"Outrageous!"
Wang Lei slammed his thermos onto the table, causing the executives below to tremble.
Few things could provoke such fury from the boss.
Bao Xue's contract renewal was one of them.
"Boss, these are just Bao Xue's initial demands..."
Li Wentao replied, bracing himself. "Bao Xue HQ has proposed two demands. First, a 5 billion deposit and all player data from the past ten years."
"This demand has already crossed the line," Wang Lei said calmly. "Tell me the second demand."
He wanted to see what kind of trouble Bao Xue was planning.
"The second demand..."
Li Wentao hesitated for a moment, then mustered his courage. "They require Wangyi to provide them with channels to sell VR game capsule pods, with a minimum sales volume of 3 million units."
"A two-eight split, we get two..."
*Bang!!!*
Before Li Wentao could finish, Wang Lei smashed a hole in the desk.
"Why don't they just go and rob people!"
Wang Lei's face turned a mottled purple; he was clearly enraged.
If Bao Xue's first demand was an unequal agreement to gouge Wangyi, then the second was directly severing Wangyi's lifeline.
What exactly was a VR game capsule pod?
Wasn't it just a core VR headset paired with some shoddy casing?
Bao Xue sold them for 100,000 Dragon Gate Coins in the Dragon Region.
He himself was a contract manufacturer for VR headsets; the cost of these things wouldn't exceed 20,000 yuan. How could these unscrupulous bastards charge 100,000? Were they really treating the wealthy people of Longguo as complete idiots to exploit?
And they were even practicing scarcity marketing, seizing the opportunity to get ahead before global VR games and VR equipment were fully developed.
Damn it, what shamelessness!
Moreover, with a population of 2 billion in the entire Dragon Country, only about ten million people could afford a VR set at 100,000 yuan each, and that wasn't like buying a computer costing a few thousand yuan.
To demand a third of the market share right off the bat, weren't they afraid of choking?
The most critical point was that if Wangyi truly acted as a lapdog for Bao Xue and sold these, their VR equipment contract manufacturing project with the government would be completely finished.
Don't underestimate the one-tenth share that Tencent and Pig Factory received; with Longguo's population base, it was enough to keep them well-fed.
After all, their local prices would definitely not be as expensive as the imported versions.
With a cost of 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, selling them for 30,000 to 50,000 yuan would be sufficient. While some families might not be able to afford 100,000 yuan, more than ten million people could manage to buy them if they pushed themselves for 30,000 to 50,000 yuan.
There was a huge cake here!
So, what did Bao Xue mean?
They wanted Wangyi to cut off its cooperation with its own country and completely become Bao Xue's dog. The two-eight split might not seem high, but the short-term profits would definitely be much higher than cooperating with the country.
But this was a suicidal move.
After this wave, once VR became widespread, Wangyi would be finished.
To cut off someone's financial path was like killing their parents.
To sever someone's lifeline was equivalent to...
"Heh heh..."
Wang Lei suddenly chuckled. "This Bao Xue doesn't treat us as human beings at all."
Despite the smile on his face, the executives below dared not breathe.
The boss was preparing to get serious.
"Give the order to issue an announcement: Wangyi will never renew its contract with Bao Xue."
"A mere 5 billion in annual net profit is enough for me, Wang Lei, to be your dog? Bah!"
Wang Lei, with no regard for decorum, spat a glob of phlegm onto the cooperation agreement.
His stance was firm.
Bao Xue was no longer the Bao Xue of ten years ago. World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, StarCraft, and other series might still be popular in Longguo for another decade or more, bringing Wangyi 5 billion in net profit annually.
This accounted for nearly a quarter of their company's net profit. Cutting off such a revenue stream would undoubtedly hurt, but it was better than becoming Bao Xue's dog.
They would rather stand and remain human.
As for finding someone else to replace Wangyi, he didn't care who Bao Xue found to be their dog.
Whoever it was, he refused to be that dog anymore.
...
That evening, Wangyi's US stock price plummeted by fifteen percent.
The next day, when the A-shares opened, Wangyi's Hong Kong shares also opened ten percent lower.
While all investors were bewildered,
Wangyi's announcement of "never renewing its contract with Bao Xue upon expiration" went viral.
The news completely overshadowed the highly anticipated "Doomsday Ark" from the past two days.
Netizens rushed to see, crying out in despair.
The entire gaming circle was in an uproar!
"No! Hearthstone!"
"Son of a bitch, I was just browsing for gossip and my home is gone?"
"Damn it, what about the money players have invested? It's equivalent to their assets being wiped out to zero!"
"I just bought a battle pass, I guess I'm joining the Nationalist Army in '49 [sad]"
"Wangyi, how could you do this to me? Ten years of youth!!"
"Bao Xue releasing this news on a crazy Thursday must have a deeper meaning. Is it possible that only KFC will take over in the end?"
Of course, there were not only the pessimistic ones but also many optimistic players who were just watching the show.
"9 City: I'm familiar with this!"
"It doesn't matter, I have plenty of games to play!"
"It doesn't matter, I have Lingjing, and Frost Star waifu, hehehe (drooling)"
"Pinduoduo is negotiating with Bao Xue, they said there's a 99.99% chance of acquiring it, and they need everyone's help to cut the remaining 0.01% (doge)"
...
Bao Xue Headquarters.
Bobby Kotick, then CEO of Bao Xue, sat in his luxurious office with his legs crossed, idly swirling a glass of red wine.
His head, as fat as a pig's, swayed to the rhythm of the music.
From a certain perspective, he was successful.
Since Bobby took office, he first cut PC game development at Bao Xue by 75%, then fully recruited for VR game development, shifting Bao Xue's game focus to the VR level.
This also led to only a few evergreen PC games still holding on in recent years, while newly developed games remained lukewarm. The evergreen titles frequently suffered from various bugs and what they considered to be self-important game changes.
Players were like tamed deer, only able to vent their anger online before continuing to play.
It was impossible, as too much effort had been poured into a game, making it very difficult to let go.
It was precisely by exploiting this point that Bobby, relying on past achievements, was fearless.
Now, due to his decisions from a few years ago, Bao Xue had accumulated considerable experience in VR gaming, even developing the earliest VR games a few months ahead of competitors.
If the progress was faster, they could launch around late February or early March.
The company that developed VR games first in the world, wouldn't that make them incredibly rich!
"Boss, Wangyi in the Dragon Country did not agree to our demands."
Just as Bobby was leisurely enjoying himself, his secretary, Lace, rushed in with a look of panic.
"What!"
Bobby was taken aback.
"Say that again?"
"Wangyi intends to never renew their contract with us..."
*Slam!!*
"Wangyi?"
Bobby snorted, "To reject such a lucrative opportunity, they really think of themselves as someone important."
"If you don't want it, there are plenty of people in Longguo who would clamor for this sweet pastry."
He looked at Lace. "Has our first VR game, 'Stellar', been scheduled?"
"It has entered the final review stage and will be launched by March 2nd at the latest."
"Make it faster. February 25th, I want to hear news of a global launch."
"Also, contact other game companies in Longguo. Offer them the same terms and see if they can take over."
The arrogance in his tone made even Lace frown.
However, she didn't argue.
She turned and left the office. 138 Reading Network
The next day.
The Chinese gaming circle was completely shaken!
...