Chapter 96: Blizzard's Weakness and Su Can's Troop
ingshan didn’t say anything but exchanged a glance with Tang Wu before giving a superficial smile.After the two had walked away, the other girls around them started whispering like startled parrots, "...Chapter 96: Blizzard's Weakness and Su Can's Troops
Chen Lingshan stood out in the film and television newcomer competition at the Shanghai TV Festival, winning the Cup Award as the champion.
Su Can only learned about this from a magazine later on. He also found out that on that day when everyone was gathered in front of the TV at Nan University's snack street, commenting on the film and television newcomers' competition, it wasn't live broadcasted but rather replayed.
Even the Spring Festival Gala, which has always been known for its live broadcasts this year, turned out to be pre-recorded. If you wanted to find a live program among all TV stations, the most reliable one might be CCTV's News Broadcast.
When Su Can was watching the television competition, a week earlier, the real champion of the Shanghai Film and Television Newcomer Competition had already been decided. A few days after Su Can watched the replay, some media followed up with related reports.
However, since this year's main focus was on the Shanghai TV Festival, there wasn't too much coverage. The three new talents who signed contracts were like other actors who emerged from similar selection shows; some might become famous, some might be known by the public, and some might marry into wealthy families, but others would remain unknown or even fail to secure one or two advertisements a year, let alone step onto red carpets and lead glamorous lives in front of countless cameras.
Entertainment Dream Factory had always been a place where dreams were made. Just like how a city should allow young people to achieve their goals through effort step by step with their spines as pillars, here it allowed girls with star dreams who aimed to become actors to strive for their future.
It didn't matter whether they hoped to realize their self-worth through such channels or if they wanted a rich and fulfilling life. Even their vanity and desire to be surrounded by applause from fluorescent lights were irrelevant.
Why Chen Lingshan suddenly had the idea of participating in this film and television newcomers' competition after seeing it at Beijing Film Academy, and ultimately winning the championship, even if she stood smilingly before the TV station competing fiercely with her opponents for specific purposes, she probably couldn't give a very concrete answer.
"Some friends from Shanghai have called to ask me. Since you and I are closest in high school, they want to know if you really participated in the newcomer selection competition of the Shanghai TV Festival. I didn't reveal too much; should I tell them everything" Li Lumei, Chen Lingshan's loyal friend, asked her over the phone before the final round.
"It's up to you..."
Li Lumei paused for a moment and then said with some pride: "Those who called me to ask about this include Zhang Mei from back then; I believe more people will soon inquire... Even someone in Shanghai has asked me. Are you planning, after the competition is over, to take some time off to meet them"
"I don't know, probably no time. My leave request at school is coming to an end, and as soon as the competition ends, I'll head back to Beijing today is the last training period; we're rehearsing a dance now, and tomorrow will be the final round." During this tight schedule of preparing for the final competition, besides her proud parents and family members, Chen Lingshan only communicated with Li Lumei or her classmates at Beijing Film Academy through phone calls.
"Then, I won't bother you anymore," Li Lumei said over the phone. Chen Lingshan was about to hang up when she heard her continue, "Chen Lingshan, I've always believed that you will stand at the pinnacle of the stage."
“Mm…”
"You still need to let someone like Su Cen know just how beautiful you are. You’ve never been inferior to anyone, including Tang Xiaowu. I don’t want you going to Nan University and won't allow any softness in your heart. Men crave vanity; I can't wait to see the day when Su Cen regrets meeting you due to your excellence. That must be very satisfying."
Chen Lingshan thought back to the time Beijing university clubs participated in an investment summit in Shanghai, where she met a completely different and domineering Su Cen compared to her memories. However, before the final match, Chen Lingshan shook off these thoughts from her mind, putting on eyes hardened both physically and mentally through recent experiences, and threw herself into the competition for the finals.
After Chen Lingshan won the new artist championship and signed her first contract with Jihe Media, she stayed in Shanghai for a short while longer.
Many people contacted her by different means after the competition. During this time, Chen Lingshan went to many places in Shanghai, where the number of people she met and wanted to meet her increased exponentially day by day. There were never-ending social gatherings.
Although friends invited her out to play, Chen Lingshan, who had mastered the art of navigating Shanghai, never forgot Nan University.
The night before returning to Beijing, Chen Lingshan suddenly picked up a baseball cap and put on a long-sleeved jacket. Without telling anyone, she took the subway.
She arrived at Nan University, hidden within the city's maze of streets ablaze with lights. The place was full of life; there were girls carrying books returning from night classes, dormitories in the residence halls lit up like squares, and boys heading back to their rooms after playing ball games while holding sports equipment. People hurried around, with airplanes flashing lights as they smoothly flew through the night sky.
Chen Lingshan walked across Nan University’s streets, but there wasn’t much drama in reality until she left the university and hailed a taxi at the entrance. She never encountered the person she thought she might meet.
Why did she take part in this competition Why was she so determined to prove herself Perhaps it was because she unexpectedly met Su Cen at that summit. Perhaps it was her sudden realization of the man's transformation, stirring up a subconscious pride and stubbornness within her unwilling to be outdone.
No matter what, she knew there probably wouldn’t be another instance like this where she would impulsively come to Nan University. Maybe in the distant future, when reminiscing about it, it would feel bittersweet.
Su Cen found that his dorm mates occasionally mentioned the winners of the Shanghai TV Festival's New Talent Contest for Film and Television; however, Su Cen knew that what interested these typically introverted guys were mostly the fair skin, figures, and long, creamy legs of those girls in front of the camera. They could only be glimpsed on a small screen filled with dust and grease.
After Chen Lingshan won the championship and rumors started circulating in Su Can's high school friend circle, Su Can received a second piece of news.
Dustin called him from America. Dustin was the CEO of Facebook, also known as the Chief Intelligence Officer. Lately, Dustin had been focusing on tracking various potential major investors, providing information about Silicon Valley internet companies, and collecting and organizing it to provide necessary materials for Zack and Su Can in China.
"According to our intelligence, Urta Yuan from Vivendi Asia Pacific Online Games has been frequently traveling between China and the US, seemingly negotiating equity with a company in Shanghai. Unfortunately, this negotiation seems to have failed. However, this might be an opportunity for us. Vivendi's new game development project is facing cancellation because they rely too heavily on debt financing, leading to high financial risks. This year, Vivendi lost over 2 billion euros, and their CEO Mayer has already resigned. In the face of capital that has lost sight of profit, every CEO is just a temporary employee!"
"The problem now is that Zack thinks this proposal is cool, but it represents an unpredictable risk. After all, none of us can act solely based on emotions. If you think this feasible, we will discuss it further."
After pausing for a moment, Dustin continued, "Facebook does have investment plans, but the critical issue is that if such a large sum of money is used to invest in a game, we need to consider bringing new investors on board because Facebook currently has no funds left. Although everyone knows how remarkable this game is, I still think it's too risky. Many people share this view. Su, when you first proposed this idea, we were shocked by your boldness. Of course, as the CEO, we do believe in your judgment to a certain extent."
Vivendi, formerly Vivendi Universal, is a giant French multinational media corporation with an industrial conglomerate nature. The company has branches in over 100 countries and employs more than 290,000 people. Its primary focus includes film, television, telecommunications, internet, and publishing industries, among others. It consistently ranks within the top fifty on the Fortune Global 500 list.
While many may not be familiar with Vivendi Group, most are acquainted with its famous subsidiary, Blizzard Entertainment.
Vivendi's long-term reliance on debt financing had made it difficult for venture capitalists to tolerate, and the company was facing a breakup. As a result, Vivendi began internal restructuring, and its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment faced threats of adjustment.
"We just learned that the development progress of World of Warcraft, which was rumored to be nearly complete, is actually only 30% finished. Under these circumstances, Blizzard Entertainment still has three major projects: StarCraft II, StarCraft: Ghost, and WarCraft. Vivendi's game department has required Blizzard to cut one project for effective resource allocation. As a new online pay-to-play game, World of Warcraft is the most likely target to be canceled," Dustin, as Facebook's Chief Intelligence Officer, had deep insights into these developments.
For Su Can, who first heard this news, it was full of surprise and excitement. It felt like a brand-new door was slowly opening before him.
"We know that Urta Yuan from Vivendi Asia Pacific Online Games, Michael, the China region manager for Vivendi, and Bill, the vice president at Blizzard Entertainment, have secretly contacted several companies one after another. Among them is your company, Ninth City in Shanghai, where they repeatedly went to seek development funds; otherwise, World of Warcraft would face cancellation. However, none of these companies could provide up to tens of millions of dollars, which is a large sum. Although it might give more than 20% equity, the risk remains too high."
Due to Vivendi's debt crisis, this year has caused World of Warcraft, an unfinished project, to face severe funding shortages and a precarious situation. Even Vivendi’s top management seriously considered canceling the entire project.
If they were to cut it off like that, what would be the concept There wouldn't exist a World of Warcraft as the world's largest MMO game, nor would there be over 12 million users gathered around Azeroth. Furthermore, there would not be an annual revenue of billions of dollars.
Therefore, the top executives of Vivendi cutting their losses is like castrating themselves but failing to master a secret technique.
To preserve World of Warcraft's development, Blizzard Entertainment would rather拿出《魔獸世界》百分之二十甚至更多的股份來套現，換取更多研發費用，從而緩解Vivendi高層施加的巨大壓力。
Many companies approached by Blizzard either couldn't come up with the money or found it unprofitable and rejected the deal. Some people were even more dismissive, directly stating, "To pay one or two million dollars for a game company's shares I know they're excellent at games, but what else do they have!"
What else do they have
The world still doesn't know yet, but Su Cen does.
Whether it’s the future distribution rights of World of Warcraft or prepaid card sales, despite the criticism from countless experts and investors about the game's distribution, there is no denying its astonishing revenue-generating ability. In just a few years since its release and global popularity, the one million two hundred thousand users accumulated by the game allowed Vivendi to profit continuously and escape debt crises.
After World of Warcraft gained widespread popularity, in order to split Chinese operators and keep control over the game for long-term profits, Vivendi used a method similar to choosing the tallest dwarf from among short ones when selecting Netease as its first distributor. While Netease accounted for more than eighty percent of World of Warcraft's revenue, both it and future distributors had to pay significant costs for operating the game, being manipulated by Blizzard Entertainment and media giant Vivendi, such as giving up two years' profit margins, paying at least several hundred million dollars annually in profits, and adhering to even stricter conditions.
But Chinese companies were still willing to fight tooth and nail for this chain.
No matter whether they are Chinese distributors or prepaid card sales channels, no matter how much trouble they cause, the end result is that they work for Vivendi, are bled dry by Vivendi yet cannot resist.
Only when one truly controls a company themselves can they stand at the top of the food chain.
In duels between masters, only seeking out their opponent's weaknesses and breaking through them is key. For Blizzard Entertainment and Vivendi, two unparalleled experts, if it were before, Su Cen could only look up to them in awe and not dare to think about anything else.
But now things are different.
To Su Cen, what needs to be done is truly taking the initiative. Truly guiding this massive existence with significant future value, taming this beast.been just the director of the information department and on equal footing with Father's administrative department. Later, relying on his eloquent tongue, he surpassed Father and climbed to the positio...