it's not that they can't get the funding, but it can't be too outrageous. If a project with a budget of 50 million ends up exceeding the standard by ten times, then something must have gone wrong somewhere.

Dongling Gao Ke had constant meetings during this period, which also caused department heads, managers of offices and branches across the country, and even overseas executives to start rushing back to the country one after another. This made the Dongling Gao Ke headquarters and even Pingyang a bit more lively.

The hotels in the Yuhe Leisure Resort were packed with people, and the better hotels and guesthouses in Pingyang city were also full. These executives didn't return to Pingyang alone; many brought their families, prepared to spend the New Year in Pingyang and Hanxi.

After all, these supervisors might only meet people like Ren Yuefeng, Hu Zixian, Gao Peng, Zhang Ao, and Chen Tao—who could decide their fate—once a year. Of course, the most important one was Li Dongling; who would want to miss that?

(End of chapter)