174: Chapter 174 Jiang Yuan: Excluding my world isn't out of the question!

Jiang Yuan remained expressionless. After finishing the last page, she closed the booklet, looked up at Hou Xiaonan, and said with a smile:

"President Hou, what kind of cooperation are you hoping for from Spark Games this time?"

Hou Xiaonan leaned forward, his tone very sincere, even carrying a rare low posture as he spoke:

"President Jiang, I won't beat around the bush. The biggest weakness of this WeGame upgrade is content. A game platform without good games is just a pretty shell, no matter how beautiful the interface is. Among current domestic games, the ones with the best reputation and highest user stickiness are all in your hands!"

He counted on his fingers, his expression serious and slightly admiring as he continued:

"Vampire Survivors, Slay the Spire, Plants vs. Zombies, Minecraft, plus dave the diver, which was just released five days ago—every single one is a top-tier work that stands far above its category.

Minecraft's monthly active users were still rising last month, and the player community's user-generated mods have already surpassed a hundred thousand. To be honest, even we at Tencent are envious of this long-tail effect!"

Hou Xiaonan paused, then spoke the core sentence word by word:

"So our idea is very simple: we want to invite all five of these games to join the WeGame platform."

Jiang Yuan did not respond immediately.

She was waiting for the other party to state the subsequent conditions.

Hou Xiaonan clearly knew that empty words alone would not be enough to thoroughly move the current Jiang Yuan and Spark Games.

A look of genuine seriousness appeared on his face, and he said in a loud voice:

"For this launch, all revenue will belong entirely to Spark Games! Additionally, we are willing to pay a substantial entry fee for these five games. The fee for each game can be negotiated separately, but the total price will not be lower than this amount."

He stated a figure.

The meeting room fell into a momentary silence.

Even though the people sitting in the room were all well-informed and famous figures within the industry.

Except for Jiang Yuan.

The others, like Qin Gong and Wen Lan, couldn't help their eyelids twitching. They were a bit surprised by the magnitude of the number and shocked that Tencent could offer such a figure right off the bat.

In the silence.

Jiang Yuan was the first to break the quiet. Her pink lips parted slightly, and her voice was crisp as she said:

"Three hundred million? Tencent is indeed generous!"

To be honest, even Jiang Yuan, who appeared as calm as water on the surface, was a bit startled by Tencent's financial might when she said this.

Jiang Yuan's voice wasn't loud.

But the words 'three hundred million' falling in the meeting room were like a stone thrown into a calm lake, restoring the initial atmosphere of the room.

Hou Xiaonan maintained a proper smile on his face, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

When he quoted that figure just now, what he feared most wasn't Jiang Yuan bargaining, but her not even blinking an eye.

As long as the other party reacted to the number, whether it was surprise or something else, it meant there was room for discussion.

After all.

The current Spark Games was no longer that small-time player that could be acquired for a mere few tens of millions years ago.

Hou Xiaonan struck while the iron was hot, his tone incredibly sincere:

"President Jiang, three hundred million is just the starting price for the entry fee! Our internal positioning on this matter is very clear: WeGame isn't here to snatch food from the Spark Platform; we're here to make the cake bigger.

Think about it, with Spark Games' current titles, there's actually still a lot of room for growth in their penetration of the domestic PC game market. WeGame's channel capabilities combined with Spark Games' content capabilities—this is actually a win-win situation!"

He paused and added:

"And I can guarantee on my personal reputation that WeGame will absolutely not restrict the development of Spark Games in any dimension. You set the contract terms, and we will cooperate."

Sitting next to Jiang Yuan, Qin Gong twirled the pen in his hand twice, his gaze discreetly glancing at his boss.

He had been by Jiang Yuan's side for a while now and had more or less figured out the working style of this young and beautiful girl boss.

When she showed no ripples on the surface, it was often when her mind was calculating the fastest.

An entry fee of three hundred million plus a full revenue share—the sincerity of these conditions was indeed beyond doubt.

However, Jiang Yuan's perspective on problems—even at the very beginning when she had nothing—never cared much about money, let alone now when she had achieved success and fame.

Sure enough, after a moment of silence, Jiang Yuan spoke in a calm tone:

"President Hou, you just said that WeGame's weakness is content. Then let me ask you a question: after WeGame goes online, what is the platform's positioning?"

Hou Xiaonan was slightly stunned. He had naturally prepared for this question, having rehearsed how to answer it in front of President Ma more than once.

But he didn't expect the first time he'd answer it would be in this place, facing someone outside the company.

However, he quickly regained his composure, weighed his words, and slowly spoke:

"The core advantage is Tencent's social relationship chain and traffic entry points. The goal is to provide domestic players with a higher quality game service experience. Compared to the Spark Platform, we lean more towards the mass market and casual users..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Yuan interrupted him:

"Then what about the pricing rights for the games?"

Hou Xiaonan's expression changed slightly.

Jiang Yuan didn't wait for his answer and continued in a calm voice:

"President Hou, I'm not trying to make things difficult for you, but you know very well that Tencent's logic for building a platform has always been that traffic is king! Since the traffic is in your hands, the pricing rights will eventually fall into your hands as well!

Today you sit here telling me about full revenue shares and paying us to join because WeGame lacks content right now and needs Spark Games to bolster its reputation. But what about three or five years from now?"

She leaned forward slightly, her clear, bright, and beautiful eyes looking calmly at Hou Xiaonan as she spoke in a level tone:

"Once WeGame's content library is full and the platform has enough user stickiness, will the bargaining power still be in the hands of the developers then? Can you guarantee that Tencent won't touch the pricing rights within five years?"

The meeting room fell into a deathly silence once again.

Hou Xiaonan's expression shifted, a look of gravity flashing in his eyes. He wanted to say something, but Jiang Yuan's words had struck a point where he couldn't confidently make a promise, leaving him momentarily speechless, not knowing what to say.

He wasn't Ma Huateng!

He simply didn't have the power to represent the will of the entire Tencent to make a guarantee spanning five to ten years!

Let alone ten years; even what would happen three years from now was an unpredictable variable in this industry.

Maybe in three years...

He would have already jumped ship to NetEase, Perfect World, or even Spark Games!

Watching this scene.

While Jiang Yuan felt some emotion in her heart, she also secretly complained:

"I'm willing to coexist peacefully with Steam and even keep some non-core indie games on Steam because I started out thanks to them, plus they are the leader of global platforms!

Your three hundred million might look intimidating, but thinking you can take all five of Spark Games' titles is a bit too much, isn't it?

If you excluded Minecraft and increased the price for the remaining four games to five hundred million, it wouldn't be impossible to talk."

But she also knew that if that were really the case, it would be Tencent's side that wouldn't agree.