Chapter 1231 Determined to Win

Standing in different positions naturally leads to different perspectives on issues.

What Dong Chenxi and Zhao Fusheng saw, or rather, what Dong Chenxi and Dong Guoxiang saw, was certainly not the same, because their positions differed, and naturally, the things they considered were different.

In Dong Guoxiang's view, securing the Chinese agency rights for World of Warcraft would not only bring huge profits to the group but also show those who had always thought Future Technology was supporting a bunch of useless programmers that the company was capable of making money, rather than being just a team scraping by on web games as they imagined.

Dong Chenxi, naturally, considered it from an investment perspective. After all, if tens of millions of dollars were spent and it failed, it would be like spending two or three hundred million yuan on a worthless agency right. This was different from buying company shares, because shares were something you owned, whereas this agency right had a time limit. Once that time passed, even if the game became hugely popular, Future Group wouldn't get a single cent from it.

As for Zhao Fusheng himself, he had foresight as his backing. As long as he had a general direction for something, he was willing to go for it.

Tens of millions of dollars—Zhao Fusheng felt he could afford to lose that much.

If Tan Kaixuan heard this, he would surely curse Zhao Fusheng out. Tens of millions of dollars, in Zhao Fusheng's eyes, were as insignificant as a few dozen yuan—truly infuriating.

“Keep negotiating, try to push the price down as low as possible.” Zhao Fusheng said to Dong Chenxi with a smile. “Your task is to pay the money, understand?”

Dong Chenxi was taken aback, then nodded obediently in agreement.

Since Zhao Fusheng had said that, it was clear he was determined to win this agency right.

Some things are easier said than done.

At least, in Zhao Fusheng's view, that was the case.

For an entire week, Zhao Fusheng had been focused on this matter. Even on New Year's Day 2005, his mind wasn't on the holiday.

This made Zhao's mother think her son was in a bad mood lately.

Later, Fan Baobao explained that the company was negotiating a big project, and Zhao's mother felt relieved.

To be honest, Fan Baobao didn't know the details either; she only occasionally heard Zhao Fusheng mention the project when he was on the phone with Dong Chenxi and Dong Guoxiang. As for the specifics, Zhao Fusheng didn't say, and she didn't ask.

If she knew the investment was worth tens of millions of dollars, Fan Baobao probably wouldn't be so relaxed.

On January 2nd, after nearly a week of negotiations, it finally came to a critical moment.

“It's a bit tricky.” Dong Guoxiang called Zhao Fusheng and said cautiously, “The problem now is that Blizzard only agrees to let us have the agency rights for World of Warcraft for two years. As for the price, there's no issue—three million dollars, they agree.”

Zhao Fusheng frowned: “Only two years?”

Dong Guoxiang smiled bitterly: “Originally, they only planned to sell one year of agency rights. This is the result after I raised the price.”

He valued this project more than anyone else. Dong Guoxiang had a feeling that this game would become a massively popular online game among domestic players.

The reason was simple: Blizzard's game development level far surpassed that of domestic, Japanese, and Korean games. Even the currently most popular game in China, Legend, in Dong Guoxiang's view, was not as well-made as Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Moreover, Dong Guoxiang, who had been online since the early virtual community days, believed that the birth of World of Warcraft would completely change the landscape of online gaming.

Zhao Fusheng frowned: “Put Dong Chenxi on the phone.”

He knew very well that if Dong Guoxiang was calling him at this time, he was most likely with Dong Chenxi.

As for whether the two had any disagreements, he wasn't too concerned. With his prior instructions, even if Dong Chenxi had some reservations about the plan, she wouldn't set up obstacles on this matter. Dong Chenxi could distinguish priorities.

The only issue should be about time and money.

Soon, Dong Chenxi's voice came through on the phone: “Fusheng, it's me.”

“What's going on?” Zhao Fusheng asked directly. “Any other problems?”

For things Dong Guoxiang couldn't explain clearly, he believed Dong Chenxi would give him an answer.

“Blizzard only agrees to give us a two-year agency right, and the price is three million dollars.” Dong Chenxi slowly explained to Zhao Fusheng. “Also, I've received news that domestically, a company called The9 is contacting Blizzard, seemingly trying to cut in.”

She paused, then added, “But I think they were probably interested in this project long before us; we're the ones cutting in.”

“Is the boss of The9 named Zhu?” Zhao Fusheng asked Dong Chenxi.

Dong Chenxi nodded: “Yes, I heard he's coming to the US in a couple of days too.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled silently. If that was the case, then Dong Chenxi was right—they were the ones cutting in.

With that in mind, Zhao Fusheng said firmly, “Don't give him the chance. We'll raise the price!”

Huh?

Dong Chenxi was stunned, not understanding Zhao Fusheng's intention.

“Fifty-five million dollars for three years of agency fees. Tell the Americans, if they agree, we sign; otherwise, we abandon the negotiation.” Zhao Fusheng said word by word.

He didn't know exactly how much The9 had paid for the World of Warcraft agency rights in his previous life, but Zhao Fusheng knew that their boss had turned things around with this game, made a lot of money, and even bought a football club in Shanghai.

People who play football are all rich.

There was no doubt about that. So in Zhao Fusheng's view, even if he spent a few million dollars more on the World of Warcraft agency rights, it would be worth it.

As for whether this would upset Boss Zhu, that had nothing to do with Zhao Fusheng. In reality, it was about the winner taking all; the scales of fairness never favored the weak.

As for success?

Heh, they say failure is the mother of success. Actually, those who believe that are fools, because success simply doesn't care about anyone. To succeed, you have to fight and compete on your own.

And this time, Zhao Fusheng didn't plan to give the chance to Boss Zhu. They were strangers, and giving away something good that was within easy reach wasn't Zhao Fusheng's style.

“That much?”

Dong Chenxi gasped. She really hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to be so determined, directly offering such terms. Was this guy crazy?

Zhao Fusheng chuckled. Of course, he wasn't crazy, but the problem was that no one except Zhao Fusheng knew that The9 was the company that had secured the Chinese agency rights for World of Warcraft in the original timeline. If history followed its original course and Blizzard reached an agreement with them, wouldn't he have worked for nothing, making a wedding dress for someone else?

There was no way Zhao Fusheng would allow that.

So he had to strike first and overwhelm the Americans with money!

“You decide as you see fit. The maximum price can go up to two million dollars per year. If that doesn't work, then forget it.” Zhao Fusheng said to Dong Chenxi in a deep voice.

He also had his bottom line. If it exceeded that price, even if the project had potential, Zhao Fusheng wouldn't touch it.

“I understand, don't worry.” Dong Chenxi took a deep breath and said slowly to Zhao Fusheng.

By now, she clearly understood Zhao Fusheng's determination and naturally knew how to handle this matter. The reason she had let Dong Guoxiang take the lead before was partly due to Zhao Fusheng's instructions, but more importantly, Dong Chenxi understood Dong Guoxiang's desire to make this project happen and didn't want to seem like she was snatching someone else's project.

After all, the two were no longer former classmates but heads of different subsidiaries under Future Group. Some things needed to be handled with discretion.

And now, Dong Chenxi knew that her most important goal was to carry out Zhao Fusheng's will.