Bao Xu continued, "Although we've increased our independent research and development efforts since then, we haven't given up on purchasing IPs. In the GOG creative community, we have a special section dedicated to releasing the IP characters we've purchased and soliciting game mechanics from players."

"And the GOG World Server seems to be severely lacking in this area!"

Min Jingchao suddenly understood, "That's right, it really is lacking!"

"The IP characters we've purchased so far are basically only slightly influential domestically, but they have almost no influence abroad. These characters are meaningless to foreign players."

"Currently, GOG's hero library is undoubtedly superior to IOI's in the domestic market, but it's actually at a disadvantage abroad. Overseas players may be more accepting of IOI's heroes."

"This is a crucial point, and we must resolve it!"

Ye Zhizhou thought for a moment, "What if we launch the GOG creative community overseas as well?"

Min Jingchao shook his head, "That won't work. The GOG creative community requires a sufficient number of players as a prerequisite. Only with more players and higher participation can good works emerge."

"But GOG doesn't have many players overseas yet. If we start a creative solicitation now, we definitely won't receive good works. This money will either not be spent, or the things we buy after spending it will be unsatisfactory, making it completely meaningless."

"We should directly buy some successful foreign IPs!"

"This will have the same promotional effect as big-name celebrities, or even better, because the target audience is more specific."

"We can directly incorporate these successful IPs into the game, which is much better than dryly hiring a celebrity spokesperson!"

Ye Zhizhou's expression became excited, "I understand! As expected, this should be the standard answer that President Pei is looking for!"

Everyone repeatedly discussed and verified the idea, becoming even more convinced that "buying IPs" was the optimal solution to President Pei's puzzle, and probably something he had already considered.

After all, the "buying IPs" policy was a fundamental principle established during the GOG development phase, and now, with the promotion of the World Server, an IP that is widely accepted by overseas players is even more necessary.

Li Yada reminded at the right time, "Everyone, don't be too happy yet. We haven't finished solving President Pei's question."

"We've decided to buy IPs, but how exactly should we buy them? Which ones should we buy?"

"If we buy those particularly famous superhero images, 20 million dollars might not be enough, because many wealthy overseas game companies are also eyeing these IPs. After film adaptations, the copyrights for these images have already skyrocketed."

Ye Zhizhou thought for a moment, "Buying particularly expensive big IPs probably wouldn't align with President Pei's original intentions. After all, when President Pei bought IPs domestically, he never bought big IPs."

Min Jingchao suggested, "Don't be dogmatic. The situation is different domestically and abroad. To better coordinate the promotional offensive and achieve a decisive effect, we must have a sufficiently well-known and presentable IP image overseas."

Everyone fell into another dilemma.

Finally, Li Yada proposed, "So now there are only two approaches: first, concentrate funds to buy one or two well-known and successful IP images; second, buy many IP images that are generally well-known but resonate with overseas players."

"Since we're unsure, let's submit both options as answers and let President Pei make the final decision."

Ye Zhizhou nodded and stood up, "I understand, thank you everyone!"

"I'll go back and do a quick survey so President Pei can make the final decision!"

...

...

August 10th, Wednesday.

Not long after Pei Qian woke up, he received a call from Ye Zhizhou.

"President Pei, we've figured out the final promotion plan for the GOG international server! We're going to buy some IP characters suitable for the international market and put them in the game!"

"But now we've encountered a problem: should we concentrate funds to buy one or two highly recognizable national-level IP characters, or should we purchase a series of ordinary IP characters that are less well-known but appeal to overseas players?"

Pei Qian considered it and replied, "The latter."

Buying those national-level IP characters would be too ruthless. Pei Qian was afraid that IOI wouldn't be able to withstand it.

Although this concern was rather strange, it wasn't without reason.

GOG already surpassed IOI by a large margin in terms of the game itself: cross-platform play between PC and mobile, extremely reasonable pricing, a batch of excellent heroes, and game mechanics that are easier to learn and spread.

And now, the main focus of GOG's overseas promotion is: will it suffer from cultural differences, and how to build its reputation.

The so-called cultural differences mainly refer to the fear that the hero images inside will not match the tastes of overseas players and encounter cultural barriers.

Buying IPs can indeed solve this problem.

But if he bought national-level big IPs, Pei Qian was afraid of being too heavy-handed and directly killing IOI, then he wouldn't be able to happily spend money in the overseas market in the future.

It's better to buy some smaller IPs and slowly play with IOI in the overseas market, cutting the flesh with a dull knife, bit by bit, so that he can achieve a win-win effect.

Ye Zhizhou agreed, "Okay, then we'll go pick some cost-effective small IP characters to buy, and report back to you in a while."

...

After hanging up the phone, Ye Zhizhou said happily to Lin Wan and Wang Xiaobin, "President Pei has made the decision! As expected, this is the correct answer! As expected, our two game departments are invincible when it comes to figuring out President Pei's intentions!"

Lin Wan looked at the information in her hand, "Don't be too happy yet, there's still a lot of work to be done. There are so many superhero characters in American comics, how do we choose? Which ones appeal to European and American players?"

Looking at the dense list of hero names in their hands, everyone felt a headache.

The emergence of superheroes can be traced back to the 1930s. After decades of development, the list of superheroes has become long enough to make people lose their hair.

Now everyone is facing a difficult choice:

Those heroes that everyone knows are very expensive, and President Pei has already said not to buy them.

Those cheap heroes that everyone doesn't know and have no fame, how can we determine whether overseas players like them?

Who knows if those obscure heroes are obscure because they were born at the wrong time, or because they were made too badly and simply don't appeal to foreigners?

If it's the former, that's fine, but if it's the latter, buying this kind of trash for GOG won't help promote the game at all, and it will be a waste of money.

Ye Zhizhou said, "Let's not even think about the top two comic companies. They've already been acquired by large corporations, and the acquisition prices are basically in the billions of dollars. We can't afford that kind of bargain."

"And they hold the character IPs very tightly. Even if we can buy some relatively well-known characters with our 20 million dollars, it would probably only be the game rights, and it would come with many restrictions."

"Buying some of their lesser-known IP characters seems feasible, but there would also be some restrictions, and the premium may be so high that we can't accept it, making it very cost-ineffective."

Lin Wan thought for a moment, "Then let's not consider it and look further."

Ye Zhizhou continued to browse the information for a while and said, "We... we seem to be able to buy the third-largest comic company in America. There was a news report a few days ago saying that they're about to go bankrupt."

Lin Wan instinctively realized that something was wrong and asked, "The third-largest comic company is about to go bankrupt? Then what's the market share of this third-largest comic company?"

Ye Zhizhou: "Less than 5%."

Lin Wan: "..."

Wang Xiaobin was also dumbfounded and complained, "What the hell, the market share of the third-largest comic company in America is less than 5%, does that mean there are only three comic companies in America?"

Ye Zhizhou was amused, "Of course not, but that's what the data shows."

"It can only be said that this is the current state of the industry. The top two comic companies are both behemoths, with market shares of nearly 40%. The remaining third to tenth places combined only account for 10%, and all the other smaller ones combined also account for just over 10%."

"These two companies have too many superhero IPs. The market is only so big. They release comics and make movies, and their influence is not even in the same league as other companies."

Lin Wan nodded, "Yeah, the standard Pareto principle, the top companies occupy 80% of the market share."

"No wonder, 'The third-largest comic company in America' sounds impressive, but in reality, its market share is less than 5%, and as the top two giants fight like gods, it will definitely become more and more difficult to survive, and bankruptcy is not surprising."

Ye Zhizhou brought over the laptop and quickly searched for relevant information, "Yes, the traditional comic book format is no longer thriving. These giant comic companies rely on film adaptations to make money. The comics are like a huge inspiration library that can be drawn from at any time to steadily produce movie content."

"But for these comic companies with small market shares that can't afford to make movies, it's becoming increasingly difficult to survive."

"This 'Hurricane Comics' company has several things going for it:"

"Its comic themes are not entirely limited to superheroes, but are more diversified. For GOG, more diversified images definitely mean more room for choice."

"Several of its IPs seem to appeal to European and American players, such as Duke of Purgatory, Xenotype, and Mechanical SWAT."

"And there's a very important point: it really has a national-level IP image! It's just... it was 20 years ago."

"'Many Faces Man,' released in 1993, received multiple nominations, including the Oscars, but didn't ultimately win. It had an investment of 27 million dollars and grossed 340 million dollars worldwide, ranking fourth in the box office of all movies that year. The protagonist's salary soared 20 times after filming this movie."

"However, Hurricane Comics was not the investor, so it didn't reap much benefit. This was its last glory, and it gradually declined afterwards."

"But the good thing is that the Many Faces Man IP character still has influence, and many foreigners should be familiar with his image. More than half of Hurricane Comics' value lies in this IP."

"Although it feels a bit like picking up trash... I have to say, it's a pretty good deal."